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WSC 2007 Commentary: Round 21

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3, After the Finals.

We return from yet another sumptuous Indian banquet for the last regular session of the Championship.

There are only ten players remaining in contention for the finals: even though there are four rounds left, it is not possible for any of the 12-8 players to catch up with second-place Ganesh Asirvatham (MYS) at 16-4, as the wins that go to the top ten players will ensure that one of them reaches 17-7.

At Board 1, Nigel Richards (NZL), having defeated Howard Warner (NZL) last round 476-393, extending his winning streak to six games, faces sixth-place Tim Adamson (USA).

At Board 2, Ganesh Asirvatham (MYS), on an eight-game winning streak after defeating Suanne Ong (MYS) 542-425, faces seventh-place John O'Laughlin (USA).

At Board 3, Wellington Jighere (NGA) plays tenth-place Odette Carmina Rio (PHL) after defeating David Eldar (Wysc) 482-332 to hang onto his seat too.

If repeats start next round, one of Nigel, Ganesh or Jighere will have to get up out of the chairs that they have grown quite comfortable in today.

We started fifteen minutes early after lunch, to allow extra time for checking results between rounds toward the end of the tournament. Up until now, Wilma Vialle is checking my data entry only after the pairings have been computed. I am afraid she has been finding more errors than usual, but I will try to multitask less during data entry in the afternoon. Of the sixty or so minutes we have each round, I have to spend about ten entering scores, ten writing commentary, ten taking photos, ten editing photos, ten corresponding with people about the site, ten editing posted games and ten looking after anything else that might come up or more likely break down.

Evan Berofsky (CAN) played five bingoes, four of them consecutive, against Sherwin Rodrigues (IND): EINORWS, BEIOSU?, EEFIRRT, ELOORSW and EIFNNRST (which drew a challenge); see photo.

I think that's it for my ten minutes on this task.