Charlotte Open on Labor Day

Here at the Charlotte Open, 1/3 -- that's 8 out of 24 competitors -- are under 21: Conrad Bassett-Bouchard, Phil Werthmeier, Nathan James, Joey Krafchick, Christopher Woodard, Mark Abadi, and Noah and Hannah Lieberman. I was able to snap a photo of this phenomenon (here's hoping it turns out even though my flash didn't want to cooperate). Surely it spells good things for the future of tournament Scrabble.

Round one, first challenge, Ann Vyce tried ABJAD* but James Clark wasn't having any of it. She swears to me its a word, but wasn't clear which language it's from. :)

Chad and Conrad BB go at it early. Conrad leads off with the double-blanker MIoCENe and never looks back. Chad later has ADEEEOU and doesn't exchange, finding ODEA for a decent score. He luckily draws MORR, so he's in okay shape after that gambit, though doesn't get much help. Conrad's win.

On Winter and Pratt's board, it's PORN, then ALIE(N)ATE. The narrative almost writes itself!

Hersom and Keith are finished. I see dAYMARE from Hersom early on, and he never looked back. PEERIES is on the board as well as DOCTRINE and RESOUNDS.

STATICE, REQUIRED, and THEREoN pepper James' and Wertheimer's board, a very nice game, and a 13 point win for James in a barnburner.

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Round 2 has Hersom facing off with Pratt. Pratt's at 14-3, Hersom at 11-4. With 4 rounds to go, Hersom needs 3 wins and some spread to catch Pratt, so it's now or never. I see (I)SOGONAL from the star, and PR(O)MISED through that on their board early on. Later, it's c(A)RDINAL through the A in ISOGONAL, and then PIRANAs hooking CARDINAL. Fun to watch two experts at work.

At table 12, Hannah's just challenged off Mark Abadi's PRETIED* after he challenged off a phony of her own, her holding both blanks but a tough combo of letters for her on their board. Another heartbreaking challenge loss for Hannah later: she tries MiSSLES. MISSELS is the word there, or MUSSLES (SUMLESS) would've worked, too. So close!

Most other games seemed to go by uneventfully. I see Marilyn's challenged off Katya's attempt of COIFF*. Woodard challenges off Keith's phony anagram of LESIONED, which I forget.

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Early on in Round 19, Winter challenges off Chris Woodard's attempt of GAUTER*. Still, he got down RESHOWN for 82, and felled Winter, 413-357. Last round he beat Barry Keith. He tells me he's having a great time and his rating is flying!

For Pratt and CBB, I see ABORTIVE, FONDNESS, TRESSES.

SHEETING and SCRAPIES on Nathan James and Joey K's board.

Susan Blanchard and Mark Abadi have NARCOSE and DEVIANTS.

Katya Lezin and Bruce Shuman have SURNAmE.

SPINIEST PIGLETS SAUNTER over to Liz and Phil's board, where she gets the upper hand. He has EEMNOST on his final rack and resignedly slaps down the singular, as the plural is a no-go. He's been having quite the rough past few games, despite his good performance at night.

EASTERN UNITIVE GLOZES on Barry's and Matt's board.

REWINDS, FLAVORS, BEGOTTEN, ENAMORS on Randy and Chad's board.

A little more abbreviated than I'd like, but things are getting more hectic as we draw towards the end.

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Back from lunch. I stopped to catch my breath, hand out some more skins, and make sure the pairings were absolutely right. Check, check, check.

First off, I see a barnburner unfolding (barnburner* -- who knew?) between Pratt and CBB. OUTTRACK*, LIMONITE, and mEGADOSE are already on the board. Conrad tells me he held for a while on OUTTRACK but it seemed plausible and only put Pratt up by 80, but he reasoned if he challenged and lost he'd be out of it anyway. Tough decision, that. Moments later I see them heading over to the challenge computer where Dan types in PESTISH*/OUTTRACKS*. Doesn't look too good for Conrad, who informs me he's already down 130 so he was desperate.

Over at table 2, Harris and Hersom are at it again. Harris strikes first with A(G)NATION, drawing the challenge. Later, (O)ZONES is played, then p(REX)/pRIVATE, and I'm told Chad is up by a bunch.

On Abadi and Shuman's board, I see EYELINES as a 3x3 either through Y or L, forget which. It definitely seals the deal for high play for Bruce this round.

Conrad finally gets down ETESIAN later on versus Pratt, but it's too little too late, and Pratt is Gibsonized!

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First strike in the 2nd place match goes to CBB, who plays RAR(E)FIES, which draws a challenge from Chad.

On Ann Vyce and Hannah Lieberman's board, I see VOILATE*. Ann tells me there's least another story there, which I wait to hear later. Apparently Ann's overdrawn 4 or 5 times this game, to the point where it's become comical to both of them!

MISDEALS and TRENDIER are on Phil Wertheimer and Don Vovakes' board.

A great game is underway between Nathan James and Barry Keith. I see VIBRATOS, LURDANES, AROUSED, and INVADER.

RAMENTA SECONDI QUINS for Winter & Gerry.

I do believe Joey K. and Chris W. have the craziest game of all. Joey actually got to play OUGUIYAS, but later tried PEX in a true brain fart moment. Also on the board are STONIEST, DENIERS, ABATING, RAVELING, and KUDZUS. The sequence looks as if it went:

(O)uGUIYAS
TONIE(S)T
DENIERS/S(TONIEST)
RAVELING through DENIERS
ABATING/G(RAVELING)

Crazy!

