Twentieth Annual "Dells Spells" Tournament (Oct 4-5, 2003)
Director's Report
The twentieth annual Wisconsin Dells tournament results are below. Each division was 12 rounds, split round robin/mod swiss/koh paired, $60 entry fee division one, $45 divisions two thru four, $30 unrated players. I can't say everything went without a hitch, but the event itself went smoothly - players played fairly, were considerate of their opponents and, for the most part, had fun (the three tournament rules). Hasbro/NSA prizes (games, mugs, books) were awarded for high play and high loss in each division, and also for the play using the most letters in the word "TWENTIETH." Division One gave Jim Kramer a nice sendoff to the upcoming World Scrabble(r) Championship, and also got him back over a 2000 rating (not too many of those these days - the only other one, I think, was also here). Jason Brooks won seven of his last eight games to win the performance prize. I was happy to see the return to action by Tom Adams, one of the young phenoms of the 90s who took some time off for school. Division One also had an unusually large number of first time Dells top division players, including Randy Greenspan, Jason Brooks, Joe Gaspard, Steve Lent and Patrick Suglia. Division Two was won for the second time by Mary Atwood, this time seeded 16th, last time seeded lowest in the division. It was gratifying to see Dan and Robin Proud playing in this event, which they started 20 years ago and directed for many years. Joel Armstrong's fifth place finish as the lowest seed was very impressive, and earned him a higher prize than the performance prize, which went to Diana Ittner. Division Three was bookended by Sue and Alan Love. Alan wondered if such tournament balance had ever been achieved by another married couple. The early story in division three was the six straight wins by M.E. Froelich. She had agreed at the last minute to move up from division four in order to make both divisions even. Halfway through, she was alone in first and quite happy with her choice. She held on to win the performance prize, and will also see her rating go up about 113 points. In Division Four, three players had a chance for first place going into the last round. In the end, two first time tournament players, Asher Kach and Rob Robinsky, would take the top two places. Rob was one of three players coming from a non-NSA club at Macalester College in St. Paul, where they are an official college organization. I've long thought that college campuses would be prime locations for Scrabble(r) clubs, and it's nice to see at least one making a go at it. They say they have about 80 members, with 25 or so participating regularly. Tournament report by Steve Pellinen.The Results
DIVISION ONE Seed Player Rtng W Marg Prize ------------------------------------------------- 2 Jim Kramer 1983 10 +763 $350 6 Vincent VanDover 1859 9 +819 $210 1 Brian Cappelletto 2011 9 +571 $100 4 Randy Greenspan 1896 7 +238 $ 70 16 Jason D Brooks 1599 7 +108 $ 60 P 3 Joey Mallick 1929 7 - 32 5 Marty Marcus 1894 6 +577 7 Marty Gabriel 1819 6 +339 11 Joe Gaspard 1676 6 - 53 10 Tom Adams 1689 6 -309 13 Steve Lent 1627 6 -394 9 Alan Helfgott 1708 5 + 23 8 Dennis Liebhaber 1805 5 -139 12 Carol Dustin 1654 3 -846 15 Patrick Suglia 1603 2 -753 14 James Frankki 1626 2 -912 P = Performance Prize, best relative to seed DIVISION TWO Seed Player Rtng W Marg Prize ------------------------------------------------- 16 Mary Atwood 1376 9 +192 $300 10 Kitty Steinwand 1477 8 +367 $200 5 Steven Albrecht 1540 8 +355 $120 9 Beth Amos 1478 8 +315 $ 90 24 Joel Armstrong 1254 8 + 87 $ 70 7 Dennis Fenichel 1491 8 + 79 $ 60 18 Diana Ittner 1352 7 +155 $ 50 P 2 Dan Proud 1637 7 + 14 4 Harriette Lakernick 1553 6 +733 12 Fran Galt 1443 6 +277 1 Jason Kallen 1673 6 +271 6 Ember Nelson 1501 6 +157 23 Stephanie Steele 1267 6 - 42 21 Angelina Scroggins 1308 6 - 47 20 Elizabeth Berman 1346 5 + 34 15 Walter Blue 1383 5 - 77 11 Anita Barry 1458 5 - 86 13 Susan Hoehn 1412 5 -370 19 Harmony Kuller 1349 5 -572 3 Robin Proud 1592 5 -676 22 Robert Nellis 1275 4 -176 8 Devonna Gee 1490 4 -220 17 Patricia Saito-Stewart 1372 4 -410 14 Ilona Loser 1384 3 -360 P = Performance Prize, best relative to seed DIVISION THREE Seed Player Rtng W Marg Prize ------------------------------------------------- 6 Susan Love 1221 10 +610 $300 16 Jason Albert 1016 9 +403 $200 1 Steve Hartsman 1284 9 +265 $140 4 John Ashworth 1233 8 +448 $120 2 Ron Liebhaber 1255 8 +442 $100 8 Mary Becker 1168 8 +416 $ 80 9 Melissa Routzahn 1159 7 +464 $ 60 27 M E Froelich 889 7 +171 $ 50 P 7 Susan Rhea 1215 7 + 79 5 Rosetta Brooks 1227 7 - 51 18 Trish Harrop 991 7 -129 12 Steve Bachman 1114 6 +317 3 Rita McGee 1236 6 +146 11 Maryann Heil 1123 6 +135 10 Dawn Gewecke 1149 6 +117 19 Kay Brick 989 6 - 50 23 Lesley Salas 945 6 -156 22 Hubert Van Tol 981 5 + 31 25 Carol Kupsch 928 5 0 13 Helen Hankwitz 1092 5 - 13 14 Linda Hoggatt 1072 5 -620 20 David Herfel 982 4 - 31 17 Lisa Slankard 1008 4 -291 21 Cheryl Melvin 981 4 -528 15 Cathy Coyle 1039 4 -532 26 Brenda Werner 903 4 -580 28 Barbara Besadny 878 3 -239 24 Alan Love 941 2 -824 P = Performance Prize, best relative to seed DIVISION FOUR Seed Player Rtng W Marg Prize ------------------------------------------------- unr Asher Kach unr 11 +785 $200 unr Rob Robinsky unr 9 +970 $140 7 Evan Lowney 849 9 +953 $100 10 Marty McCarthy 819 9 +892 $ 90 2 Susan Solberg 934 9 +725 $ 70 1 Vicki Zimny 934 8 +638 $ 60 4 Maryanne Lee 905 8 +576 $ 55 3 Roxanne Prichard 912 8 +410 $ 50 13 Sue Fonk 758 8 +261 $ 45 9 Katie Watkins 825 7.5 +419 unr Mindy Lechman unr 6.5 + 41 11 Mary A Meyer 802 6 +352 16 Rhonda Sjodahl 555 6 +104 5 Matthew Ridout 892 6 + 74 unr Terry Hope unr 5 -180 unr Samuel Smith unr 5 -204 8 Tom O'Malley 847 5 -633 14 Ruth Ann Phillips 717 4 -167 12 Howard Prichard 775 4 -529 15 Max Stewart 632 3 -586 unr Jan Czaplewski unr 2 -775 18 Mary Oldani 500 2 -1143 17 Amy Fonk 538 2 -1188 unr Jeffrey Berman unr 1 -1795