Wednesday, June 27, 2007

22nd Brand Crossword Game King's Cup 2007

Contents:
  • King's Cup 2007 Details
  • Preliminary Rounds Day 1, 2, 3 and 4 Report by Ricky Purnomo
  • Complete Results (Standing after 27 rounds)
  • Finals Game 1, 2 & 3 Report by Ricky Purnomo
King's Cup 2007 Details:
VenueSiam Discovery Center, Bangkok; Royal Paragon Hall, Siam Paragon Shopping Complex
DatesJune 21-24, 2007
No. of Players: 81
DictionaryCSW07
Challenge RuleFree Challenge
WinnerNigel Richards
Runner-Up: Komol Panyasophonlert
Top Prize$ 6,000.00
Format: The tournament begins with a 27-round preliminary (round 1-24 based on Swiss pairing system, the round 25-27 based on King-of-the-Hill pairing system), whose two finalists to play final with special rules: They have to play two games. If one of them win both games, then that player is the winner. But if they tie with a win and a loss each, a third game will be played. The winner, in this case, is the one who scores the most points when the scores from all three games are combined. (Note: Throughout the tournament, the spread capping enforced to a maximum of -/+ 350 points spread in a game. Also the Gibson rule is in effect in case there is a player who has won enough games to guarantee 1st place or a seat in the finals no matter how many games he or she loses thereafter.)
Flyer: For more details, refer to this link: http://www.toucanet.com/brands07.html


Preliminary Rounds Day 1, 2, 3 and 4 Report (by Ricky Purnomo)
Scrabble: Day 1 and 2 King’s Cup 2007
Posted 23 June 2007
Day 2 of King’s Cup has just wrapped up, with 13 out of 27 rounds played. Lack of wifi access and charger for my laptop had prevented me from putting up any updates. But now that I have the necessary adapter, I should be able to update in the evening.

Several changes to the format: usually players are paired in groups of 4 to play 2 games, with Player 1 playing Player 2 and P3 playing P4, and then winners play each other and losers likewise and the next round. This year, there are alternating sets of 2 games and 3 games, where in the latter all 4 players in the group play each other. I haven’t managed to identify the pattern when sets of 2 or 3 would apply, but the sets of 3 have allowed people to catapult up by winning all 3 games in their group. Or plummeting by losing all 3.

Day 1 saw 5 rounds of action, and at the end of the day 3 people left unbeaten and all were Thai players: Jakkrit K, Thacha K, and Thien T.

Among the favourites who were upset in the first day, Pakorn N (THA) fell to Karen Richards (AUS) in the first round, Panupol (THA) fell to Thien. Thacha accounted for 2 big guns: Nigel Richards (NZ) and Charnwit S (THA) in games 4 and 5.

Day 2 ended with 5 people on top with 10-3 records: Pakorn, Komol, Panupol, Nigel, and Thitipol B.

Pakorn stormed to the top on the back of an 8-game win streak from round 5 to 12, including a 4 games sequence where he amassed 945 spread by scoring 609, 512, 525, and 579. He had 7 games above 500 out of 13 played so far.

Femi Awowade (NIG) had the misfortune of having his flight delayed in the first day, and hence missing the first four games, forfeiting all by a spread of 100 each. He arrived at the venue only in time to play and lose against Visan V (THA), hence starting far back in the field with 0-5. Today, having sufficiently recovered from jetlag, Femi was making up for lost time, winning 7 out of 8 and making his way up to the front tables. He will start tomorrow at 26th place, with the best spread among players with 7-6 records.

This King’s Cup saw the rise of a new generation of young Thai players. Led by Thai’s best placer in the recent World Youth Scrabble Championship, 16-year old Thacha K (who is now ranked 7 in Thailand), they were jostling for place with the more experienced player at the top. Some other WYSC reps who have surfaced at the top were Chaiwat W and Thanapong K. And there were also some non-WYSC rep like Weera S (Thai no. 8), and Thitipol B, who was being dubbed Nigel-killer for having beaten him twice in this tourney.

I unfortunately didn’t have time to walk around picking up interesting words to post, most of the time being busy ruing my own bad performance. Was 3-7 at one point, before winning last 3 games of day 2 to get to 6-7. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Will post my own game when I’m back in Singapore.

Top 20 rank below. Michael Tang (SIN), Odette Rio (PHI), Marlon Prudencio (PHI) and Femi Awowade (NIG) are all just outside top 20.

