2013 CNSC

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Commentary: Round 3

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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 3

Eric Tran (Calgary AB) vs. Jeremy Hildebrand (Ottawa ON): the first game I encounter as I walk into the room. Jeremy had just played ENSNARL for 65 and Eric responded with EELPOUTS from the first E for a 90-point double-double. Later in the game, Jeremy got down ZAX for 65 and the nonbingo BEGUILER.It was Eric's win, 426-365. The late hour made Eric a bit spacy on the specifics. :)

I enjoy watching James Leong (Vancouver BC) play. Early on in his game with Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) he played IcHNITE and a couple turns later played TWT to make TWIT/TAMPING. Nice rack cleaner. Later on, after the game was over and a full quarter of the game's tiles were spilled out to the sides of the board, Jesse tells me he missed an easy bingo that might have given him a chance at the win.

Strong game play from Sue Tremblay (Carlsbad Springs ON). On her in-progress board with John Robertson (Cambridge ON), I see his DERATING for 83 and her TONEARmS for 68 and LOCATORS for 64.

From the "pants on fire" department, Gabriel Gauthier-Shalom (Montreal QC) had a simply fantastic game this round. Poor Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON) who got to keep score and shake his head from side to side quietly. In Gabriel's first 5 turns he had 356 points: GADGETS for 74, OUTSIDE for 73, APORIAs for 67, BILINEAR for 72, and ZIRAM for 72 (Z on triple, word doubled, you know the drill). A couple turns later, he got down INJECTEd through the J for 86. The thing is, once the game was over, he told me he had two unplayable bingo racks after ZIRAM: LORLAGE and EPERGNE. A 582-319 win for Gabriel!!

Game in progress between Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) and Jim Nanavati (Burlington ON). I see RETINAS, GASOLINE, DeFAMES, and OVERTARt.

Sary Karanofsky (Cote Saint-Luc QC) vs. Marilyn Wilkins (Richmond BC): IODINATE, OvERAGES, and ALIENATE are on their board. After her game is over, I'm sitting beside Chris Lipe at the Internet table. Andy Saunders (Guelph ON) puts a stack of about 27 Canadian Kit-Kat candy bars down in front of Chris. He starts to drool, one of the packages has mint in the bars! Just then, Marilyn walks by and manages to pry a package out of Chris' hands. She said, "So, is this the consolation prize for going 0-3 tonight?" I could tell that Chris DID contemplate her request, but he just couldn't' let go. After all, life is much better when eating Kit-Kats in the shower.

I catch Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) after his win this game against Ross Brown (Ottawa ON) (~10 point win for Adam, which means good game, Ross!) watching the endgame chatter between Zev Kaufman (Toronto ON) and Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC). Zev opened with ANTIAIr and Joel replied with ORIENTAL (after fishing off one tile). Then Zev played REAnNEX. So, it was a strong start. Other plays: Joel's SHORTED and SUSPEND and Zev's OSCULANT. I see ABACI and AZOTH on the board. Zev's win, 531-395.

Jason Ubeika (Mississauga ON) vs. Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON). She tells me afterwards that he drew the bag and she ends tonight 2-1. On their board I saw bAREFOOT, OUTSING, and HIdEOUTS. Other fun words: GENIP to the triple, ABRI, PAVAN, and AMBO.

Strong night for Jason Broersma (Caledon ON). He defeated Yvonne Lobo (Mississauga ON) this round, 421-364. I see sHOULDER, EGALITE, and LiPREAD.

Morris Greenberg (Brookline, MA) started tournament play in School SCRABBLE as a middle schooler. In 2009 he played in the Boston Area Tournament's newcomer division. Since then I've watched his rating rise and rise. After the close loss to Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) in round 1, he won his next two games. So, 2-1 after 3 games is a great finish!

Risa Horowitz is loving annotation. This round she did the laptop entry while Lisa Kessler and Alice Ching-Chew did paper annotation for Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) and Ross Brown (Ottawa ON). This was Alice's first ever game she's annotated and she thinks she likes it. We can NEVER have too many willing and happy annotators. Welcome to the fun, Alice!

