On
November 15-16, six of the highest rated
players from the United States
and Canada played each other in the first Can-Am Challenge.
This was a 12-round tournament, with each player playing every player
on the opposing side twice. Players recorded
their racks in the hope that a tournament book might be
created at some time in the future.
Can-Am
2002 the
book is now available. It was written by Joel Wapnick,
one of the Canadian team participants and a Canadian,
North American,
and World Champion; and Brian Sheppard,
author of the renowned Scrabble®-playing
program Maven.
Can-Am
2002 contains
17 fully annotated games, each move of which is simulated by Modern Maven, Brian Sheppard's
most recent and most powerful
incarnation of his awesome Scrabble®-playing program; 32 additional
annotated endgames; records of all 72 games; and chapters
on Maven
simulation
techniques,
rack plus leave evaluation, endgame play, and using Maven
to determine player strength. In all, it's 250 8 1/2" x 11" pages.
Virtually
every position in the annotated games and endgames sections of this
book is accompanied by a diagram. There is no need to break open
a game to follow along. Consider Can-Am 2002 a puzzle book,
one that can be enjoyed anywhere.
