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PC 2007 Commentary: Round 16

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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, Award Ceremony.

This round's annotated game featured: Panupol Sujjayakorn vs. Jim Kramer.

Round 16

Ted Rosen (Rochester, NY) played Thacha Koowirat (Thailand) this round and won big, 451-271. He was most proud of his CABARETS/ATT/TAS for 76 points. He also got down IODInATE, and PRODDInG. Thacha specialized in 42-point plays: JOINER and later KEX.

James Leong (Vancouver BC) continues to exceed expectations. He defeated Sammy Okosagah (Baltimore, MD) at table 2 in div 1 this round, 389-375. Sammy played LASSOERs and AUTOCADE. James played SaTISFY and TRECENTO thorugh the first E. Sammy saw me looking and pointed at that last bingo and said, "he stole that from the bag."

Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ) defeated Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) this round, 418-389, but it wasn't straightforward. In the endgame, Dave bingoed INSTROKE to empty the bag (always dangerous) and then Nathan replied with an outbingo, TRAILED, to win. Nathan was less interested in his game than in the fact that on "Amit's board" the word OcOTILLO was played. Nathan said, "that is a perfect Arizona word, it is a cactus." I told him I'd check into it later.

I see John D Williams (Greenport, NY) playing Nadine Jacobson (Minneapolis, MN) at her special #60 table in division 3. John has been quietly playing here this year, the first large event of this kind he's ever been able to actually play in (he is usually running the show himself). He says the reactions he gets from players to his participation are uniformly positive. He hears things like "Oh, you play SCRABBLE^®? Great!" He always replies, "Of course I do, I love SCRABBLE^®." It turns out that the game was Nadine was his to win, 480-303. She'll get him next time, and she will. She's positively fierce! Totally blind, plays with braille tiles, records the game's words and scores on her own braille typewriter, and all this on the same amount of time the rest of us get: 25 mins to play her game. Much of the time we spend glancing down, she spends running her hands over the board, but only on her own time. Amazing.

Our friend, Robert Kahn (Plantation, FL), who was going great gunbusters in division 1, had to leave this morning due a death in his family. Even in a time of despair, Robert can be just so dry and funny. He said to John D Williams (Greenport, NY) as he got onto the shuttle this morning, "I hope whoever wins division 1 knows it will be a tainted victory." Safe trip home, Robert. We send our condolences.

I get a note from division 3 assistant, Amy Krafchick (or Joey's mom, as she has come to be known), saying "Barbara Van Alen (Chandler, AZ) played PARAKEET at table 4!" I ran over to find Barbara's opponent, Ryan Fischer (Charlotte, NC) at the table. Robert played nIOBATES to the S for 80 and DISVALUE to the E for 98. Barbara played PARAKEET to the T for 68 and he then played DEsTINE/PARAKEETs for 79. It was his win, 449-417. He asks me to ask you all reading color to tell him if you can see anything he could have done. The P from PARAKEET was in the top triple lane. His rack was EEIDNT?. An x means a blank square: xxPxxxxx. Does anyone see a triple-triple for him?

Wilma Pitzer (Englewood, OH) is so happy: she just had a 3-bingo game, which she won, 437-342, against Laura Moyer (Fredericksburg, VA). Willie's plays were STONIER, RETAILOR to the R, and a bit later, LEANEsT. Laura played ARRAsES to the second S.

Trevor Sealy (Oshawa ON) sees me in his neighborhood and asks me for a hug. He says he's had a hard morning. I complied and asked what had gone down. he played KICkABLE, hanging the E into the triple-triple lane. Two turns later, he was able to get down THREADER. through that E. So happy was he to find something, he forgot the maxim of finding something better. So, down went THREADER. Only a turn or two later did it hit him: He could have played RETHREAD for a triple-triple, duh! He lost, 418-456. Good on ya, Chad Harris (Clemson, SC) for your win.

Julia Bogle (Indianapolis, IN) calls me over to her board. She'd opened the game with BLEMISH. Later she was able to extend it to BLEMISHING for 51. She also played INSIDERS and OVERLATE. Her opponent, Lee Brooks (Lawton, OK), got down PASTIMES through the M. It was Julia's win.

At table 1 in div 1, Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) was playing Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand). Jim was sitting, according to his annotator, with his tiles set up like BEEFCAK. Panupol played down the right triple lane, SLAInTE, leaving the E hanging there. Jim seized the opportunity and slapped down BEEFCAKE to the E. Panupol held him a good long time, eventually letting it go, but clearly uncertain about it. When the game ended in Jim's favor, 452-364, he asked, "This is good?" Guess he's never seen a Chippendale's show.

So, finally it was time to see Amit's board, but when I got to it, I quickly learned that it was actually a board belonging to Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand). Amit's job that game was to keep score. Pakorn's plays were SUITINGS, MIRACLEs, SAPIENT, and the beautiful OcOTILLO. Color reporter falling down the job, two games I failed to get scores for!

Our favorite runner, Alba, informs us that she is taking tomorrow off to study. We are crestfallen, but supportive of her need to keep up with all that medical stuff. Even today, any spare minute she has, is spent looking over notes that look highly technical in nature, like drawing of helixes....