The room is electric with excitement, still, at this hour. Mad Palazzo is growing weary, however, and she wants everyone out. She starts getting assertive, calling out to someone talking to Chris Lipe, "You, there, the tiles stay on the board, get them back in here, NOW!" This player is all embarrassed. He only wanted to clean up and didn't mean to take anything, so he scurries in to leave them. Somehow I think no one will accidentally take tiles home this CNSC. Mad is ON it!

Some players and workers want to go out for drinks after tonight's games. I think sleep sounds good, but enjoy the warmth of the evening air on my daylong subterranean air-conditioned skin. The moon is nearly full and bright in the sky with tiny wisps of clouds floating by. A perfect summer night for the first night of summer. We are back tomorrow after a breakfast supplied by Hasbro Canada for the players and staff: super generous!

Chris Lipe write:

Round 3 is starting -- last of the night. "We're done for the weekend, right?" asks Dielle. Almost.

Juraj Pivovarov (Calgary AB) is going first, but has one of those racks that makes you wish you weren't. He's holding AEMNOOY which makes no sevens and one eight (1). He opens with MOONY, Glenn Dunlop (Brantford ON) plays AXE underneath, and then Juraj hits FOVEATE.

Sinna Vijayakumar (Mississauga ON) and Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON) have started out on fire. Each bingoed on their first turn -- TENONER and FEASIbLE.

Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) sees me walk by and starts laughing. He's playing James Leong (Vancouver BC) and James opened with RIB. Jesse dropped the Q on top of the I, and James reiterated, vertically this time, RI(B). Hopefully this game ends with more than 24 combined points.

Jason Broersma (Caledon ON) has played ZESTER at 14J for a lot of points, and Yvonne Lobo (Mississauga ON) is holding CINOOR? with an R in the 7th position of a 3x3 lane. Nothing there. Dang.

Things still aren't going well for Andy Saunders (Guelph ON). Shan Abbasi (Mississauga ON) just opened with PREMIER against him. Andy is holding a blank, but lots of consonants, so after he plays off WEFT, Shan hits him with COMELIE(R). Andy bingoes back with DiG(E)STED through Shan's second bingo.

Dielle Saldanha (Richmond BC) is playing first against Lou Cornelis (Stoney Creek ON) and she has AEGLOY? to open. No sevens there, boo. She opens with GOY and then draws ACEILY? which has two sevens that play next turn. (2)

Morris Greenberg (Brookline, MA) and Mike Ebanks (Calgary AB) are huddled over the challenge computer. Mike is challenging two of Morris's words, but pushed "1" in Zyzzyva on accident. After a small moment of confusing, they type in "BH" to clear the screen, which comes back unacceptable. Since when have they been studying the Norwegian twos? The play, LOCUS / RAKUS, is acceptable.

Geoffrey Newman (Brampton ON) players SWIRLERS* against Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC). Dean holds, and eyes the S in the second position of a 3x3 lane holding EEELOR?. The only eight with that S is Collins-only. (3) The play is accepted.

Andrew Golding (Verdun QC) is laying down FoETIDLY# against Joshua Castellano (Vienna, VA), who accepts the play. Turnabout is fair, though; earlier Josh played VIRTUED* on Andrew and it stuck. Andrew had also played EANLING at 15B with both W's and Y's out, but the front hook never went down.

Andy and Shan have finished up, and it didn't get much better for Andy since we last left him. It's Shan's game 553-376. In addition to his bingo-bango opening, Shan also had REsTAGE and INOSITE. "I've been outbinoed 9-2 today," says Andy.

Blank bingo quiz -- Yvonne Lobo is holding AEEMMOS, which makes only one eight. (4) (The necessary letter is not on the board, sadly.)

"I got fezzed," Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON) tells me. Heather McCall (Toronto ON) had played AROINTS at B2, and Craig's rack was AVENUES. It has to go down on the C column, making AS, and Heather has drawn the Z. Down goes FEZ / ZAS for 81 points, and it's gooooood night.

Nearly everyone is finishing up, and nearly everyone is exhaused. Peace out -- we'll be back at 9:00 tomorrow!

(1) AERONOMY (2) MYCELIA, CLAYIER (3) SLOETREE# (4) GAMESOME