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WPC 2010 Commentary: Round 21

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Go to: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29.

Round 21

One game took a bit longer to finish last round, Philip Nelkon (Eng) vs. Eric Kinderman (USA). Once that slip was in, Chris Cree (USA), Wilma Vialle, John Chew, and I headed out for lunch at Best Thai. It was nice to leave this building's ac for another building's ac! The place served Thai and vegetarian food. Chris was horrified, but found enough carcass within to enjoy his lunch!

So, we returned from lunch to find a crowd standing around Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA). He had several of his famous word study sheets out on the table. They were ledger-sized, covered mostly with rows of typed text covered in a complex system of color-coded marks, and there were hastily scrawled words on the bottom margins, some of which were scribbled through (maybe he was sure he knew them!).

A new Dan Stock tableau arrived midge and was hastily put up this round by John Chew and Wilma Vialle.

Jim Kramer (USA) squared off against Travis Chaney (USA) this round. Travis made two very fine plays, pointed out by Jim: ARETHUsA through the H for a 140-point triple-triple and JUCO for 63 points. I see Jim's aRGININE for 61, MADRONO for 90, and APNOEIC for 96.

I saw this endgame, and I still can't quite believe it. In a game he was losing, Sam Kantimathi (USA) slapped down PENITARY* as an outplay. Kunihiko Kuroda (JPN) held Sam for a long time. If he didn't challenge, the game ended in a tie. If he challenged, he might lose, because of the 10-point penalty. So, he took the play, and they ended 360-360. I see Sam's LIMBATE and Kuroda-san's STORIes. This was a game where the power tiles found Kurado-san: ZEE, OX, QIS, JAIOS, etc. This was Sam's second tie of the day. The first was with Fidelis Olotu (Eng) and for the birthday boy whole wins would be better, thank you. Yes, today is Sam's birthday. Send your happy birthdays to him at samtimer.com!

YUNX is the way Nick Ball (CAN) opened his game with Brian Bowman (USA) this round. I see TOAZING, ENTIRES, TRIBUTEs, and MARTiNG on their board.

Marty Gabriel (USA) vs. Nathan Benedict (USA): RIVuLET, AUGITES, OAKIEST, and oESTRINS. It was a 429-417 win for Marty.

Nigel Richards (MYS) vs. Steve Polatnick (USA): bLUEFIN, FISSATE, ADORNING, and MEWLERS.

Typical Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA), sitting at the last table to finish every round, this time with 1 second on his clock. He's become a bad influence on others, I swear. He's now got Eric Kinderman (USA) using all but 40 seconds of his time! I see Pakorn's HAVENED and Eric's BEJADING for 126 points, which fell around the D. The board had lots of pretty other plays, but they were created in a composite fashion: EROSIONS, MISFITS, and DISCOUNT.