Commentary: Round 18

[ Congratulations to the new World Scrabble® Champion, Adam Logan (CAN), and the runner-up Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA). ]

Go to: Registration, 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.

Off to a smooth and punctual start so far this morning, for the last seven of our 24 games. I've moved some of our high-demand content to a different server, to see if that cuts down our load enough to keep the coverage running at a reasonable speed.

Three long-word challenges so far today: OVERTRAIN, PRETASTING and TENTERINGS. Two are good, the other is not.

In the top flight, Adam Logan (CAN) played Phil Appleby (Eng), Naween Fernando (AUS) played Akshay Bhandarkar (IND) and Peter Armstrong (USA) played Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA). Adam and Phil played to a 48-point spread, Naween beat Akshay and Pakorn beat Peter. Adam, Naween, Pakorn and Peter were all at 13-4, the other two 12-5. After this round, Adam, Naween and Pakorn therefore advance to 14-4, trailed by just Peter at 13-5 and eight others at 12-6.

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