19 March The Pan American championships are off to a predictable start with the two games between Ben and Doug following the predicted outcome rather closely. Reigning Pan American champ Ben coming out the winner by 30 TPs to 10. Two close games with Ben's experience shining through giving him a good steady start with 15 TPs in each game.

21 March Only one game today and a convincing win to Doug over Alan. It seems that Doug is well on his way through the tournament, while others have yet to start. A well-constructed victory although the 12 point margin may be a little flattering, with plenty of luck involved in this game.

22 March Easily the busiest day of the tournament so far with six more games and Doug again featuring heavily along with José. Josh starts his campaign off brilliantly with an upset win over José, but then loses ground with a loss in game two. The final result José 22 TPs, Josh 18. The José / Doug match saw José win two very close games (margins of 2 and 1) to take 27 TPs from the match to Doug’s 13. Doug stayed in action playing his two games against Brian, to have his tournament half over inside a week. Two good games for him as well with convincing margins, taking 32 TPs to Brian’s 8. Brian can consider himself unlucky however, losing 34 tiles to 26 in a game with the first two loops of the competition, in a game he could easily have ended up winning.

23 March Jamie and Alan play both of their games today. Alan’s poor start continues, going down in both games to the 1999 World Champs runner up. Two good victories for Jamie put him on 35 TPs and Alan on just 8 from his 3 games. Still, plenty of time for Alan to recover, with 11 (now 17) games to go. In the May Open last year, Justin lost all his early matches and he ended up coming 5th in the World Champs later in the year! A tough lesson to learn for Alan, giving away critical extra tiles at the end to lose him TPs in each case.

24 March A final three new entrants are added to the competition, making a grand total of 11 and a total of 20 games each for the whole tournament. Jim & Cindy Tarsi and Steven Wiley enter the competition, with a little pressure on them to start playing games, although Dave is still away and has yet to play either.

A busy day for the other players as well, with seven more games played. Jamie played the most games today, further establishing himself at the top of the table with four more wins, taking him to six from six, two off the record for consecutive wins. A little luck in his game against Josh gave him a 7 tile margin from what was essentially a very close game. Jamie's second victory with a margin of 8 over Brian was much more convincing. Both games between Jamie and Doug were played today - the front runner just keeps on winning. Jamie's very clever end game in their first saw him win with a 9 tile margin and Doug's weak end game in the second saw a relatively close game extended to a 6 tile margin. Overall it was Jamie 31 TPs to Doug's 9.

In the other games completed today, Brian and Alan completed their match with Brian coming out on top by 25 TPs to 15. A very high scoring first game saw Brian construct a 42 point loop, only to see the possibility of a big margin dwindle as Alan fought back very well to make a 38 tile line of his own. The second game saw the first draw of the tournament to date (20-20) with Alan cleverly playing for the draw from an unwinnable position in the final stages. A great match to watch with plenty of excitement and clever work by both players. The last game was Alan and Doug's second game with the match ending up very close, Alan and Doug tied on 20 TPs apiece and tied on tile score 41-41. In the game played today, the luck of the draw, good play by Alan and poor play by Doug saw a good 12 tile margin, for 17 TPs to 3.

25 March Steven jumps into the fray, playing in all three of today's games. First a good win over Jamie, breaking his perfect record. A lot of luck though in this game, with an early 30 tile loop from nowhere for Steven and some good luck at the end too, to keep Jamie to just 26 for his first loss, and 5 TPs to Steven's 15. Clever work by Cindy, and some luck of the draw saw Steven lose his second game by 30-15. The luck swings against Steven this time for a 3 TPs to 17 loss. In a relatively tightly fought third match of the day Alan comes out the winner over Steven by 30-24. A genuine battle of the longest line here, with neither player blocking a lot, and the race still on right to the finish. The most interesting feature of the game being Alan's time, just 3:02 for all his moves, a new tournament world record.

26 March Six games played today, with the late entrants all in the action. Jim and Cindy play one game offline, for a 21-21 draw, splitting the TPs between them. Cindy remains unbeaten, but drops to third in the standings, while Jim maintains his place in the middle of the field.

