Back to WSC 2009 Live Coverage

WSC 2009 Commentary: Round 7

[ ]

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.

Wellington Jighere (NGA) beat Jim Kramer (USA) 348-329 and is now the only undefeated player; Geoff Thevenot (USA) lost 387-423 to Panupol Sujjayakorn (THA) and they are both now among the eight players at 6-1.

Three of those eight are Americans, and Team U.S.A. is now the top-ranked multiplayer team, with an impressive 65.3% average. All but one of their players are in the top half, and eight of their 14 players are in the top quarter.

Just behind them are the English, at 65%, followed by the Nigerians at 64%.

In the lead though is the defending Champion "team", at 5-2. I joked to Philip Nelkon that if the Champion and Runner-up together place among the top half of the field, we should apply the formula for expanding national quotas and give a bye to the third place finisher. Sadly, last year's runner-up, Ganesh Asirvatham, withdrew from the event on Monday, so the suggestion is moot.

Congratulations to Anthony Gomes (QAT) on winning his first game of the day; all players have now won at least one game.

In the game of the round, Jighere beat Jim 348-329 when Jim made a pretty nine-letter bingo to pull ahead by 28 points, which wasn't enough when he drew heavy tiles while Jighere played out in two using the Q and a bunch of one-pointers for a total of 64 points.