ayo and Seychell climb the ranks

At the outset, they both lay in the lower half, she just halfway up, he at the very bottom of the pack. But after a day and a half and ten rounds of play, he was lifting the Rating Prize trophy on the strength of fifth place whilst she was perched in third position. 

These were the parallel success stories of Mario Seychell (seen during play in photo) and Josephine Mayo in the St Paul's Shipwreck 1½-Day Tournament, which saw the almost indomitable Theresa Brousson drop just one game out of ten to position herself at the very top of the Section A standings, well clear of the ever resurgent Mario Saliba, who finished on a 64% weighted points tally. 

In Section B, Maria Scicluna did well to win six games and place third, behind overall winner and runner-up Marlene Calleja and Kevin Pirotta respectively. But the parallel success stories in this section were those of Dave Parkin and Rosanne Farrugia, both of whom managed some wins in their first ever competitive Scrabble tournament. 

In the wake of this tournament, Mayo climbs up two ranks to seventh on the National Player Rating List, with both Seychell and Calleja lifting themselves up one place on the list, and Saliba entering the1600 rating points cohort.

(penned & published by Nicky Vella Laurenti, photo selection by Bryan Priest)