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Intermediate Teams winners, Rochelle van Heuven, Emma Russell, Bigi Cameron and Tim Rigter. 

“Top 10 Kiwis” at the Gold Coast.

We covered last week those Kiwi players who performed well early in the week at the Gold Coast Bridge Congress. Let’s move on to the Teams and Swiss Pairs events. Some of us did rather well:

(top 10 finishers)

Open Teams   (Kiwi players in bold)

1

Adam Kaplan

Matt Brown

Shane Harrison

Jessica Brake

Andy Hung

3=

Kieran Dyke

Arlene Dalley

Ashley Bach

Tony Nunn

Paul Dalley

5=

Hugh McGann

Matthew Thomson

Michael Ware

Pete Hollands

Jamie Thompson

Robert Fruewirth

10

Leon Meier

GeO Tislevoll

David Wiltshire

Sophie Ashton

Under 1500 mps

7

Pryor Rowland

Bob Ure

Graham Cheater

Peter Farley

9

Kinga Hajmasi

Candice Smith

Derek  Maltz

Peter Robinson

Intermediate Teams

1

Bigi Cameron

Emma Russell

Rochelle van Heuven

Tim Rigter

Restricted Teams

4

Craig Shannahan

Sue Solomons

D Paul

Y Ward

Novice Teams

3

Bridget O'Brien

Jessie Pelenato

Nicki Hudson

Pam Millar

Ivy Dahler Butler Swiss Pairs

Open

North/South

3

June Lei

Jeter Liu

6

Andi Boughey

Jeremy Fraser- Hoskin

9

Lydia Turley

Brad Johnston

10

Rachelle Pelkman

Murray Wood

East/West

2

Sam Coutts

Stephen Williams

4

Kinga Hajmasi

Candice Smith

5

Leon Meier

Mike Doecke

10

Jenny Millington

Barry Jones

Intermediate

1

Graham Cheater

Peter Farley

4

Thorsten Stanley

Bob Ure

9

Teri Sonal

Charmaine Hanbury-Webber

Restricted

8

Heather Richards

Rosemary Jackson

Novice

1

Bridget O'Brien

Jessie Pelenato

 apologies if any New Zealand names have been missed. 

Today’s focus is on the winners of the Intermediate Teams, Bigi Cameron and Emma Russell from Mt Albert in Auckland and Rochelle van Heuven and Tim Rigter from Te Aroha.

They qualified for the final in second place, had a wonderful first two sessions leading by 22imps  but then struck disaster in the third session to be trailing by 11 imps with 12 boards to play. They had a great last set which included bringing home a slam when their opponents could not find the lead to take 2 cashing tricks but there was no luck involved in the following. It was Te Aroha on attack and Mt Albert on defence:

 

Tim ducked the opening K lead. East switched to a diamond to West’s ace. A second heart was played. Tim took his ace and played three rounds of clubs. West won and exited a second diamond. Tim was in control and could knock out A to take 2 spades, 2 diamonds, 4 clubs and A for 9 tricks.

At the other table, Emma Russell led 10 after a similar auction. Bigi, West, ducked.  On the third round of clubs, Emma showed a liking for hearts. Bigi played a heart and Emma won to play a second spade. The defence could thus score a second spade trick, a heart, A and a club before North could get to 9 tricks.

Meanwhile:

Rochelle, South, opened a 15-17 1NT. Tim bid Stayman and then invited game with 2NT after Rochelle denied a major. She accepted the invitation.

West led the J and Rochelle won in hand to play three rounds of spades with West finally taking their ace and exiting a second heart. Rochelle won again in hand and tried a low diamond which West ducked. She soon had 9 tricks, 3 in each major, two diamonds and A.

Bigi and Emma were defending 2NT. Bigi started with a low club to K and declarer’s A. South made the mistake of testing hearts before spades and after three top hearts, played on spades. Bigi held up until the third round and with her partner discarding a diamond, made the excellent continuation of a low club to Emma’s J. Emma cashed her winning heart and exited a diamond to Bigi’s K.

South was now stuck in hand. Bigi exited a second diamond, again refusing to cash Q and was soon to reap the reward as she scored both Q and 9. The defence had taken one trick in each of three suits along with 3 club tricks to beat 2NT by a trick.

Thus, great teamwork by all four players on these two boards saw 22 imps go to the Kiwis and with that slam swing too, they won the final set by 38 imps and the match by 27imps, a great result.

Broadbeach was awash with New Zealand players during the 8 days of bridge. While the outlook for the future of this Congress looks bleak for 2026, there were murmurs that there might still be hope for it in the future. Meanwhile, here’s hoping our own players, plus many from the “West Island” will give Palmerston North a go at our own National Congress in November. It will not be a “second Gold Coast” but can create a positive atmosphere of its own, as long as our players are prepared to support it.

Richard Solomon

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