Steven is also heavily in the action again today - five games in total, including both games against Brian. Two wins to Steven, taking 33 TPs to Brian’s 7 and moving two places up the standings today. First, a 38-tile loop for Steven beats Brian’s line of 18, isolated lines for most of the game causing him trouble. Closer in game two, with both players extending throughout for good lines, Steven coming out on top 26-21. Steven’s third game of the day, against Alan, saw the fastest game record broken again by Alan, taking just 2:41 to win by 28-19. An even start up to 16 tiles apiece, where the game moved heavily in Alan’s favour, the right tiles coming his way and seeing him win both games, and round out the match 31 TPs to 9.

Completing his third match of the day, Steven was up against Doug, and the match split one game apiece. In the first game, Steven left himself open for Doug’s loop, which duly came for a good 34 points, a good recovery seeing Steven make the score 34-25. Steven levelled the match at one game apiece in the second, with a close one tile victory, 24-23. As close to a 50 point loop, as you could get, denied by the lack of blue corner tiles at the end. Steven held out well at the end to scrape by and take 13 TPs from the game. It shows the value of big margins in tournaments however, Doug taking the match by 23 TPs to 17, and Steven telling some stories about "the one that got away".

27 March Six games again today, and again lots of interesting play to be seen. Jim and Doug’s match was played today, both games going to Jim, a match score of 30 TPs to 10. Doug had a good start to the first game, laying on the pressure with a 22 point loop, before some good tiles from the bag for Jim saw him build an equally strong line. With the final few tiles, Jim’s experience shone through, pulling him up to 27 tiles, while Doug found a 23 tile line to reduce the margin, although, one can’t help but feel that this one managed to slip from Doug’s grasp. Game two saw a similar result, although a good end game from Doug saw the margin limited to five when with one tile left in the bag he had trailed by eight. Perhaps overall Doug can feel a little hard done by in this match, his efforts did not seem to warrant such a large TP score against him.

Three games played by José today, back in the action after a few days away from the competition. Not a bad day for him either with two wins and a loss. First off, versus Brian, a 24-19 victory. A stunning move in the middle of this game won it for José, adding five to his own line and keeping two of Brian’s separate lines apart. No luck here, just clever play. Some good recovery work at the end saw the margin restricted however, and José finished with 15 TPs to Brian’s 5. José’s second game, against Cindy, proved to be a closely fought affair. With a 14 tile loop forced on her very early on, Cindy took some time to recover, while José resolutely added to his line. In the end, Cindy was forced to take another small loop, this time 16, to tie it up, knowing that José would extend his line by one and take the win. With the final score 17 - 16, José takes 13 TPs, Cindy 7. José’s run wasn’t to continue however, Steven seeing to his downfall, with a big win 26-15. Steven took this game from José when the last RYR tile he was waiting for fell into Steven’s hands, and straight into another forced space. More bad luck was to follow, the luck of the draw seeing José’s line blocked on both ends at 15 and Steven extending for 26. Steven took the game with a combination of a lot of good luck, and some good play to boot, with 16 TPs to José’s 4.

World record time again today, this time in a new category, with the highest score in a tournament game going to Cindy in her second match with husband Jim. Played offline, the exact details of her great loop aren’t available, but needless to say, Jim can’t be too pleased seeing an even match, after their draw in the first game, end up on 29 TPs to 11.

With 33 games now played in the tournament, it is still wide open, mostly due to the fact that almost all of the games between the top seeded players are still to be played. Whether this is a tactic on some players' behalf is anyone’s guess, but having passed a quarter, and nearing a third of the games complete for the tournament, only the very brave would wager on the final outcome.

Hmmmm (thinks the editor), I wonder if anyone would take Ben or Jamie at Evens, Dave 3/1, José 3/1, Cindy 10/1, Steve 10/1, Jim 15/1, Josh 20/1, the Rest 50/1. No, I'm not offering real money here! ;-) By the way, based on past experience, I would imagine that the overall winner will have to win 15-16 games and that the top three will each score around 250 points or more.

28 March Five games played today, with the tournament now well ahead of schedule. First up, Alan’s first game with José. With two isolated lines for most of the game, Alan was always in trouble here, only some good work in the end game seeing the score limited to 24-20, and 15 TPs to 5 in José’s favour. José also played in the second game of the day, up against Brian for the second time. A clever block early on by José put a side of the Tantrix out of action for Brian and José capitalised to take a quick 10 tile lead. Solid play by José lead to a 28-19 victory, with his victory yesterday giving him the match, 31 TPs to Brian’s 9.

