##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Report after game 11 ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 08:57:56 -0500 (EST) During round 11, I officiated at the OSPD in the front of the room, next to Catherine Schwarz, the Managing Editor of Chambers; no comparison, but I held up. Here were almost all the words challenged in order. Apologies for any misnotations of which are acceptable in what lexicon - any errors are mine in typing and not those of either adjudicator. JIGOT# KIBOSH#$ MAIGRE#$ PONGS#$ NITRIUM- VEERIE- COINERS#$ TERNARY#$ HIMATAL- TRENDING#$ COVINS#$ UNTURNED#$ YEXE- FEMITERS# REFALLS$ DATO#$ WICE# RELIEVER#$ PULTICES- VELARIS# CRINATES# NIFFERED#$ LAHARS#$ OPERABLE#$ PALISADED/HIDER ? VERBIDS#$/SIEGER# RINDY# FLEG# ODIA- JUDGER$ REFACING#$ SHOOGIED# CEILED#$ ERUCTATE#$ ETHMID- UNIS# HOY#$ VIRES#$ UDAL# PSIONIC#/CHIDER#$ AMATIONS# CRIT# YITE# OVERSTEP#$ DANK#$ MAWK# SWIZ#/SOAVE$ QUERIER$/TOTE#$ KONS# TOOLKIT# MIRK# NYAFF#/TOLUENE#$ TINWARES#$ SQUAIL# ZINCODES# RASSLED$ NALA#/TERN#$/TWINY#$ NITRIDS$ SEALGHS# NONRIGID$ DIOCESAN#$ BIRR#$ IMITANT# HOX# DOD# HOIT- PLEWS$ TODE- CAYUSE#$ HIMATIAS-/MODS#$ TINDED# CONNOTES#$ MANGOES#$ SCRAMJET#$ LOCA$ CLANGS#$ MASTERDOM# COYS$ FLEGS# NEWIE$ DEBONE$ TRIPT- MOOI# DACOIT#$/ADRIP- RANA#$/NID# VAIL#$ MEGA# WASTERS#$ ELFS# MULING$ AWAKING#$ OVERT#$ ##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Report after round 13 ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 09:05:29 -0500 (EST) Saldanha/Boys, Boys opens MAZIESt. After SHORTIE, he's ahead 35-240. Then 74-276 with BLUNTER double-double nonbingo. Later, oUTRIDER, AVERMENT, GoNDOLAS. Saldanha does well to reach a final 412-549. Edley/Pollock Pollock is out to a 2 bingo lead. Edley catches up with OrGANIZE 253-229 double-double. Pollock tries RESEX and ORGANIZER for a would-be 58; Edley takes the spot. Later, it's 406-328, then Pollock makes a bid to come back with RATICIDE, 406-394. Edley secures the win with OVERFAST. The game also had AErATES, TALAPOIN, SNARLIER LEAGUERS. Wapnick/Grant 316-388 final. Grant's looking good. Logan/Sim is 185-177 after11 plays, no bingos. 364-357 after LATHERED, ?ORRIES; and JAILERS as a 66 point nonbingo. Norr/Hale 199-146 Norr has {AEGLYR?}. At 375-376, Norr has {?URK}, Hale on move blocks AA-L with AE. Norr goes out with bURKER, 393-382. Avrin/Placca has all vertical bingos: LECTURE, TARSieR, EVASION. Fisher/Awowade has HAIQUES, FEUTRING, DOVetAIL, VOLTAGES. Felt/Bhandarkar is at 312 with cOOEEING and CAMLETS by Felt, SWARMER and VIOLATE by Bhandarkar. Cappelletto/Appleby opens with SOONEST, is 420-419 final, after LAXATIvE, DARRAIGN, CAbOOSE. Sherman/Lipton is 357-323 after POETISERS thru ER, UNWIsER, ANALOGUE. Hossy/Siddiqui is 358-334 after REPOSIT, BREEzES, REGINAE and ZINCKY for 88. Fumbling dumps some tiles on the floor and into a carrying bag; an official helps out. The UK alternate and I notice that the clock wasn't restarted after a challenge. We obtain the director's untimely advice that we should point it out. The director reports that at two tables, the same dispute occurred: player A loses a challenge on his move, B places his move; then it occurs to A that he'd like a second opinion. Ruling left to the reader. ##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Report after round 14 ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 09:07:59 -0500 (EST) Sherman/Boys opens with VOW 8g, MAA f6 (AXES). Later, it's 172-148, bingoless after 13 plays. Sherman is overvoweled, Boys clogged with consonants. Later, after BETTORS, aIRLINE brings it to 270-245. At 298-337, Sherman holds {MALLUN?