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THREE NEW ZEALAND TEAMS WELL IN CONTENTION

Qualification for the knock-out stages is looking a real possibility for three of our four teams in Poland. Although the number of qualifying teams in relation to the size of the field is extremely generous in the Seniors’ and Mixed events, no New Zealand team has ever made it to the knock-out stages of any World Championship.

Our Open team should be especially proud of their effort if they qualify as they have almost certainly to be in the top 5 of their group, the hardest ask of any of the teams. Although they would have liked a larger win in the last of Thursday’s matches, they still had a pretty good day. Their first opponents, Netherlands, finished the day only 1vp off the lead so that losing by 6 imps is no disgrace:

Netherlands                       29-35                          8.24

Lithuania                              44-1                       18.44

Guadeloupe                       49-39                       12.80

New Zealand remained in 8^th place throughout the day but a distant 8^th became a very competitive one:

5^th           Canada                 182.26

6^th           Ireland                   173.77

7^th           Denmark               173.50

8^th           New Zealand         173.33

Just say it quietly but our last two matches are against Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates who have not been starring in this group. The other figure to watch is 6^th place in the other 2 groups as the best 6^th goes through. Currently, the other 2 teams in 6^th place are:

India                      171.63

Iceland                   170.65

so the lucky 6^th could come from any group.

One board from our match against Lithuania demonstrates one of the beautiful parts of Teams bridge. How do you feel when you play 4NT and go down three tricks vulnerable when you can see that 11 tricks are so easy to make in spades? “Not good” would be the polite answer and if you were really naughty (you should concentrate on the next board), you would have worked out how many imps will be in the OUT column…. 14 is the answer.

In fact, the answer was not 14 and they were not in the OUT column. New Zealand gained 15 imps on the board! Take a look:

 

It looks like a bit of gambling took place as the Lithuanian East-West elected to play 6NT from the East seat. This gave Ashley Bach, sitting South, a somewhat easy double. West would have been wise to have pulled this to 7 which would only have cost 500 but who does that! 6NTx went 5 down for 1400 to New Zealand and the fascinating news was that the misadventure in the other room only cost 4 imps. “Thanks, teamies” said Michael and Matt!

Michael Whibley and Matthew Brown enjoy a lighter moment at the table.

In isolation, Day 5 would not have gone down as the best for our Women with two defeats in the three matches. However, they were sandwiched between a very sweet victory over a strong USA team and at the end of the day were still looking good for a top 8 finish:

Italy                        28-42                       6.25

USA                       49-29                     15.00

Scotland                20-55                       2.55

That last match saw Scotland sneak past New Zealand into 6^th place with New Zealand in 7^th place on 170.27. The all-important position to avoid is 9^th, currently held by Denmark with 156.21. India and Palestine await New Zealand. As with our Open team, these two remaining matches are against countries which are at wrong end of the table.

Here then is a board for our two pairs to savour against USA:

 

 

I cannot tell you the exact sequence but the American North-South got rather too active on their minimal misfitting values and paid a heavy price when they were doubled in 2. West, Steph Jacob, made a very good trump lead after which East, Susan Humphries, could win and play a second round, and  get a couple of club ruffs and lead diamonds through South. The end result was three down, +800 which would have only been 5 imps in if the American East player could make 3NT in the other room. She could not after a high spade lead and New Zealand had 14 imps.

(left to right) Tobi Sokolow, Susan Humphries, Janice Seaman- Molson and Steph Jacob in our match against USA.

Our Mixed team largely held their own dropping one place to 15^th during the day:

Ireland                  15-16                   9.64

France                  12-49                  1.59

USA                       38-24                14.22

Australia                27-21                12.01

Again, the USA match proved to be a good one though perhaps holding the Irish was the most important as with New Zealand 15^th, the Irish were just one place lower in the last qualifying place. The current key New Zealand positions are:

15 New Zealand                   193.44

16 Ireland                            174.01

17 England                          176.39

Now, this is not an Irish joke but that is how the teams are listed! The Irish certainly seem to have something over the English if they can lead them despite scoring less vps.!

The Kiwis still have Hungary and Turkey to play and finish with what might prove 12 comforting vps for a bye.

Beating Australia has a good feel to it. James Coutts would have been glad he mentioned his heart suit on this board.

 

 

Both tables became embroiled in a typical heart- spade battle. Tom Jacob and Andi Boughey doubled 5 and collected 300 while the Australians bid onto 5 which failed by a trick. As you can see, a club lead beats 4 but with a singleton trump, there would be very little reason for West to lead that. Hence, bidding on to 5, which can cost 500, is a good move in practice. The end result was 9 imps to New Zealand.

Our Seniors were not so successful against the USA though could be excused with names like Meckstroth, Zia, Martel and Hamman up against them. No “walk in the park” there!

USA                       0-20                         4.42

Chinese Taipei     29-27                      10.71

France                 18-42                        3.63

Japan                  42-13                       17.24

The Kiwis’ biggest win of the event has left them in 21^st place out of 24 with 20^th being their aim on the last day.

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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