20th Brand Crossword Game King's Cup 2005

 Contents:

• King's Cup 2005 Details
• Preliminary Rounds Day 1, 2, 3 and 4 Report by Ricky Purnomo
• Complete Results (Standing after 27 rounds)
• Finals Game 1
• Finals Game 2
• Finals Game 3

King's Cup 2005 Details:
Venue: 1st floor, The Bangna Hall, Central City Bangna Shopping Complex

Dates: June 23-26, 2005

No. of Players: 77

Dictionary: SOWPODS
Challenge Rule: Free Challenge

Winner: Panupol Sujjayakorn
Runner-Up: Nigel Richards

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:  https://www.toucanet.com/brands05.html

Preliminary Rounds Day 1, 2, 3 and 4 Report (Excerpt from Ricky Purnomo's blog)

King's Cup First Day Round-up

Posted 24 June 2005

The first day of King’s Cup ended with the expected favourites leading the pack. After five rounds, 4 players out of 75 are still unbeaten: Nigel Richards (NZ) leads with 692 spread, followed by Helen Gipson (ENG) who is on track to win the newly-introduced best female player prize. Locals Jakkrit Klaphajone and Komol Panyasophonlert round up the top four, who will be playing at the same table in the first two rounds tomorrow. Pakorn Nemitrmansuk is hot on their heels with the highest spread around and one game down.

 The Singapore / SA contingent top guns are all still clustered up together, with almost all of them having 3 wins out of 5 games. Goh Jiang Pern carries SA flag in the top 10, sitting at 7th place with 4 wins and 495 spread, losing his 4th game to Komol. Ricky Purnomo is the only other SA player with more than 3 wins with 3.5, courtesy of a draw with Thailand’s Weeraya K. Shim Yen Nee made a wonderful debut to the King’s Cup, winning her first 3 games including tough matches against Singapore no. 1 Cheah Siu Hean and Thai expert player Manop Phipatboonserm, before being pegged back at 3 wins.

 The top 20 after 5 rounds as follows (pardon the formating, apparently no Excel installed in the PC in the internet cafe, so I have to retype) (players are Thai unless otherwise specified):

1. Nigel Richards (NZ) 5-0 +692
2. Helen Gipson (UK) 5-0 +515
3. Jakkrit K. 5-0 +434
4. Komol P. 5-0 +370
5. Pakorn N. 4-1 +779
6. Elie Dangoor (UK) 4-1 +527
7. Goh Jiang Pern (SIN) 4-1 +495
8. Nawapadol S. 4-1 +378
9. Panupol S. 4-1 +364
10.Akegapun E. 4-1 +274
11.Femi Awowade (NIG) 4-1 +231
12. Douglas Lobo (IND) 4-1 +199
13. Roongroj H. 4-1 +186
14. Yeo Kien Hung (MAL) 4-1 +100
15. Taewan S. 4-1 -6
16. Ricky Purnomo (INA) 3.5-1.5 +75
17. Bro. Arun M. 3.5-1.5 +48
18. Andy Kurnia (SIN) 3-2 +342
19. Thavachai T. 3-2 +308
20. Sandra Morgan (AUS) 3-2 +267

 Positions of some other players that may be of interest: Tony Sim (SIN) 24th, Cheah Siu Hean (SIN) 27th, Ong Suanne (MAL) 32th, Sam Kantimathi (USA) 35th, Charnwit Sukkumrathanaporn (THA) 37th, Odette Rio (PHI) 40th.

King's Cup Second Day Round-up

Posted 24 June 2005

Day two saw Nigel reclaiming the top spot after round 12, after being dethroned earlier by two consecutive defeats to Pakorn N. and Nawapadol S. Pakorn and Komol led for a while before Nigel thrashed Pakorn with a spread of 326 to come out ahead of Komol.

 The battle for best female prize is hotting up, with Helen Gipson losing her last round by a heartbreaking 3 points, and Mallika M. (THA) and Odette Rio (PHI) slowly climbing up the standings.

 After 12 rounds, the standing begins to take shape with the more established player beginning to float up to the top of the table. The Singaporean / SA contingent is doing well enough with 2 players in the top 5, and 6 in top 20 (including a Malaysian and an Indonesian).