}, Boys {HOSEBAG} (as on his rack). Final 314-387. Edley/Saldanha 172-147, the board's seen LEGATION, TUTORIAL. TOXINES double-double. JOINT is extended to JOINTERS triple. 355-360 after UNDARING by Edley. Saldanha uses S & ? in nonbingo for 30 FRESNEl to seal the game. Logan/Lipton begins with Logan DENTINE, responded to by kALEYARD, TOPAZINE, RIVAGES in the first 4 plays. In a short time, it's 276-366. Logan on move with {IIEMBR?}, Lipton {AUDIOON}. It goes to 392-493, and the final is 409-506. Grozd/Wapnick a quiet game that Wapnick characterizes as not well played by his opponent, who had both blanks. Grozd rejects UNDERWAY after putting it down at first. It goes from 303-349, 345-349, 383-36, and final 398-391, with Grozd winning on opponent's tiles. Pollock/Fisher is 317-307 with OStOMIES on the board. Fisher has {CGRRPTW}, leading to 412-354 subsequent to Pollock's OUTCAvIL, which Pollock remarks on Fisher's failure to challenge. Final is 438-351. Nevarez/Holgate sees AsTATINE as triple-triple by Holgate, who trails anyway near the end, 409-397. Also on board are sARKIER, METRICS, STATUED. Things are getting tense. I have been asked "not to be so obvious in hanging over the players" by the tournament coordinator. They've also managed to divert me another way: the director's printer having run out of ink, he carries his data for posting to the players by "sneaker-net", but that printer is suddenly printing too large. I show one of his assistants how to fit it on the page. I've been shifted to a different phone, outside the ballroom, but access for me is limited to twice they say: at the end of each session. 264-184 wins going first and second. There are still no draws. ##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Report after round 15 ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 09:13:20 -0500 (EST) I find out, in the 15th game, that there is a system: while I knew table #1 has the top players, tables 2, 4, ... have the bottom, next to bottom, etc., and 3, 5, ... have the second, third, etc., best group. Thus, the odd tables have players both approximately that number from the top, and evens are the same from the bottom. I finally focus on the low odd- numbered tables. [TABLE 1] Logan/Boys goes 260-273, 292-253, and a final of 352-385 secured by Boys' FIRETRAP. [TABLE 5] Pollock/Sherman is 264-262, Pollock on move with {ABEESSR}, no bingo thru a T, Sherman {TROUTIU}. At 316-311, Sherman plays of I (IROUT?), drawing W. Pollock has {SEEPAY?}. Behind 371-347, Sherman plays MUZzIER 14h, and wins 389-420. Also on the board are OVERARCH, INUNDATE and OXTAILS. [TABLE 3] Grant/Saldanha opens OVERNET. AMUSING, OWLIEST, InTHRALL come later. Grant opens WOO h13 (ONSR?), getting {FRONSE?}. Saldanha has {QOLDERM}. Grant wins by 20. [TABLE 9] Grozd/Appleby At 443-326, Appleby is low on clock. AIGRETTE OlEATES, CREATION on board. Appleby catches partway up with ANSERINE for a final 432-405. [TABLE 13] Edley/Felt sees ARRANgE, METISSEs, MAINTAIN. 374-326 with Felt on move, but only 6 tiles. 