2016 CNSC

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Commentary: Round 2

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

Round 2

Update: The car was left with a mechanic and Bernard Gotlieb (Montreal QC) and Andrew Golding (Montreal QC) got on the train and made it here with just a bit of round 2 underway. I saw them fly by, John Chew pushing Bernard's chair, Andrew's hair blowing back as he ran behind them. Joshua Sokol (Montreal QC) said, "It is a shame they are rushing here only to play two club mates they could have played in Montreal!" He and Jason Li (Dollard-Des-Ormeaux QC) are their next opponents.

Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) vs. Mike Ebanks (Calgary AB). I see Mike grinning widely, so when I hear Jesse say, "459-422?" I think it was Mike's win, but no, he was just being a gracious loser! Jesse played the lovely wHEEPED, INCOMERS, and LITERATE. Mike played DOSSIER and the outbingo of TYROSInE to the E, catching Jesse with LNGCEUF. Mike questioned why Jesse "let" him outbingo and Jesse explained that he knew the blank was out and he feared a triple-triple through the S, so he played NOSY through the S, knowing he was probably going to see a bingo, but not as bad a bingo as it could have been. There is always a method to madness!

I see PIGBOAT and can't help myself, I have to check out the game. Already filling out the post-game paperwork, Allen Pengelly (Waterloo ON) said, "PIGBOAT was not a bingo." I giggled, he got me. He played REORDERS, SEASONED, and sPRINGS. His opponent, Nicholas Schneider (Pickering ON) played STOLLEN down the triple lane. It was Allen's win.

Game in progress between Ella Sobel (Dorval QC) and Ross Brown (Ottawa ON): TRAINEES, UrINALS, and SCOOTER.

Jason Li (Dollard-Des-Ormeaux QC) vs. Andrew Golding (Montreal QC): WOoDENLY, HEROICAL (blank L), MEGABITS, and TINDERS. They started a bit late, so I don't hover.

Siri Tillekeratne (Calgary AB) vs. Sam Hollington (St. Catharines ON): LORDLIER, FRILLeRS, QUARTeS, and VINTNER. Siri sees me standing there and points at QUARTeS and just rolls his eyes. I get a feeling that the tiles have been in Sam's favor this game!

After their game wrapped up, I heard Trevor Sealy (Oshawa ON) say, "I spent the game watching him play. I won my first game, but I sure didn't win this one!" He played James Leong (Vancouver BC) and I see TRAVOISE, AERATEs, and DECaGONS on the board. Trevor says James "played them all!"

Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON) vs. Heidi Robertson (Ottawa ON): ADJOInS, ANLAgEN, and GARTERED.

Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON) and Eric Peters (Toronto ON) look to be done their game, but then they jump up and go to the challenge machine. It appears that Eric's outplay was a no-go, so he took his tile back and then Matt went out. Their board is pretty and tightly complicated on the bottom right. I point it out and they say it was a treasure trove of points. Eric played AUREATE down the triple and Matt played aZURES alongside, the Z (pronounced ZED in these here parts) on the triple letter square. He earned 104 for that one! I see Matt's ULTISOLs, too. A 545-396 win for the NASC champ, Matthew.

A pretty board that is attracting others: Eric Tran (Calgary AB) vs. Carl Madden (Brantford ON). It was a tight game, but Carl was in the lead by 19 before Eric bingoed out with ENTITIES down the triple to wrest the win. I see Carl's ORIENTAL and SCRIBED. In addition to his outbingo, Eric played DEADmAN and ENdOWING. He teased me and said, "Or did I play DEADpAN?" I explained I had no way of knowing. I am slightly humor impaired after 15 hours of nonstop SCRABBLE excitement. I know John was feeling it, too, because I caught him catching a 10-minute power nap on a couch in the lobby this round! I told him I typed this line and he said, "I was thinking!"

UPSTROKE, SNARLINg, CrOONER, TROLLEY, and TONIEST jump off a Yvonne Lobo (Mississauga ON) vs. Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC).

Roger Cullman (Toronto ON) is here and he hasn't played SCRABBLE for six months while he works on his massage therapy degree. His rustiness led, he believed, to his loss first round to Max Panitch (Toronto ON), who had a 500-game. Feeling in the dumps, Roger was surprised this round to have his own 500-game, this time against Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON). Craig played GrIPNETS*, which Roger let go because he had a bingo in response. Roger's favorite play was HEMATIN for 108 (tied for high bingo today)! He says Craig played AVISO and he was so rusty he thought he'd never seen it before.

One more game to go and all the players are here and accounted for. Time to nudge John!

Round 2 Auto-Commentary

Jason Li (Dollard-Des-Ormeaux QC) remains in the lead, 2-0 +498. Eric Tran (Calgary AB) is +399, #2 improving from #3. Max Panitch (Toronto ON) is +396, #3 improving from #4. Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON) is +363, #4 rising from #9. Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) is +331, #5 climbing from #6. Tony Leah (Ajax ON) is +280, #6 improving from #8. Michael Fagen (Montreal QC) is +267, #7 rising from #16. Ryan Chepita (Ottawa ON) is +267, #7 slipping from #5. James Leong (Vancouver BC) is +266, #9 up from #18. Joshua Sokol (Montreal QC) is +169, #10 rocketing up from #26.

High Win: Fern Lindzon (Toronto ON) 559-333 vs. Barbara Bultz (Dollard-des-Ormeaux QC). Low Win: Vera Bigall (Toronto ON) 384-354 vs. Chris Williams (Vancouver BC). High Loss: Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON) 494-524 vs. Roger Cullman (Toronto ON). Low Loss: Dave Krook (Mississauga ON) 284-470 vs. Michael Fagen (Montreal QC).