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EOSC 2011 Commentary: Round 23

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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, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, Round 32, After the Tournament.

Nicky Vella-Laurenti (MLT) is paired with Marion Loewenstein (ISR), this time not the result of operator error or a bug, because all the players on 10-12 or below have played each other two often: the tournament is stratifying. Nicky uses the opportunity to earn some spread, with a 556-248 win that leaves him at 12-11 +289, his first positive spread since Round 10. Marion continues to play in good spirits; she is realistic about her playing expectations, but is my favourite kind of Scrabble player: one who just loves playing the game, no matter who the opponent.

Another high win came at Board 3, where Jojo Delia's (MLT) 3-0 +569 record for the early afternoon launched him all the way up from Board 19, where he ran into Mikki Nicholson (Eng) and a 511-271 loss.

We had a very low win this round too, Anna Borg (MLT) 334 to Sheena Wilson (Sco) 318, the third-lowest so far.

Dan Sandu (ROM) beat Pramit Kamath (IND) this round by a single point, bringing his "Lucky Stiff" score to under 100: he has won six games by a total of 92 points.

Mikki's huge win doesn't bring him any closer to the leaders than a small win would have, but it gives him the second-biggest spread right now, +1531. Theresa Brousson (MLT) stayed on top by beating Vincent Boyle (Sco) 409-363 in the annotated game at Board 1, and is now 18-5 +2089. Chinedu Okwelogu (NGA) beat Cecil Muscat (MLT) 481-420 and is at +1171. Behind Mikki are David Delicata (MLT) 15 +660, Helen Gipson (Sco) 14 +660 and Dan Sandu (ROM) +600.