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2007 Dallas Open Commentary: Round 19

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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 19

John Chew takes a walk to see some sunshine and on his way back in, at table 49, he spots a game played all the on the right side of the board. One of the players, Paul Hagelstein (Waco, TX; 1075), has RETAINS on his rack and John wonders if he'll be able to get it down on that tight board, as John saw only one spot open. A few minutes later, the result slip got turned in Paul did find the spot: NASTIER/NOH went down. A bit later, his opponent, Laura Landsbaum (The Woodlands, TX; 1103) played ZEE/ZA/ES/ET on the triple for 67 points. It was Paul's win, 401-357.

Paul Mulik (Joplin, MO; 1502) wants to show me the game he just finished, but he feels a bit bad as his opponent, Terry Kang Rau (Newington, CT; 1419), wasn't feeling well during the game and spent some of the early time outside the playing room. Once she was feeling better, she did get TITHiNg down for 68. Paul played GENiTIVE for 62, but wasn't sure about the word. A few plays later, Terry put down ASCOTED*/GENITIVES and he just didn't like it, but wasn't sure which word was wrong when the play came back unacceptable. The game was remarkable to Paul for a few reasons. One, it was a very clogged board; two, each of them made 21 plays (causing him to run out of space on his scoresheet, something that has never happened to him); and three, Terry exchanged tiles three times.

Carole Miller (Houston, TX; 1299) sees me and curses that she already picked up her board. Well, I only wanted you to see one play, anyway. It was LEUKOtIC played to the C for 73. She still lost the game, but was delighted with her find.

I spy a game between Fran Silver (Cote Saint-Luc QC; 1734) and Wallace Schultz (Las Vegas, NM; 1513). She always thinks there is nothing to see on her boards, but I did see LEANINGS and HILLOAS before it got picked up.

A quirky smirk on his face, a behatted# Paul Phillips (Denver, CO; 1738) is sitting at a side table with his back against the wall. His tablemate, looking equally as subversive, is Kevin Burbridge (Roseville, CA; 1429). They just looked like they were up to no good, so I took a peek at Kevin's ever-present laptop screen and I was terribly disappointed. Nothing subversive, just Zyzzyva bingo stems practice.

At table 1 this round, Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) squared off against Keith Savage (Kenner, LA; 1797). A good game, Keith got down TRAILERS for 68 and NONTITLE for 77. Brian played UNWEAnED for 65, EMISSIvE for 80, LOITERED for 63, and QUIETEN for 53. Brian's win, 450-403.

At table 6, Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA; 1922) played his Quackle cocreator John OLaughlin (Sun Prairie, WI; 1882). It was a 5-point win for Jason, 398-393. I see PLASTRONS, CHEERIO, and BASKeRS on their board. This is the second game in a row where I've seen BASKERS on a board played on by Jason.

Tumbleweeds blowing in the wind, I happen upon a board between Darrell Day (Richardson, TX; 1773) and Steve Pellinen (St. Louis Park, MN; 1693) at table 2. From scattered paperwork, I learn that it was Darrell's win, 408-388. I see Darrell's MENtION and FURAnES. Just as I'm about to give up, Steve walks up and says, "Oh TOPH put it away for him." I look up to the upper right hand side and see TOPH for 55, which could well have been the nail in Steve's coffin. Two fun plays made by Steve (he wasn't so sure they were fun, but I was): CISTERN which later became CISTERNA when he added HADJ to the bottom.