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WPC 2008 Commentary: Round 17

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, Round 23.

Round 17

A glorious day in Dallas! The sun is shining, the sky is bright blue, and thankfully for Chris Cree (USA), the wind has died down. Wilma Vialle was in the playing room with Mary Rhoades and Bryan Pepper when we arrived this morning. The tables were all set up perfectly and the sole player in the room, again, was Nigel Richards (MYS). He had staked out his side of table 1 and was warming his chair up for his first opponent this round, John O'Laughlin (USA).

Wilma thanked the players for being on time (and except for Nawapadol Sayavesa (THA) and Amnuay Ploysangngam (THA) who are still on a subtropical tomorrow time zone, she was right!) and mentioned the schedule update. We will be doing pairing on the previous round's results, so the players have to get the results in lickety split. She often uses the word commence, such as "your games may not commence." But today, she suggested that players who had tournaments to announce could do so before the "commencement of games ths afternoon." Oh, and she did that fun Canadian/British/Australian thing of saying shhhhhhhhed uuuuuuule and not skedule like we Americuns say. I think the players respond more favorably to her style of speaking.

I happen upon the stage where game 1 is being played. I've been avoiding the stage for a few reasons this event. It is a small stage, smaller than ones in years past (players have to be careful not to push chairs too far or quickly backwards) and the game is annotated, so what can I say that viewers can't say for themselves in looking over said games. I can, however, share some of the heartbreak. John, ahead 194-50 early on, ended up losing to Nigel due to four Nigel bingos. I caught ZEBROID, UMW?LTS, and IGAPOS on their board.

Chris Cree (USA) is smart to pull in others to run his events, because all he wants to do is play and since he is such a strong player, it works well for him. He is at table 2 this round with Adrian Tamas (ROM) and they are going at it. I see EGEsTION, and FENDeRs on their in-progress game.

Dave Wiegand (USA) and Marty Gabriel (USA) are at table 3. Dave opened with QUOTE and Marty added some letters to make MISQUOTED for 63. I see GRANDPAs and URSIFORM played by Dave. Oh and now I see TEtRODES for 68, also by Dave. I later return to find that it was a 457-363 win for the champion from Oregon.

So, the kid who travels with office products, David Eldar (AUS), uses Sellotape brand scotch tape (new name to me!). It is not the matte finish type so the chandilier lighting from above bounces off the tape in a blinding fashion (okay, not blinding, but noticeable!). I see DiVORCED from the D, NATURES, RUNLETS, and BEATIE in this game versus Nawapadol Sayavesa (THA). While I watch, Nawa plays IPOM?EA so quietly that I neither hear the blank declaration nor the score. Nawa's hair is standing straight up and all 6.5 feet of David's legs are tangled up under the table as he sits back languidly in his chair.

All I can hear is "bugger." Phil Robertshaw (Eng) and Theresa Camilleri (MLT) have their heads bent foward and they are going over their game's last few plays. I see Phil's PENsION, DIANTHUS, and endgame play of MURIATES through the U (kinda like the final stab through her heart). She did get down RApIERED, but is a bit cross about her crappy tile drawing. She holds up the W. "See the tiles in MURIATE? They were in the bag with this. What does he pick? Everything but this and what do I get? THIS!" She wasn't all that delighted. She has had two recent barely 300-scoring games and she is looking for some more equilibrium. In this moment of intensity, she reminds me a bit of Robin Pollock Daniel, North America's top rated female player (or thereabouts). When the tiles aren't flowing fairly, she let's me know, too! It is a monstrous 478-309 win for Phil. Theresa and I both confess that we think he is the nicest, sweetest guy in the room and that losing to someone else would be far worse.

Sam Dick-Onuoha (USA) is freezing. He's got a thick sweater tossed over his shoulders and a loud yellow knit cap pulled down over his head. His game in progress and a bit intense as he plays Michael Quao (GHA). I see YUTZES, DEIONISe, AREMITES, ENGIRDLE, and SALTIEST. I walk by the game after it is over and Sam is shaking his head. It was a 441-377 win for Michael. In the sense of "it takes a village," several of Sam's buddies were around the game, tiles splayed out all over, thinking of what he might have done differently.

