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2007 Dallas Open Commentary: Round 22

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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 22

Playing at table 1, was Darrell Day (Richardson, TX; 1773) and Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR; 1961). At table 2 was, Chris Cree (Dallas, TX; 1870) and Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974). Many many years ago, circa 1987, Chris finished 3rd at the Boston Area Tournament. His prize that year was an Uncle Wiggly board game. Ever since then, Chris has wanted to run a touranment of his own where the third place finisher won this game. So we are into year two of this tradition. Thinking it would be one of them who would end up winning that game since they were playing at table 2, before their game began, Chris and Brian posed with the game and kept it propped up at their table the whole round long.

Early into the start of this, the final round, Noah Lieberman (Charlotte, NC; 540) ran toward the front of the room, carrying his result slip, waving his hands around. He'd gotten revenge on his mom and beat her this round, 401-398. I ran back and got a picture just as they were picking it up and racing out the door.

At table 3, Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX; 1854) had a nice win against Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ; 1854), 407-380. I see Jim's UNBANNED for 78 and cAREENED for 77 and Geoff's UTRIcLE for 64. Other fun non-bingo plays: DYVOUR and PREMIXT. Jim decided to tune us all out around him and he pulled out a crossword puzzle book and solved it while the tourament would up around him.

At table 5, Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA; 1922) defeated Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ; 1850), 360-314. The two players scored a hugeous 65 after playing the first 21 tiles. Then Nathan played KIEF for 42 and Jason riposted with WRIGGLER for 88. Nathan played CINeMAs late but Jason countered with FEME/IF/NE/eM/ME for 45 and held on for the win.

Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX; 1734) described his table 7 game as "coyote ugly." It was his win, 375-332. This was the second such titled game of this tournament. Maybe he'll fill us in sometime on what that means.

John OLaughlin (Sun Prairie, WI; 1882) and Steve Pellinen (St. Louis Park, MN; 1693) are talking quietly at table 4. It appears that Steve bingoed with BOTTOMED and drew the last tile in the bag, a Z, to win the game, 429-354.

A crowd begins to gather around table 2, where Chris Cree (Dallas, TX; 1870) and Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) have just finished their Uncle Wiggly battle. People are curious about what is happening on the stage, too, but there is a recount in progress up there. Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) won the game at table 2, and Chris spent some time explaining the game to those who'd gathered. At one point, mid-game Chris wanted to play off two tiles. At first, he was going to play IT, off a W, but then changed his mind to a IN, because he figured he should do what was best for his rack, and he got penalized for that thinking, because Mr. Cappelletto came back in 6/10ths of a second with OLEORESIN to the IN for 68. From the E, Chris tossed down EXALT for 60 to the triple, but he never quite caught up. As an aside, Chris mentioned he could have played FLAGMAN if he had played HA earlier in a non-intuitive spot.

Now, onto the stage. Deep into his recount, Darrell Day (Richardson, TX; 1773) is intent on finding just two more points. The annotators make clear that they think the score is what was already decided upon as they pack up their computers. Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR; 1961) slides his scoresheet over to me and I see his Darrell's bingos: RAISINs for 81 and OUTRIDE for 61. Dave played ALIASES for 70 and the fun HAERES for 50. Dave whispers, "it was a real nail biter," to me. As I type this out, Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA; 1922) suggests that onlookers may want to check out Quackle's analysis of the position when Dave played JAW when there were three tiles left in the bag. This can be seen by viewing the game in the annotated games section. In the end, it was a 2-point win and that meant that Dave Wiegand won the 2007 Dallas Open! Grats to DAVID! THREE CHEERS!