# Name Record Spread
1 PAKORN N. 10 – 3 1342
2 KOMOL P. 10 – 3 1111
3 PANUPOL S. 10 – 3 961
4 NIGEL RICHARDS (NZ) 10 – 3 892
5 THITIPOL B. 10 – 3 175
6 NAWAPADOL S. 9 – 4 985
7 JAKKRIT K. 9 – 4 748
8 CHEAH SH  (SING) 9 – 4 708
9 THACHA K. 9 – 4 594
10 TONY SIM (SING) 9 – 4 356
11 GERRY C. 9 – 4 329
12 BRO.ARUN M. 9 – 4 4
13 LEONORA LABOG  (PHI) 9 – 4 2
14 ROONGROJ H. 8.5 – 4.5 208
15 WEERA S. 8 – 5 836
16 MARTIN DEMELLO (INDIA) 8 – 5 805
17 CHARNWIT S. 8 – 5 627
18 HUBERT WEE (SING) 8 – 5 559
19 KAREN RICHARDS (AUS) 8 – 5 437
20 CHEW HAN EI (SING) 8 – 5 435

Scrabble: Day 3 King’s Cup 2007
Posted 24 June 2007
(this was typed at the end of Day 3, but only now I have time to post it. Day 4 is almost over) 

Day 3 ends with the familiar situation of Nigel Richards taking his customary sole occupant of top position. After 20 rounds he led the field with 15-5, one clear of a pack of 5 Thais on 14-6. Nigel was at one point 2 points clear, but in the last group of 3, he apparently lost twice (I don’t have details on whom to).

The Thais were fighting hard with extra stake at hand: the two top Thai finishers will qualify for WSC. Atiruth Sandiyakorn, current Thai no. 3, had qualified in an earlier tournament, and must be thankful he did not need to worry that he was stranded at 24th spot (albeit with a huge spread).

I neglected to mention another young Thai yesterday in the list of up-and-coming players: Noppadol D. The oversight was because he already played in the year before, but this year seemed to be his breakout year, winning 8 straight over day 2 and 3 to stake a place at no. 15. He ended the day with a win over Gerry Carter (THA) to stay within reach of top 10. On the board there was a 10-letter word, LIGHTENERS, which came from Gerry’s LIGHT(EN)ER natural, and Noppadol played VIMS to it.

Noppadol is also in the hunt for a new prize category: the handicap prize. This year the organizers grouped people by rating and past results and assign them extra handicap, which will be added to their total number of points (2 points for each win). As a benchmark, there are only 3 people with 0 handicaps: Nigel, Pakorn, and Panupol. Noppadol has 12 points handicap. The current leader though is Chaiwat W, who swept his table of 3 which included Femi Awowade and Charnwit, to vault to 11th place. Chaiwat, a Thai WYSC representative, has a handicap of 16.

Femi’s run up was halted as he remained at no. 25 with 4-3 record today. He has a shot at top 10 still, since he was only 2 wins off the top 10-ers

Top 20 players up to round 20 below:

# Name Record Spread
1 NIGEL RICHARDS (NZ) 15 – 5 1282
2 PAKORN N. 14 – 6 1430
3 KOMOL P. 14 – 6 1133
4 JAKKRIT K. 14 – 6 872
5 THACHA K. 14 – 6 721
6 GERRY C. 14 – 6 708
7 NAWAPADOL S. 13 – 7 1193
8 TONY SIM (SING) 13 – 7 738
9 PANUPOL S. 13 – 7 666
10 CHEAH SH  (SING) 13 – 7 656
11 CHAIWAT W. 13 – 7 502
12 MARLON PRUDENCIO (PHI) 13 – 7 405
13 CHARNWIT S. 12 – 8 818
14 HUBERT WEE (SING) 12 – 8 679
15 NOPPADOL D. 12 – 8 581
16 ODETTE RIO (PHI) 12 – 8 482
17 MICHAEL TANG (SING) 12 – 8 387
18 ALASTAIR RICHARDS (AUS) 12 – 8 302
19 LEONORA LABOG  (PHI) 12 – 8 237
20 APIRAT C. 12 – 8 218

Scrabble: Day 4 King’s Cup 2007
Posted 25 June 2007
The Bangkok jam seems to be claiming many local victims: there have been many Thai player who had their clocks started for their first game throughout the tourney. Foreign players, mostly staying in hotels within walking distance of the venue, have mostly been punctual. But the Thai are fast players so they mostly managed to survive the time shortage (with Pakorn the possible exception, still regularly running down to negative time).

The last day saw a lot of people making a final charge. Komol P (THA), already in third place going into the final day, went 6-1 to snatch the first spot in the best-of-three finals, surpassing overnight leader Nigel and even having the luxury of being Gibsonized in the last round since he couldn’t drop to third place. Nigel, on 18.5 wins (he had a tie with Panupol earlier in the day) duked out with Jakkrit who was the sole player on 18 wins for the final spot, and prevailed (I didn’t manage to get the score).

