2013 CNSC Early Bird

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Commentary: Round 6

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Award Ceremony.

Round 6

These efficient Canadians. We are AHEAD of schedule! Between rounds 5 and 6 we had scheduled a break. The giant, warm cookies were gobbled up quickly and players were given a bit of time to kick back and tell stories. The hotel has been extremely accommodating with the food offerings and willing to do anything we might need. I suggested more cold water since the water locusts would be arriving later on for the evening session.

A game has just ended so I'm posting now, will put up more later. Trevor Sealy (Oshawa ON) has defeated Tony Leah (Ajax ON), 13-11. Tony opened with XU for 18. Trevor replied with UH/XU/UH for 21. Then six successive passes. Trevor's end rack: SADINES. Tony's rack: EEEINRS. Trevor's win! Fun and exciting! Tony points out he had a bingo: ESERINE, but couldn't play it.

The players were so wowed by the game that it bothered the others playing in the room and we all got shushed out.

John got them to give their racks and trades as the 6 passes unfolded. In the end, Tony says he had a play he should have made. Check out the annotation and see if you can see it! As this round finishes and as we prepare for the last round, I keep asking John if he's gotten it up yet and he just stared at me. I think pronouns can be misunderstood sometimes.

Sid Lashley (Mississauga ON) has a big win against (in Canada, this word morphs into a three-syllable exercise- ah GAIN st) John Robertson (Cambridge ON). The game's better plays were WASTERIe, REALEST, and GIRLIER. Since the players were not present I asked Trevor Sealy (Oshawa ON) if he knew who won. He said, "Sid won handsomely." Elegant crowd here!

Sharmaine Farini (Toronto ON) vs. Josh Greenway (Toronto ON). Pretty board: FLITTERS, ENGRaVED, STAINER, REJIG, and PARLOUS. This latter play cost Josh a turn when he challenged it. Her win, 462-399. As soon as the game was over his hand shot across the board to congratulate her. This guy is such a good sport. I vote him for the best sportsmanship award, but John reminds me we are not awarding that here. I get the CNSC and School SCRABBLE confused often.

Caroline Polak Scowcroft (Australia) gets her second win today, defeating Jillian Bathgate (Toronto ON) by exactly 100 points, 416-316. I see Caroline's MaRKETS and PASTOReD.

Fern Lindzon (Toronto ON) struggled this round against Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON). She traded three times in the first four turns! She played TANNEST for 77, but the rest was him: ROTARIES for 60, DIoXANES for 119 on the triple lane, the extension of OVER to OVERPRINT to the triple for 45, and the nice outplay of EUPLOID from the E (not a lot of points, but style baby!). He wins, 552-312.

Vince Castellano just arrived with his two sons: Noah and Josh. Josh will be playing in the CNSC starting later this evening. They were on a family camping trip and are now in the land of less mosquitoes in downtown Toronto.