Steven was again heavily in the action today, the other three games all featuring him. First, a 23-20 victory against Jim. An odd game this, with some strange tactics from both players - Steven trying for a loop, and missing out and then being denied a longer line by a missing tile, while Jim missed some opportunities to block and made a baffling move in the middle of the game. The second game between the two saw Steven take another victory, and again some odd play during the game, Jim having the worst of the luck, and at times making some poor decisions, with two lines that never met, losing to solid play from Steven 25-15. The match ended up 30 TPs to 10 in Steven’s favour.

As soon as he had finished with Jim, Steven was up against Cindy, and looking down the barrel, already 5 TPs to 15 down in the match. His run of luck continued however, with a big win to level the match at 20 TPs each. Some good opportunities for attack were missed by both players here, with Cindy in the end being forced into two separate lines, while Steven, in his established pattern, resolutely added to his own. An unlucky run at the end saw Cindy lose all her tiles, only to see the luck turn the other way, with Steven unable to capitalise, with no tiles to fit the free end of his line. The score was 32-18 in the end, seeing the end of a great day for Steven, moving up to fourth place on the table, as that one loss saw Cindy drop two places down to fifth.

29 March Just one game today, between José and Alan, the 10th game for them both. Alan had a lot to play for, after being kept well out of it in the first game of the match yesterday. However again José forced Alan into isolated lines while gradually extending his own, taking the game by 25-19, and the match 30 TPs to 10. No change in the table for José and a drop of just one place for Alan to 9th, although he is just 2% behind Jim in 7th and 1% behind Doug in 8th.

01 AprilNine games played today after a bit of a break in the competition. Big days for Alan and Josh, but we start the report with the tournament latecomer; Dave entered the fray today, back from his holiday in Tantrix-land. Both games in his match with Alan were played today, a win and a draw. The draw in the first game was a low scoring affair, just 13 all. A tightly fought game with a lot of blocked sides and spaces throughout. The lack of a RYR tile with 11 tiles left in the bag put Alan in a tough position, with one end of his line already blocked, although he was nominally ahead by 11 tiles to 7. Not for long however, with Dave's line heading out to 13 tiles, but in the process using almost all of his tiles. Good play by Alan at the end, to force the draw and take 10 TPs. In the second game, bad luck for Alan, with tiles he needed to extend his line falling to Dave and at times seeming to create their own lookalike spaces to be played in. Alan lucky here not to lose 29-14 - if you watch the review game, hopefully you will see why. In the end, the match went to Dave, 26 TPs to 14.

Josh was up against Steven in the third and fourth games today. The match was shared with one win apiece. In their first game, Steven cleverly forced Josh into a 16 point loop, and went on to play confidently, to make a 29 tile line of his own. Some luck involved in this game, along with good solid play from Steven who took 17 TPs from the game. Game two saw a comeback from Josh, with some excellent play by both players, in extending lines and frustrating their opponents. It came down to the first free move going to Josh. Another ten tiles lay waiting, but a simple block while extending his own line saw all that slip away from Steven, and into Josh's lap, for a good win, leaving the match statistics slightly in Steven's favour 22 TPs to Josh's 18.

The next match involved Alan and Josh, both players having had mixed fortunes earlier in the day, and probably hoping for a change in their luck. The first game ended in a draw at 26 tiles apiece, thanks to Alan's choice, with 28 tiles left in the bag, to take a 26 tile loop, while inadvertently forcing the same sized loop upon Josh. With some different draws from the bag, this could have been a very different game, perhaps Josh fighting Alan for a long line, or Alan fighting Josh to prevent a larger loop. As it stood, however, with both players having 26 tiles with the bag still half full, and really very slim chances of improving on matters, it was all over. Alan's third draw of the tournament so far. The second game was a close fought affair again, with good work by both to extend their lines, although perhaps a little bit light on the blocking side. Unfortunately for Josh, the game came down to his decision to try for a little more length to his line than was prudent, with Alan laying three yellow lines into the end of Josh's line, forcing the block. With a more conservative move Josh had the possibility of another draw or even a win, pressure perhaps exerting its influence once again. Come to think of it, no one wants to see the stupid choices I made, due to pressure, in my collapse in last years World Champs ever again. Especially not me! The match went to Alan in the end 26 TPs to 14, but my sympathies are with Josh, fouled by pressure.