Other people who stormed up their way were Hubert Wee (SIN) and Odette Rio (PHI), both going 6-1 and both ending up in the top 5 with 18-5 records. Hubert beat Panupol (THA) in the final game to overtake Jakkrit for the third spot. Femi Awowade (NIG) also put in a strong performance with 5-2, but coupled with his first day absence, he fell short of top 10, finishing 12th.

This year two people managed to go unbeaten in the final day: Gan Cher Siong (SIN) and Robbie Onate (PHI) went 7-0, and got the bonus prize. All players get 100 Baht for every game they win (50 Baht for days 1 and 2), and unbeaten players get their winnings multiplied by 5. So both Gan and Robbie earned 3500 Baht in day 4; more than the 9th placed finisher!

Some nice words played:

- Hubert Wee (SIN) ‘s ZYGOSITy through O for 98 against Alastair Richards (AUS) in round 21.

- In day 1, Karen Richards played CLOAK(I)NG (one tile was a blank, couldn’t remember which), and Jakkrit extended it to the triple word to make BECLOAKING.


I didn’t do particularly well, but I must say this had been the most enjoyable King’s Cup I’ve been to yet – the funny dictionary (TWL2+SOWPODS – so people who have started on a bit of Collins like me were a bit wary on which words were good or not) notwithstanding. The venue, Siam Paragon complex, is impressive – the hall was more spacious than the previous venues and afforded a comfortable setting to watch the finals. The Paragon is also a fabulous shopping mall, with a great variety of food (oh the food … ice cream …) to choose from. Logistics were also much improved with: shorter distance to opening night dinner, and the fact that they slotted in one game before the princess came in for the opening ceremony, meant that there were less down time, and the games were a bit less rushed. And also the final was exciting. As Han Ei remarked, it was even more exciting than watching a sport match, with all the tension. Too bad it all has ended.

Complete Results:
(Standing after 27 rounds Preliminaries)
#
Name
Win
Loss
Spread
1
KOMOL P.
20
7
1845
2
NIGEL RICHARDS (NZ)
19.5
7.5
1451
3
HUBERT WEE (SING)
18
9
1183
4
JAKKRIT K.
18
9
1057
5
ODETTE RIO (PHI)
18
9
837
6
THACHA K.
18
9
463
7
PANUPOL S.
17.5
9.5
932
8
TONY SIM (SING)
17
10
871
9
GERRY C.
17
10
675
10
CHEAH SH (SING)
17
10
434
11
PAKORN N.
16
11
1163
12
FEMI AWOWADE (NIGERIA)
16
11
1017
13
CHARNWIT S.
16
11
994
14
KAREN RICHARDS (AUS)
16
11
822
15
CHOLLAPAT I.
16
11
750
16
JOCELYN LOR (MAL)
16
11
429
17
APIRAT C.
16
11
390
18
GAN CHER SIONG (SING)
16
11
-244
19
ATIRUTH S.
15
12
1234
20
NAWAPADOL S.
15
12
1066
21
MAIYARIT W.
15
12
776
22
NOPPADOL D.
15
12
625
23
MICHAEL TANG (SING)
15
12
375
24
SOMPONG S
15
12
120
25
CHARNRIT K.
15
12
117
26
CHAIWAT W.
15
12
-25
27
AMNUAY P.
15
12
-137
28
THITIPOL B.
15
12
-305
29
ROONGROJ H.
14
12
294
30
RICKY PURNOMO (INDO)
14
13
615
31
TAN JIN CHOR (MAL)
14
13
592
32
GERARDO ONATE (PHI)
14
13
185
33
DIANNE WARD (AUS)
14
13
156
34
THAVACHAI T.
14
13
82
35
ALASTAIR RICHARDS (AUS)
14
13
-12
36
MARLON PRUDENCIO (PHI)
14
13
-80
37
LEONORA LABOG (PHI)
14
13
-163
38
PIYAPHONG N.
14
13
-307
39
THANAPONG K.
14
13
-540
40
YEO KIEN HUNG (MAL)
13
13
251
41
AZMIL AB AZIZ (MAL)
13
13
-261
42
WEERA S.
13
14
322
43
MARTIN DEMELLO (INDIA)
13
14
283
44
CHARAE W.
13
14
210
45
TENGKU ASRI (MAL)
13
14
65
46
CHEW HAN EI (SING)
13
14
-19
47
TAEWAN S.
13
14
-111
48
VISAN V.
13
14
-228
49
BRO.ARUN M.
13
14
-307
50
ROSARIO LAMBINO (PHI)
13
14
-368
51
K. DORAI RAJA (SING)
13
14
-645
52
WORASIT
12
14
160
53
ANTONIO MALONZO (PHI)
12
15
491
54
SHAILA AMALEAN (SRI LANKA)
12
15
136
55
KHEN MEERDING
12
15
97
56
SANVARIS A.
12
15
-38
57
WILLIAM CALUZA (PHI)
12
15
-347
58
OLGA VISSER
12
15
-477
59
LIZ FAGERLUND (NZ)
12
15
-566
60
SUMITH S.
11
14
-578
61
MALOU FLORES (PHI)
12
15
-593
62
GRAHAM BUCKINGHAM (UK)
12
15
-652
63
DAWUUD M.
12
15
-735
64
THIEN T.
11.5
15.5
-771
65
RADHIKA MAHALINGAYA (INDIA)
11
16
-81
66
SANMI ODELANA (NIGERIA)
11
16
-111
67
HUUB J. LUYK (NETHERLANDS)
11
16
-615
68
MARITES C. (PHI)
11
16
-640
69
LOUIE MARK DE GUZMAN (PHI)
11
16
-738
70
SUNNY WRIGHT
11
16
-887
71
SARAH LAW (SING)
10
17
-163
72
WARODOM G.
10
17
-610
73
MANICKAM GANAPATHY (SING)
10
17
-807
74
CHARLES CUE (PHI)
10
17
-865
75
VALLIAMMAH THAMBIAYAH (SING)
10
17
-950
76
MARTIN WATERWORTH
9.5
17.5
-1266
77
NATCHANON J.
9
18
-833
78
RUBY SIM (SING)
9
18
-937
79
MANEEDA T.
9
18
-1348
80
SUJIT U.
8
19
-1026
81
REBECCA LUYK (PHI)
8
19
-1972

