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2014 King's Cup Commentary: Round 26

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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, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Final Round 1, Final Round 2.

Round 26 Auto-Commentary

Nigel Richards (NZL) remains in the lead for the 7th consecutive round, 21-5 +2130. Worasit Suksansumran (THA) is 2 games behind at 19-7 +554, unchanged at #2 for 4 rounds. Jakkrit Klaphajone (THA) is 3 games behind the leader at 18-8 +968, #3 improving from #4.

In Class S: Bob Jackman (AUS) is the lead, 17-9 +992, on a 3-game winning streak. Karen Richards (AUS) is 3 games behind at 14-12 +637, #22 up from #25. Ron Baginski (AUS) is -381, #29 jumping up from #35. Tony Sim (SGP) is 4 games behind the leader at 13-13 +411, #30 falling from #26. Jin Chor Tan (MYS) is +380, #31 jumping up from #37. Rodney Talbot (AUS) is -283, #42 jumping down from #33.

High Win: Siu Hean Cheah (SGP) 632-231 vs. John Barker (AUS). Low Win: Karen Richards (AUS) 339-337 vs. Manop Phiphatboonserm (THA). High Loss: Sinatarn Pattanasuwa (THA) 477-497 vs. Goutham Jayaraman (IND). Low Loss: John Barker (AUS) 231-632 vs. Siu Hean Cheah (SGP).

A crowd is gathering at Board 1, for what looks like one of the higher scoring games of the event. When I looked earlier on, Worasit Suksansumran (THA) had played L1 ZOEA (56) into the triple lane, Nigel Richards (NZL) had replied by playing M3 REANNEX (104) parallel to it, giving him in the estimation of Quackle's Championship Player an 83% chance of winning the game. However, Worasit, who had kept ?IT, then triple-tripled 1H wURTZITE (194) for a 105-point lead.

A couple of turns later, Worasit tries to widen his lead with DONATES (70); Nigel replies with CENTIMO (77) and trails by 41.

In the end, it's Worasit with a 516-467 win over the defending champion.

Nigel is waiting to see if Jakkrit Klaphajone (THA) beats Ricky Purnomo (IDN) to stay in the running; if not, Nigel clinches a seat in the finals and will be assigned byes for the rest of the preliminaries.

Jakkrit beats Purnomo 417-356, so there's a nonzero chance that Nigel will fail to qualify for the finals, if Jakkrit wins all three of his remaining games, nigel loses all three of his, and in the process Jakkrit makes up 1162 points of spread.

The last time that I directed a tournament where Nigel lost more than two games in a row was at this event two years and 216 games ago, when he lost four in a row to Russell Honeybun, Jakkrit, Daniel Srichawla (THA) and Odette Carmina Rio (PHL), leading eventually to Helen Gipson winning the event.

Tournament simulation now shows Panupol at about 40% to final, and Worasit and Jakkrit each 30%.