BlitzChamps Week 7: The playoff race heats up with 2 rounds to go

It's been a slow burn from the start of the World Blitz Scrabble Championship way back in late January to the end of pool play in late March, but it feels like it's getting faster every week. The season finale is fast approaching, and with it, we're nearing some finality on the playoff bracket.

Who will make the round of 16? Who will face whom? We're getting closer and closer to the answers. Now, there are just two weeks to go.

The penultimate week of BlitzChamps will feature two absolutely crucial matches in each group - all the No. 1 seeds will face the No. 3's, while each No. 2 battles the No. 4. We'll know a whole lot more about the playoff picture once the dust settles.

Here's a breakdown of where things stand in each of the 8 groups, along with a preview of the 1-versus-3 and 2-versus-4 battles in each.

Aardvark Group

No. 1 vs. No. 3: David Eldar (6-1, 50.5-12.5) vs. Kevin Fraley (5-2, 35-28)

No. 2 vs. No. 4: Weibin Toh (6-1, 48-15) vs. Anand Bharadwaj (7-0, 51-12)

Up until last week, this group featured three undefeated players in David, Weibin, and Anand; we're now left with just one. Anand beat David head to head last week, and Weibin took an upset loss against Harry Wiggins. Anand can now see a pretty clear path from here to the knockout rounds - he just needs to win one more match and he's in. A win either this week or next would give him at least 8 victories, and David and Weibin can't both get to 8, since they face each other next week.

So Anand's chances look good. But what about David and Weibin? For both of them, the road ahead is tough. They both have challenging opponents this week, and then they face each other in Week 9. This group has just been brutally difficult. A very, very strong player is ultimately going to miss the cut.

Buffalo Group

No. 1 vs. No. 3: Chris May (7-0, 52-11) vs. Brian Bowman (6-1, 51-12)

No. 2 vs. No. 4: Edward Okulicz (7-0, 57-6) vs. Amit Chakrabarti (5-2, 40-23)

The two Aussies have been sensational all tournament long, and this might be the week that seals the deal for them. If Chris and Edward both win in Week 8, then it's pretty obvious how this group turns out - they're both in the playoffs, and they'll play in Week 9 to determine who gets the 1 seed and who gets the 2.

If Brian or Amit can score an upset this week, though, things get interesting. Brian especially has an opportunity here - if he beats Chris, he'll be guaranteed to move into the top two for now, and he's got an easier matchup in the final week than the other two guys (the No. 3 seed in each group plays the No. 10, while 1 and 2 play each other). So this group is far from settled. If Chris drops just one match here, he's all of a sudden in big trouble.

Chipmunk Group

No. 1 vs. No. 3: Jesse Day (6-1, 39.5-23.5) vs. Zachary Dang (1-6, 20-43)

No. 2 vs. No. 4: Christopher Grubb (6-1, 44.5-19.5) vs. Jackson Smylie (5-2, 45-18)

The Chipmunks remain the most difficult group in the tournament to forecast. Chris is in first place right now, but he's got two very tough opponents to finish out the season - Jackson first, then Jesse next week. Jesse is 6-1, but he may need to win out against Zach and Chris, given his weaker spread. Jackson is still very much alive if he beats Chris this week. And oh by the way - the No. 5 seed, Janul de Silva, is actually in second place right now at 6-1 with 40.5 game wins, ahead of both Jesse and Jackson.

Janul is actually in the strongest position of anyone in this group. He's already played Jesse and Jackson, and he's beaten them both. The No. 5 seeds face 10 and 8 the final two rounds, so there's a super realistic path for Janul to get to 8-1. But who's getting the other spot? I have no bloody idea.

We'll see how this week turns out. If Jesse and Chris take care of business against the lower seeds, they'll probably just go head to head next week for the spot. If Zach and/or Jackson gets a win ... then, well, chaos ensues.

Dingo Group

No. 1 vs. No. 3: Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (7-0, 53-10) vs. Jakob Teitelbaum (5-2, 51-12)

No. 2 vs. No. 4: Evans Clinchy (6-1, 48-15) vs. Peter Armstrong (5-2, 45-18)

This group is pretty similar to the Buffalo Group above in that the top seeds control their own destiny. If Conrad and I both win this week, it's over - we advance, everyone else goes home. But that's far from a given. Jakob and Pete have both been really tough competitors all tournament long, and both of them are very much still alive in the playoff race.