The Pratt/Lambert game is an uneventful 17th win for him, and the most interesting game (besides the Joey K/Chris W one) is the fight for 2nd and 3rd, which is covered in pictures I will try to make available once I've caught up on sleep. :) Most noteworthy that I found was CBB playing AMITOTIC, which definitely EARNS his 2nd place finish!

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The nitty gritty!

Round 21 Ratings

Rnk Won-Lost  Spread OldR NewR  +-R Player
  1 17.0-4.0  +1208  1843 1857  +14 PRATT, DANIEL (#2)            $450
  2 15.0-6.0   +750  1868 1850  -18 BASSETT-BOUCHARD, CONRAD (#1) $275
  3 14.0-7.0   +725  1490 1631 +141 HARRIS, CHAD (#9)             $175
  4 13.0-8.0   +533  1703 1683  -20 HERSOM, RANDY (#5)            $150
  5 12.0-9.0  +1120  1737 1677  -60 ZXQKJ, WINTER (#3)
  6 12.0-9.0   +740  1750 1655  -95 KEITH, BARRY (#4)
  7 12.0-9.0   +440  1557 1522  -35 KRAFCHICK, JOEY (#8)
  8 12.0-9.0    +83  1209 1286  +77 GOTTLIN, LIZ (#13)            $125
  9 12.0-9.0    -72  1616 1574  -42 GREENSIDE, GERRY (#6)
 10 11.0-10.0 +1151  1578 1510  -68 LAMBERT, REBECCA (#7)
 11 11.0-10.0  +710  1412 1483  +71 JAMES, NATHAN (#11)
 12 11.0-10.0  +410  1124 1217  +93 WOODARD, CHRISTOPHER (#17)
 13 11.0-10.0  -115  1463 1521  +58 WERTHEIMER, PHIL (#10)
 14 11.0-10.0  -313  1178 1227  +49 SHUMAN, BRUCE (#14)
 15 10.0-11.0  -421  1157 1176  +19 VOVAKES, DON (#15)
 16 10.0-11.0  -472  1123 1144  +21 HOPKINS, MATTHEW (#18)
 17 10.0-11.0  -771  1154 1183  +29 LEZIN, KATYA (#16)
 18 9.0-12.0   -327  1032 1068  +36 ABADI, MARK (#20)
 19 8.0-13.0   -347  1228 1138  -90 CLARK, JAMES (#12)
 20 8.0-13.0   -970  1084 1033  -51 POMEROY, MARILYN (#19)
 21 8.0-13.0  -1004   903  980  +77 BLANCHARD, SUSAN (#23)
 22 7.0-14.0  -1019   917  906  -11 LIEBERMAN, NOAH (#21)
 23 6.0-15.0   -404   908  902   -6 VYCE, ANN (#22)
 24 2.0-19.0  -1635   641  647   +6 LIEBERMAN, HANNAH (#24)

Skins Rundown ($5 each)

[High Games]
 1 532 Nathan James
 2 600 Rebecca Lambert
 3 483 Christopher Woodard
 4 519 Daniel Pratt
 5 560 Winter
 6 476 Marilyn Pomeroy
 7 500 Conrad Bassett-Bouchard
 8 530 Barry Keith
 9 490 Rebecca Lambert
10 500 Christopher Woodard
11 528 Daniel Pratt
12 529 Randy Hersom
13 478 Matthew Hopkins
14 522 Randy Hersom
15 547 Winter
16 504 Ann Vyce
17 472 Nathan James
18 523 Rebecca Lambert
19 519 Rebecca Lambert
20 541 Daniel Pratt
21 544 Conrad Bassett-Bouchard

[High Plays]
 1 122 TRAINERS   James Clark
 2  92 VAGINATED  Phil Wertheimer
 3  91 TAXWISE    Conrad Bassett-Bouchard
 4 128 REQUEST    Marilyn Pomeroy
 5 105 DEEPISH*   Gerry Greenside
 6 176 DIF(F)UsEd Bruce Shuman
 7 106 QUEAZIE(R) Randy Hersom
 8 112 IODIZES    Christopher Woodard
 9  99 QATS       Gerry Greenside
10  86 BURDENS    Conrad Bassett-Bouchard
11 106 (H)OMAGERS Matthew Hopkins
12  98 D(I)CKHEAD!Barry Keith
13  94 SEALIFT/(R)OMANIZE Keith/CBB (CBB later saw he missed FEMINAZ(I)!
14  98 (R)IGHTIST Gerry Greenside
15 122 tIN(G)LERS Noah Lieberman
16 101 RAWHIDE    Matthew Hopkins
17  95 (R)EQUIRED Nathan James
18  85 PIRANAs    Randy Hersom
19 108 RESHOED    Don Vovakes
20 149 EYELINES*  Bruce Shuman (2 3x3s in one tourney!)
21  92 (V)IBRATOS Nathan James

[Totals]
James $20
Lambert $20
Woodard $15
Pratt $15
Winter $10
Pomeroy $10
CBB $22.50
Keith $12.50
Hersom $20
Hopkins $15
Vyce $5
Clark $5
Werth $5
Greenside $15
Noah Lieberman $5
Vovakes $5
Shuman $10

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Phew. Thanks for reading! Hope to see you in Myrtle Beach, Asheville, or at the 2009 Eastern Championship back here in Charlotte, NC!