José and Steven also finished their match today after Steven took the first game with a big margin. In today's game, Steven very quickly found himself with a 20 point loop, and the unenviable job of stopping José getting more. Some good play by José and some good luck saw him take his line to 22 just as the last tiles came from the bag. To Steven's credit, José only got one more, the final margin of 3 keeping it to 14 TPs to 6, and Steven taking the match overall by 22 TPs to José's 18.

The final completed match of the day saw Steven up against Dave, both games played late today. In game one Steven came out the winner of an interesting game. With two isolated lines near the start, despite making some very good moves, Steven looked to be in a little trouble, with Dave blocking well as he tried to join them along the left hand side of the Tantrix. Just as Dave must have been counting his blessings, some good forced tiles across the top extending his line, the right hand side of the Tantrix opened up for Steven, and a good move saw Dave forced into joining Steven's lines. It was close at the end, with excellent blocking by both players for a final tile score of 25-22 to Steven, that's 14 TPs for the winner.

Game two and a battle of extending lines again, with little of excitement in the game until the end, where with a better run of tiles through the game Dave had a slight lead. With a good blocking move at the top, and some luck with the tiles, Steven's line was blocked at one end. Even though the same move blocked Dave's line as well he had the lead already, so it made sense for him to make the block. Steven extended in his next free move, only for Dave to pull out a great move, to extend his line and block Steven's due to the lack of blue corner tiles. Steven blocked Dave's line and left the game 26 tiles to 19 down, well beaten by some good play by Dave. The final tournament score for the match 22 TPs for Dave and 18 for Steven. The second game swapped the positions on the table of the two, Steven moving from 4th to 6th and Dave from 6th to 4th.

02 April Nine games again today, this sure is keeping me busy. Five new match ups today, with four of them completed. First off, Jim against Alan, good play by both players through the middle stages of the game here, wasting one another’s tiles and blocking with the score staying at 9 all for quite some time. Unfortunately for Alan, the end game went against him, both with bad luck and a poor tile choice giving Jim a very close win, 19 tiles to 18. The second game another battle of the lines, with Jim often threatening to break away by adding a large chunk to his line and Alan cleverly holding him off while extending his own. In the end it came down to the first free move after the bag had emptied. With just one tile left, Jim forced Alan to complete an extension to his line, adding 10 tiles and making the final tile score 31-27. Jim took the match, with good play and good luck, 28 TPs to Alan’s 12.

The second match today again involved Alan, this time up against Cindy. Game number one got off to an odd start, with Alan having three separate lines quite quickly, and still looking in a good position compared to Cindy. As the game drew to a close however, Cindy pulled a 22 point loop from almost nowhere, leaving Alan at that stage with just a 9 tile line as his longest. Finally his lines joined together however and with some careful extending Alan pulled it back to a 22 tiles to 21 loss. With all of his games so far today being so close, and all losses, Alan must have pulled something good from his frustration because he took the second game in his match with Cindy by 27 tiles to 21, with some of the best play of the day. With good work, extending their lines throughout the game, both players were doing well, with Alan however consistently getting a little more of a lead with every turn. Cindy was somewhat lucky that the margin was not larger with some fortunate tiles extending her line near the end of the game. This match went to Alan by 22 TPs to Cindy’s 18.

Jim was again in the action in the third match in today’s report, up against José. A critical tile can be picked from their first game, as it gave a huge advantage to Jim, by joining together his two separate lines. José was by no means out of the game however, still extending well, and bringing the final score around to 28 tiles to 26, in Jim’s favour. The second game of the day saw a first for the tournament, time penalties awarded, for José going one minute over time. José made a good start to the game, adding well to his line with every move to take a quick lead. With an unfortunate run of tiles and a good move by Jim, José saw eight of his tiles made unavailable, tied up in a 16 point loop. With less tiles at the end of the game than Jim, José was beaten 20 tiles to 18, as Jim freely extended his line at the very end. The match went to Jim in the end 29 TPs to 11.

Jim matches Jamie today with the equal best daily performance so far in this tournament, four wins from four games, an impressive 57 TPs in one day.

The fourth match of the day, was the only uncompleted one, the Tarsi computer running hot today, with Cindy up against Brian. An even game here, with both working hard for good lines, a crucial stage in the game being the lack of a critical tile for the link in Cindy’s line, no YYR tiles spelling the end for her. Brian continued to extend well, with the play in the end game clever as well taking the game 23-15, and leading the match by 16 TPs to Cindy’s 4.

