Penultimate day nicely poised

May 30, 2009 Sports

Abigail McDonald

Orlando Michael

An interesting second round is in the making when the Guyana Association of Scrabble Players (GASP) National Open Championship resumes today, at the Bank of Guyana.
The tournament, which already has an unexpected leader, is anticipated to produce more surprises as the highly favoured players attempt to position themselves for a fascinating duel on the final day scheduled for tomorrow, at the same venue.

The pole sitter after the opening day is Moen Gafoor with 7 wins, but the leader board will show that he is closely followed by the two highest rated players in #2 seeded Abigail McDonald, also with 7 points, but a slightly lower spread, while defending champion Frederick Collins is in hot pursuit on 6 victories.
He is joined by four other players in James Krakowsky, Floyd Carmichael, Nicholas Grant and Orlando Michael, all dangerous players on their day and who must be fancying their chances of entering the final day in the reckoning.
Rounding out the top 15 are Colin Chichester (5+258), Ruby Cummings (5+250), Carlton Murray (5+63), Yvonne Murray (5+48), Grace Hercules (5+22), Anand Mohabir (4+221), Devon Dublin (4+164) and Leon Belony (4+88).

Ruby Cummings

This is a fair indication about the closeness of the competition and usually the penultimate round is where the contenders separate themselves from the pretenders, but who are they will be known sometime today when the dust settles.
It must be remembered that Collins did not assert himself until midway in the second round of the previous Open and even though the opposition seems a bit stiffer this year, he is positioned nicely and poised for the kill.
Meanwhile, McDonald, one of the dominant players on the circuit this season, is alongside leader Gafoor and she too expressed confidence of doing well in the tournament.
Gafoor, who in an earlier comment did not give himself a chance to be in that position, now believes that he has a chance as well and intends to maintain his position in the race.
All in all, today is set to be a defining moment in the championship and could very well determine who will be the next champion.