Puneet Sharma (USA) and Anthony Ikolo (NGA) just wrap up their first game today. Anthony opened with OLEINES for 66 and later played CRiTTED* for 68 and CREAMINg for 67. Puneet played GOIEST for 76. He tracked me down about 5 minutes later to tell me about the phoney bingo Anthony played.

The smartly dressed Victor Ikawa (BHR) is sitting opposite Michael Early (USA) repeating, "Why did I do that? Why did I do that?" He swings his arm over his head in confusion and continues to study the board. Mike, seemingly oblivious, continues to fill out paperwork and tells me of 400-393 win. I see PRAJNAS, ReSOAKS, TETANOID, and DENARII. I still don't know what Victor did...

Liz Jackman (AUS) is playing Steve Polatnick (USA). Their board is quite pretty. I see OVER?AND, INFINiTE, DICHASIA, and GENTLED. She looks at me and mouths, "This is a thrashing." I look down at her scoresheet and she appears to be about 200 points behind and the game isn't nearly over. I've seen him before in action: Steve on a roll can be scary!

William Huttel (USA) loses by ONE SINGLE LOUSY POINT to James Sekyi (GHA) this round, 425-426. I am careful to not ask if they've conducted a recount (it is something I've had to bite my tongue on several times in this event). I see James' HOIdENS for 87 and EXTERNaL for 80. William played GLAIRES for 72 and the lovely lovely lovely VENTAILE to the triple for 86. What makes this special is that on his next play, he puts down AA/AVENTAILE on the triple again (this time on the front) for 44. He says, "It is good with an E in their dictionary, but not in ours." This man is rated 1296 in the NSA rankings and he is studying some pretty intense SOWPODS stuff. Way to go, William. I'm impressed.

Sam Kantimathi (USA) sporting his ENORMOUS SamTimer soda keg, has just had a 6-bingo romp against Tim Adamson (USA). A respectable loss for Tim, 408, but a monster win for Sam, 563. MAhSEER#, PERFECTA, BANDAGES, NEATENS, KNOTTILY, and ADDITION are Sam's six bingos. Tim played VIRTUOSA for 94 and kEROGEN. Tim mentions that he did challenge off a phony Sam bingo: SAGEMORE*.

John Chew slips a piece of paper onto my laptop. It says, "Kate Watson had SEX at board 1, but had to practise withdrawal: the player she was annotating, John O'Laughlin (USA) has actually played SIX!"

Amit Chakrabarti (USA) has lost big to John Luebkemann (USA) this round, 352-464. They are both still smiling and conversational. I see TINDALS, FUstIER.

Howard Warner (NZL) vs. Peter Armstrong (USA) is interesting, to say the least. Once again, Peter works out some tile magic and plays a toward the end "bingo bango bongo" of TENORITE for 62, INDULGES for 76, and ANCHORET for 67. I also see QUITTOR and EMOVING#. Howard explains, "After ANCHORET, which fell one short of the double word score, I held JASEYOU and contemplated what I could do... so many choices." He could have played JAY for 52 elsewhere on the board or JASEY/ANCHORETS for 52. He chose the latter (there were other choices, too), but in the end it was the wrong choice. There was one S out and as it turns out, Howard picked it. So, JAY for 52 eslewhere would have given him the flexibility to play ANCHORETS with other letters, thereby milking the endgame for more points. It was Peter's win, 423-392.

Chris Cree (USA) defeated Adrian Tamas (ROM) at board 2, 411-379. Much talking and paperwork...

So, I noticed that John Luebkemann (USA) looked different today. He leaned over my desk and said, "Hey! I got a quip for you!" He gestured down at his ensemble and said, "These are Kenas Originals." Sure enough, the big overall fashion diva, Mark Kenas (USA) lent John some clothes today. The longish, loose shorts with John's dressier shoes and socks is a fun combo. Bryan Pepper quipped, "All he needs is lederhosen and that hat with the feather and the look would be complete!"

Quiet Nick Ball (USA) wanders over to check out the electronic scoreboard. He says that he is very pleased that he was able to get back into a game he was losing to Mark Kenas (USA) this round.