Go to: Commentary Games Players Standings Photos

Back to 2007 Dallas Open Live Coverage

2007 Dallas Open Commentary: Round 16

[ ]

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 16

This round, our last of the day, was full of everything, but an overlay of family togeterness permeated the room, both in the ones that were truly related and in those who have been related through their love of this game for many, many years.

Two mothers played with their own kids. Katya Lezin (Charlotte, NC; 1040) squared off against Noah Lieberman (Charlotte, NC; 540) and delivered him another loss, 437-225. They both admit there was nothing spectacular played, but that the game was played at all was spectacular. Families that play together stay together, is what I say. And I'm sure I'm the first!

A few tables away, Lila Crotty (Metairie, LA; 1338) played daughter Lindsay Crotty (Metairie, LA; 976). This time, the younger one won, 363-301. This loss, says Lila, was meant to be, because both Crottys end the day, 9-7. On their board, I see they fairly split the bingos. One each: Lindsay's sONNIES for 72 and Lila's SANITIES for 66.

I walk across the room that is quickly emptying out to find Samantha Southard (Albany, NY; 1305) wrapping up her game with Brett Perkins (San Antonio, TX; 1074). My notes are a bit cryptic as they are being typed with my laptop right up against the dinner plate of Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974), who is being too polite to tell me to get a life and do this elsewhere. Brett opened the game with DREDGEd for 70 and his second play was REUNITES for 68 from the R. He also played HERNIAS for 80 and sOAPIER for 74. Samantha had some cute plays: STOWABLE through the O for 88, BEARING for 86, and the plausible phoney (at least as Brett saw it) UNDREDGEd to the triple for 33. In the end, it was Brett's win, 473-409, but both agree that it was fun throughout and that Samantha could have easily won the game if the tiles had fallen slightly different.

From the other end of the room, I see a blonde head bobbing and an arm in the air. It belongs to Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON; 1856) and I can tell she's got a story about her game with Mike Baron (Corrales, NM; 1755). Before I even reach the board, I hear "...seven-bingo game..." So, I'm excited, partially because she's excited, her enthusiasm is catchy!

The first bingo down was hers, dIPTERAN through the E for 86, and Mike played UNCLEAN for 63. Next was her SUZERAIN to the N for 84. THIONIDE* through the I for 62 went down for Mike and she didn't like it. She held, but let it go figuring it was close enough to a word she did know and it let her dump her Q, for 21, leaving her with HORSED on her rack. Mike's next play was SOOTY, hooking the S to create SUZERAINS for 42. As luck would have it, she pulled an I out of the bag and slapped down HORDEINS through the N for 76. Mike then had a dilemma: he needed points. Which almost certain phoney should he try? STATEDOM* or STOMATED*? He opted for the latter, attempting to make 176 points. I'm not sure if she laughed or not, but she did challenge it off. Around this time in her story, Fran Silver (Cote Saint-Luc QC; 1734) came over and said, "Robin I'm leaving now, the one-year-olds are in the car waiting, we are going... now... did I mention now?" To which Robin replied, "okay, I'm coming, our last two plays Sherrie, were my EMERGING for 76 and Mikes IODATES for 82." I glance over her scoresheet and see that victory was hers, 508-359.

Forgetting the tournament for a bit, I walked outside with Fran and Robin to meet the two grandkids, a boy and a girl, twins. Really cute. As Fran strapped herself into the seatbelt of the third row of seating in the minivan she said with a toss of her hand, "Yes, I lost all my games today, but who cares? Look who I get to go to dinner with?" And off they went for life after SCRABBLE^®.

