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WSC 2009 Commentary: Round 13

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There was one lengthy argument today concerning the rule in effect about when a challenge is permissible. The current WESPA rules are a hybrid between the English system, where recording the score indicates acceptance of a play, and the American system, where drawing a replacement tile marks the end of the time period during which challenges are permitted (barring accusations of fast-bagging). In this case, Player A placed a word on the board, then drew a replacement tile from the bag, without starting Player B's clock. The rules clearly state that in this situation, Player B should tell Player A that they forgot to hit their clock, require them to do so before drawing tiles, and either hold or challenge the play while Player A is hitting the clock. Since Player B failed to do so and a tile was drawn, the challenge was denied.

David Boys (CAN) beat Nigel Richards (Wsc) at Board 1, 471-400, the first time this event that two past World Champions have faced each other at the top table. (Wiegand had played Joel Wapnick (CAN) earlier at Board 5 in Round 8, and Panupol Sujjayakorn (THA) at the same board in Round 9.) After Richards began by exchanging four tiles, Boys bingoed using a blank, then four turns later bingoed naturally to draw the other blank and bingo immediately again.

With Boys' win, he retains his one-game lead over Dave Wiegand (USA), who beat Andrew Fisher (AUS) 433-395, Komol Panyasophonlert (THA), who beat Jason Katz-Brown (USA) 553-353, and Wellington Jighere (NGA), who beat Nathan Benedict (USA) 452-395. 13 players behind them at 9-4 are still far from eliminated.