Photos: NSC 2009: Round 1

Friendly reminders hang outside the playing room.

Pete Zeigler (Medina, OH) vs. Zach Pekarsky (Madison, WI), who is using a Sabbath assistant, Megan Mills.

Joe South (Piqua, OH) looks over his 561-377 game with Roberta Wechter (Westfield, MA).

The men in black (and white): div 2's director, John Robertson, and div 1's director, Bryan Pepper.

The guys who write the books that make the whole SCRABBLE world sing: Robert Gillis (OXR, AL) of Bob's Bible fame and Mike Baron (Corrales, NM) of SCRABBLE Wordbook fame.

Alyssa Faria (Cambridge, MA) vs. Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA).

Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA) vs. Jeff Martin (Albuquerque, NM).