I come back in to find Alyssa Faria (Washington, DC; 1669) holding my notepad. She'd wanted to tell me about her game with Michael Willis (Midlothian, TX; 1801) this round and I asked her to write down the plays for me while I went outside to admire the wee ones. She complied. Looks like it was a good game for both, but Mike's win, 551-407. Mike's plays were HOSTAGE for 71, ANTELOPE for 90, ESURIENT for 68, RESIDUE for 76, and JIHAD for 90. Alyssa got down CREAMILY for 92, NAIADES for 75, ADVICE for 48, and DUTIFY for 42. Mike walks by and says, "I went 3-5 yesterday. I feel like I've redeemed myself today by going 8-0. Way to go, Mike! When I mention this to John Chew, he says, "it's even better than that, he is the ONLY player to go undefeated today."

Midway through round 16, I walked by a game between Karen Fishman (Stamford, CT; 1570) and Thomas Conrad (Rio Rancho, NM; 1400). They both gestured toward BEARDLESS, so I knew I had to find that game and hear, as Paul Harvey used to say, "the rest of the story." Tom was sitting patiently, most of the games around him packed up and the players long gone. Turns out that BEARDLESS was played from the BE for 63 by Tom, but it got even better later on in their game. Karen found the pretty HEART on the triple word, creating EH/RE/YA for 50 points, which might have made her possibly in the game afterall, but shortly thereafter Tom bingoed out with DINGOEs for 73, catching Karen wtih EIINNX. Final score, 545-235, Tom's win.

Pat Sanchez (Dallas, TX; 1167) tells me that she had a nice game with Phyllis Owen (Plano, TX; 896) this round, which Phyllis won, 422-407. From memory, Pat tells me about a couple of bingos: DONATOR for 74 and STEALING for 68. However, Pat's favorite play was one she made: RAYLIKE, creating ARK and TOE for 76.

A late-finishing game was wrapping up between Lynda Shayne (Edmonds, WA; 1512) and Wallace Schultz (Las Vegas, NM; 1513). I see Linda's OUTRAGES for 61 and Wally's RELATION for 77, LIGATURE for 72, and CHARIOTs for 74. I check out his scoresheet a bit more and notice a scratched word. Turns out he tried PRELATION, but it got challenged off.

As the room was clearing out, I asked Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA; 1922), who was busy helping John Chew hang up standings, what news he had to report about the last round. He tells me about Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR; 1961) fishing for an O to play WOODNOTE, which I think sounded groovy. So, I slip Dave's last scoresheet out of his hands and find lots of other stuff, but no WOODNOTE mention. Turns out that he did fish for a third O and he did get it, but "it never saw the light of the game" as Darrell Day (Richardson, TX; 1773) blocked the spot, so it was but a dream that died. What actually did happen is Dave played FROGGIER for 80 and bURLEYS for 67. Darrell opened with BORZOI for 29 (when I exclaim about this word, John Chew tells me about playing it recently, but misspelling it by adding an H somewhere in the middle), and then played two bingos: NEAREST for 86 and ELOINER for 70. It was Darrell's win, 465-375.

In a round 15 game, Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX; 1734) played DAYSTAR for 71 in a game against Jill Turney (North Vancouver BC; 1597). She played DiSKETTE for 98, which he thought was a great play.

Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) continued his winning ways at table 1 this round, defeating Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ; 1850), 475-337. FLAUNTER for 86 was an early game bingo for Nathan, but then all was quiet on the western front for him. Meanwhile, Brian played ADEnITIS for 70, TERRACED for 62, and the way way pretty DIsJOIN along the triple, hooking the top of POOLED, making sPOOLED for 125.

Looking over the

We end our second full day of play with Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) one game ahead of the pack, and with him doing so well it may have caused some of us to miss that there are two people just one win behind him: Darrell Day (Richardson, TX; 1773) and Chris Cree (Dallas, TX; 1870). Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ; 1850) and Keith Savage (Kenner, LA; 1797) are at 12-4, so really, a number of players stand a real chance of winning this year's DO. Six games tomorrow and then we'll announce the winners and the prizes. Can't wait!

At f the day today, says John Chew, "the leading contender for 3rd place and its coveted Uncame is Chris Cree (Dallas, TX; 1870)."