If Pete wins this weekend, he's got a good shot at finishing 7-2, which should get him a spot. Jakob also has a path to 7-2 if he wins this week. The really crazy scenario is if Pete and Jakob both win; then we'd have a three-way tie at 6-2 going into the final week.

Anyway, a lot can happen. The top seeds winning out would be the simplest, tidiest outcome here, but this group has been anything but simple and tidy thus far.

Emu Group

No. 1 vs. No. 3: Will Anderson (7-0, 54-9) vs. Doug Brockmeier (5-2, 44-19)

No. 2 vs. No. 4: Ben Schoenbrun (7-0, 50-13) vs. Ricky Purnomo (3-4, 33.5-29.5)

The top two seeds appear to be in total control here. Will and Bnjy are both unbeaten, and both can clinch a spot in the playoffs with a win this week. But Doug is technically not out of contention at 5-2, and fifth-seeded Lukeman Owolabi is also still alive at 5-2; either one of them has a chance if they win out.

If Will and Bnjy take care of business here, they'll just play next week to decide who gets the 1 seed in the playoffs and who's the 2. If there's an upset, we'll have a little more intrigue than that. Let's check back next week.

Falcon Group

No. 1 vs. No. 3: Paul Gallen (6-1, 48-15) vs. Josh Sokol (4-3, 35.5-27.5)

No. 2 vs. No. 4: Piotr Andronowski (6-1, 47-16) vs. Matthew O'Connor (6-1, 43-20)

A couple of weeks ago, Paul and Matthew both appeared to be cruising through the season undefeated; now, not so much. Matthew suffered an upset loss at the hands of Leon Tan, 5-4, then immediately dealt an upset of his own to Paul the following week, 6-3. Now, we've got 3 players all tied up at 6-1 in Paul, Matthew, and Piotr.

The road ahead is tough for Piotr, who's got to play Matthew and Paul back to back. Then again, it's also tough for Paul, who has Josh and Piotr back to back. Long story short, this is a brutally tough race for all three players. There's also Irfan Siddiqui lurking at 5-2, with a chance to rack up some wins the final two weeks against a softer schedule. It's a pretty muddled playoff picture for the time being; we'll know a lot more a week from now.

Giraffe Group

No. 1 vs. No. 3: Andrew Fisher (7-0, 54-9) vs. Hubert Wee (5-2, 47-16)

No. 2 vs. No. 4: Dave Wiegand (7-0, 51-12) vs. Ryan Sutton (3-4, 32-31)

The story of this group is pretty obvious - two of the best players in the world are in it, and they're both dominating. Andrew and Dave are both 7-0, and both are mighty close to being guaranteed a playoff spot.

Hubert has an outside chance at taking one of them out, but he would need to win big this weekend against Andrew to stay alive. Barring that, it looks like the top two seeds are in great shape here. All that's left to figure out is who gets the top seed in the group and who finishes second.

Hippo Group

No. 1 vs. No. 3: Austin Shin (7-0, 55.5-7.5) vs. Enoch Nwali (5-2, 41-22)

No. 2 vs. No. 4: Geoff Thevenot (4-3, 44-19) vs. Aaron Bader (6-1, 34-29)

Austin is pretty much a playoff lock - he would need to lose massively in both Weeks 8 and 9 for either Enoch or Idorenyin Anthony to overtake him from two games back. The tougher question, though, is who nabs that second spot. Aaron took his first loss of the tournament this weekend, 8-1 against Austin, and he's now in danger of missing the playoffs.

If Aaron wins this weekend against Geoff, he can breathe relatively easy. But if he loses? Suddenly, he's got two losses and a weak spread. There are scenarios where Idorenyin (or Enoch, but he's got to beat Austin) can sneak past him.

This is exciting stuff! In all 8 groups, we're starting to see the playoff picture come into focus. Everyone has played their hearts out to get to this point, and now, we're not far away from seeing 16 players advance to the knockout rounds. This penultimate week will tell us a lot about who those 16 are.

For all the details on who plays who when, check out our live coverage page.