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Back to 2010 King's Cup Live Coverage

2010 King's Cup Commentary: Round 20

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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 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Final Round 1, Final Round 2.

Undefeated so far today and therefore still in the running for the THB 2000 Super Bonus Prize are Karen Richards (AUS), Marut Siriwangso (THA), Pichai Limprasert (THA) and David Eldar (AUS).

Karen and Pichai wins their games and David loses his, while Marut is still playing Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA) at Board 1.

Chris May (AUS) set a new mark this round for high loss, scoring 492 to Komol Panyasophonlert's (THA) 500.

With apologies to Paul Erdos, for this week I am a device for turning Thai food into crossword game web coverage. I believe I am eating shrimp spring rolls, with as much excruciatingly spicy dip as I can stand.

Meanwhile at the top of the field, David Eldar (AUS) is upset by Ming Hui Hubert Wee (SGP) 320-422 and Odette Carmina Rio (PHL) beats Chollapat Itthi-Aree (THA). Marut and Pakorn are still playing.

People are laughing over at Board 1, but the game is still in play. I go over to see what is going on. Marut has five minutes left on his clock, Pakorn four seconds. Marut thinks he has a win, but is unsure of some words, and while he continues to look, he messes with Pakorn, putting a phoney down on the board (pretty much the only way Pakorn can hope to win), pretending to think about it, then reaching for the clock but jerking his hand back at the last split second. Pakorn: "No, I'm sure it's good! Nice find, good game!" Pakorn spends the whole time with his remaining tiles in his hands, hovering over the board, pretending he has an outplay, to try to psych Marut into a misplay. But as Marut's clock ticks down to about a minute, they turn serious for a moment to play out the game, and Marut wins 476-447, remaining in the running for the Super Bonus.

Pakorn is still ahead of David, but with both of their losses, they are now only one game ahead of Marut, Hubert and Odette. Next round is the last of the day. The top two boards are rematches, and Odette plays Jason Katz-Brown (USA). It's possible the day could end with five players at 15-6 at the top of the field.