Wednesday September 2nd
Quarterfinals Conclusion
Match 1
Paolo Pasco vs. Juveria Zaheer
vs. Andrew He
Paolo had nothing to fear in this
match; regardless of the outcome he was headed to the semi-finals against
Victoria and Yogesh.
But for Juveria and Andrew it was
a very different story. Only if either one of them managed a victory did they
have a chance of going on to the semi-finals. Even then things would have to
fall a certain way.
If Andrew won, Juveria would be
eliminated and he would have to wait and see how events played out in the
second match. If Juveria prevailed, Andrew would be eliminated and if Long
finished third outright she would return to the semifinals automatically. If
Long finished in second, she would be in a similar position as Andrew would be.
Juveria had been in this exact position
last year and she'd made it work for her against Matt Amodio and Roger Craig.
Would her luck fall the same this year?
The Jeopardy round demonstrated
upfront how much of a fight this would be. All three players were close throughout
the round and Paolo managed to gain an edge when he found the Daily Double
fairly late. By that point Andrew had a slight lead with 4200 points to Paolo's
3800. Paolo risked 2500 points in JOBS:
Cremona, Italy has a long history
with this job of stringed instruments and not just the one its name is derived
from.
Paolo's knowledge of crosswords
might have helped here: "What is a luthier?" Which put him in the
lead with 6300 points. He finished the Jeopardy round with a hair's lead over
Andrew: 7100 points to Andrew's 6600. Juveria was in excellent shape with 3600.
Juveria came out swinging in
Double Jeopardy as she had too. She found the Daily Doubles on back-to-back
clues. Consider if she bet everything she would move into the lead that is what
she did in I NEED SOME HEIR:
To thwart rival claims against
the Ottoman throne, potential heirs were imprisoned, often for decades, inside
this imperial palace.
Pause. "What is Topkapi?"
And before we could get some air she found the next Daily Double in FROM THE
LATIN. This time she was more cautious and bet 2200 points:
An air of haughtiness is part of
the demeanor called this, from Latin for 'eyebrow'.
No pause this time. "What is
supercilious?" She was now at 9400 points. But there was a lot of gain
left and all three Masters were living up to their name. The lead kept going
back and forth between all three players throughout Double Jeopardy and by the
time it was over Paolo had a very narrow margin 15,100 points to Andrew's 13,800
and Juveria's 12,200.
With so much at stake for two of
the three players both the category and wagering were all important. The Final
Jeopardy category was WORLD TRANSPORTATION. The clue that decided the fate of
one of the Masters was:
China's Big 3 airlines are Air
China, based in Beijing, China Eastern, headquartered in Shanghai; and China
Northern, based here.
Juveria's response was revealed
first. What is Guangzhou?" The big industrial and commercial center of Southern China was correct. She wagered 301, putting her at 12,201 points.
Next was Andrew. He also had
Guangzhou. He was cautious as well betting 1500 points but that put him into
the lead with 15,300.
It was on Paolo who struggled
with the clue and couldn't come up with it. He was also cautious, betting 1299
points, leaving him with 13,801 and Andrew He came up with his first victory in
this year's Masters when he needed it the most. (I wrote down: "What is
Nanking?"
Interviews: Andrew discussed how
he was working on a new invention for his 3-year old son. He bought a bootlegged
'Game Boy-Esque thing' (his words) that while way worse then a first generation
iPod but it does play Frog and Toad and A.A. Milne poems. Juveria discussed her
third great love after Jeopardy and her family, the Toronto Blue Jays. She
discussed 2025 (which she knew as Ken as a Mariners fan had to be suffering from)
and how after every World Series game Juveria was sacrificing her Masters appearances
to the finals, semis and eventually wondering if she would sacrifice friends
and family. (Any sports fan completely gets this.) Paolo remarked how his
mother and father keep sending him emails for things about Jeopardy Masters
which he keeps reading because he knows he doesn't want to get a clue wrong
that his mother highlighted. To be clear
a clue his father texted him on the World Cup had earned him a thousand points
in this game so hard to argue it didn't pay off.
Andrew came through in the clutch
and with his 3 match points he did what he had to do. But for Juveria the
Masters came to an end here and she would leave with the sixth place prize and
another $50,000. It was a defeat that had no disgrace attached to it given how
hard fought this match was. Andrew would have to wait until the second game was
over to see what his fate was.
