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MOST 2009 Commentary: Round 1

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Commentary of the Malta Scrabble Open 2009:

-- by Geoff Brousson

Round 1: The Tournament got off to a flying start at 1400hrs after a frantic morning rushing around setting up the conference hall, registering everyone and persuading them to have their pictures taken. John Chew, seriously jet-lagged, was the calm amongst the storm, quietly setting up all the computers and training his 'live' annotators for Table 1 for the internet streaming -- how does he do it?!

One of the Nigerian players who had applied and booked the hotel had still not appeared by 1350 so he was telephoned. He was still 'at home' in Nigeria having forgotten he was playing. A member of the Maltese Scrabble Club, Moses Azzopardi (IRL), was telephoned and bravely volunteered to replace the 'lost' player and arrived ready to play by 1405!

Simon Gillam (Sco) won Round 1 with the biggest spread, 382, against Simon Rosenstone (Eng). Simon Rosenstone is visually impaired and uses Braille tiles in order to play.