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Back to 2010 King's Cup Live Coverage

2010 King's Cup Commentary: Round 25

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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.

The players are all excited about the imminent end of the tournament, and have speculated about all the possible routes different contenders have to the finals. At least a third of the field was still missing from the playing area as of when we resumed play, but most of them came back within ten minutes, and half a dozen Thai stragglers another five minutes after that. William Wu (TWN) arrived 27 minutes late, two minutes after forfeiting his game to Maneeda Tanasanvimol (THA). David Eldar (AUS) discovered as he was sitting down to his crucial game with Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA) at Board 1 that his word HILCH# had been incorrectly challenged off the board at the end of the day yesterday. He was literally hopping mad, but has calmed down enough to play. There's a lot of pressure on him this game; if he loses, Pakorn will be Gibsonized, and David will to win two games out of two against Marut Siriwangso (THA) or Nigel Richards (NZL) to qualify.

The background music has switched from light jazz to "The Final Countdown", not for our benefit, but because the finals of the Sudoku competition are about to begin on the stage, with the amateur division.

For a change, Pakorn's game at Board 1 was not the last to finish, though most of the middle ranks were complete before the top two boards reported in.

Pakorn beats David 475-436 and is Gibsonized; he says for the first time in his life. He'll play Michael Tang (MYS) next round: Michael is in 21st place with 14-11, but can't hope to climb to the tenth place prize money in the two remaining King-of-the-Hill rounds.

Nigel beats Marut 409-364, so now it's Pakorn at 20-5, David at 18-7, Nigel at 17-8 and four players out of the running at 16-9. David will play Nigel and be Gibsonized himself if he wins. If not, he'll play Nigel again for the remaining seat at the finals.