Finals Game 1, 2 & 3 Report (by Ricky Purnomo)
Scrabble: King’s Cup 2007 Final, Round 1
Posted 24 June 2007
King's Cup 2007 Final underway with Komol facing Nigel. Komol was Gibsonized, and Nigel made it in the last round.

Komol has won the first match 459-345, on the back of bingo-bango-bongo fRONTAGE (77), BESOTTED (72), and ENLARGER, to Nigel’s none.

I may only get to post day 4 tomorrow, but will post the final result today.

Scrabble: King’s Cup 2007 Final, Round 2
Posted 24 June 2007
A very exciting game 2 ended with Nigel pipping Komol 473-468. Komol drew first blood with GOATEES 83 with Nigel immediately replying with MUsLINET 86. Nigel later got CARTELS 76 which Komol immediately replied with AVIATES 90 to retain a 20 point lead amd continued to score strongly while blocking. Nigel managed a REGAlIAN 76 to set up a tight endgame, Nigel 424 to Komol’s 384 with Nigel holding the dreadful IIYCEE and Komol DDOZEXL with many high scoring spot.

Komol scored with DZO (44) instead of ZEX (58) to avoid Nigel’s counterscore of YE (39), and setup for his own X. Nigel partially blocked a high scoring X spot with ICE (24), and inexpicably (at least to us audience) played LUX (20) instead of DEX (36). Nigel squeaked in with TYE (25) before Komol went out with ED (22) for a 5-point loss. Some of the Thai players were saying DEX would lose Komol the game, but I haven’t found out the details.

Game 3 underway, Nigel starts with 109 spread handicap.

 Laptop battery running out, hopefully still enough power to post round 3 result…

Scrabble: King’s Cup 2007 Final, Round 3
Posted 24 June 2007
(I managed to type this all before the laptop battery ran out. Just. Too bad the wi-fi credit ran out and I couldn’t get on line … sorry for late update) 

The very exciting final just ended with Nigel surmounting the 109 spread handicap. With the 109 counted in for Komol as his starting score, final score was 476-429 to Nigel.

Nigel managed to get APTNESS (81) down on his fourth move to draw almost level, 160-163, and we have an exciting fight on hand. Nigel immediately followed up with DERIDER (71). Komol kept up with BIRTH (42) and WHENS (40), Nigel had FEIJOA (43) with the rubbishy vowely rack. Komol played SOILIER (73) and Nigel played VANLOAD (24) through V and N, and the game was tied at 366 all and both blanks were still out, and the Z too.

Komol had REGUIDE with no place to play, played UREIDE (26) to hunt for the last blank or Z while restricting the board, but was disappointed to see Nigel’s sETWALL (80) still go down. That sealed the game, and it didn’t help that Nigel picked the Z too.

Nigel is the champion again, while Komol earns a WSC spot for his efforts.

Source: http://infidelsonic.wordpress.com/2007/06/

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