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Back to 2011 King's Cup Live Coverage

2011 King's Cup Commentary: Round 15

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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, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3.

Her Royal Highness Princess Soamsavali, The Princess Mother of the King's First Grandchild is arriving a little ahead of schedule, so today's second round is deferred until after the opening ceremony. The room filled with awestruck schoolchildren trying to catch a glimpse of the stage where the princess received gifts from the organizer and sponsors, viewed a choreographed marching band, watched a short video presentation (projected on gigantic screens hanging from the ceiling) about the history of the event, and accepted the respect of each member of the Parade of Nations. Each national team walked behind a tournament staff member carrying their national flag, while the video screens showed a montage of their country's sights and achievements; players stopped before the princess to be introduced and bow, curtesy and/or wai# as appropriate.

Then it was back to our central riser to play one more round, only the second of the day, before lunch. Because of the delayed morning schedule, we will play four games in the afternoon, take a short dinner break, and two more games in the evening, hoping to finish by 20:30.

My lunch is a little late arriving, but no need for alarm; just as I am starting to try to identify the now unfamiliar sensation that might be hunger, Ravee Joradol delivers an emergency snack to my desk: fried egg and chicken on rice. Phew.

It takes a while for Amnuay Ploysangngam (THA) to finish conducting committee business after the opening ceremony, and when he arrives at his table to play Liz Fagerlund (NZL) there is only 5:06 left on his clock. He wins 413-400.

At Table 12, Apirat Choomai (THA) beats Thanapong Kukiettikulchai (THA) 665-360; that's the highest combined game total so far.

Komol Panyasophonlert (THA) squeaks past Siu Hean Cheah (SGP) 444-441 at Board 1. Winning their games and therefore not falling more than three games behind Komol are Charnwit Sukhumrattanaporn (THA) 345-341 over Nigel Richards (NZL) and Odette Carmina Rio (PHL) 531-232 over Charnrit Khongthanarat (THA).

Nigel has gotten to his 10-5 record by losing game out of every three; in fact for the last twelve rounds his games have followed a strict WWL pattern in sequence.

In the second and third win groups, the leader has a significant spread advantage over the rest of the group. Charnwit is 11-4 +1102 to Odette's +269; Cheah is 10-5 +1271 to Chollapat Itthi-aree (THA)'s +937.