2010 Eastern Championship

Tournament Coverage

[ Before ] [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ]

Round 4

So, a few minutes into the beginning of this round, I hear a quiet "director." I walk over and Terry Kang Rau points at the clock and suggests I start it. It, technically, should have been started a few minutes earlier, and I apologize for not noticing and she said, "It won't hurt to give him a few minutes." I nod and walk off to hide under a table and take a nap (okay, the second part didn't happen).

Tapping away, I glance over to my right and see an emanating travel stress Joel Sherman. He's got checkbook in hand and he's weighing his options. I lurch out of my chair and get Terry to neutralize the clock. She says, "Oh great, just my luck." I spyalmost 14 minutes left on his clock. Joel has two losses walking through the door (rounds 2 and 3). Cynthia Seales will make up the first round game right after game 8 today. I help Terry pick up tiles and Joel slides into his chair, sitting on his folded legs, bouncing. Beside them, Joey Mallick is absolutely whaling on David Gibson. I walk away from that table for a few, sensing a building story. Terry's involved: she never disappoints.

I glance out the French doors of this playing space, past the division C players, and the sun is bright and glorious. I'm glad I took the time to go out last round and make a mini snowman!

I see Mark Schmidt and George Rhyne leave their in-progress game. I quickly glean that they are challenging VERTE/SEROW*. The tiles up and the game continues.

Stacey Decker (legs almost wound around her neck, she is so flexible) and Peggy Grant are in an endgame. Peggy plays, creating the opening, I think, that permitted Stacey to outing with DIRECTS, which hooked atop to make CIONS for 79. The play is challenged. I see Peggy's PAtTERED for 66 and INSTANT for 68. I think the opening and fine outplay garnered Stacey the win.

Another Massachusetts soul who came to Charlotte, Joe Waldbaum, wrapped up his game this round with Peter Alan, and lost big, 369-467. They both agree that Peter had every single tile of import. I see Peter's opening QUANT for 48, RETOOLED for 68, MISRATED for 83, and FOLDERS for 74. I tell Peter that he is just getting his revenge for all the people who hate lawyers. (Joe is a lawyer). So, on cue, Joe launched into the what he termed the "best lawyer joke ever." You will be pleased to know that based on the content of words from Mike Baron's Poo list, I won't be able to share it!

Teresa Schaeffer is beaming. She's just had a whopper of a good game with Marilyn Pomeroy, featuring a 94-point double-double PENDULUM through the first U! It was a 453-334 win for Teresa. A nice way to head to lunch.

Back to David vs. Joey. Joey's win, 503-367. David opened with a trade 4, Joey traded, too. David then traded 1 and Joey slapped down CABOOsE for 76. David replied with SENSATE/CABOOSES for 89. David later played REMAILED. Joey played INGESTA for 89 and the gorgeous EUDEmONS for 77. My favorite play of Joeys: holding AEIOOUZ, Joey found ZOOECIA through the C for 36. Style points galore!

Well, Joel managed to do it. He defeated Terry Kang Rau by just afew points, a handful. He went over on his clock, but only for 10 points, and eked out the win. He took back is scoresheet, so I can't tell you the plays, but it was a gorgeous game. Maybe later.

Time for lunch and the nudge I need to find a local to take me shopping for food. One can only bear hotel food for so long, right?

HASBRO is the owner of the registered Scrabble® trademark in the United States and Canada. J.W. Spear & Sons is the owner elsewhere.