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WSC 2009 Commentary: Round 19

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Go to: 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.

Nathan Benedict (USA) came to the front to confirm that his 241-589 loss to Nigel Richards (Wsc) was the lowest-scoring game so far by a native speaker of English, and also by any player who is still in contention.

Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA) faced his countryman Komol Panyasophonlert (THA) at board 1, in one of the most exciting games of the day. The final score was 498-471, but the real story was that Pakorn used up 22 of his 25 minutes before the game was even half finished, and managed to play the rest in regulation time, leaving himself with 0:03. The large crowd of onlookers were especially impressed when he made one play without advancing his clock at all.

Pakorn now has a 12-game winning streak and moves on to face his nemesis, Panupol Sujjayakorn (THA), who beat him at the WSC 2003 finals. Dave Wiegand (USA) beat Wellington Jighere (NGA) 414-374 and is the only player one game back at 14-5. Seven players are two games behind Pakorn at 13-6: Nigel Richards (Wsc), Naween Fernando (AUS), David Boys (CAN), Andrew Fisher (AUS), Nathan Benedict (USA), Panupol Sujjayakorn (THA) and Sherwin Rodrigues (IND). It looks like it's going to be a good finals whatever way the rest of the day plays out.