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Go to: Commentary Games Players Teams Photos Reports Standings Back to WPC 2008 Live Coverage WPC 2008 Commentary: Round 6Go 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 6 Michael Early (USA) walks over to tell me that he played UNsTATING through AT for 63, which turned out to be 68, due to the challenge. He ended up losing this game, 368-468 to Anthony Ikolo (NGA). This is a good time to discuss the International challenge rule to those North Americans not in the know. In North America, we have a far more draconian challenge policy, called the double challenge rule. When a challenge is made, someone loses a turn. Either the person who challenged a good word or the person who played a bad word. We know that system well. In Britain and in parts around the vast world, they have long used the "free challenge" system, whereby anyone can challenge at any time (with complaints about how the challenges go up when the clock gets run down, to buy time it is alleged). So, in order for us to play civilly, we needed to bridge this obvious gap in styles. Enter the single challenge rule. Every word challenged that isn't good earns the opponent five points. If the word is bad, the challenged word comes up and the player loses his/her turn. So, there are more challenges here than in a standard OWL tournament, but the penalty isn't as steep. Theresa Camilleri (MLT) lost big to Nick Ball (USA) at table 2 this round, 316-431. He played HIREaGE and NOURIcE and she got down ESTRONE, which she quipped, "being the female and all, it was to be expected." David Eldar (AUS) played Marty Gabriel (USA) this round. After discussing what happened (546-400, David's win), they discussed what could have happened. To Marty's play of ABsTAINS for 80, David suggested ATABRINS# which would have put the B on the double letter. Marty also played LORDOSIS for 68. I see David's SCRAMbED for 89 (Marty liked that one), ACTINIAE for 83, WATERLOG for 68, UNRELAXED through the EL for 91, and QI for a 62-point juicy point earner. I also spot DZOS. Those funky British words! Chris Cree (USA) opens his game with Amit Chakrabarti (USA), holding EEOLRT?. He debated, should he play sOLERET or maybe ELECTOR (takes a front S hook), ELECTRO (takes a back N hook). He opted, instead, for OvERLET. He rationalized that he'd have better luck getting a C (getting to see 14 tiles to Amit's 7) and he made sure to slot the blank v in the double-double lane to give four less points should Amit pull a double-double. Well, as luck would have in, Amit had that C! He slapped down METOPIC/COvERLET. Now, Chris was sorta stunned as this play went down because HE DID DRAW THE OTHER C. And he didn't even get to enjoy the prospect of playing there. Good fortune came and he found CREASIER through the R. Amit, undaunted, then came back with ISOTONE. So, four plays, four bingos! Prety terrific! Amit later got down TRANTeD# and he won the game. I see the pretty TZURIS on their board. Of that game, Chris later recounted that he played off VX, around an E, creating VEX, and left himself holding STAIR. He then drew ZU and found that he could have had AZURITES through the E that he just blocked. Isn't life perverse like that? Peter Armstrong (USA) vs. Nawapadol Sayavesa (THA). Peter is standing over his board, one knee resting on his chair, looking down. As I approach, he flashes his million dollar smile. I harken back to something Wilma has said to me earlier today: "Doesn't Peter look like Pete Sampras? He even talks like him!" She is right, I'm pulled in by his charm. He tells me he's just bingoed out to win the game with a beautiful parallel play of BANDERS/BI/AR/NA/DE/EA for 86. I see his FILARIAE from the F, CLOTHING through the L, and CRiNGER. An exciting play is SWY/CLOTHINGS, the shorter one going down the right triple lane played specifically to block. He liked that I noticed it and volunteered that he'd just learned it today. Then he said, "should I admit that?" Made me giggle. Nawa played SPIRAEA and RENAMINg fom the R. Two other exciting plays for the goy in me: MOTZA# played to the ZA annd JEW two rows beneath and partially parallel. Travis Chaney (USA) is having a much better afternoon, having just won his past two games. He always looks so dapper in his bright-colored outfits, today with bright yellow, shiny sneakers to add to the ensemble! The FOX cameraman found him in the crowd and pulled him outside the ballroom for an interview. Everything from the short haircut to his unique facial hair says, "I'm a SCRABBLE fashion plate!" On an Amnuay Ploysangngam (THA) vs. Puneet Sharma (USA) board, I spot the fun ZEELINS. John Chew crunches some numbers and tells me concretely what I've been observing anecdotally. Average scores here are higher than at OSPD-only events. At the last Players Championship, held in Dayton, OH, in the summer of 2007, the average divsion A game score was 398.8. Here at the 2009 World Players Championship, the average game score is 412.6. More words = higher scores! Just adding JA# makes a bunch more high-scoring parallel play opportunities.
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