Early Bird, Early Boil

The 10th Malta International Scrabble Open, better known by its catchy acronym MISO, came to an early boil with the second seed from Scotland Vincent Boyle (shown in photo) winning the opening one-day Early Bird with an unbeaten run of nine straight wins. First seed and Malta hopeful, Theresa Brousson, on her return from a two-year absence from the game, could not arrest Boyle's march to victory, losing twice to the Scotsman but placing a very creditable second in the end. The Englishman Steve Perry finished third.   

 

Malta's hopes for victory were realised in the B Division where Josephine Mayo not only won the tournament with seven wins, but was trailed by two compatriots, namely Kevin Pirotta, whom she edged past in the last game, and Anna Borg. 

 

Boyle's emphatic victory sees his international WESPA rating boiling up by 75 points to 1750. While he will try to keep up the heat in the three-day Main Event, the opposition of players like Evan Berofsky and defending champion David Webb is sure to have a cooling effect. 

 

(penned and published by Nicky Vella Laurenti)