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Back to 2009 King's Cup Live Coverage

2009 King's Cup Commentary: Round 19

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Go to: Before the Tournament, 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 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, Final Round 3, After the Tournament.

Akshay Bhandarkar (IND) opened his game against Odette Carmina Rio (PHL) with four consecutive bingoes (see photo this round), and came by to say he made a fifth one (ARISTAE) after I saw the game, which he not surprisingly won 636-351.

Several players have finished Round 20 and are done for the day, but as I write this, Charnwit Sukhumrattanaporn (THA) and Harshan Lamabadusuriya (Eng) (I am typing all these names out in full each time, believe it or not) are only halfway through their game at Board 1. Charnwit came into this round with a two-game lead over Jason Katz-Brown (USA), Lukeman Owolabi (NGA) and Helen Gipson (Eng), none of whom are playing each other, so he could conceivably end the day three games ahead of the field.

I snuck out for a brief walk in the larger hall next door. It dwarfs our NSCs on its own, and must hold more than three thousand players, though I don't think my photo does it justice. I have to remember to go back to the tables where they sell their word gear to see if I can buy a copy of AMath to take home.

As things turned out, Charnwit and Harshan were neck and neck, trading bingoes VERNIERS and STANIEL, then ORGIAsT (61) and JAWS (54), until Harshan bingo-ed REFOLDeD on his tenth turn to open up a lead that he kept until he won 486-379.

Jason beat Nawapadol Sayavesa (THA) to move back within a game of Charnwit. Harshan climbs to third place, the first of six players at 13-6.