404-384 final. [TABLE 7] Lipton/Rosenthal is 401-408, with DEMAINES, EXPOSES, NOTArIZE, SINOPITE, GLITTERY. Lipton catches up to 449-432 final with AVOURE. Widergren loses with 493 to Fisher, who scored 514. Widergren actually looks happy. The top 4 are Boys in first, then Grant Sherman Lipton (in some order). Next 4 are Edley, Gruzd, Shaffique? Steven Alexander stevena@interport.net ##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Standings after round 13 ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 09:23:38 -0500 (EST) Player table after round 13 Posn Code Name Score Spread Points 1 7 David Boys 11 1213 5944 2 62 Joel Sherman 10 484 5698 3 58 Bob Lipton 9 710 5476 4 55 Brian Cappelletto 9 646 5487 5 34 Jeff Grant 9 443 5367 6 56 Joe Edley 9 370 5540 7 8 Adam Logan 9 313 528 8 17 Allan Saldanha 9 169 5408 9 13 Phil Appleby 8 565 5619 10 29 Gitonga Nderitu 8 536 5299 13 10 Robin Pollock 8 344 5371 14 11 Joel Wapnick 8 247 5271 15 57 Robert Felt 8 90 5270 17 16 Mark Nyman 8 38 5127 35 63 Jeff Widergren 6 272 5187 37 61 Steve Polatnick 6 108 5164 42 60 Rita Norr 6 -112 4841 44 54 Paul Avrin 6 -278 5207 47 9 Libero Paolella 5 91 4811 56 59 Johnny Nevarez 4 -128 4879 ##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Standings after round 14 [corrected] ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 10:14:17 -0500 (EST) WSC Player table after round 14 Posn Code Name Score Spread Points 1 7 David Boys 12 1264 6351 2 34 Jeff Grant 10 522 5805 3 62 Joel Sherman 10 433 6054 4 8 Adam Logan 10 410 5792 5 17 Allan Saldanha 10 188 5818 6 58 Bob Lipton 9 613 5885 7 13 Phil Appleby 9 602 602 8 55 Brian Cappelletto 9 567 5846 9 10 Robin Pollock 9 431 5809 10 28 Shafique Thobani 9 430 5600 12 56 Joe Edley 9 351 5931 13 57 Robert Felt 9 156 5690 19 11 Joel Wapnick 8 240 5662 22 16 Mark Nyman 8 32 5567 29 63 Jeff Widergren 7 332 5613 42 9 Libero Paolella 6 160 5226 43 61 Steve Polatnick 6 48 5530 46 60 Rita Norr 6 -252 5179 48 54 Paul Avrin 6 -296 5587 51 59 Johnny Nevarez 5 -47 5379 ##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Standings after round 15 ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 09:33:01 -0500 (EST) WSC Player table after round 15 Posn Code Name Score Spread Points 1 7 David Boys 13 1295 6736 2 34 Jeff Grant 11 542 6198 3 62 Joel Sherman 11 464 6474 4 58 Bob Lipton 10 630 6334 5 28 Shafique Thobani 10 461 6020 6 49 Steven Gruzd 10 409 6149 7 8 Adam Logan 10 379 614 8 56 Joe Edley 10 371 6335 9 17 Allan Saldanha 10 168 6191 10 13 Phil Appleby 9 575 6430 11 55 Brian Cappelletto 9 536 6235 14 10 Robin Pollock 9 400 6198 15 11 Joel Wapnick 9 383 6150 16 57 Robert Felt 9 136 6074 17 16 Mark Nyman 9 124 6004 34 63 Jeff Widergren 7 309 6107 37 61 Steve Polatnick 7 177 6032 42 60 Rita Norr 7 -97 5623 44 54 Paul Avrin 7 -251 6000 46 59 Johnny Nevarez 6 156 5801 48 9 Libero Paolella 6 31 5599 Note: Players' positions within the bands 1-4, 5-8, etc., were determined after 15 rounds. Games 16, 17, and 18 determine where, within those bands, they will finish. ##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Standings: final fours ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 09:53:19 -0500 (EST) 4 are Boys, Grant, Sherman, and Lipton. 