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[CNSC 2000 Logo]

Third Canadian National SCRABBLE® Championship

Players (Text Only)

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  This page is mirrored from the Official Event Site.

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This page lists all fifty competitors in the Canadian Championship, in order of pre-tournament ranking.

Name: David Boys
Age: 36
Occupation: Programmer Analyst
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 1
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 5
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 5
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 18
Qualifying Rating: 2027
Residence: Montréal, QC
NSA Club: #83, Montréal, QC
Years of Tournament Play: 15
Notes: David was the 1995 World Champion. According to his mother, his future in the game of SCRABBLE® was foretold when at the tender age of four, he took up a red crayon and inscribed the F word on the wall of his bedroom, spelling it correctly of course.
Name: Adam Logan
Age: 25
Occupation: Mathematician
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 2
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 1
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 4
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 2
Qualifying Rating: 2023
Residence: Berkeley, CA
Years of Tournament Play: 15
Notes: Adam has represented Canada both in the World Scrabble Championship and in the International Mathematical Olympiad, a mathematics contest for high school students. In 1996, he won both the Canadian and North American Championships.
Name: Joel Wapnick
Age: 54
Occupation: Professor, Faculty of Music, McGill University
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 3
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 3
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 1
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 15
Qualifying Rating: 1959
Residence: Montréal, QC
NSA Club: #83, Montréal
Years of Tournament Play: 17
Notes: Joel is the reigning World and Canadian champion.
Name: James Cherry
Age: 30
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 4
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 29
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 3
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 6
Qualifying Rating: 1939
Residence: Ottawa, ON
Years of Tournament Play: 6
Notes: "One of the few EE PhDs who's resisted the Brain Drain to the US -- so far."
Name: Zev Kaufman
Age: 53
Occupation: Contractor
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 5
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 6
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 24
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 8
Qualifying Rating: 1921
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto, ON
Years of Tournament Play: 19
Notes: Will walk to Scrabble tournaments, up to 3 miles.
Name: Tim Anglin
Age: 59
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 6
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 30
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 31
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 29
Qualifying Rating: 1883
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto, ON
Years of Tournament Play: 13
Notes: Omar Sharif said "I make movies so I can play bridge." Tim says "I retired so I could play SCRABBLE®."
Name: Albert Hahn
Age: 52
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 7
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 16
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 2
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 4
Qualifying Rating: 1877
Residence: Calgary, AB
NSA Club: #374, Calgary, AB
Years of Tournament Play: 7
Notes: Albert was the runner-up at the 1998 CNSC.
Name: Jakob Teitelbaum
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 8
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 33
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 19
Qualifying Rating: 1877
Residence: Ottawa, ON
Years of Tournament Play: 7
Notes: Second-youngest competitor, son of 13th-ranked Peter Teitelbaum.
Name: Bernard Gotlieb
Age: 42
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 9
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 19
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 27
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 27
Qualifying Rating: 1858
Residence: Montréal, QC
NSA Club: #83, Montréal
Years of Tournament Play: 22
Notes: Bernard is the director of the Montréal club and the winner of the 1998 Michael Wise NSA Director of the Year award. He once got a flat on his wheelchair in front of Buckingham Palace, and a bobby helpfully corrected him, telling him that what he had was a puncture.
Name: Evan Berofsky
Age: 25
Occupation: Administrative Assistant, I.T. Department, Shoppers Drug Mart
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 10
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 24
Qualifying Rating: 1854
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto, ON
Notes: "Once described by a fellow Scrabble® player as the next David Boys."
Name: Jim Nanavati
Age: 43
Occupation: teacher
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 11
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 26
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 8
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 9
Qualifying Rating: 1846
Residence: Burlington, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto
Years of Tournament Play: 8
Notes: Once won 15 of 21 games in a marathon session with a friend, from 5:30 P.M. to 3:00 A.M.
