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2007 Dallas Open Commentary: Round 9

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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 9

The early morning weather forecasters were predicting hot weather today. Let's see if that pans out.

Chris Cree (Dallas, TX; 1870) took to the microphone this morning to congratulate John Chew on his Director of the Year award, this time with John in the room, and to acknowledge Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) on his streak of Dallas Open successes. Then it was Bryan's turn to remind us all that daylight savings starts tonight at 2 am, which means we'll be starting an hour early tomorrow. Ever the gentleman, Bryan reminded everyone that clocks would be started on time. We'll see who listened.

April McCarley (Austin, TX; 1299) seized upon the moment, just as games were beginning, to tell me about her round 8 game with Stuart Goldman (Riverhead, NY; 1624) yesterday. She had played Stu last year and barely beaten him. When they sat across from one another this year, she introduced herself and he said, "Oh, I remember you alright!" She laughed and told him it was his turn to exact some revenge. Sure enough, his response to her first play was REVENGES. The game was neck-and-neck throughout with them trading bingos and high-scoring plays. But in the end, April again eked out a close victory, 405-396. There's always next year, Stu!

As the games began this round, I walked around, looking for the first bingo and found it at table 19. As a matter of fact, I found two. Martin Weisskopf (Huntsville, AL; 1547) opened up with NOWHERe for 69 and soon afterwards, Michael Stevens (Salt Lake City, UT; 1590) replied with GATHERED through the H for 76. A bit of a clothing afficianado, Mike saw my camera and pointed to his shirt, as if to say, you gotta get a photo of this one!

Karen Fishman (Stamford, CT; 1570) pulled me over to ask if there is a best TX play award. I said I'd check.... I guess I'm still checking. And the answer is yes, yes there IS a highest-scoring, acceptable TX word. So, Karen's opponent might stand a chance of winning it. He, Kent Nelson (Sandy, UT; 1832) opened their game with EXHaUST for 98. She was all into celebrating this word, that is until his next play was also a bingo: PRAIsERS to the last S down the triple for 80. Last I saw, she'd thrown her hands up in the air. I checked in later, and to add insult to injury, Kent finished the game with SENTRIES from the first S or 77, winning the game, 472-372.

On a William Snoddy (Asheville, NC; 1129) vs. Matt Canik (Austin, TX; 1207) board I see TACNODE for 82.

Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ; 1850) appears to have two early bingos in his game against Jill Turney (North Vancouver BC; 1597): UNAbASED for 59 and CELESTAE through the S for 68.

At the next board, Steve Pellinen (St. Louis Park, MN; 1693) is having a similar start vs. Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX; 1734) with two of his own bingos: QuEENLY for 94 (he's thinking about you, Lisa!) and AEOROBEs for 72.

He might look like Bill Kinsella, but Frank Kashuk (Edmonds, WA; 1435) plays like a barracuda! I watch him midgame against Doug Riblet (Austin, TX; 1679). He's moving ORGIAST around the board from one spot to another, seeking to eke the very best placement/point ratio he can find. His final choice yields 73 points. I spot RENEGADO on their board, too.

PELOTONs jumps off the early board between Paul Phillips (Denver, CO; 1738) and Thomas Conrad (Rio Rancho, NM; 1400) at table 5.

A tit-for-tat affair at table 3 where Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX; 1854) faced off against Travis Chaney (Fort Smith, AR; 1651). While I was writing down Travis' two bingos played thus far, GARNeTS for 68 and BIRAMOSe for 86, they took a field trip to the challenge machine. Seems that Geoff's TRIAXON isn't in our dictionary. When they returned to the table, Geoff said, "I knew it was only good in the SOWPODS dictionary (a combination of our North American dictionary and the British dictionary), but knew you (Travis) played a fair amount of SOWPODS, so was hoping you might have some confusion." Then, Travis tried POKE hooking the E onto ELUVIA, creating ELUVIAE*, which brought about another field trip and another play taken off the board. Later in the game, Geoff got down ANTIRED for 71, but it was Travis' win, 455-302.

Chris Cree (Dallas, TX; 1870) faced Darrell Day (Richardson, TX; 1773) today, a longtime buddy, at table 2. Driving to the venue this morning, Chris said, "well, I've beaten him the last five times we've played so I'm sure it's his turn to win." But, it wasn't. Chris ended up with a six win, 424-348. On their board, I see EXECRATE played through the A, OPIOD, VIAND. In the end, Chris bingoed with INSOUlED, leaving one tile in the bag. He feared the Q, but Darrell already had it, so easy peasy for ol' Chris.

At table 1, John OLaughlin (Sun Prairie, WI; 1882) tried, but failed to fell the giant and Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL; 1974) won their game. Brian opened with TSOTSKe for 68 and later got down HOOEVERED for 82. I see a bingo by John, AUNTLIER, for 82.

Alyssa Faria (Washington, DC; 1669) defeated Kristina Simon (Plano, TX; 1653), 486-381. Alyssa got down LINTERS (which she later front-hooked to GLINTERS), ENAMOURS, and the non-bingo vowel dump of AUTOMEN. Kristina played PESTeRS.

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR; 1961) sits quietly at a board. This isn't much of a description, you see, he always sits quietly, but I digress. I ask how he did and he said, "Oh, I lost, as usual." Very tongue in cheek for the current reigning U.S. Open champ! Dave gestures to THErEIN and TRENDOID played through the N as the plays that put him up by 130, but his opponent, Orry Swift (Dayton, TX; 1806), wasn't going to be kept back. He got down BYRNIES, ANOXIA for 67, and OUZeLS on the triple for 74, defeating Dave, 447-413.

Though Mike Baron (Corrales, NM; 1755) has already moved on to game 10, Steve Glass (Dade City, FL; 1848) brings me over to see their round 9 board. Mike got down PEONIES for 79, STIRRUP for 76, and GLIADIN for 86, but Steve clawed back with DETHRONE played through the T for 84, LATTICE for 71, and the fun extension of HYPE to OVERHYPE for 54, and won the game, 503-462.

Thomas ORourke (Alpharetta, GA; 1311) was playing Robert Gillis (Owens X Roads, AL; 1495) on an extremely tight, triangular board (the stairsteppy kind). Bob kept hoping to draw a bingo. Tom kept playing very quickly and very closed. The final score before time penalties was 375-310, in Tom's favor. However, after accounting for Bob's 16 minutes and 39 seconds of overtime, the score ended up being 375-140. For the record, Tom had 15:43 left on his clock. John Chew figured the slip had been handed in with some sort of error, the game spread put in as score by mistake, so he walked over to find Bob picking up the tiles. To John's eye, the clock read 15 minutes and 16 minutes, but Bob pointed to the tiny minus sign that John was missing. John said, "Oh," and just walked away. Some things are just better left unsaid....