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WPC 2010 Commentary: Round 26

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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 26

Nathan Benedict (USA) defeated Nigel Richards (MYS) this round, 482-434. Fun words: QORMA (played by Nigel), GUES, HAEMIN (for 60 by Nathan), POUFFE, BROKeD. Nathan played ELECTRON and FENAgLE. Nigel played SIRUPIEST through the UP (very pretty) and AGEN?SIA. In the endgame, Nathan was trying to figure what NIgel was opening fishing for. The only thing he could see was LOWRIDER. And I think Nigel was fishing for it.

Bradley Robbins (USA) and Kunihiko Kuroda (JPN) are at the challenge machine. TEFS is good and Kurado-san clenches his fist and says "yes" quietly as he walks back to the table.

Chris May (AUS) vs. Ebikeme Adowei (NGA). Chris opened with DAUBIER for 74. He later got down RESONANT for 62 and WURLEYS for 88. Ebikeme played HOSTELED through the last E in response to Chris' opening bingo. A 533-300 win for Chris.

Bradley Robbins (USA) vs. Kunihiko Kuroda (JPN) turns into a win for Bradley, 535-332. There were some phonies... though... I see Bradley's ACONIUM*, WALLETED*, BROOKINg, REClINER. I see DYTAS* by Bradley and Kuroda-san's WOOLIER for 33 on the triple lane. gAZING for 45 is on the triple.

I sat down with Nigel earlier to help him square his tiles (all the talking about his plays after the game is over is so wasteful and halts the forward progress of the tournament, NOT). Nathan sat down and started to undo them, but I realized he was making WORDS out of the blocks. So, in the end, he had 4 blocks of 25 tiles, each with 5 5-letter words stacked atop one another. He said, "You can't ever waste time anagramming or thinking about words."

HOLD THE PRESSES: Tapani Lindgren (USA) won his first full game of the tournament. And, he did this playing Stuart Goldman (USA) who played a 9! From the TE, Stu played TEnDERISe for 80. I see Tapani's TALIONS/EMOS that drew a challenge for 71 + 10. A 417-390 win for Tapani and the admiration and applause of many.

Jim Kramer (USA) vs. Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA), a win for the Thai, 438-412. Jim replied to Pakorn's opening J play with JANKSY (nice!). I see Jim's TWADDLES to the S and Pakorn's GEMMATES and OURARIs and fun WILI/ILEX hook of points pawnage.