5-8th: Thobani, Gruzd, Logan, Edley 9-12th: Saldanha, Appleby, Cappelletto, Nderitu 13-16th: Onyeonwu, Pollock, Wapnick, Felt ##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Standings - the final two ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 13:13:35 -0500 (EST) The final two contestants for World [English Language] Scrabble Champion are David Boys who locked it up with two games to go, and Joel Sherman, who locked it up one game before the final one (of the ending three game round robin). Interviewed by this reporter, David feels fairly confident, even though he did drop the final two games including the last one to Joel, having studied OSW intensively, as he believes Joel did not. Joel won the $1500 prize for best in the top group round robin (instituted to discourage the person in David's position, who was guaranteed a spot in the top two) from throwing games. As for the positions of the other players, they are all in the same 4-player segment as they appeared in the Standings after round 15. Full standings (not counting the order of numbers 1 & 2) coming shortly. ##From: Steven Alexander ##Subject: WSC Standings after round 18 ##Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 13:27:50 -0500 (EST) WSC Player table after round 18 [Final as to all but 1 & 2] Posn Code Name Score Spread Points 1 7 David Boys 14 1154 7795 2 62 Joel Sherman 14 679 7817 3 34 Jeff Grant 12 453 7300 4 58 Bob Lipton 11 645 7526 5 56 Joe Edley 12 668 7647 6 49 Steven Gruzd 12 422 7292 7 28 Shafique Thobani 12 381 7212 8 8 Adam Logan 10 149 7214 9 17 Allan Saldanha 12 389 7537 10 29 Gitonga Nderitu 11 734 7449 11 55 Brian Cappelletto 11 477 7327 12 13 Phil Appleby 9 193 7447 13 40 Ifeanyi Onyeonwu 12 701 7667 14 10 Robin Pollock 11 484 7514 15 11 Joel Wapnick 10 264 7328 16 57 Robert Felt 9 -35 7109 17 16 Mark Nyman 11 256 7326 18 4 Joan Rosenthal 11 -206 6906 19 36 Mike Sigley 10 11 7308 20 15 Andrew Fisher 10 -92 7234 21 51 Missaka Warusawitharana 10 705 7476 22 39 Sammy Okosagah 10 451 7657 23 6 Naween Fernando 10 -500 6947 24 46 Neil Scott 9 426 7230 25 18 Allan Simmons 10 377 7024 26 5 Akshay Bhandarkar 10 48 6866 27 22 Joshua Addo 9 117 6928 28 23 Chrys Placca 9 -155 6905 29 48 Tony Sim 10 94 6973 30 14 Russell Byers 10 -114 7279 31 32 Teong-Chuan Tan 9 -146 652 32 33 Peter Elbourne 9 -266 6759 33 20 Mike Willis 10 367 7546 34 64 Gareth Williams 9 444 7574 35 63 Jeff Widergren 8 294 7408 36 1 Roger Blom 7 112 7213 37 3 Bob Jackman 9 272 7280 38 61 Steve Polatnick 9 238 7337 39 30 Karl Khoshnaw 9 133 7005 40 26 Sam Orbaum 7 -301 6874 41 38 Femi Awowade 9 -168 7091 42 54 Paul Avrin 9 -334 7242 43 37 Blue Thorogood 8 -69 7234 44 60 Rita Norr 8 -110 6908 45 25 Zelig Leader 9 -325 6620 46 19 Clive Spate 8 102 7196 47 59 Johnny Nevarez 7 55 6847 48 9 Libero Paolella 7 25 6635 49 2 John Holgate 8 -69 7340 50 35 Glennis Hale 8 -131 6801 51 44 Armando Lao 8 -247 6843 52 43 Anwar Siddiqui 6 -255 6817 53 53 Selwyn Lobo 8 -5 7040 54 52 Rodney Romany 7 -349 6675 55 50 Debbe Hossy 7 -659 7023 56 21 Robert Springer 6 -979 6471 57 45 Pepito Arreola 7 -503 6856 58 41 Trevor Harrison 7 -549 6692 59 27 Kunihiko Kuroda 6 -1026 6384 60 42 Wimal Samarasundera 6 -1405 6156 61 31 Gerardo Perez 6 -545 6011 62 47 Michael Holmes 6 -1044 6177 63 24 Winnie Yeh 5 -923 6240 64 12 Chris Broderick 3 -810 6090 Note: Players' positions within the bands 1-4, 5-8, etc., were determined after 15 rounds. Games 16, 17, and 18 determine where, within those bands, they will finish.