2013 CNSC

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Commentary: Round 11

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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, Award Ceremony, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3, After the Tournament.

Round 11

Our last game today and dare I say I'm happy? We are all a bit wiped out here. Despite his fatigue, Chris Lipe is planning a night on the town. I'm going to start his clock if he's late tomorrow. Wait.... he doesn't have a clock....

Max Panitch (Toronto ON) played Gabriel Gauthier-Shalom (Montreal QC) and just as the game ended, Gabriel ran out into the foyer and asked Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) to join them to see if Max could have possibly blocked his outbingo. Before Max blocked, Gabriel could have played STaTIONS and Max played so as to put an A before the T. And then Gabriel played OSTINAToS (wow). Depending on how Max had tried to block, Gabriel might have had jETTISONS, SNOUTIeST, INOSITeS, STONISh, or other words, but no one was able to find a way for Max to block everything. I observed their board earlier and saw VIZARDED and WAITERED.

Jason Ubeika (Mississauga ON) played Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON) this round and it was a thumping. Craig asked for me to refer to him as "thumping c" in this report as he will be unable to sit for the next two days. It started all fun and games. Jason opened with a phony they both knew was phony: MINGE#. Thumped one took it because he could get some decent points with JANE through the N. This 27-22 lead was the sole time that thumped one was leading the game. Jason went on to play EGESTION for 80, PEAVEYS for 81, mODELLER for 70, and then ZEST/mODELLERS for 78. Later on, just to be super cool, Jason played MYNAH. It was a 555-232 win for Jason.

Shan Abbasi (Mississauga ON) asked John Chew: "What do you call a player who plays phoneys?" John replied "Trevor Sealy?" Shan said that he had tried playing PHONIST, but Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON) had challenged it off in their game in Round 10.

The best after-game quotes come from Jeremy Hildebrand (Ottawa ON). He is unflinchingly honest. After this round, he said, "Chris runs a tight ship and leaves no room to play." Jeremy got down PErIDIaL which was a great play but only managed to just catch him up to Chris Williams (Vancouver BC). Chris kept the board closed so it was hard to play anything, let alone a great play. Late in the game, Chris created an opening large enough so he himself could play DAISIES. I see YERK and PLENCH on their board. I mention to Jeremy that it hasn't gone unnoticed that he's worked his way to the left side of the room as the day has progressed, which is a good thing!

On a Bernard Gotlieb (Montréal QC) vs. Zev Kaufman (Toronto ON) board, I see an opening play of QUINELA. Other bingos: AGITATED and BALdEST.

Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) played Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON) this round and got down gAMBADES and INTERNS. There was a killer opening for an X for the longest time. At one point, Matt overdrew and she did the standard x+2 and wouldn't you know it? She got his X and threw it back in the bag! In the end, her win, 480-379.

Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON) has what could be called a very good game with James Leong (Vancouver BC). While James got 60 for SEPALINE, Chris scored big with SCheMATA for 83, SAVOURED for 81, RELANDED for 62, and ELUSION. A 508-360 win is how Chris ended the day!

I catch the Jim Nanavati (Burlington ON) vs. Mark Edelson (Toronto ON) game in progress: BUILDER, TARTANS, PIGbOAT, SINCEREr, and FAMULI! This game will be over shortly because all of Jim's games are fast!

Shan Abbasi (Mississauga ON) vs. John Stardom (Ottawa ON). JADEITE and CESURAE were Shan's bingos. He hoped the latter would draw a challenge, but no go. John played FuNNELER* through the second E and HOLDInGS. Shan's favorite John play was HAZAN (played through the first A), hooking to make ZIT/AS for 64 points. John's win, 459-405.

Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) played Glenn Dunlop (Brantford ON) this round. My notes have Glenn playing AC?REASED, which isn't being located in my local Zyzzyva, so I'm assuming I've got something wrong here (just read Chris' color and he saw the same thing I did. ACRERAtES* on the challenge slip and ACcREASED* on the board! I was so sure it was me that was off, oh well). Other plays: ETIOLATE, ALIASES, DEEPENS, UNHA?MED, EXOGEN, and REVOTING. A 475-415 win for Jackson. My kingdom for a scoresheet on either side that would tell me more! They were very engrossed in a "tell me when" kind of endgame chat that Glenn likes to have, and I didn't want to interrupt!

Big thanks to the hotel for their great service and catering. The warm cookies in the afternoons are a huge hit!

We end the day with Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) slipping into 1st place. Just prior to leaving she asked if I knew who was in first and I smiled knowingly and gave her a big hug.

Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) has slipped into second with the largest spread of those with 8 wins: I was shocked to see just how many!

Tomorrow will be a wonderful day of more games, more food, and a prize ceremony for all but the top two spots. Those will be determined Monday during the best of 5 finals.

Chris Lipe writes;

I walk past Andy Saunders (Guelph ON) and John Robertson (Cambridge ON) and someone has put TEEVEE* on the board. I glance at John's scoresheet and that, yes, that was Andy. "TEEVEE?" John had written. Yes, you were right to put a question mark after that questionable play.

Kristiina Overton (Maxville ON) is holding AALMNQW. Lucky there's no W open, because if I had a chance to play QAWWAL# and couldn't, I'd be a little miffed.

Jason Broersma (Caledon ON) is holding ACITWX? against Morris Greenberg (Brookline, MA) at Board Two. Looks like there might be a cool bingo there but nope, nothing. There are actually no steals for ACITWX of any length!

Gabriel Gauthier-Shalom (Montreal QC) is chugging along, playing at Board Three, but all afternoon he has been carrying this sandwich with him. It's a big sandwich from lunch - delicious cibatta bread, some salami, a bit of cheese, some baby arugula, a touch of dressing....but for the last four rounds it's sat there with one ginormous# bite taken out of it. Maybe it's a prop to distract his opponents into thinking about the firm but chewy mouthfeel, or the gentle tang of the mustard..........oh God I'm so happy it's almost dinnertime.

Glenn Dunlop (Brantford ON) has put down ACERAtES* against Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) for a 3x3, through an E in the 7th position. Jackson makes a nice challenge and takes that off the board and plays YID underneath it to block ACREAGES and EARACHES, and Glenn comes right back with ACcREAS(ED)*. Jackson holds, but does not challenge.

James Leong (Vancouver BC) and Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON) have the nice two-bingo SC??MATA on the board.

Every time I walk by Dielle Saldanha (Richmond BC) and Allen Pengelly (Waterloo ON), I see BUTTE?ED on the board and immediately think it's BUTTHEAD. That was not the play.

Shan Abbasi (Mississauga ON) and John Stardom (Ottawa ON) have F?NNELER* on the board. I assume the blank is a U but that wouldn't make it any less phony. I admire the way Shan plays -- he is gleefully unrestrained by the contents of the word list he is playing to. It is very creative.

Hey, it turns out it was John who played FUNNELER*, not Shan. Those agent nouns are so hard to pull the trigger on the challenge.

Dielle Saldanha (Richmond BC) had a really awesome play in her game... through an O and I she played IONIZED for a nonbingo 2x2. Sweet! Her win in the last game of the day, 406-369.