 The top 20 after round 12 as follows:

1. Nigel Richards (NZ) 10-2 +1215
2. Komol P. 10-2 +966
3. Pakorn N. 9-3 +726
4. Andy Kurnia (SIN) 9-3 +657
5. Cheah Siu Hean (SIN) 9-3 +557
6. Taewan S. 9-3 +322
7. Charnwit S. 9-3 +252
8. Panupol S. 8-4 +808
9. Elie Dangoor (UK) 8-4 +490
10.Nawapadol S. 8-4 +472
11.Hubert Wee (SIN) 8-4 +269
12.Montien C. 8-4 +253
13.Roongroj H. 8-4 +109
14.Jakkrit K. 8-4 +99
15.Ricky Purnomo (INA) 7.5-4.5 +289
16.Goh Jiang Pern (SIN) 7.5-4.5 +288
17.Alex Tan (MAL) 7.5-4.5 +52
18.Marut S. 7-5 +533
19.Manop P. 7-5 +339
20.Mallika M. 7-5 +317

 Other players that may be of interest: Helen Gipson (UK) 21st, Odette Rio (PHI) 22nd, Femi Awowade (NIG) 23rd, Alastair Richards (AUS) 26th, Tony Sim (SIN) 29th, Sam Kantimathi (USA) 37th, Ong Suanne (MAL) 39th.

 If there is request to follow any particular player, I’ll try my best to update.

King's Cup Third Day Round-up

Posted 26 June 2005

After 3 days and 20 games, Nigel Richards still remains atop the standing in King’s Cup. The combined forces of the Thai players have so far kept Nigel from running away, with world champion Panupol S. on the same number of wins and slightly behind on spread.

 Komol P., who was second behind Nigel at the end of the second day, hit a bad run and lost his first six games today,falling out of top 20 briefly before recovering with the last 2 games. Taking over his position was Panupol, who was the best performer of the day with a 7-1 record.

 The SA challenge was fading, with 4 members (including 2 foreign members) in top 20 after having 6 players in the previous day. The highest placed SA player is now Alex Tan (MAL), who raced up on the back of a 6-2 record. The previous front-runners Andy Kurnia and Cheah Siu Hean were hampered by 3-5 and 2-6 results respectively.

 The international field finally warmed up to the challenge, with representatives from Nigeria, the Phillipines, USA, and Australia pushing their way into the top 20. International players from 9 different countries currently outnumber the Thais 11 to 9 in the top 20, but the Thai top guns still hold court in top 10, and most dominantly in table 1 keeping Nigel in check.

 Top 20 positions after 20 rounds:

1. Nigel Richards (NZ) 15-5 +1456
2. Panupol S. 15-5 + 1305
3. Pakorn N. 14-6 +869
4. Charnwit S. 14-6 +328
5. Alex Tan (MAL) 13.5-6.5 +384
6. Marut S. 13-7 +1331
7. Helen Gipson (UK) 13-7 +955
8. Nawapadol S. 13-7 +598
9. Jakkrit K. 13-7 +471
10.Elie Dangoor (UK) 13-7 +401
11.Hubert Wee (SIN) 13-7 +237
12.Manop P. 12-8 +708
13.Komol P. 12-8 +650
14.Femi Awowade (NIG) 12-8 +491
15.Andy Kurnia (SIN) 12-8 +477
16.Odette Rio (PHI) 12-8 +464
17.Gerry Carter 12-8 +358
18.Sam Kantimathi (USA) 12-8 +163
19.Alastair Richards (AUS) 12-8 -37
20.Ricky Purnomo (INA) 11.5-8.5 +470

 Positions of some other players that may be of interest: Cheah Siu Hean (SIN) 24th, Ong Suanne (MAL) 25th, Tony Sim (SIN) 31st, Goh Jiang Pern (SIN) 32nd, Karen Richards (AUS) 40th.

 Some notable performances: Marut S. was the first to invoke the 350-spread-cap rule used in this tournament. He thrashed Montien C. 658-2xx (missed the score), but for any wins with more than 350 point spread, only 350 was recorded. Marut ended the day with another two 500+ games that helped him to have the second highest spread in the tourney.

 Helen Gipson (UK) played SERENITIES through TIE in her last game of the day in a losing effort against Gerry Carter.

King's Cup Final Quick Update

Posted 26 June 2005

Most of the top table games for the last round of King’s Cup has finished. The finals will start soon between world champion Panupol Sujjayakorn (THA) and multiple KC winner Nigel Richards (NZ). Panupol secured his spot in the penultimate round after beating Nigel. Nigel was re-paired against Panupol for the last King-of-the-hill round, and had to win to get into the finals, which he duly did.

