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2007 Dallas Open Commentary: Round 10

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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, After the Tournament.

Round 10

Well, the Dallas Open Goliath has finally been taken out. After 23 straight wins, Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) lost to Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX; 1854) this round, 371-460. Brian exchanged on his first play, so Geoff opened with a bingo: GADoIDS for 72. Brian replied with LONGTIME for 72. Geoff's third play was cORTISOL for 61 and then he later got down FOOTSORE for 63. Brian played some fun words like EPICAL and GADDER, but fun didn't win it for him.

Tom Kowalik (Chicago, IL; 1071) played Stuart Goldman (Riverhead, NY; 1624) at the special Stu table this round. The game went quickly and within minutes of the round starting, or so it seemed, Tom asked if I wanted to see his 9-letter-play. Did I! The board was pretty much picked up and mangled by the time I got there, but I did see PONDEReRS played through the first ER for 94 points. The beautiful play notwithstanding, it was Stu's win, 414-353. I see Stu's VANTAGEs played from the V for 86.

On a Jess Mickelson (Murray, UT; 0) vs. Andrew Hime (Denton, TX; 685) board, I see TONCIL. As I'm walking by, I hear Andrew mumble something about everyone hating him because of me. I can't imagine what he's referring to, but I'm sure I'll find out later....

Mark Gooley (Hawthorne, FL; 1381) vs Carole Miller (Houston, TX; 1299). While he figures out where to play, she slides over her Old MacDonald rack towards me and asks me to take a photo. On her next turn, she exchanged, which was no surprise. I see that he opened their game with OCREATE for 70 and she later got down PIOUSLy for 77.

As Phyllis Owen (Plano, TX; 896) and Cheryl Melvin (Muskegon, MI; 1127) wrap up, Cheryl points to Phyllis' nice find of PEsKILY for 89. I want to get more info, but am dragged onto another board.

Thomas Conrad (Rio Rancho, NM; 1400) has already picked up his board, but he wants me to know he had a great game against Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX; 1734). Down by a bunch, 168-279, Tom picks up EFIIINS and has a small pity party before he spies the V and earns himself 95 points. Can you see his play?* Tom went on to win, 429-417. See? Never, ever, ever give up! Who knows what can happen?

The academic, serious-looking Paul Hagelstein (Waco, TX; 1075) is bent over his rack while he plays Alyssa Faria (Washington, DC; 1669). A word catches my eye and he knows it, so he breaks form and gestures to it. I'm not sure if either of them was 100% sure it was good, but EPHEBOI is good!

Timing is everything and sometimes I just don't got it. Sigh. I catch Mark Milan (Laguna Niguel, CA; 1767) being held by Steve Glass (Dade City, FL; 1848) and I see them run off to the challenge machine, but I miss for sure what the word was. The challenge slip reads GESNARIAD* (John Chew does his automaton imitation and informs me that GESNERIAD is good). Mark's rack, however, is URINEOI, so I'm not sure how that all worked, but something was up. I see NEUTRINO on their board and move on....

The battle of the Chrises and one beats the other. The loser is trying very hard to not swear up a blue stream, so I'll let you guess which one lost in the Chris Lipe (Rome, NY; 1717) vs. Chris Cree (Dallas, TX; 1870) matchup. Early on, Chris Cree played WISTERIA for 98, XYLOLS for 30 (not a lot of points, but style galore!), and PINUlAE for 68. Chris Lipe played RASSLeD for 86 and then "using awesome Terry Kang-like rack balancing skills" drew OZONATE for 86 straight out of the bag, which he quickly followed with a well-placed AWEE for 45. In case you haven't guessed, Lipe defeated Cree.

Sam Dick-Onuoha (Duncanville, TX; 1645) fell to Travis Chaney (Fort Smith, AR; 1651) this round, 345-486. I see DEFLATIoNS, which Travis got down. I also spy ELUTING on their board.

Darrell Day (Richardson, TX; 1773) defeated John OLaughlin (Sun Prairie, WI; 1882), 481-432. I see John's gENSENG, JUNTA, DEX, QUIZ, which created a bunch of points for John. Darrell caught up in quick order with plays like COVERTLY, DEEMSTER, OUTCRIES, and RALLINe.

So, Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA; 1800) is from India, in case his name didn't already give that away. He had a very mother continent game this round. His opponent Martin Weisskopf (Huntsville, AL; 1547) played NAAN and few plays later, Sam got down POORI (both yummy Indian breads). At the nearby game on their table, a player tried twice to play POORI (which is good), but she made bad hooks, so the word kept coming off.

Thomas Conrad (Rio Rancho, NM; 1400) wants me to know about his round 7 game with Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA; 1800) yesterday. Tom played EuLACHON through the C for 167 points. Sam held and even challenged Tom, and won that game, 530-334 ish (or thereabouts). That word was played in the 2005 Nationals against Panupol Sujjayakorn and I even reported about it (and of course forgot), but Tom remembered it and cited it to me as he told me about this play! Sometimes I think the wrong person does my job. ha ha ha!

Gregg Speicher (McKinney, TX; 1366) played Jacqueline Camper (Memphis, TN; 1415) and they submitted a result slip that gave Greg a 333-36 win. John Chew, thinking that perhaps Jackie had gone even further overtime than Robert Gillis (Owens X Roads, AL; 1495) last round, asked Bryan Pepper to investigate. Indeed, it was a worthy investigation, as she had missed a digit in her score, a zero at the end. Correct score, 360-333, in Jackie's favor.

Thomas Conrad (Rio Rancho, NM; 1400) played VINIFIES.