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2007 Dallas Open Commentary: Round 12

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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 12

Since games tend to start a bit later and earlier as the session proceeds, we had a bunch of players standing and shuffling around at the beginning of this round. Several were waiting for their boards to become available (meaning the board they were assigned to play at). Recounts were going, late-starting games were winding up, and a few got a bit hot about the wait. One who waited, but was not hot, was Mark Milan (Laguna Niguel, CA; 1767) who wandered over with a huge grin on his face. He'd watched Mike Baron (Corrales, NM; 1755) play UNDER?O and he tells me, "I thought, wait, UNDEROO* isn't good in SCRABBLE^®!" Mike had played UNDERdO, which we figured out quickly and UNDERROOS, if they still exist, are some form of kids underwear....

I spent some time this round taking photos of players. We get so focused on the game itself, our noses pressed so far down into boards that the event photos end up featuring only..... well... boards. I looked up and noticed sunglasses, bandanas, smiles, grimaces, etc.

By the front door to the Convention Center, Stuart Goldman (Riverhead, NY; 1624) plays his games and this round he held court with Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ; 1854). An interesting duo, Stu was eating sugar-free chocolate coated sugar wafer cookies while Jim had his hat pulled down past his eyebrows, purple earplugs sticking out of his ears. Their board had the fun STROYS on it, TESTIER, SInUATE, and YOuNGEST played to the T on the triple lane.

Joy Nees (Dallas, TX; 934) and Peter Noom (Santa Fe, NM; 1085) had an interesting game this round. I see on their board ANTSIeST, DROpOUT, RAVINED, and the challenged plays of REWAXES and GRIFFS. I check out their challenge slip and see that these words were challenged so far into their game: OVERDINE*, OUTLOAD*, and FUDGER*. After the game is over, the very tall Dutchman comes over to explain that He opened with REWAXES, which she challenged. Then she played GRIFFS, which he challenged (so they were both at the same loss of turn deficit). Midway through the game, she was ahead, 166-59. Then the tides began to change and he got down the 100-point RAVINED (double-double) and then the 122-point ANTSIeST (triple-triple). The game ended at 470-406 in Peter's favor. He's won three games this morning, is now 4-8, and has a big smile going into lunch.

I walk by a game in-progress between Victor S Torres (Murray, UT; 1451) and Deborah Gaudier (Houston, TX; 941). I see AIRIEST, BuNTERS, and ANDROIDS.

Austin Bradley (Waco, TX; 1461) is playing Karen Fishman (Stamford, CT; 1570). Karen opened with LAYOUTS for 78 and her second play was SOLUTED for 66. A bit later into the game, Austin got down SNIVELED for 78.

Paul Holser (Wylie, TX; 1737) brings me over to his completed game against Martin Weisskopf (Huntsville, AL; 1547). It was Paul's win, 453-274, but the thing he really wanted me to see was his beautiful play of QUEAZIER through the first E for 124. He also played LAPIDARy.

Kent Nelson (Sandy, UT; 1832) looks very peaceful, contemplative, like he's resting, so I decide to sit opposite him. We're both low energy, looking for a bit of quiet. After we look at each other for about 5 minutes (his eyes are movie star blue), I decide to inquire about his game, sitting complete beneath us in teal tiles. It was a win for Carol Kaplan (San Diego, CA; 1630), 461-410. We both agree that losing with a 400 score is no small feat. I see Kent's WOODIEST and Carol's FLIMSILY played through the first L for 67, INERTIa, and VARIATED. He spent a bit of time kicking himself for not blocking FLIMSILY, which won her the game, but c'est la vie.

Chris Cree (Dallas, TX; 1870) tells me he won his game this round "despite himself." He played Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX; 1854) and the game ended at 461-313, but Chris really played dumb, he claimed. Across the bottom triple lane, he played EpiDOTES, when, according to him, he could have played any of a number of other, better words if he'd only "been thinking." No slouch, Geoff, replied with TUX, creating UN and Xi for 51. Chris got down GREENIE, but the two really fun plays of the game were Geoff's. He got down CLERKSHIP to the SHIP (only 28 points, but nice find!) and WICOPY through the OP. What work knowledge! What vision!

Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX; 1734) in a very Mike Early way comes up to tell me the interesting stuff about his tournament, all at once. I'm like, okay, okay, let me write down some of this! His favorite play so far: WHATEVER, played against Sheri Justice (Kansas City, MO; 1227). In another game, he played BATSMEN for 98 which tickled his fancy. However, his favorite anecdote was when he was drawing to go first with Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA; 1800). They both pulled Es for the first draw, then Sam drew an R and Mike pulled a C. Most of us would think, big deal, so Mike goes first, but they went the extra mile and in tribute to the event's coordinator, they realized they'd spelled CREE.

So, it was the same result for Travis Chaney (Fort Smith, AR; 1651) this year vs. Darrell Day (Richardson, TX; 1773). He ended up on the losing end, 331-424. While they were at lunch, I spotted Travis' SETTLING and Darrell's DIORITiC, OUTRAISE, and BRANNIER.

Mike Baron (Corrales, NM; 1755) isn't sufficiently satisfied to have me take a photo of his endgame board. No, I have to take a three-turns-before the endgame board photo first. In this universe, Keith Savage (Kenner, LA; 1797) finds what Mike considers to be a brilliant, winning play of ZILLAH for 56 through the first L and to AH. This find won him the game, 395-388, when Mike was pretty sure it was going to go the other way. There are photos of the board 3 plays from end with racks laid flat and the bag's contents out and one of the finished board.

Benjamin Bloom (Miami, FL; 1578) likes seeing me laugh, so he comes up to me as he heads out to lunch and says, "I lost all four games today.... I'm at a loss for words."

Lila Crotty (Metairie, LA; 1338) is patiently waiting, as are all her lunch buddies, for me to get free so I can go view the body, her game with Terry Kang Rau (Newington, CT; 1419). Lila is almost overwhelmed at how much the tile gods went her way. (She's from New Orleans or thereabouts, I'm beiginning to suspect some voodoo! ha ha) The 520-312 game featured Lila's bREAKERS for 90 (in response to Terry's first play), a few plays later SPIRANT for 72 went down (and drew a challenge), and this play was followed immeidately by VELOUTE for 78. Later in the game, Terry played FERNIEST for 76 and Lila got down SABEING for 77.

Before heading to lunch, Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON; 1856) suggests a tournament director hold a talk--say, perhaps at a place like BAT? she opines--whereby someone, like Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) gives a lecture not on what to play when the sun is shining, but rather how to play with bad tiles. I think this stems from her frustration (well, all of us have known it) with pulling drek and being unable to move past it to some scoring down the line. Anyway, good suggestion, Robin. Let me see if Brian is free!

Bryan Pepper decided to just kick back for lunch. Thinking he might starve, I ask what he's going to do for food and he says, "Subway, tuna sub." I nod, and then moments later realize what he means. He means his baby sister and his nephew will deliver said Subway sub to him. Now that is service. The pair plan on hanging around for some of this afternoon. I'm trying to think about jobs for them to do!