 Helen Gipson (UK) and Odette Rio (PHI) were no. 3 and 4 respectively at the start of round 27, and played it out for the best female player prize. Helen had an additional incentive of the possibility of making it to the finals if Nigel lost and she won big. Odette was resurgent today, winning all of her game before this except for 1, which she lost to Helen. In this rematch, Helen won again to secure 3rd spot and best female player prize.

 All Singapore-based players fared not too well and faded away from top 20, except for Andy Kurnia who at the moment is 6th and playing Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA) for the 4th spot.

 Other results are still being tallied at the moment, and will be posted later this evening subject to internet access.

Complete Results:

(Standing after 27 rounds Preliminaries)

HIGH GAME: Pakorn Nemitrmansuk 638

Game 1:

Panupol defeated Nigel by +88 points spread.

Game 2:

Nigel took the second game 434-423 (11 point spread), surviving a beautiful MITzVAHS to an S by Panupol for 107. The rule for King’s Cup final third game says that the winner is the one with higher spread irrespective of wins, so Nigel had to win by more than 77 points for the last game to retain his trophy.

Play through by clicking Forward button or any part of the board.

NIGEL RICHARDS			PANUPOL SUJJAYAKORN
Rack	Word	Total	Rack	Word	Total
CEINPSU	PUNCE (24) h4	24	BBGIRST	BIG (15) i3	16
DEIIORS	IRONSIDE (70) 6e	94	BRRSTTU	BRUT (16) 5b	32
EFMMNN	FENMEN (22) l2	116	DNRRSTY	FYRD (22) 2l	54
ILOOQV?	QI (35) j2	151	ANRRSTY	ADRY (36) o1	90
ELOOUV?	OVERfOUL (74) c2	225	AENORST	ATONERS (71) m7	161
ACDEENW	COWED (30) 2b	255	INTTUWX	TUX (30) 8m	191
AEEGNOR	ONAGER (35) 1d	290	AILNTTW	WAUL (24) 8a	215
AADEFGK	KADE (33) l9	323	INTTVZ?	NERTZ (24) 12k	239
AFGLOST	ZAGS (42) o12	365	AHIMTV?	MITzVAHS (107) 15h	346
EFILOTT	FONT (28) k10	393	AIILOPS	AMI (16) 5k	362
EEEHILT	HE (16) 14i	409	AIJLOPS	JAP (34) 13g	396
EEIILOT	REOIL (7) f6	416	EILOS	ISLE (27) a1	423
EIT	ETUI (16) n6	432
(O)	(+2)	434

Final Board Position: Nigel 434- Panupol 423

Game 3:

Nigel had to win by +78 and above in order to beat Panupol, however, the latter won 393-347 with a spread of +46 to become the 2005 King's Cup Champion.

Play through by clicking Forward button or any part of the board.

NIGEL RICHARDS			PANUPOL SUJJAYAKORN
Rack	Word	Total	Rack	Word	Total
BBEGLMU	BUMBLE (30) h4	30	EGIMNRY	MY (28) i6	28
GKORRTV	KOR (30) 10f	60	AEGINRT	INTEGRAL (80) 8a	108
GIORTUV	OUTGIVE (22) d2	82	EEHQTUY	EQUITY (46) 6a	154
EIIIRUX	XI (38) c3	120	AEEEHLT	LATHEE (39) a1	193
EEFIIRU	FEIRIE (31) i9	151	AEEEILN	ALEE (22) h12	215
ACHNSSU	CHAS (26) 11d	177	EINNPPT	PENNE (10) 15d	225
DINNRUS	BRUIN (14) 4g	191	FIJOPST	FOP (28) 5k	253
ADENOOS	DOO (14) 6l	205	IJOSTTW	JOWS (20) o3	273
AAEENSV	ALIVE (9) 13g	214	AAIITT?	TAI (11) 9a	284
ADEENSS	ER (3) i3	217	AIOTW??	AW (30) 10a	314
ACDENSS	ASCENDS (85) 2h	302	DILOT??	DOILTEst (64) k8	378
ADGNORZ	AZON (45) 1e	347	IR	RIP (5) d13	383
			(DGR)	(+10)	393