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NSC 2011 Commentary: Round 4

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.


Round 4

Astonished, Dallas Johnson, division 2 leader, slipped a note on my desk. It said, "Kit Morehead (Berkley, MI) and Lynda Finn (Madison, WI) finished their round 4 game before six other games in the division had begun!" I found Kit at the challenge machine. She opened with PEAVIES, later played REFALLEN, and had OVERSTIR challenged. Her win, 543-292. I guess she and Lynda will have nice long lunches!

Stephen Sneed (Fort Worth, TX) let me know that he'd be playing Richard Spence (Tucson, AZ) at table 2 this round in division 2. He knows how much I like it when the young bucks square off! I kept my eye on them early on and saw STRONGER, POUTIER, and CYMA on their in-progress game.

Sam Kantimathi (Sacramento, CA) vs. Daniel Citron (Chicago, IL): C?ITTER and RELOANs.

Kenji Matsumoto (Aiea, HI) has on a lovely red tie-dyed T-shirt that matches his division tablecloths perfectly! In a game with Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON), I see INDOCILE, BAWTIEs, and AMENTIA.

Jerry Scheiten (Buffalo, NY) is just a normal guy, playing a normal game with David Weiss (Billings, MT) this round. But every single time I see Jerry, all I can think about is Superman. He wore a Superman shirt one year at a tournament and he's become synonomous with the superhero!

Around the middle of division 1, I find a hotbed of great players: Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) vs. Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ) and Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) vs. Scott Appel (Trenton, NJ). Scott still uses a small floppy disk as a cover for notes about the game that he keeps. He just slides the floppy over the notes and they are out of sight. But a floppy? An antique!

On the Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) vs. Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ) board, I see CANNIEST, ALIEnEE, ENTITLES, and TILBURy by Dave, the last an opening bingo. Maybe BEHAVED is Nathan's?

I catch Jack Overby (Rosemount, MN) on his way to the challenge machine and ask how he's doing. He says he's lost three, but he's having fun. I see that his play of WEINERS/SHUG* was challenged off. He tells me later that he is mortified that I saw this, since about four seconds after he played the phoney, he saw the right place to go. He ended up winning this game against Jeremy Hall (New York, NY), so Jack is 1-3 going into lunch.

One of the twins, Thomas Reinke (Middleton, WI), is playing Brian Galebach (Columbia, MD) this round. Regardless of a playing room's temperature, I've never seen Brian without that coat on! On their board: RAMME?S, SIDELONG, TRUDGINg, AgOROTH, and BANDIES.

To shake things up for the annotated game fans, Nigel Richards (Malaysia) was moved off table 1 this round (I'm kidding, he is still undefeated!). This round, Nigel Peltier (Seattle, WA) is playing Dielle Saldanha (Richmond BC), and she has her customary tiny stack of chocolate by her scoresheet!

Worapol Ratanapitaksuk (Carol Stream, IL) vs. Jason Randolph (San Antonio, TX): AOUDAD, DIZEN, aSININE, SAUTEING, and AGnOSIS is on their board.

John Luebkemann (Richmond, VA) managed to eke out a 10-point win against Debbie Stegman (Kew Gardens, NY) this round. His favorite play was vEXINGLY for 75. He is now 3-1 +100ish.

Steve Glass (Dade City, FL) wants to head out to lunch, I can tell. But, he also really wants to show me his winning game. So, we trudge back across the roon to find Cesar Del Solar (Alhambra, CA) with his head in his hands. Ahead by enough, in the end game with only 6 tiles left on his rack, Cesar tosses down a two-tile play in the upper right corner of the board. He totally missed what then happened. Holding IOUMST?, Steve tossed down HUMOrISTS through H and first S! This won Steve the game by a mere 6 points. Cesar sat there a very very long time, just thinking....

I'd observed a Steve Polatnick (Miami, FL) vs. Scott Jackson (Minneapolis, MN) game in progress earlier in the round. Scott later told me that in the endgame, he was down by 5 when he found MOTHERED though the HE and E for a 56-point double-double. Scott played BELTINg and TOWARDLY for 98. Steve got down PEIGNOIr, NEONATAL, and gISARMES. Scott won, 439-408.

Robert Gillis (Owens X Roads, AL) tells me of a game against Wallace Schultz (Las Vegas, NM). Wallace played mInISKIS through the blank n and then got down AGINNER. Wallace's win.

Once he returned from lunch, Jack Overby (Rosemount, MN) told me about a 9 he played in round 3: REPEATiNG through the first E and T.

Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.



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