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EOSC 2012 Commentary: Round 31

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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.

This round's pairings took more than two minutes to compute, so there is a small chance I may need to intervene in the pairings next round. The 38 non-contenders, are being paired Swiss with minimal repeats, which after 30 rounds is a complex combinatiorial computational task. Past experience suggests that a maximum runtime is reached before repeats start being required, when the graph of pairable players becomes sparse enough that it can be traversed more rapidly. I have enabled the debug tracing code this run (that's "debug RSw 1" for you tsh power users) to keep a closer eye on things.

Two of the 38 players have complained today to me that they do not want to be exposed to the rating risk of playing opponents whose ratings differ greatly from theirs. To be clear, the pairing system has not changed today, and we are still playing in an open tournament: one in which you should expect to play opponents of all levels.

Mikki Nicholson's (Eng) game is the first to finish, and a triumphant Mikki received a round of applause as the 2012 European Open Champion. Her win was a decisive one, 510–309 vs. Siu Hean Cheah (SGP). Warning: the opening play in the board photo may be NSFW.

Soon after that, Bob Violett (Eng) turns in the high game of the event, 660–274 vs. Reno Zammit (MLT). Often, players who have big games like to stay and talk about it a little, but not Bob.

With Mikki clinching first and Gibsonized in the last round, the race is now for second and third.

Another event record comes in, this time for high loss, with Howard Wilde (Eng) beating John Barker (AUS) 486&ndahs;478.

Sandy Nang (USA) beats Esther Perrins (AUS) 485–471, the third-highest loss of the event.

Helen Gipson (Sco) wallops Craig Beevers (Eng) 501–374, but it's not enough to bring her within reach of second place.

Two recounts run late enough that I have to pair provisionally based on interim results. In the end, the recounts uphold the original outcomes. In the Dan-Dan game, Dan Sandu (ROM) beats Daniel Milton (USA) 402–401. Nicky Vella-Laurenti (MLT) beats Ovidiu Tamas (ROM) 362–361.