Judges' Contest 10th Place

Quite alarmingly, for the first time since this contest began, I do not at least have a share of the lead. While part of me knows it's impossible for me to not win in the end, another part of me really doesn't like the fact that I'm trailing as the moment and that NM Monokroussos has a bit of a longterm edge in that of the nine games yet to be eliminated, he has ranked eight in the top nine anyway (while the rest of us judges have at most seven of the remaining nine ranked in the top nine). Given his lead in the contest, that certainlyy bodes well for him coming out on top in the end. On the other end, there is some good news for WGM Shahade as for the first time in the last five weeks, she is no longer in last (and is on GM Shabalov's heels for third). If they'd known about this contest prior to submitting their rankings, I might have accused GM Shabalov and FM Adamson of conspiring to make themselves both lose as their completely opposite rankings for the last two games has caused great damage to both of them in the standings. Here's how it looks as of now.



1st Place: Dennis Monokroussos (20, 13, 19, 18, 12, 17, 7, 11, 16, 14, 10): 30 Points

2nd Place: Ron Young (20, 19, 13, 9, 7, 18, 14, 17, 11, 12, 15): 36 Points

3rd Place: Alex Shabalov (20, 12, 16, 15, 17, 10, 18, 9, 13, 19, 4): 40 Points

4th Place: Jennifer Shahade (18, 20, 8, 12, 17, 19, 5, 14, 16, 7, 10): 41 Points

5th Place: Robby Adamson (20, 12, 19, 16, 17, 6, 18, 10, 5, 4, 14): 44 Points


and the two non-judges,


Arun Sharma (20, 19, 18, 11, 12, 15, 5, 9, 13, 17, 16): 36 Points

Braden Bournival (19, 20, 9, 17, 7, 4, 18, 14, 15, 16, 12): 47 Points


We'll see if anyone can slice into NM Monokroussos's advantage next week!