Name: Libero Paolella
Age: 45
Occupation: bicycle courier
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 12
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 11
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 9
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 7
Qualifying Rating: 1843
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto, ON
Name: Peter Teitelbaum
Age: 54
Occupation: physician
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 13
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 18
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 40
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 5
Qualifying Rating: 1839
Residence: Ottawa, ON
Years of Tournament Play: 16
Notes: Father of 8th ranked Jakob Teitelbaum.
Name: Paul Sidorsky
Age: 23
Occupation: student
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 14
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 50
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 10
Qualifying Rating: 1836
Residence: Calgary, AB
NSA Club: #374, Calgary
Years of Tournament Play: 4
Name: Ron Hoekstra
Age: 32
Occupation: Accountant (at the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired)
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 15
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 32
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 1
Qualifying Rating: 1833
Residence: Grand Rapids, MI
NSA Club: #371, Grand Rapids
Years of Tournament Play: 4
Notes: Ron was born and raised in Richmond BC, plays keyboards, loves hockey and languages. He speaks Dutch and some French, and is studying Latin and Spanish.
Name: Shaun Goatcher
Age: 48
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 16
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 4
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 11
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 36
Qualifying Rating: 1820
Residence: Mississauga, ON
NSA Club: #422, Mississauga, ON
Years of Tournament Play: 37
Notes: Shaun is the past director of the Mississauga club.
Name: George MacAulay
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 17
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 28
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 14
Qualifying Rating: 1813
Residence: Saskatoon, SK
Name: Christopher Sykes
Age: 34
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 18
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 3
Qualifying Rating: 1812
Residence: Cambridge, ON
Notes: Chris writes: "I am a Christian who happens to be a computer programmer living and working in Cambridge ON. Originally from England, I came to Canada in 1990, and became a SCRABBLE® player in 1996 shortly after John Robertson and Su Edwards founded the Golden Triangle SCRABBLE® Club in Cambridge. Formerly known as 'The Huddersfield Mangler', my online name changed from 'Huddersmangler' to 'gospell'."
Name: Craig Rowland
Age: 34
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 19
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 12
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 20
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 33
Qualifying Rating: 1807
Residence: Mississauga, ON
NSA Club: #422, Mississauga
Years of Tournament Play: 7
Notes: Craig is the director of the Mississauga club, and a self-described language freak with a passion for minority non-Indo-European languages who spent the past summer learning Finnish in Helsinki and is also a collector of Apple Records and Beatles memorabilia.
Name: Hugh Currie
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 20
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 15
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 23
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 40
Qualifying Rating: 1806
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto
Name: Lisa Deift
Age: 38
Occupation: gemologist
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 21
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 10
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 39
Qualifying Rating: 1804
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto
Years of Tournament Play: 17
Name: Andrew Golding
Age: 35
Occupation: programmer/analyst
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 22
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 20
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 6
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 37
Qualifying Rating: 1804
Residence: Montréal, QC
NSA Club: #83, Montréal
Years of Tournament Play: 12
Notes: "Gave up skydiving to become a SCRABBLE® player."
Name: Jeffrey Parsons
Age: 37
Occupation: Associate Professor (Information Systems)
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 23
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 36
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 30
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 13
Qualifying Rating: 1790
Residence: St. John's, NF
NSA Club: none
Years of Tournament Play: 12
Notes: Jeff is the only player representing the Maritimes at the CNSC, and prefers fishing for salmon to fishing for tiles.
Name: Rama Murty
Age: 59
Occupation: Adjunct professor in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Toronto.
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 24
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 23
Qualifying Rating: 1783
Residence: Waterloo, ON
Notes: "I work in an area of mathematics called combinatorics, more specifically, graph theory. I like travelling, languages, reading and history. I am looking forward to playing in my first CNSC."
Name: Fran Silver
Age: 56
Occupation: Teacher for "Special" Children and Adults
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 25
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 14
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 7
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 22
Qualifying Rating: 1773
Residence: Montréal, QC
NSA Club: #83, Montréal
Years of Tournament Play: 14
Notes: "Dancer, Teacher, Scrabbler, Wife and Mother... in that order!"
