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MOST 2009 Commentary: Round 17

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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 17

John Chew, our Tournament software genius and a Doctorate in Mathematics, has just informed me that the top 7 players after Round 16 are in contention for First place - ANYTHING can happen, therefore, in the last 4 games! This means that the top 8 players will play repeat pairings.

The Malta Open Scrabble Tournament (MOST) has a really great mix of Nationalties. There is a group of 9 from Israel: Evan Cohen (ISR), Gila Blits (ISR), Juliet Collins (ISR), Liliane Servier (ISR), Marion Loewenstein (ISR), Mona Nobil (ISR), Naomi Landau (ISR), Omri Rosenkrantz (ISR), and Paloma Raychbart (ISR). Several of them came to the 1st Malta open and we are hoping to send a contingent of Maltese to the Israeli Open in September. There is another group from Ireland (Sourthern) - Feargal Weatherhead (IRL) and Pauline Weatherhead (IRL), Gboye Balogun (IRL) and Brid Ni Bhriain (IRL). And from Northern Ireland - Nuala O'Rourke (NIr). There 2 players from Roumania - Catalin Caba (ROM) and Dan Sandu (ROM) Dan is without doubt the smartest dressed Scrabble player one will ever meet - he has played throughout the Tournament elegantly dressed in a suit and tie! We have 1 player from Japan: Kunihiko Kuroda (JPN) - in his home country he is a film critic and has to watch around 1000 movies a year! The two biggest contingents are the Maltese(30) and the British(14). Also playing is 1 Nigerian - Lukeman Owolabi (NGA) and one South African - Rael Hayman (ZAF). The total number of players is 62.

At the end of Round 17, David Webb (Eng) and Lukeman Owolabi (NGA) have equal game score of 14-3 and David is ahead on spread. Lying 3rd is Theresa Brousson (MLT) with 13-4. The plot is thickening nicely with 3 games to play.