Brian stayed involved in the final match of the day, playing both his games against Dave. A good confident start for Brian extending his line well and not providing any openings for Dave to exploit, thereby maintaining a small lead. Good play by Dave brought him back into the game, blocking and extending well, to have the scores tied up with only three tiles left. Brian found the perfect move with his last tile however, forcing Dave to play both of his tiles and making it a 23 all draw. A brilliant game, one of the best of the tournament so far.

The second game started and Brian had to be feeling confident, with a win and a draw today so far he had been playing very well, while Dave was up against a player whom he would have been hoping to beat, but who had proved to be his equal. A tight game again, with the lead see-sawing back and forth throughout. As the end approached, Dave had a slight lead, after having played a lot of the tiles through the middle of the game, by 19-17. Dave extended to 24, and a good lead of 7, but with only one tile left, and Brian able to make good use of it, the lead was pegged back to just 1, the final score 24-23. A tough match for Brian here, being the equal of Dave throughout the match but going down, 17 TPs for Brian, and 23 for Dave. A good day on the whole for Brian with a big win, a tight draw and a narrow defeat, his 33 TPs for the day (55%) not accurately portraying just how well he played.

03 April Just two games played today between Dave and Josh. Good constructive play building his line and obstructive play annoying Josh saw Dave take an early lead. Seeing Dave skip ahead, Josh saw the opportunity for an 18 point loop and took it, at the time having the lead, 18-14. It wasn’t long however before Dave’s line was back on track, the extensions kept coming and in the end it was 27-18 to Dave - Josh outplayed in game one. The second game saw the tables turned, Josh making a great start forcing Dave into a 16 point loop, and piling on the pressure. With eleven tiles still left in the bag, Josh took the lead, and with Dave having little to match his line the match looked to be his. When the first end game free turn went Dave’s way, he blocked Josh’s line, preventing another six tiles from being added to it. No more tiles added to the scores, the game winding up with Josh winning 19-17, the match going to Dave by 22 TPs to Josh’s 18.

04 April Four games played today with five players in the action. The first match between Jamie and Dave was the highest seeded match we have seen to date in the tournament. Early on Dave forced Jamie into a 20 point loop, perhaps counting on the fact that the average tile score in a game is 22. As the tiles continued to come out, Dave made his way towards his own loop, with just one green corner tile missing from a 26 point loop and several left, available his chances looked good. When Jamie was forced to take the last tile from the bag, Dave must have been jumping for joy, the win must almost certainly his. However with his final play before Dave’s free turn Jamie played, or forced Dave to play, all of the remaining tight green tiles. The perfect end game play for Jamie, leaving the final score 20-12.

An even start to game two saw them battling, extending and blocking well. With the tile score effectively 13-9 to Jamie, and Dave blocked at both ends (with another short line nearby) Dave had the luck of the draw which put him very close to a large loop, with very little Jamie could do about it. Again the best possible tile came out for Dave and Jamie was looking at a 36 point loop just one green corner tile from completion. With three tiles left in the bag Jamie needed a perfect draw from the bag to assure himself of the first free turn - a 1 in 3 chance, as it turned out. It was not to be however and as soon as Dave got the chance, he made his 36 point loop. Post game analysis reveals that Jamie was always doomed to have the loop made against him once the game had reached that position. Worse was to come for Jamie, his final line length, and the best he could have got from the tiles available at the end, was just 15. The second highest margin of the tournament, 21 tiles, the final score 36-15. The match as a whole quite close however, Dave 22 TPs to Jamie’s 18.

The third game of the day was Brian and Cindy’s second, the first game of the match having going to Brian 23-15 on 2 April. A good start to the game by both players, some clever extending and blocking by both. A great set of tiles from the bag, and a slightly better position to begin with, saw Brian add hugely to his line - at one point, the tile score was 26-8. Cindy had the large disadvantage of watching Brian play most of the tiles in this game, and make the most of them. The worst luck was yet to come however, after Brian had played 15 tiles in a row, Cindy had the last tile with the restrictions still in place. With very little to work from after Brian dominated the game, Cindy worked her line up to 12 tiles, while Brian made it to 29. A big win for Brian, and a one-sided match according to the TPs, Brian getting 33 and Cindy 7 - the second most one sided match in the tournament to date.

