2016 CNSC

Go to: Commentary Games Players Standings Photos TSH Reports Scoreboard Prizes

Back to CNSC 2016 Live Coverage

Commentary: Round 12

[ ]

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

Round 12 Auto-Commentary

Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) remains in the lead, 10-2 +1007, on a 3-game winning streak. James Leong (Vancouver BC) is +912, still at #2. Chris Williams (Vancouver BC) is 1 game behind at 9-3 +615, #3 climbing from #5. Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) is 1.5 games behind the leader at 8.5-3.5 +715, #4 climbing from #8.

High Win: Sam Hollington (St. Catharines ON) 534-321 vs. Chuck Abbate (Quispamsis NB). Low Win: Barbara Bultz (Dollard-des-Ormeaux QC) 359-335 vs. Joseph Bowman (Mississauga ON). High Loss: Ella Sobel (Dorval QC) 433-447 vs. Dean Porporo (Nepean ON). Low Loss: Sary Karanofsky (Cote Saint-Luc QC) 246-482 vs. Mike Ebanks (Calgary AB).

Round 12

The cold day the forecasters predicted rolled in today: 7 degrees celsius (or 44 for those in Fahrenheit land). I see less shorts and sandals today than yesterday! At least it is just rain and not snow!

Breakfast today was mini muffins, croissants, mini bagels, and fresh fruit. This with a coffee/tea breakout and w were all set.

At the tail end of breakfast, a group of about 8 players meandered over to a laptop running Aerolith (an anagram study program). Eric Tran (Calgary AB), the laptop's owner, had a rapid-fire pace as he typed in the words the players called out (a page of anagrams with blanks).

The players gathered in the playing room for opening announcements, which included asking them to fill out the "best sportsmanship" ballot (a teeny tiny piece of paper). They can't nominate someone who has won before.

We are doing 7 games today, instead of 8, which is a relief for the under-rested among us!

I think I saw smoke rising above the Fern Lindzon (Toronto ON) vs. Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) game. About three turns in, he caught on fire and played HEXOSE to the triple for 72, SOLUTION for 66, WAVELETS through the T for 68, and BEAGLES (blank L) for 78. Fighting, valiantly, Fern had played two of her own: ACTINIDE for 72 and the lovely TROIKAs/KI/AL/aI for 72. A 491-363 win for Dean.

There was a fair amount of intensity around board 1, where Joshua Sokol (Montreal QC) was squaring off against Adam Logan (Ottawa ON). Risa Horowitz, Joshua's annotator, handed me this slip: "Joshua missed CHAUNTS at B3 to reach within 25 points of Adam." So close!

Chris Williams (Vancouver BC) and Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON) had a good game. Not quite halfway through, Chris had ANAnDAS for 67, UNEASIER for 61, FLUORIDS (blank L) for 82. Matt was fighting back with TOTEAbLE for 62, ZIRAM for 52, and OXID to the triple for 67. Chris' win.

Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) vs. Mark Edelson (Toronto ON): ABRADERS, BLOTTIEr, GOURDeS, ROOFIE, and MANEB. Jesse won, 471-403.

Jason Li (Dollard-Des-Ormeaux QC)made some nice plays: TOUZLE (blank L) to the triple for 75, SANATIvE for 74, and RENTIERS for 77. VAGROM and EBOOK were there, too. It looked like a struggle for Max then and it turned out to continue: 431-306, Jason's win.

DERATeD, TOLANES, and POUNDALs on Andrew Golding (Montreal QC) vs. Ross Brown (Ottawa ON) board.

EMERGERS* shouts off a Michael Fagen (Montreal QC) vs. Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON) board. After it was over, Michael explained that Craig opened with QI and Michael replied with MERGERS/QIS for his first play. Later on, Craig played REX on the middle top triple, hooking to make EMERGERS*. Michael didn't like it, but had a sweet spot for ZIRAM elsewhere, so let it go. I see Craig's PEDANTS and Michael's oVERLETS. Michael's win.

Sam Hollington (St. Catharines ON) is smiling, always. His opponent, Shan Abbasi (Mississauga ON), opened with GAUM and Sam found BAUDEKIN through the U. Making lemonade out of lemons for sure!

I seem to have lost/misplaced my SD card reader, an important tool for downloading photos off my Nikon... So, until I find it (or until I get back to Chez Chew and find it there), I won't be able to download photos today.