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EOSC 2012 Commentary: Round 29

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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, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, Round 32, After the Tournament.

Mikki Nicholson (Eng) and Craig Beevers (Eng) play the first of what could turn about to be a four-game series this afternoon. Craig needs to win three games, or two blowouts, to catch Mikki. If Craig wins two or three games, Siu Hean Cheah (SGP) could sneak past by with a 4–0 afternoon; if Craig wins two or three games, Helen Gipson (Sco) could do the same.

Amy had to step out for a few minutes, and I'm glad I asked her to leave me a printed copy of the WESPA 2.0 rules. As soon as she was out of the room, two simultaneous rules adjudications were requested; neither was especially difficult, but I made sure I reread the appropriate sections carefully in case there were differences from the NASPA rule set with which I am more familiar.

1. Player A makes a play, performs all the actions necessary at the end of a turn, including drawing replacement tiles. May Player B challenge? No.

2. Player A says "Challenge" but does not hit the clock. May Player B compel the challenge? No.

First result of the round: Bob Violett (Eng) 542 Andy Gray (Eng) 321.

A few people have been complaining about the pairing system as it applies to those out of contention, and they seem dissatisfied with my explanation that when 38 non-contenders who have already played 29 rounds are paired Swiss with no repeats, the opponent with the closest rank that you haven't yet played may be several wins away. I am considering just telling people that it's a round-robin tournament instead.

TSH, on my moderately loaded three-year-old laptop, takes about five seconds to compute those Swiss pairings, suggesting it may reach the point where repeats will be required even among the non-contenders.

Mikki Nicholson (Eng), in first, beats Craig Beevers (Eng), in second, 473–368, giving Craig a break from the hot-seat. Siu Hean Cheah (SGP), in third, beats Helen Gipson (Sco), in fourth, moving up to second place to take on Mikki next round.

Six players have lost three games by single-digit spreads: Joanne Craig (NZL) (1,3,4), Geoff Cooper (Eng) (1,5,6), Ruth MacInerney (Eng) (1,9,9), Craig Beevers (Eng) (2,3,5), Vincent Boyle (Sco) (2,4,5) and Mohammad Sulaiman (ARE) (4,8,9). Two players have won four games by single-digit spreads: Sam Kantimathi (USA) and Howard Wilde (Eng).

Mikki is averaging 462 points per game to his opponents' 386. By comparison, Helen, who is giving her opponents the most points among the top players, is averaging 444 to their 410. A little further down, Tony Sim (SGP) has the highest average opponent score among those with positive spread (i.e., those who are on average outscoring their opponents): he scores 425 to their 415.