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PC 2007 Commentary: Round 25

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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: Amit Chakrabarti vs. James Leong.

Round 25

I'm told about about a game that took place at table 43 in the div 1. There are only 44 tables in that division. As a reminder that every single one of these folks has game, this "back of the division" board has five bingoes on it! I walk by and find the players, Webster Phillips (Montclair, NJ) and Jeremy Cahnmann (Chicago, IL) gone off to lunch. I see BUTANEs, CREATINES, ACERBER, FEIJoAS, UNZONED, and SLANTED. Not sure which were bingoes and who played which, but the point is the same. Bryan Pepper, ever the observant division leader, caught Jeremy heading out of Dodge in his rabbit out of a hat outfit. He asked him just where he thought he was going. Jeremy told him that he was going to the rental shop to return his "cat" outfit. I can almost hear Bryan's voice now. "You are going to the store to return your 'cat' outfit in your 'rabbit out of a hat' outfit... riiiiiiiiiight. Gotcha...."

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA), 2-1 this morning so far, squared off against Joan Kelly (Middletown, NY) this round. I see aSUNDER and ?UNNELS on their board and don't stop for long.

Ben Harrison (Cambridge, MA) and Matthew Hodge (Moore, OK). Ben tells me about a few of the better plays: Matthew's TOXEnIA for 81 and Ben's DORKIEST to the T for 73 and OrCHARD for 68. I walked by their game before it finished and watched Matthew play FEEZE, at which point, he promptly overdrew and put all 8 tiles onto his rack. He alerted Ben immediately and slid all 7 onto the tabletop. Ben picked three and turned over ANY. Ben had tracked and at that point knew there was AAANNNICRGY left, so he put the Y back in the bag, figuring he'd let Matthew work out a bit of the ol' duplication dilemma. At that point, after FEEZE, Ben was holding LOANERS (the S may have been a blank), but the tile gods wouldn't give him what he needed to get another bingo down. Ben's win, 394-376.

On a Sam Rosin (Bernardsville, NJ) vs. Brian Bowman (Villa Hills, KY) board, I see TENURIAL to the L, NEEDIER, GLAMoRS, GATEAUS, and TASTIER.

Seth Lipkin (Hopkinton, MA) and Glenn Dunlop (Brantford ON) were playing and there was an air of intensity crackling in the air around them. I spotted GROANER, ENDEAVOR to the R (this one Seth's), WOoLENS, ENsURES (glenn), and KYANOSES* (glenn).

Benjamin Bloom (Miami, FL) did in Greg Edwards (Minneapolis, MN) this round, 382-333. I see Gregg's LONGBOAT through the B and Ben's THINnEST through the S. Ben saw me scribbling and said, "I'm going through an anorexic period." :)

I see Amit Chakrabarti (Hanover, NH) at loose ends at the annotated div 1 board. He told me was happy to get a crack at playing there. And he thinks if he had not mistracked, he could have won. He thought the Is were gone, she he played the dangerous TAXES with the X next to a double-word square. James Leong (Vancouver BC) came back with TIN for 28. That was the nail in the coffin. Amit admits that if he'd had more time, he would have double-checked the I situation, but he was down to 11 seconds on his clock. In the meantime, James had a lot of time on his clock. I see TRiCENTO and MORENES on his board. I ask Amit if there is anything he can tell me about James, since we all know so little and he said, "he plays fast and good!"

Ryan Fischer (Charlotte, NC) beckons me over to his game with Chad Harris (Clemson, SC). Ryan did get down REtINAE for 64, but the rest was Chad's: TINWARES through the W for 149 points, CUBOID (not point heavy, just cool), and CAuSERIE for an 86 point dlb dlb. Chad won, 531-300.

A game that he stood no chance of winning is spread out before Doug Brockmeier (Yorba Linda, CA). His head is covered in a hat and it is tilted down. I can't tell if he is despondent or not. Then he looks up, that giant grin on his face, and I know all is well. Samantha Southard (Albany, NY) sits beside him and soon Alyssa Faria (Washington, DC) sidles up to stand by Rod MacNeil (Somerville, MA). I gather game info quick while I have the phrase "5th wheel" tattooed to my forehead. Doug played BLOOM and then extended it to the triple for BLOOMING and he assures me that is all he did. Rod, piloting the steamrolled played INERtIAE for 68, DIPTERAL for 72, MOURNED for 78, and TAGLESS for 71. Rod's win, 501-271.

Ted Rosen (Rochester, NY) is one for quickly whispered anecdotes when my mouth is full of food or when I'm typing (if you talk to me at all at one of these events and I'm not writing down what you are saying, we truly are not communicating at all). He speaks fast, softly, and kinda at an angle to me, so I am constantly asking him to repeat and often not just once (I feel so rude!). He had a fabulous game this round with Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC). It was a SEVEN bingo game. The game score, 537-366 (who won wasn't a detail shared). And he would only give me a few of the bingos: Joel's opening VARIXES* and CORPORA for 100. Ted played SUTURING and OPENABLE. I'm assured there are more as he walks off.