The fourth game of the day saw Brian up against Jim, in the first of their games. I guess most of us will never know if Jim was out to avenge his wife’s losses, but if he was he sure did something right. Again both players showed that they have their starts almost perfected, with both working well at the basics to improve their positions. Brian and Jim were well and truly even, until with 14 tiles left in the bag the game took a twist in Jim’s favour. His two separate lines suddenly became very close, with the work of just one turn bringing them almost together. A desperate block by Brian of a crucial side of the Tantrix looked like it just might have a chance, but the right run of tiles, and Jim getting the first free turn, put paid to his aspirations, seeing the tile score swell to 28-20 in Jim’s favour. Jim took 16 TPs to Brian’s 4, Brian finishing another day with a bag of mixed results and still in 11th place, but now a bit closer to escaping from that position.

08 April After the biggest break in the tournament to date (and thank you for the rest!) Doug and Dave are back in the action, playing both games of their match. In game one, both players had got off to a respectable start when Doug pushed hard with a good move, blocking a connection that would have added greatly to Dave's line. With Doug's next move, he pushed the game further into his favour, as he brought his line back to threaten a loop. Dave responded in the traditional fashion, blocking the side of the Tantrix and in so doing blocking both ends of both players' lines. The Tantrix remained blocked like this for seven tiles before, on Dave's turn, the game opened up. When Dave was done, the game tile score was Doug 14 to Dave 13, with the Tantrix again blocked for both and four tiles in the bag. Doug played two tiles, probably looking for the first free turn, and left Dave with some serious thinking to do. Choosing very well, Dave chose to extend a secondary line and take the scores to 14 all, his 13 long line blocked at both ends. With Doug's first free turn he chose not to block, and added two to his line, leaving Dave free with his turn to add four and take the lead 18-16. After a very close game this was probably the turning point. Doug brought it back to 18 all, and then 19 all, but with less tiles was doomed to lose, as Dave played one more to take the game 20-19. A truly fascinating game here, both players showing true class.

Game two started off in a standard way, until with 32 tiles left in the bag the game began to take an interesting twist. A move by Dave inadvertently started a secondary line for Doug, one which he was destined to spend the rest of the game fighting to connect. When Dave turned them apart, Doug cleverly saw the opportunity for a big extension and turned his secondary line into his longest line. Some good tiles coming out, followed by good play, saw Doug in his next turn threaten to join his two lines together, coming close enough to have Dave at least partly worried. When the bag was empty, Dave had a slight lead 18-17, and with better tiles, more tiles and more of his own colour, predictably went on to win, the final tile score 22-19. The match going to Dave, with 27 TPs to Doug's 13. This would have to be one of the most unlucky matches of the tournament for Doug, who deserved a lot more from the match.

11 April Five games played today, the first in the match between Jamie and Cindy. A standard start to the game, until with a whopping 38 tiles left in the bag Jamie forced Cindy into an incomplete 18 tile loop. Some risk in this sort of tactic, trusting yourself to beat a tile score you have forced your opponent into. Also a tough position for Cindy, do you try to keep your opponent under 18, or do you try for another line yourself? Cindy blocked with her next turn, quickly establishing the pattern for the rest of the game, Jamie trying to extend and Cindy trying to block him. The game continued in this vein until with just 9 tiles in the bag Jamie had built his line up to 18, and Cindy had just 8, one tile, a GRR from completing her loop. As luck would have it, the same tile would have fitted on one end of Jamie's line here, but was drawn from the bag by Cindy, completing her loop. As the forced tiles fell into place Jamie took the lead 20 - 18, with the first free turn. A good forcing move saw two of Cindy's tiles forced into place adding four to his line and seeing both ends of his line blocked. With a few tiles left each and nothing to do with them the game was over, a final tile score of 24-18 to Jamie, and 15 TPs to the winner.

In Ben's first match of the day he came up against Dave. A good start for both players, with constructive and obstructive play well balanced between the two. During this game I picked two crucial points, the first being Ben's clever move forcing a 16 tile loop on Dave. The second came down mostly to luck, the last BGG tile needed to extend Dave's line falling to Ben, and into a look-alike space. Had it gone to Dave, the game would possibly have been his. As it was, Dave's highest score here was his 16 tile loop, and Ben managed 17, for 13 TPs from the match.