Name: Glenn Dunlop
Age: 56
Occupation: Retired (from Ontario Government, Corrections)
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 26
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 7
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 13
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 17
Qualifying Rating: 1768
Residence: Brantford, ON
NSA Club: #193, Brantford
Years of Tournament Play: 19
Notes: Glenn is the director of the Brantford club and of its popular annual November tournament. His tournament holds the North American attendance record for one- or two-day tournaments: 132 players competed on November 5th, 1994. He himself holds the Canadian record for highest scoring club or tournament game: 706 points vs. Hy Francis at the Toronto SCRABBLE® Club.
Name: Randall Thomas
Age: 44
Occupation: Freelance
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 27
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 12
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 30
Qualifying Rating: 1765
Residence: Calgary, AB
NSA Club: #374, Calgary, AB
Years of Tournament Play: 9
Notes: Randall writes: "The highest altitude (on land) at which I've played a game of SCRABBLE® was 17,600 feet. That was on a rest day at Nido de Condores (Nest of the Condors) on the standard route of Aconcagua in Argentina. Unfortunately, a few days later, we had to turn back from our summit bid due to bad weather, at approx. 21,600 feet."
Name: Don Malcolm
Age: 62
Occupation: Retired high school teacher
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 28
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 36
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 12
Qualifying Rating: 1765
Residence: Victoria, BC
NSA Club: #402, Victoria
Years of Tournament Play: 6
Notes: Enjoying retirement, sharing a happy life with Roslyn, trying to be as good an investor as Gene Rawlins and as good a SCRABBLE® player as Joel Wapnick.
Name: Siri Tillekeratne
Age: 58
Occupation: civil/structural engineer
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 29
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 23
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 25
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 16
Qualifying Rating: 1730
Residence: Calgary, AB
NSA Club: #374, Calgary
Years of Tournament Play: 25
Notes: Siri is the director of the Calgary club and the winner of the 1996 Michael Wise NSA Director of the Year award.
Name: Linda Espallardo
Age: 59
Occupation: Registered Nurse
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 30
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 25
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 18
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 34
Qualifying Rating: 1720
Residence: Montréal, QC
NSA Club: #83, Montréal
Years of Tournament Play: 17
Name: Carl Madden
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 31
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 26
Qualifying Rating: 1718
Residence: Brantford ON
Name: Leah Katz
Age: 74
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 32
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 37
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 22
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 48
Qualifying Rating: 1707
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto
Years of Tournament Play: 18
Name: Wayne Clifford
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 33
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 38
Qualifying Rating: 1701
Residence: Calgary, AB
NSA Club: #374, Calgary, AB
Name: Ray Francis
Age: 40
Occupation: Manager, Market Data Infrastructure (Scotiabank)
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 34
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 24
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 28
Qualifying Rating: 1697
Residence: Pickering, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto, ON
Years of Tournament Play: 17
Name: Steve Ozorio
Occupation: Assistant Hotel Manager
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 35
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 46
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 43
Qualifying Rating: 1697
Residence: Mississauga, ON
NSA Club: #422, Mississauga, ON
Name: Fern Lindzon
Age: 42
Occupation: jazz singer/pianist
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 36
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 35
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 42
Qualifying Rating: 1672
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto
Years of Tournament Play: 5
Name: Joe Peters
Age: 40
Occupation: groundskeeper
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 37
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 21
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 34
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 47
Qualifying Rating: 1670
Residence: Montréal, QC
NSA Club: #83, Montréal
Years of Tournament Play: 18
Name: Leon Fernandes
Age: 14
Occupation: student
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 38
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 44
Qualifying Rating: 1666
Residence: Calgary, AB
NSA Club: #374, Calgary, AB
Notes: Leon is the youngest competitor this year.
Name: Anita Rackham
Occupation: Retired after 35 years in pharmaceutical new drug research.
