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NSC 2013 Commentary: Round 29

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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.

Round 29

Matthew Ridout (Ankeny, IA) and Matthew Ridout (Ankeny, IA) are celebrating their 5th anniversary today. They got married in 2008 right before the 2008 NSC and they met at a SCRABBLE tournament! Congratulations!

Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA) got everyone to clap for how much fun they've had at the tournament and in Las Vegas this week. He got more than half the room to raise their hands that they would be in Buffalo.

Robin Gates (Dallas, TX) took to the microphone. She'd negotiated a $7 shuttle to the airport for everyone. That is nearly half price!

He encouraged folks to make sure to write down best SUN play so that it can count for the prize at the 1:30pm prize ceremony.

Robert Linn (Potomac, MD) says he made a great play yesterday. He held AADNSY? and he played through an H. Can you find his play? Collins only!*

Chris Wiegand had run the Oregon Tile SCRABBLE tournament with her husband Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) for 8 years now. She's worn a different event T-shirt every day of the tournament so far! Only the colors behind TILE change.

Collins, table 1: John OLaughlin (Cambridge, MA) vs. Quinn James (Charleston, SC): SANDERS, BOOKMAN, HENRONY, mEGABITS, REQuITER, and the bingo bang for John of ORGANIDE followed by PAHLAVIS. He said, 'I just picked that out of the bag." He points out that twice in the game he nearly had the front extension to play GOOSANDERS to the triple. His win.

David Eldar (Australia) vs. Evan Berofsky (Oxford, MI) at Collins, table 2. I see Evan play OREXINS hooking to make BALKS down the triple lane for 106. He also got down FAIRGOER. David played GUERITE#, CITRATED, and the lovely VAPULaTe#, and won their game. He is still kicking himself over the loss to John O yesterday.

Collins, table 3: Evans Clinchy (Boston, MA) vs. Laurie Cohen (Tempe, AZ): DEUTZIA goes down to the A as I watch for Evans. He gets 74 due to the Z placement. I see NONRURAL, BEARERS, and POEMAtIC# on their board. Laurie's win, 492-428.

Geoffrey Newman (Brampton ON) and Nicky Huitson (United Kingdom) are at the challenge machine: ORA is good!

There is a lot of tension along the top tables in division 1. Nigel Richards (Malaysia) is playing Komol Panyasophonlert (Thailand) and if he wins, this might be it. Merriam-Webster's Peter Sokolowski sat at the table by the annotators and tweeted out the racks/plays.

At table 2, Kenji Matsumoto (Berkeley, CA) was squaring off against Will Anderson (Croton, NY). There was a cameraman on them for nearly the entire game. He circled around them, getting down on one knee, capturing every sigh, eyebrow arch, and nose hair. I tried to peer in myself, so it was more of that fishbowl thing. The game had 8 bingos and the board was beautiful. I saw Kenji play POULTICE through the L. He then carefully picked out his replacement tiles (AADIIORP) and alphabetized them, but some were still upside down and sideways (the details). He also played SHEARING from the S and SHWOMAN. Will played AGLYCoNS while I watched and TILLERED, RETOOLED, TITANIaS from the first T, and late in the game FRUITAGE to the E. The nonbingo IODIZER was played through the O. A 500-453 win for Will and a heartbreaking loss for Kenji.

Had Komol Panyasophonlert (Thailand) not defeated Nigel Richards (Malaysia) at table 1 (he did, thanks Komol for keeping it interesting!), then Nigel would have won the event with two games to go. As it is, there is more time to vie!

Trip Payne (West Hollywood, CA) vs. Noah Walton (Portland, OR). I see an early on FORBADE through the O to the triple for 48. Noah got down LAMINAR and ETHICIaN and Trip played OUTSIDES through the E for 60 (I saw it go down) and JAILERs/TOPEs. Noah's win, 412-369.

Scott Appel (Elkins Park, PA) won big, 504-306, against Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON). NEARLIER was Matt's and Scott got COONTIE, BEDOuINS, and a late HAUNTED.

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) vs. Peter Armstrong (Milwaukee, CA): ENNEADS was Peter's opening play. I see Rafi play SOUTANES (from the S, I believe). Also TOWNEES and sCROOGED are down.

Mack Meller (Bedford, NY) defeated Charles Reinke (Middleton, WI) this round, 389-349. I see Charles' bIOFUELS and INVESTOR and Mack's OUTBRIBE through the T. FILUM and FLEDGY are on their board.

Division 4, board 1, fast friends Phil Seitzer (Davis, CA) played Daniel Moglen (Davis, CA). I see Daniel challenge and learn BANDIES/REI is good. Phil also played EMERITI. Daniel got down CATNIPs/sQUAD and LEISTER. Daniel's win, 479-373.

Paul Becker (Holden, MA) vs. Jean Trotman (West Memphis, AR). A 109-80 win for him. They had a six-pass situation and the game was over early!

Kenny Hoang (Cary, NC) vs. Daniel Novinson (Unknown city, GA) table 2 in division 4: SORTIeS and LEGATED were Daniel's and Kenny got down NEGATORS and SEDILIA/JOWS for 94. Daniel's win, 414-368.

Table 1, division 3: Guy Ingram (Ellenwood, GA) vs. Vail Palmer (ALBANY, OR). I see HOOKIES played for 101 and it drew a challenge to boot. Good going, Vail! He also played TRIANGLe. Guy got down SEEPInG. Vail's win, 446-374.

Huguette Settle (Edmonton AB) vs. Shauna Petrie (Mississauga ON): AVENGED, VISIToRS, and URANITES were Hugette's. Shawna played ITALICS (blank L) and lost the game by 9 points.

Division 2, board 1: Siddharth Murali (Collierville, TN) vs. Morris Greenberg (Brookline, MA): MASTERED to the D and DETAINED wer Sid's. Morris got down OFfCuTS. In the endgame, holding ZYOXRST with WRTLD in the bag, Morris played FOXY from the F. He drew WRT. He couldn't play off enough of the tiles and lost because he got Z-stuck, 419-391. They were analyzing and decided that Morris should have played off his Z instead since the X is a more flexible tile to dump.

Joshua Sokol (Montreal QC) vs. Mark Rosenberg (Atlantic City, NJ): cODDLNG, GLITTERY, BEUNCLED, FILTERS, and cARITAS are on their board.

Robert Felman (Nokomis, FL), a gastroenterologist by trade (thanks for spelling that for me, Jim Geary), played off and held STER. He pulled CUM and saw an opening underneath GIRL on the triple lane, but found nothing. So, he played small elsewhere and went on to lose the game. After the game, he realized with horror, that he could have played RECTUMS! I think he may lose his medical license for this! :)

*Robert played YAkHDANS#.

Last Night

Dallas Johnson and Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) spearheaded a NASPA-themed SWOT (Stengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) meeting last night in the playing room. About 25 NASPA members showed up and helped brainstorm items that fit under these categories. Dallas stood at an easel and wrote in the comments as they came up. In the end, there were 5 or 6 large pieces of paper (the easel-sized post-it paper) stuck to the edges of tables. The discussion was open and frank and nothing was off the table. The Executive Committee plans to incorporate the meeting results in the reformulation of NASPA's short and long-term strategies.