Match 1
Victoria Groce vs. Andrew He vs.
Long Nguyen
Going into this game Andrew and
Long needed a win far more than Victoria
did. For much of the Jeopardy round Andrew had the advantage, helped when he
found the Daily Double early in CLASSICAL COMPOSITION. Already in the lead with
2800 points he wagered everything:
Debussy took the title of a piano
movement from a Verlaine poem that begins "Your soul is like a moonlit
landscape fair."
Andrew pondered: What is Claire
de Lune?" It was correct and he was into a big lead.
But despite her reluctance to
pick it Victoria finished strong by running the category RECENT HORROR to
retake the lead, finishing with 9600 points to Andrew's 5600. Long trailed with
2800 points.
In Double Jeopardy Long was
helped when he found the first Daily Double on his first pick SCIENCE &
SCIENTISTS. Saying "I was kind of like a a scientist back in the day" he bet everything.
Oblivious sharks and hungry
remora have this symbiotic relationship, partly from Latin for 'table'.
Once again we were nervous until
Long responded: "What is commensalism?" He moved up to 5600 points,
right on Andrew's tail
Two clues after that Andrew got
the other Daily Double in RATED MIDDLE 'X'. (The letter X would be in the exact
center of the response.) With 7800 to Victoria's 11,200 he wagered 6000 or as
he put it '6 kilo-points."
Synonyms for this include center,
core & union. He
couldn't figure it out. At home I was right – I guessed "What is
nexus?" but because I hadn't responded correctly on the clue prior I gave
myself no points. Andrew dropped to 1800. He never got out of third place the
rest of the round. Victoria and Long went up and down much of the rest of the
round but nothing changed in order by the end of Double Jeopardy.
This was the first game where at
the end of Double Jeopardy no one had a runaway. Victoria had 15,600 points to
Long's 8000 while Andrew had 4800 points. So the end result for any of the free
players was not written in stone.
The Final Jeopardy category was
WORLD LANGUAGES. One of 24 official languages of the EU, this island tongue
spoken by 500,000 is a form of Arabic written in the Latin alphabet.
For the first time in this year's
Masters all three players had the correct response in Final Jeopardy (as did I
at home) What is Maltese?
Andrew wagered 4000, moving him
to 8600. Long wagered 7601, giving him 15,601 and putting him momentarily in
the lead. It came down Victoria and when her correct response was revealed as
well as her 401 point wager for a well-deserved victory.
It was Victoria's second win and 3 more Match Points. Long got 1 match point.
Andrew got zero.
Interviews: Long admitted that he
and Victoria had gone all the way back to college in terms of rivalries both in
Academic Quiz Bowl and that in high school she'd beaten his brother's team. He said
his brother had come all the way across the country to see him play…hopefully.
Andrew talked about how his increasingly long hair dated back to 2020 but before
his audition he had been told to cut because 'it was Covid hair.' Victoria showed
us a good luck charm that dated all the way back to her first appearance on
Jeopardy, a baby toy named Mutton that was Nora's from 2005. It served her in
good standing today.
Match 2
Paolo Pasco vs Yogesh Raut vs.
Juveria Zaheer
The three top players on the
leaderboard after Wednesday's games battled for a win that would give one of
them a clear advantage going forward. Yogesh got an advantage early in the
Jeopardy round in the category HAVE A SEAT. He was already in the lead with
2800 points and though the category made him want to 'have a seat' as he put
it, he still bet all his points.
2 animals that don't typically
get along combine in this folksy term meaning a position of great advantage. Yogesh knew it was: "What is
the catbird seat?" And went up to 5600 points. He was then generous enough
to select "I WANT MY REALITY TV' for Juveria, who thanked him for doing so
before getting the 1000 point clue correct.
Yogesh finished the Jeopardy
round with 7600 points but Paolo with 4800 and Juveria with 2600 were right on
his heels.
Yogesh got off on a fast start in
Double Jeopardy but before he could completely run away with it Paolo rang in
on a 1200 point clue and then found the first Daily Double in OUR FAVORITE
RHYMES. With little choice he bet 6000 points:
In this work the irrepressible
Mr. Gilbert rhymed 'Ring the merry bells on board ship' with 'for the union of
his lordship'. It
is greatly to his credit that he knew the correct response: "What is H.M.S.
Pinafore?" (Savoyard humor.) He moved up to 12,000 points.
Two clues later Yogesh found the
other Daily Double in ELEMENTARY MY DEAR MASTERS. At the time he led with
16,400 points to Paolo's 10,400 so he also bet 6000 points. This time not going
all in probably saved Yogesh the game.
The Soviets wanted to name
element number 104 kurchatovium; the Americans got it named this, after a
physicist and Royal Society president.
This one clearly stumped him (and
me at home too). Before time ran out he guessed: "What is Seaborgium? It
was actually Rutherfordium. He dropped into a tie with Paolo for the lead.
The rest of the round was a mix
of incorrect responses, triple stumpers and a slow recovery by Juveria. But
Yogesh would hold on to his lead. However unlike all the previous games at the end of Double Jeopardy this one was
anyone's to win. Yogesh led with 15,600 points; Paolo was next with 11,200 and
Juveria right in there with 9800.
The Final Jeopardy category was
LITERARY NAMES. A literary friendship began when these two met in Florence
in 1350; the death of one in 1374 inspired a sonnet by the other.
Juveria's response was revealed
first. Who are Chaucer and Petrarch?" Sadly she was half correct. Even
sadder, it cost her everything.
Paolo wrote down: "Who
indeed?" After the laughter subsided it cost him 6401, leaving him with 4799.
It came down to Yogesh. His
response was: "Who is Dante and Petrarch?" And unfortunately he was
also only half correct. Petrarch was correct but the man he wrote one of his
famous sonnets for was Boccaccio. (I also was half correct but I misread the
clue and wrote down Laura as the other half.)
It came down to Yogesh's wager
which was 6801. It left him with 8799 and today that was enough as he managed a
scrappy victory.
Yogesh managed his second win of
the Masters and got 3 match points. Paolo got 1. Juveria zero
Interview: Juveria told them that
with her Jeopardy winnings her eight year old daughter insisted that they go on
the Disney Adventure Treasure cruise at the concierge level. While mystified
her eight year old knew what concierge level was, she showed pictures of their
trip and said they were headed for Hawaii. Yogesh said he'd been hanging out
with Isaac Hirsch and since they were both Columbo fans they'd started guessing
which villains from Columbo their fellow Jeopardy Masters would be. After
debate Juveria was ranked as William Shatner. Juveria seemed charmed: "He
is Canadian." And Paolo told us of a continued fantasy of his to recreate
a music video involving OK Kid. (I remember this discussion) and apparently he's
now in the position of owing a musician of OK's stature an email!
LEADERBOARD AFTER AUGUST 26TH
GAMES
Yogesh Raut – 7 Match Points
Victoria Groce – 6 match points
Paolo Pasco – 5 Match Points
Juveria Zaheer -3 Match Points
Long Nguyen - 2 Match Points
Andrew He – 1 Match Point
Halfway through the quarterfinals
only 2 match points are separating first from third. And a win for anyone in
bottom three could shift things all over again.
I'll be back with Friday's
results this weekend. Tomorrow's results could shift things irrevocably. We'll
find out then.
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