Beats Trevor Axford in straight sets

pivotal · by 11 Nov YDAU; rematch 12 Nov

• When: Reported established fact at the 11 November YDAU supper (1810h); the win itself is undated (on or before 11 Nov); the rematch is "tomorrow," 12 Nov
• What: Shaw has beaten Trevor Axford — the A team's #4 singles — in straight sets, and if Axford loses the rematch tomorrow he goes down to #5-A. At the best table Axford stares stonily into space, miming eating rather than eating, while the more observant players' CPUs hum through the permuted advantages to themselves of Axford (and Hal) having a deeply distracted week — the loss to Shaw is listed among the tremors being read. This is the book's single consequential competitive action by Shaw: quiet, off-page, and threatening real movement on the A-ladder. Nothing in the book reports the rematch's result.