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MOST 2009 Commentary: Round 16

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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 16.

With 5 rounds to go, the tension in the hall is perceptibly rising. The joint leaders are Lukeman Owolabi (NGA) and David Webb (Eng) on 12-3. The 31st player, Christine Strawbridge (MLT), is on 8-7. It is statistically possible that if Christine wins all her last 5 games and everyone else above has a terrible run of play she could place in the top 3!! So for half the room they have a chance to win - true, for some, it is pretty remote!

Maybe because it is a Sunday morning, but the decibel level in the hall is significantly lower than the first two days of play. It reminds me of the walled city of Mdina, which sits on a hill in the middle of the island with fantastic views across the whole of the Eastern part of the island. During the summer months, it enjoys the cool sea breezes which is why the Aristocracy built the city in the first place, as they moved to the coolest place on the island for the period. It is virtually untouched from when it was built 4-500 years ago and it is an impressive, eerily quiet place to wander around - particularly at night! It's a good thing the Aristocracy of those days did not have Scrabble as they would never have found the time to build such a beautiful city.

On the top table, David Webb (Eng) and Gboye Balogun (IRL) fought it out. They played two bonuses each: David: PSYCHED with the 2 blanks and VINTAGER and Gboye: RATIONS and DOZENS (John Chew: DOZENS scored 78 points but was not a bonus play). David got ahead at the start with several non-bonus high scores and maintained his lead throughout and won 469-370.