Wayne Cave (centre) finally shares the podium with winner, James Krakowsky (left) and Moen Gafoor (right).
James Krakowsky has retained his rich vein of form when he complimented a stunning ‘come from behind’ victory to beat Colin Chichester in the previous Open Championship last month to replicate the feat with another sterling performance where he notched up an impeccable 6 points and a positive spread of 1045 to cart off the top prize when the Guyana Association of Scrabble Players (GASP) hosted their Open Championship at the Malteenoes Sports Complex Thomas lands, Sunday afternoon last.
Moen Gafoor won 5 of his games with a positive spread of 579, losing the other to the eventual champion, to seal off the second slot, mirroring his performance in the last championship while Wayne Cave underlined his improvement when he graced the podium for the first time, sealing off the remaining podium spot after notching up 3 points and a positive spread of 89. Cave was also adjudged the best player outside of the top ten rankings.
Krakowsky signaled his intention from the very first game when he defeated Cave by a spread of 108 and before the morning sessions were through he had chalked up wins against Kevin Williams (164) and Gafoor (89). He returned during the post lunch session to dispose of Grace Hercules (255), Colin Chichester (154) and Anand Mohabir (266).
Gafoor rebounded from the loss to Krakowsky to register victories over Chichester (116), Maurice Munru (124), Cave (42), Hercules (217) and Williams (118) while Cave’s wins came through Mohabir (166), Munro (126) and Williams (118).
Other than Krakowsky and Gafoor, he also lost to Hercules (79). The winners all received beautiful trophies donated by members of corporate Guyana.