2016 CNSC

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Commentary: Round 5

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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 5 Auto-Commentary

Max Panitch (Toronto ON) remains in the lead for the 3rd consecutive round, 5-0 +681, on a 5-game winning streak. Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON) is +531, on a 5-game winning streak, #2 improving from #4. Mike Ebanks (Calgary AB) is 1 game behind at 4-1 +762, on a 3-game winning streak, #3 rising from #6. Michael Fagen (Montreal QC) is +558, #4 down from #2. Eric Tran (Calgary AB) is +503, #5 down from #3. Tony Leah (Ajax ON) is +385, #6 improving from #8. James Leong (Vancouver BC) is +336, #7 up from #9. Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) is +329, #8 improving from #11. Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) is +256, #9 falling from #5. Andrew Golding (Montreal QC) is +44, on a 3-game winning streak, #10 jumping up from #15.

High Win: Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON) 516-431 vs. Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC). Low Wins: Mark Edelson (Toronto ON) 373-371 vs. Ryan Chepita (Ottawa ON); Nicholas Schneider (Pickering ON) 373-353 vs. Ella Sobel (Dorval QC). High Losses: Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) 431-516 vs. Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON); Joshua Sokol (Montreal QC) 431-463 vs. James Leong (Vancouver BC). Low Loss: Marcela Kadanka (Toronto ON) 290-491 vs. Sam Hollington (St. Catharines ON).

Round 5

Gary Sagara, John Chew, and Mad Palazzo are in the foyer with about 300 tiles on a table and two tile bags. I can't wait to hear this one. "DIRECTOR!" came from a game between Dave Krook (Mississauga ON) and Eli Shupak (Toronto ON) when the latter drew the second "zed" from the bag. The directors quickly surmised the problem: they had two tile bags at the table with a total of 106 tiles in play. The director team took all the tiles away and fixed all of the wrong tiles (save for the extra "zed" since it had been picked and was in play). So, the game will go on with 101 tiles, because they were drawing from two tile bags (had they had 107 tiles in one bag, they would have had to continue with all 107). John Chew sees the sunny side of this: Eli has the chance to play the unplayable without a jimmied bag of tiles PIZZAZZ!

Lisa Kessler, busy annotating board 1, slipped me a note: "Max Panitch (Toronto ON) played MAX" in the game. I looked up: she was annotating Max! And he won the game.

Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) vs. Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON) was a fun game for the North American champ. He had three bingos in his first five turns: UNSTEELs, AUNTIEs, and EXSERTS. Dean managed to get RETAINER and SAUTOIR down. Big win for Matt, 516-431.

Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) glances over at my notepad and exclaims quietly, "WaRDENLY*?!?" I say that I think I wrote it down right, in a James Leong (Vancouver BC) vs. Joshua Sokol (Montreal QC) game. Turns out, it was a Joshua phoney that James took because he had UNDERTOW to go down and he wasn't 100% sure it was bad, but I think they both knew it smelled a bit. I see TESTIER, TAJINES, VITELLUS, SKELP, and CIRRI on the board. James' win.

Chris Williams (Vancouver BC) vs. Eric Tran (Calgary AB). RETIRED, ALIENING, ACUTELY (blank L), and PETALLED (blank first L), are on the board and I watch Chris play RESIDERs from the R for 70. About 15 minutes later, I see that BURQA has gone down and they both have only a tile or two on their racks. In a sudden, decisive move, Eric dropped down his last tile, a V, into a nestled spot creating EVE and VALIENING*. Chris said challenge and I laughed out loud. Off it came and then Chris played. For fun, Eric challenged him. It was good and then Chris played out, sticking Eric with that unplayable V. It was a Chris win.

Vera Bigall (Toronto ON) vs. Heidi Robertson (Ottawa ON). I see STANCHER, MAILERS, ADVIsEE, and AmBEROID on their board. The game wrapped up just as Adam walked by and they both used the moveable dictionary to ask if plays were good. Ever helpful and compliant, I saw him nod and answer quietly.

The five-letter LAICH caught my eye in a Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) vs. Carl Madden (Brantford ON) game. I see LINEMAN (blank L), ENISLED, TUNDRAS, and RECLUSES. The endgame lasted a long time. Jesse had RTI on his rack and Carl had AEIILT?. He looked for a long time, but just couldn't find the word/spot. Jesse's win.

Andrew Golding (Montreal QC) vs. Shan Abbasi (Mississauga ON): PADUA, AWLED, POISONED, ACERbEST, bUSTLES, TAXIMEN, and TuNNELER.

Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON) is unmissable today in a fluorescent yellow sweatshirt/pullover. This round he is facing Roger Cullman (Toronto ON). I see CREATED, COALERS, DIGESTER, and ZEsTIER on their board. I am more interested in the endgame. I recall seeing them at the challenge machine at least once now they are going again. I see that Roger is holding OUTFIL?. He tried OUTFAILs* through the A on the bottom triple line and off it came. I was called away and didn't see what ended up going down, but Roger won, 444-392.

Sam Hollington (St. Catharines ON) and Marcela Kadanka (Toronto ON) are just finishing up their game. They have OEStRIOL, VIBRATES, TRIPOLI, and GANNETS on the board, but it is the fives that more interest me: USNEA, LOTIC, JUNCO, FELLY, HOYAS, and MUXES. Of the last play, Marcela said she'd played it and it is a new addition to our dictionary. Sam admits he had the luck this game, but you can tell they enjoyed it nonetheless.

The hotel crew is bringing the catering in: a naked burrito for me and sandwiches, salads, and cookie bars for everyone else. Smells divine!