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 39
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 45
Qualifying Rating: 1656
Residence: Montréal, QC
NSA Club: #83, Montréal
Notes: Anita writes: "I hope that my 693-point play of a few years ago (QUIXOTES on a triple-triple) was not a once-in-a-lifetime occurence - If I can just pull off another one in Toronto!"
Name: Mike Ryan
Age: 54
Occupation: Thoroughbred Race Charting
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 40
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 32
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 11
Qualifying Rating: 1650
Residence: Richmond, BC
Notes: Mike's avocation: the archaeology of prehispanic (Mayan) Mesoamerica
Name: John Robertson
Age: 36
Occupation: Part-time bookkeeper at a medical facility, private tutor, writer and softball umpire.
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 41
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 21
Qualifying Rating: 1648
Residence: Cambridge, ON
Notes: John is the author of three books on baseball history: The Babe Chases 60, Baseball's Greatest Controversies, and 777 Baseball Trivia Teasers. He has also written approximately 75 biographical sketches for sports encyclopedias. From 1995 through 1999, he wrote a weekly sports history column for the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. In 1996, he co-founded the Cambridge-based Golden Triangle SCRABBLE® Club.
Name: Lisa Kessler
Age: 45
Occupation: Media Supervisor
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 42
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 15
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 46
Qualifying Rating: 1637
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto
Years of Tournament Play: 12
Notes: Lisa writes: "I'm always entertained by what we call 'SCRABBLE® Sightings' - instances when SCRABBLE® games show up unexpectedly in real life. Working as I do in Advertising, the two worlds collided recently when I spotted an ad for a new car. The SCRABBLE® trademark has surely reached new heights, to wit: with the ad's headline claiming that this car was designed to deliver more than the competition, the selling point - as demonstrated with tiles on a SCRABBLE® rack - was that its name outscores the names of its competitors!"
Name: Sary Karanofsky
Age: 49
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 43
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 33
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 16
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 32
Qualifying Rating: 1629
Residence: Montréal, QC
NSA Club: #83, Montréal
Years of Tournament Play: 11
Name: Trevor Sealy
Age: 51
Occupation: Manager of Accounting, Durham District School Board
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 44
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 20
Qualifying Rating: 1626
Residence: Oshawa, ON
NSA Club: #263, Oshawa, ON
Notes: Trevor is the director of the Oshawa club.
Name: John Dafoe
Age: 48
Occupation: computer consultant engineer
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 45
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 43
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 25
Qualifying Rating: 1617
Residence: Brampton, ON
NSA Club: #422, Mississauga
Years of Tournament Play: 6
Name: Mike Ebanks
Age: 51
Occupation: courier
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 46
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 31
Qualifying Rating: 1612
Residence: Calgary, AB
NSA Club: #374, Calgary, AB
Name: Danny Panganiban
Age: 50
Occupation: Corrosion technologist
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 47
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 44
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 41
Qualifying Rating: 1583
Residence: Calgary, AB
NSA Club: #374, Calgary, AB
Years of Tournament Play: 5
Notes: Spends half his time in Calgary AB, the other half in Mississauga ON.
Name: Brenda Megannety
Age: 48
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 48
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 26
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 49
Qualifying Rating: 1580
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto
Years of Tournament Play: 8
Name: Lynda Wise
Age: 56
Occupation: High school guidance counsellor and teacher
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 49
CNSC 1996 Ranking: 35
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 37
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 50
Qualifying Rating: 1554
Residence: Toronto, ON
NSA Club: #3, Toronto
Years of Tournament Play: 25
Notes: Her most frequent SCRABBLE® thought: "I'm really going to start learning words right after this tournament!"
Name: Hilda Schlechter
Age: 62
Occupation: Retired
Pre-Tournament Ranking: 50
CNSC 1998 Ranking: 38
CNSC 2000 18-Round Ranking: 35
Qualifying Rating: 1549
Residence: Oshawa, ON
NSA Club: #263, Oshawa, ON
Years of Tournament Play: 18
Notes: Hilda's pastimes are baking and gardening.
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