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2007 Dallas Open Commentary: Round 6

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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 6

I know there is a SCRABBLE^® tournament going on, but this table only has eyes for the web cam in Ottawa, Ontario, where John Chew's wife Kristen is visiting family with the two Chew boys: Jamie and Liam. I can hear their tiny voices as they visit with dad all the way down in Texas.

Bryan is suggesting Uncle Julio's for dinner. He promises mushroom fajitas and queso. mmmmm.

Orry Swift (Dayton, TX; 1806) and Mark Milan (Laguna Niguel, CA; 1767) are at table 1 with the annotation team. Their board is gorgeous! In progress, I see SENTIENT, EXOCARPs, ORGANISE, DILUTES, and BOYKINd.

At table 2, Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA; 1922) is playing Darrell Day (Richardson, TX; 1773). The board is covered in a filigree of great words: TRACTATE, FLOSSIER, OPIATED, CURULES, DENYING, HOUSESIT, and JINGLED.

Terry Kang Rau (Newington, CT; 1419) in the hall before round 6 exclaimed: "My rating has gone up 100 points!" She was dancing around, very excited about it all. I told her she could break the news to Stefan, her husband, that her rating was now high enough to knock him out of contention for BAT Premier. Joke joke! Fran Silver (Cote Saint-Luc QC; 1734) sat opposite Terry this round and I saw STANdERS and STONIER on their board. At one point, Fran rolled her eyes when she looked over my way, which led me to believe she might have lost. But no, it was the Montreal Mama who pulled out that win.

Outside before this round began, I stopped to say hi to Julius, the son of Travis Chaney (Fort Smith, AR; 1651). He was sitting in the shade, playing on his Gameboy. He looked up and said, "My dad had to play Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) this round." They learn young, these days, to fear ol' Brian! So, as I thought about Julius as I walked by his dad's game. Sure enough, Travis lost, and Brian is now 20-0 at the Dallas Open. He won all 14 last year and his first 6 here this year.... On their board: DEFaCING, VALONIAS, BAITERs, and INTITLES.

Carla Cree (Dallas, TX; 1610) vs. Jean McArthur (Austin, TX; 1619). I see ACUITIES, MIRIEST, NURSING, and CAPOTES.

Siri Tillekeratne (Calgary AB; 1637) vs. Reid Hattaway (Baker, LA; 1372). The word that most grabs me: LOUdLIER.

Judy Newhouse (Houston, TX; 1651) vs. Robert Gillis (Owens X Roads, AL; 1495). Bob opened with ZED, two turns later, Judy slapped down SANITIZED to the ZED for a triple. Bob later got down GRADANTS for 56 and NEUtRINO for 66. I note that the bag isn't empty yet and Bob was down to less than a minute on his clock so I did a Dionne Warwick and "walked on by..."

Kevin Burbridge (Roseville, CA; 1429) has developed a nice activity for between round time. He dons sizeable earphones, pulls out a laptop, and zones out on words.

Chris Lipe (Rome, NY; 1717) "got" Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA; 1800) this round, 447-395. I see Chris' ONANIST and Sam's 100-point EXIGIAL*. A passerby asked Sam if it was good, and he said, "it was good enough to stay on the board!"