With scores in the 70s only half as common in July as in the previous couple of months, I thought that we might begin to see some gaps open at the top of the leader-board. In fact, I couldn’t have been more wrong. With the leaders all scoring exceptionally well, things have actually become much tighter, with the top five competitors now separated by just one point.
Having led the field earlier in the year, helped by an 80/80 score in February, Venkatesh produced his second perfect set of the year to move into a first-place tie with Dror (whose 75/80 on this set was hardly a poor performance).
Based in Bengaluru, India, Venkatesh took early retirement from the IT industry. He began playing 30+ years ago, and represented India in the World Junior Championships in the late 90s. He has subsequently won numerous national titles, and he has performed numerous roles including coach, commentator, director and administrator.
Right behind them, Dave’s 75/80 kept him just one point off the lead, but he is joined in a three-way tie by the producer of this month’s other perfect score, previous annual competition winner Alexander, and Paul, who scored 78/80 this month. Reflecting the international nature of this competition, the logjam at the top of the leader-board features players from India, Israel, UK, USA and Australia.
Despite scoring 74/80 this month, Brian drops off the podium and down to sixth place, but still only three points behind the leaders. There is no movement in or out of the Top 10 this month. Remarkably, despite the low-scoring nature of this set, the top 15 players on the annual leader-board ALL scored in the 70s. Most impressive! After seven months, there are still 18 players averaging at least 70/80 or higher. You currently need a score of 483 to make it onto the first page of the leader-board, which means an average of 69/80. What a very high standard is being set by all.
The annual score is the total of the best 9 monthly scores over the year.
