Portland’s Labor Day Tournament

 

CARL JOHNSON’S RATING SOARS PAST THE 2000 MARK!

 

Carl Johnson finished 18-2 in the Main Event.

This dominating performance pushed his rating over 2000 for the first time, putting him at a lofty 2032.

He is now ranked number three in the country!

He bested National Champion Dave Wiegand, who finished second with a 15-5 record.

This performance came after Carl’s winning the Early Bird with a 7-1 record.

Carl started the tournament with a 1942 rating.

 

 

CARL JOHNSON

 

THE 21 AND UNDER PHENOMS

 

A group of age 21 and younger players gathered after the tournament to celebrate

several days of phenomenal play.

 

This was only Chris Tallman’s (Vancouver, BC) 2^nd tournament, but

he competed in a very tough Division 2, finished 9-11 and departed with a new rating of 1530.

Chris is definitely a young player to watch!

 

Julius Chaney (Ashland, OR), is the son of southern Oregon’s strongest player Travis Chaney.

He talked Dad into letting him play in the Early Bird and won two games.

Since an odd number of players were in his division in the Main Event

he ‘played up’ and surprised a lot of adults by going 8-12 in Division 4!

Dad was mighty proud!

 

Matthew Nelson (Poulsbo, WA) has been playing for a couple years and has moved up to Division 3.

He now boasts a higher rating than his Dad who played in Division 4.

Matthew went 11-9 and was just one-half game out of the money.

 

Noah Walton (Portland, OR) has skyrocketed up the rating ladder and now competes in Division 1.

His rating has risen more in the last 12 months than any other player in the country - 926 points!

He went 9-11 in the Main Event.

 

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) went 12-8 in the Main Event’s Division 1, for fourth place and raised his rating to 1895!

Rafi played in the 2009 Nationals and was at or near the top in Division 1 for the first several days.

 

Dielle Saldanha (Richmond, BC) is part of a great Scrabble playing family,

and finished 10-10 competing in Division 1.

She was also the winner of the prestigious 2009 Oregon Tile event

hosted by Dave Wiegand last May.

 

Scrabble is definitely thriving with the younger generation here in the Great Northwest!

 

 

The 21 and UNDER Players

 

Chris Tallman (Vancouver, BC), Julius Chaney (Ashland, OR), Matthew Nelson (Poulsbo, WA),

Noah Walton (Portland, OR),Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA), Dielle Saldanha (Richmond, BC)

 

                                                                                                                                                                              

CELEBRATION!

 

Thanks to Betty Cornelison of Club #308 for obtaining two beautifully designed cakes.

(That’s Betty in the background of the photo at the top of the page!)

These cakes honored Portland’s own Dave Wiegand, as we are extremely proud of our two-time National Champion!

Carl bested Dave in the Main Event, but Dave pushed his rating

to an even higher 2078with his 2^nd place finish!

 

 

Dave cuts the cakes                 -                   while                -              Carl savors the victory!

 

Submitted by Dave Johnson.  Photos by Howard Neal.