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WPC 2008 Commentary: Round 22

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 22

The play of the round, for sure, is one made by Amnuay Ploysangngam (THA) in his game with Kunihiko Kuroda (JPN): SAMURAIS for 66. How culturally exiciting!

This round, the young phenom David Eldar (AUS) squared off against Amit Chakrabarti (USA) at table 1. I'm sure the online viewers will be happy to see some new blood at that table! It turned out to be David's turn to win, but they both really enjoyed the game, they said.

Tim Adamson (USA) won an upset in his game with James Sekyi (GHA) by bingoing out with SURVEYED to the D for 82. It suddenly was 372-364 in Tim's favor. Such a gentleman, James was smiling and congratulatory towards Tim for the find.

I find the finished SAMURAIS game and see that Amnuay also played OTARINe for 75 and Kunihiko played back-to-back FArMERS for 70 and DIVINES for 81. It was a close game, but Amnuay pulled out a 410-399 win.

Puneet Sharma (USA) softly says, "I was down by 128 and won the game." He is sitting opposite Shakir Reshamwala (KWT). I said, Puneet, I'm sure that Shakir wants to be happy for you, but today has been his day to give back a lot. He gave the first win to Louis Reed (USA) today, too! Puneet's win came because of VISIONER to the R for 91. He also got down the very nice lOATH/OAR/ATE/TUT/HAS for 53. Holy parallel plays Batman! I see Shakir's RETSiNA and ANISEED, an 86-point double-double.

I walk by Liz Jackman (AUS) and she has a stack of challenge slips casting a shadow on her table. They are ALL from this game with Sam Dick-Onuoha (USA). He blushes as I look them over. After their game is over, she walks up an earring to the front of the room she'd found on the floor. I asked her about the phonies and she said there had been 10 challenges made by her in the game and 1 by him. Of her 10, she called off IONICISE*, GALOUR*, SKAE*, KAP*, SPECKLY*, and YCLEPES*. I was like, WAY TO GO, LIZ! She said Bob Jackman (AUS), her husband, had encouraged her to challenge more, so she was doing as he suggested!

Stuart Goldman (USA) sitting quietly at the back table says, "Hey, you missed by triple-triple!" In round 20, versus William Huttel (USA), he played VITREOUs through the R for 140. Nice going, Stu!!

Due to a flight conflict, Louis Reed (USA) had to leave early today, before we even begin the last two rounds. He told us about this conflict yesterday and said, "I am not leaving early because I've played bad, at all!" This means that to avoid byes, we are inviting Bryan Pepper (USA) to play in the last two rounds. He is extremely nervous about this. He gets to play Sunny Wright (AUS). We've told her to be gentle with him!

Phil Robertshaw (Eng) vs. Howard Warner (NZL), a big win for the New Zealander: 481-346. The board delighted me with the sheer WHAT KINDA WORDS ARE THEY-ness of it all! In two plays, Howard played WAQF# for 39, then down from the triple, BUNDHS/WAQFS# for 62. As Phil told me this, he actually winced in pain at the mention of the points. I also see SNIRTLE#. Phil got down a word I do know: AERIEST.

I love Theresa Camilleri (MLT). She is such a honest player, letting it all out. I walk by and she says, "I am stupid, so stupid, you cannot be more stupid than me." She lost this round to Dave Wiegand (USA), 439-426. She had the win sewn up, and he agrees this was the case. Holding some nice tiles, all she had to do was a simple block. And for some reason, instead of some safe word, she played UNWIFED*, which Dave challenged off. I see Dave's REINVADE for 74 and THIRSTED for 89. She played TENAILs for 76 and PuLTONS for 65 + 5. He admits she had the game, but wouldn't go so far as agreeing that she was stupid, depsite her asking him to a few times.