Match 2
Victoria Groce vs Yogesh Raut vs
Long Nguyen
Victoria and Yogesh were
returning to the semi-finals for the third consecutive Masters no matter what
the results of this game. But with Andrew's victory Long needed to either win or
place to guarantee his spot in the semi-finals. If he were to lose he would be
forced to face off with Andrew in a tie breaker.
Victoria got off to a lead early
and found the Daily Double in the category WORDS THAT SHOULD RHYME. She was
very wary of it and only bet 400 of her 5400 points.
Another name for the Wisent and Azkaban
for one.
She figured it out: "What
are bison and prison?"
All three players would give a
correct response to all thirty clues. (There were some mistakes.) At the end of
the round Victoria had 11,000 points to Yogesh's 4000 points and Long's 2000.
Long came out swinging in Double
Jeopardy when he found the Daily Double in the category CITIES WITH THE SAME
FIRST & LAST LETTER. He bet the 2000 points he had to:
South of Moscow, this city has
name on the largest tank battle of World War II.
I have no idea how he came up
with this. "What is Kursk?"
From then on Victoria was
dominant practically for the rest of the round. She had 25,000 points and a
huge lead when she found the other Daily Double in BATHROOM CULTURE. She seemed
to like the category and bet 5000 points:
A bathroom mural in New York City's
LGBT community was designed by this graffiti artist from Pennsylvania, who died
of AIDS complications.
As a native of Pittsburgh she
knew this one: "Who is Keith Haring?"
While Victoria had locked up the
game second place was very relevant and the question was whether Yogesh, who
struggled in this round, could get close enough to Long to keep him from
locking it up. He did, finishing with 3600 points to Long's 4000. Victoria had
it locked up with 29,600 points.
The last Final Jeopardy of the
quarterfinals dealt with WORDS IN THE U.S CONSTITUTION. The clue was: Coming immediately after
'nor', it's the first adjective in Section 1 of the 13th Amendment.
Yogesh's response was revealed
first. "What is involuntary?" Like he, he remembered that the amendment
abolishing slavery begins. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude. He
bet everything putting him at 7200 points.
Long, however, wrote down:
"What is free?" He had the right idea of the amendment but the wrong
adjective. He bet 398, which left him 3602. Either way Yogesh would have
prevailed.
Victoria, interestingly, also
thought it was free but it was irrelevant. It cost her 4967 but she had won her
fifth game in Jeopardy Masters. Yogesh got one victory point and Long got none.
It did come down to the relevant tiebreaker
for correct responses. And where it hadn't worked for Andrew in 2023, it paid
off for him in 2026 as he managed a spectacularly recovery to move on fourth place.
For Long he had no more to be
sorry for than Juveria did as he left in fifth place with $75,000 and like
Juveria, more then proving himself worthy of the title Jeopardy Master.
Interviews: Long mentioned that
he knew Yogesh from online trivia competitions as well and the first time they
met, he was leading in one competition by triple digits and Yogesh ended up
beating him 510 to 220. Yogesh was just as cordial to Long as Yogesh had
related the parable of the bear. "You don't have to be faster than the
bear, just faster then the slowest creature the bear is chasing.' Long then
asked: "Yeah but what you do if two bears are after and you're by yourself?"
(Which was kind of where Long was at that point.) Victoria then said that once
while as a teacher she used Jeopardy think music to restore order for her classrooms.
She wasn't sure it made them more orderly but it made them more alert.
(Accurate.)
FINAL QUARTERFINAL LEADERBOARD
VICTORIA GROCE – 15 MATCH POINTS
YOGESH RAUT – 12 MATCH POINTS
PAOLO PASCO – 8 MATCH POINTS
ANDREW HE – 5 MATCH POINTS
LONG NGUYEN – 5 MATCH POINTS (ELIMINATED
AFTER TIEBREAKER)
JUVERIA ZAHEER – 3 MATCH POINTS (ELIMINATED)
So for the third straight year
Victoria and Yogesh are headed to the semi-finals. Facing them will be this
year's Tournament of Champions winner and a former Jeopardy Master himself. And
for what it's worth Andrew seems to have been turning on his A-Game in his last
two matches having gotten four of the five match points he needed to go from
last on the leaderboard to qualifying.
The semi-finals will be Thursday
and Friday and I will be back this weekend with the official results. The board is wiped clean and anything can and
will happen in the semi-finals. Stay tuned.
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