Friday July 3, 2009

Race for top spot

SCRABBLE
By RICKY PURNOMO

REIGNING World Scrabble Champion Nigel Richards showed his form again when he triumphed over Ong Suanne to win the ICT-Penang Scrabble Open 2009. The three-day event from June 19-21 drew 48 players from eight countries.

The annual event, held at City Bayview Hotel, Penang, was organised by the Penang Scrabble Club and sponsored by Island College of Technology (ICT).

Champ: Nigel Richards of New Zealand won the Penang Open 2009.

At stake was a US$2,000 top prize, but equally important was local rating points, as the local players were racing to qualify for this year’s World Scrabble Championship, to be held in Johor Baru in November. The Penang Open was the penultimate tournament before the end of the qualification period, with the National Championship coming up this month.

The players included Richards (New Zealand), highest-rated player in the world ranking Helen Gipson (Britain), and top local players such as Penang’s own Ong Suanne.

Twenty games were played over three days.

The first day saw familiar names taking centre stage. At the end of the day, Richards and Gipson topped the table, followed by Cheah Siu Hean (Singapore), as the only three unbeaten players after four games. Ong Suanne was paired against another top Malaysian player, Alex Tan, and lost her game.

Day 2 saw an exciting race for the top spot with several changes of leader. In the pre-lunch session, Richards consolidated his lead and almost ran away two games clear, before Tan beat him in Round 8 to keep him within striking distance from the other seven players on six wins.

Going into lunch, Richards was the sole player on seven wins with a large spread, followed by me (representing Indonesia) and Gipson on six.

In the post-lunch session, I was out of the picture while Tan and Gipson continued chasing after Richards. Tan and Gipson fought to a stand-still, drawing their game. Apart from that, Tan won all his remaining games. Cheah beat both Richards and Gipson, and John Lam (Malaysia) also beat Gipson. This helped stall the early leaders, giving the rest of the pack a chance to catch up. At the end of round 13, Tan led with 10.5 wins, followed by a resurgent Ong and Richards on 10, and Helen on 9.5. A bunch of 9s followed.

After dinner, Marlon Prudencio (the Philippines), who was hovering in the periphery, beat Richards and then Tan, to pull himself up to number 5 with 10 wins. This also let Ong and Gipson climbed up to the top of the table with 12 and 11.5 wins respectively.

The players ended the day after 11 intense games, with another five rounds for the next day.

The morning of Day 3 saw the fall of Tan from among the contenders. He lost his first four games and 700 spread points along the way. That left Ong, Gipson, and Richards jockeying for pole position.

In the first round, in a battle of arguably the top two female Scrabble players in the world, Gipson pipped Ong 467-465 to overtake her on the leadership board.

Richards beat Tan to go up against Gipson, and lost. Ong beat Tan, setting the stage for Gibson vs Ong, Part 2. Ong won this one 395-390, leading to a third encounter. Ong won 501-383, letting Richards overtake Gibson to meet Ong in the final game for the tournament. Ong was ahead by one game, but Richards had superior spread, so it’s a winner-takes-all showdown.

In the final game, Richards triumphed over Ong 495-366 to win the Penang Open 2009. This was a revenge of sorts for Richards who was beaten by Ong in the King’s Cup 2008 en route to her winning her first major international tournament.

On second table, Gibson squeaked past Vannitha Balasingam (Malaysia), who had slowly climbed up the leadership board. Gibson edged Vannitha out in the high-scoring game, 521-504, despite Vannitha’s four bingos. Vannitha, however, had reason to smile as her performance cemented her position as a strong contender to be one of Malaysia’s representative in the World Scrabble Championship.

All in all, ICT-Penang Open 2009 was an enjoyable tournament for the participants. I enjoyed the competition, the camaraderie and hospitality, and the chance to enjoy the various Penang food around the venue. I look forward to playing again in future ICT-Penang Opens.