The second game started off in one of the oddest ways of the tournament so far. With a line just four long and blocked at both ends, Dave was forced to watch as Ben extended well, eventually abandoning his initial tiles in favour of the more open side. A blocking move by Dave with 15 tiles left in the bag inadvertently turned out to be the turning point of the game, the perfect tiles coming out for Ben and setting up a large additional line. In a very long turn which emptied the bag, Ben got the final tile he needed to link his additional line - the second last tile to come out of the bag. As Dave started his first free turn he was trailing by 15-8, but had the faint possibilty of a 24 point loop. As it turned out, Dave's attempt to force Ben into completing the loop failed, so he only scored 11 in the end. Good play with his last few tiles saw Dave limit Ben to 18, but another win to Ben taking the match 29 TPs to Dave's 11.

In Ben's next game he was up against José, another tough match between high-seeded players. Game one again saw good starts by both players, obviously watching their opponents carefully and leaving few openings. With 32 tiles left in the bag, Ben was the first to make a mistake and José capitalised, linking across the top of the Tantrix for a 7 tile extension to his line. Luckily for Ben, this gave him an opening as well, keeping him in the game as José's tiles opened it up for his blue line. However with 13 tiles left in the bag, José got the second to last BBR tile which would link Ben's line. At that point, the score was 20-8 in José's favour. José failed to capitalise on this, and when the last tile fell from the bag (into Ben's hand, which wouldn't have helped José) he placed it into his line taking the score to 23-18. However with less tiles and a great move by José forcing out his last two, Ben lost the game by 28-20. Ben's first loss of the tournament his record slipping to four wins and one loss, and his percentage dropping him below Jamie, the first time since 25 March that Ben has not been at the top of the table.

Completing their match in the last game of the day, Ben and José both started well, the first few tiles of their game most interesting to watch. Clever play of the very high standard we have come to expect from the tournament to date was in evidence from both players until, as per usual, the game took an unexpected twist from the fall of the tiles. José may rue the chance he missed of turning away an end of Ben's loop, although at the time it was only a moderate threat. However it was very quickly reality, as the right tiles came out and Ben leapt at the opportunity of 26 points. José immediately made a lookalike space, and was immediately rewarded by the opportunity to waste one of the three remaining BBG tiles Ben needed for his loop. A second came out on the very next tile, and fortuitously fitted into another forced space. The loop looked a lot less likely for Ben now with just the one tile left to complete it. Ben played a lot of tiles in his next turn, and drew from the bag the tile he needed. With much of the Tantrix having been blocked for the majority of the game, José had little to work with and extended for a final tile score of 12 to Ben's 26. The match went to Ben by 21 TPs to José's 19, one of the closest matches of the tournament to date. At the end of the day less than a percentage point separated Ben and Jamie at the top of the table.

12 April Jamie and Cindy finished their match today after Jamie won their first game yesterday. A good start by both until Cindy's line, in looping back on itself, became blocked at both ends, with Jamie's line remaining open. The score was 9 all, but the game was far from even. Cindy attempted to block while Jamie continued to extend, and the margin between them crept upwards. Cindy's plight was not aided when Jamie got the first free turn and locked Cindy's score at 11. Cindy continued trying to frustrate, but one slight mistake at the end let Jamie extend the margin to 12, and another TP, the final score 23-11. Jamie took this match 32 TPs to Cindy's 8, and extended his slight lead over Ben to 2.9%.

13 April Just one game again today, Jamie again in the fray, finishing off a match he had started earlier against Steven. The critical move came early in this game, as Steven extended his line by three in the early stages of the game and Jamie saw the opportunity to force an 18 point loop on him. This set the stage for a battle of extending and blocking between Jamie and Steven. With some good play and a few draws from the bag in his favour, Jamie extended well, and managed to fill all of the missing links in his line. As the game drew to a close, Jamie brought his line up to 18, to force at least a draw, and with some opportunites at both ends looked assured of the win. Good luck from the draw saw Steven block one end of Jamie's line, but with the first free turn Jamie was able to extend the score to 20-18. The match went to Steven, however, with 21 TPs to Jamie's 19. Some consolation for Steven perhaps, since he dropped a place on the table with that loss, down to 6th and Dave up to 5th.