Go to: Commentary Games Players Photos Standings Video tsh

Back to PC 2007 Live Coverage

PC 2007 Commentary: Round 22

[ ]

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: Ian Weinstein vs. James Leong.

Round 22

We're all in our faces with bright shiny faces. But a few of us ran in a bit tardily. Karen Lee, one of our data processors compared working a tournament to going to work. In these multiday events, she is right. You have to get up early, you have to get yourself to the workplace, and you have to do whatever that job over and over (kinda like factory work).

I stayed in the playing room a bit longer yesterday, finishing up unfinished commentary business and Daniel Stock (Rocky River, OH) came in, twice, with a story board. The second one got to stay under the webcam overnight. He is able to wend such fun stories with only a few tiles!

This morning John Robertson, director of div 4, said he had two stories for me. First was a director call he received yesterday where he was asked how to score a triple-triple. One of his players had never had one or was unsure how to go about it. He told her the mechanics "muliply your word by 9 and then add 50 for the bonus." He can't do the math for her or anyone, but he can explain the how-to. She looked at him quizzically and said, "Wait, I've been told to multiply it by 3 and then multiply that number by 3." The other story has do to do with unbelieveable sportsmanship. Phil Wertheimer (Short Hills, NJ) played Kelly McKenzie (Newport, KY) yesterday and the finished their game as a tie. When Phil got back to his room, he ran Quackle and realized that he'd underscored by 1, which would have given him the tie. He told this to John, his division director, and John explained how his opponent would have to agree with that in order for the score to be overturned and that said opponent would be under no obligation to agree to do so. This morning Phil mentioned it to Kelly and Kelly said, "No problem, let's go get it changed." So wonderful to see such good sportsmanship.

This round, Ian Weinstein (Coral Springs, FL) got his crack at table 1, playing James Leong (Vancouver BC). James continued to dominate, defeating Ian, 436-340. Ian played INERTIAE for 59 (got vowels?) and MANOUVER for 66. James' plays were DOwNSIDE for 68 and the outbingo UNDINEs for 69.

At table 1 in div 5, Faye Edwards (Homewood, IL) has fallen to Joey Krafchick (Roswell, GA), 396-408, but it was a close and good game! Fay played SYLVINE/CABS for 100 points on the triple lane, but Joey came right back with pROXIES/SCAT for 99. She played QI for 64 and then Joey got down KERNITEs through the T for 72. I took a picture of the board and Joey said, "You are making my board famous!"

Two tables down, Will Scott (Versailles, KY) lost to Andrew Friedrich (Aurora, CO), 287-361, ouch. I see Andrew's QUEEN for 48 and STArTING through the N for 68. We all comb the board to see a play that Will made of note. I strongly believe there always has to be something, but in fact, Will's best accomplishment that game was scorekeeping! And he did a very good job. Nice to see so many kids in this event and nice to see them compete on an even playing field with people much older.

Speaking of age, I stop by div 4's top board where Jim Fonti (Port Jefferson, NY) is playing Mark Garrod (East Lansing, MI). I see Mark's NEeDIEST and Jim's ReRINSE*. At one point, Jim told Mark that he had 25 years on him. Mark questioned that, but when Jim did the math between their ages, he got 25! It was Jim's win, 384-306.

In a bright blue and silver wig (not one bit natural looking, I might add), Andy Saunders (Guelph ON) eked out a 4-point win over Phil Wertheimer (Short Hills, NJ) this round, 354-350. TANDOORI through the first O for 66 and RETENES for 71 were Phil's plays. Andy got down TRAINED for 79.

Joey Mallick (Cape Elizabeth, ME) vs. Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand). It was a slugfest, as the six bingos can attest. Joey opened with SeAWANS and Panupol played ALANINES from the A. A bit later, Joey played VIRGATES to the S and then Panupol played OUTCOMES tothe S. Joey played LIMEADES through the first E and Panupol played fILTHIER. Three bingos each, tit for tat. I ask Panupol what made the difference for Joey and he points to three plays: JUDO on the triple for 36, WEENING a dbl-dbl for 44, and HEBE to the triple for 48. Joey's win, 490-411.

Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) vs. Ron Tiekert (Melbourne, FL). Ron played EATERIES for 70 and WHARVE for 35 (what a fun word!). Brian played ETESIAN for 74 and PELICAN for 71. We've seen PARAKEET and now PELICAN, what can be next? Brian wins, 405-354. I love these big title matchups!

So, Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ) is pretty sure he is chewing up John Luebkemann (Bear, DE) and spitting him out. Nathan plays BELONGER for 90 and RADIANT for 69, the game progresses apace, and at one point, it is a 357-148 score in Nathan's favor. Suddenly, as if on fire, John slaps down a 158-point triple-triple FERRITES and then next plays CHAPLETs for 95. Fully awake at this point and sensing that John was no longer on the menu, Nathan did some clever scrambling and still managed to win, 482-473, but it sure was an exciting one!

Jesse Day (New Haven, CT) played Jon Shreve (Denver, CO) this round. With 11 tiles left in the bag, Jesse held EEELNRT. He had tracked and knew he had a great chance at a bingo if he got any number of the tiles in the bag, particularly the two unseen blanks. Jesse got an L. Then, in a rather shocking move, John put down the natural DAHLIAS. Jesse went ahead and played ANTLERED on teh triple from the A, but he knew those blanks were somewhere. And he found out on John's next move: SAUTOIre from the S, sticking Jesse with GKQ. John won, 457-391.

David Weiss (Billings, MT) tells me that he played Keith Hagel (Auburn, ME) this round. QULANIC was David's rack and he saw QUALE for 41 points. But he also so an open G he could play to, and then he found it: CALQUING for 74. It drew a challenge. He picked out of the bag OVERBEaR that he played from the O for 76, He won the game, 450-341. David points out that he is sole player from Montana at this event.

Scott Pianowski (Berkley, MI) is standing near me, I ask if he has a story. And I'm kinda lazy so I ask from a sitting position. He says, "Oh, I got nothing, but you are in my chair." We laughed. He said, "I miss my dog, so I wore this shirt today." I took a photo of it, it has a dog on it. He then said, "well, okay, I have one story. On day 2, I was playing Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Moraga, CA) and we had a close game that I won. When it was over, he leaned forward and whispered to me, 'this is my favorite game of the tournament.'" Scott was touched by Conrad's poise and graciousness and even though he isn't so old himself (Scott), he thinks this young crop of players has some real gems.

I see a Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand) vs. Lisa Odom (St. Louis Park, MN) board. It was a 517-428 win for the Thai. I see VALANCED, DINGIER, DESCENT, and SERRIEs on their board. Writing furiously, I asked what the blank was and someone said S. Ever the quipster, Joey Mallick (Cape Elizabeth, ME) leaned in, grabbed a tile and kinda tossed it so it landed right smack between the S and the E of that last bingo. He said, "You know, it is kinda like you. I looked up and it was an H: SHERRIEs. Cute.

kinda like you."