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PC 2007 Commentary: Round 18

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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.

Round 18

Andy Saunders (Guelph ON) comes over to tell me about his 436-328 win against Cornelia Guest (Ridgefield, CT). He is a bit sad, though, because a phoney was involved. Cornelia played POLITEST for 72 (fitting word for Cornelia) and Andy played RETIRES for 74, GLEANeRS from the G for 77, and MARTENED* to the D for 86 (at least it is a creative phoney!). I found a bunch of point-dense plays of Andy's OX for 38, WISHY for 53, WINED for 35, and QI for 44.

I arrive just as the tiles are being picked up and I beg Ben Lam (Markham ON) and Phil Wertheimer (Short Hills, NJ) to put the board back together. Since both keep such good notes, they were able to do so quickly. It was a good game, too! Phil played RETINOiD to the D for 77, BOTANIsE from the B for 68 (this last play could have been slotted down the triple lane and Ben credits Phil for choosing to play it where he did as it kept many hooking and further bingo options open), JALAP for 36, and the beautiful outbingo of SINUATE/JALAPS for 89. Ben played RENEGERS from the first R for 80, UNIFIC to the triple for 38 (but the best part is that Phil challenged unsuccessfully and Ben got another turn, both players see this as a crucial break in Ben's favor), immediately followed by TABOULI for 76. Ben also played MIXER for 39 and ADIT/MA/ID/XI/ET for 35. Even though Phil bingoed out and caught Ben with LQLR on his rack, Ben won, 460-411. They go to lunch with Phil at 13-5 and Ben at 12-6.

While he has me, Phil Wertheimer (Short Hills, NJ) tells me about playing rESITUATE from the rE for 62 points earlier today.

A finished game is left at table 3 in division 5. Joey Krafchick (Roswell, GA) has apparently defeated Andrew Friedrich (Aurora, CO), 400-371. There is no other paperwork, but I see three bingos: FIGuRES, sTANINE, and NERVIER.

At board 1 in division 5, Eileen Johnson (Freeport, NY) and Robert Fenske (San Antonio, TX) are just wrapping up their game. It was a win for Robert, 438-284. Robert played two bingos: TROTTER for 62 and boATING for 73. He also got away with EWON* (maybe he was thinking of ENOW?). Eileen played a fun EX/RE/OX play for 52.

Another division 5 game just wrapped up between Will Scott (Versailles, KY) and David A Brown (Lexington, KY). I see David's DOZED for 49 and Will's ABALONE for 64 and SINUATE for 74. At one point in the game, David tried WOOSY*/YENNER*, which Will called off. It was Will's win, 485-331.

While I was chatting with David, Lillian Zoller (Dayton, OH) came over to check in. She says she has a new name: Michael's Mother. Her son is today helping Carol Ravichandran run division 5. He is such a stickler for proper paperwork that all the players are growing to know and respect him. Lillian was excited about her radio interview earlier today and shares that her goal is to win 10 games during this Championship, her first tournament.

After Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) and Cesar Del Solar (Pasadena, CA) played their game, they both wiped out laptops and did some game analysis. Forget duelling banjos!

Finally a game that Amit Chakrabarti (Hanover, NH) can take some credit for owning! This round he played Orry Swift (Dayton, TX) and the tile godes were much nicer, helping him to a 442-374 win. Amit's better plays were GLENOID for5 72, NOVALIKE through the L for 67, and DIMErOUS for 69. At one point, Orry tried COFFEY* through the E, but Amit challenged it off. Orry did get down MANDaLiC to the C for 63. At this opint, he was down by 150 and he very much wanted/needed Amit to challenge that play to give him some chance of getting back into the game. Amit complied teasingly by holding the play for a long bit, but he eventually let it go. Orry did get one break. Amit let him get away with the phoney GLENOIDS* hook when he played SUBAREA for 80.

Jason Idalski (Warren, MI) tells me that on day 1, he was 2-5 -443, which made him 101 out of 108 playerrs. Then it got worse, and he lost one more on day 2 to get to 2-6 -573. However, by winning 8 in a row, he is now 10-6 +507. This means he generated 1080 spread points in 8 wins! As Jason reminds me, "Never give up!"

In a Ron Tiekert (Melbourne, FL) vs. Dominick Mancine (Louisville, CO) game, Ron opened with ZOMBI. A bit later, Dominic was able to play FIED to the end, making ZOMBIFIED for 32 points. Pretty play. Ron also got down GOMUtIS to the S in that game, winning, 396-348. As I was writing, I realized it was time for Ron and his patient wife Susi Tiekert (Melbourne, FL) to head out for some lunch.

At table 2 in div 1, Nawapadol Sayavesa (Thailand) fell to fellow countryman, Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand), 335-507. I see NUCHAE on their board. Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) says it is good. I trust by verify by looking it up in the OWL. Nav played BEARDING and Pakorn played INSIDeRS.

Sam Kantimathi told me I was a dynamo on this monday. I, too busy typing to pay full attention, missed the anagramatic message so he had to spell it out.

I got a photo of a game played by Linda Hoggatt (Blanchester, OH). She opened with QWERTYS for 106 points! I'm sure I'll hear more later!

From the late news is better than no news department comes news of a round 12 game that Derek Bowman (Winnipeg MB) played with Gerry Smith (Cincinnati, OH). At one point, he played MaRIONETTE through the ET (and N) to the last E. Later he played ANSA down the triple, which formed MaRIONETTES. His win, 419-317.

Each player one made one bingo in their game, TOPSIDER for 78 for Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) and MEANIES for 72 for James Leong (Vancouver BC). The plays were quiet, for the most part, nothing flashy, but it was Dave's win, 396-350.

This round's annotated game featured: Dave Wiegand vs. James Leong.