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The National Open Teams took place at the New Plymouth Bridge Club over the week-end of November 19^th/20^th. Although it was not one of the events designated as an official trial for those pairs who have formed the squads for the 2017 international teams, these pairs were encouraged to attend. Many did, making the field of 28 a strong one, frightening off all bar a few of the local teams.

The format was the one which has become the norm for our main Teams events (apart from the New Zealand Teams), 8 x 14 board Swiss matches.

Although they did not have it all their own way, it soon became apparent that two teams would be fighting it out for the top prize.

Ker  Anthony and Charles Ker, Murat Genc and John Patterson

Reid Martin Reid- Peter Newell, Michael Ware – GeO Tislevoll

Both were undefeated in their first five matches and Ker remained so after match 6 when they met, the margin being a close 3 imps, 10.97 to Ker. The feature “Interesting Bidding” on this site features an exciting hand from this match. Ker did finally lose a match in round 7 but by a mere 2 imps and with one round left, the positions were:

Ker             105.37

Reid           103.59

The only other team which could realistically catch them was Hurley (Evelyn and Bob Hurley, Scott Smith- David Ackerley), the team which had ended Ker’s winning run. They had 94.32. In the final match, Ker took on Fisher (Blair and Liz Fisher, Bob Grover- Eileen Horsman) while Reid played Boughey (Andrew Tarbutt – Steve Boughey, Alister Stuck – Russell Wilson).

The Final Round

No one board wins or loses a tournament but Board 3 in this final match, where the contract was 3NT at all 4 relevant tables, could lay claim to being pretty significant in determining the outcome of this event. In the Ker – Fisher match, Ker gained two very valuable imps for making two overtricks though the winning and losing of the match came down to whether Andrew Tarbutt would win his battle with Geo Tislevoll in the other match. Anthony Ker had scored +600 at his table. If Andrew could equal or better that score, then Ker would win. If he failed, then the title would go to Reid. Let’s say overtricks were the last thing on Andrew’s mind as he came down to the critical 4 card ending:

 

Andrew ended in 3NT as East after North (GeO) had overcalled Steve Boughey’s 1 opening with 1. Michael Ware (South) led 3 with Andrew ducking the first two rounds and winning the third round. He then ran six rounds of diamonds which meant that GeO had to come down to 4 cards, three of which would have to be winners if he was to defeat the contract.

If GeO came down to:

 A

 9

-

 K9

Andrew could make his contract by exiting a spade to the bare ace and force GeO to lead away from his K at trick 12. 

However, GeO anticipated the awkward situation he would be in and discarded both small clubs and at the end of the run of the diamonds held:

 A

 98

 –

 K

Declarer and dummy held:

West (dummy)                            East

K10                                         87

A10                                       Q4

Now the end-play would not work for declarer. Correctly, Andrew led a club to his ace felling the king, with the Q being his 9^th trick. The title went to Ker. Both leading teams won their last matches and both had won 7 out of 8, though the decimal points favoured Ker.

1. Ker                                119.56
2. Reid                              119.25
3. Hurley                            99.90
4. Liu                                  96.53
5. Jones                            95.23

National Open Teams winners, John Patterson, Murat Genc and Anthony Ker. Anthony's brother, Charles, had to make a very quick get away.

GeO Tislevoll, the "Talkie Toaster" Michael Ware, Martin Reid and Peter Newell

Both leading teams averaged just under 15, very impressive in this field.

Silence is Golden

If winning is about bidding and making slams and games and defending tightly, one other aspect of success was demonstrated on the following board. Watch Murat Genc in the South seat in the critical match against the Reid team:

19 points and not a word!

 So why did Peter Newell bid his singleton twice?! His opening, wafer thin (maybe even thinner!) showed hearts. Murat was too strong for 1NT while a take-out double could bring an unwelcome spade call from his partner. So, he sat tight.

Martin Reid’s 2 was a transfer to diamonds, hence the 2 bid. That was Murat’s second suit. So, not a word again. John Patterson as North did not feel inclined to balance on his 3 count and the bidding was over. Murat led a trump with the contract failing by one trick. In the other room, Michael Ware as South found the going in 4 too tough with the defence taking 6 tricks. 5 imps to Ker. “Silence” Murat would say is “golden”.

Well done, New Plymouth

All the players should have been very well satisfied with the organisation of this event. Many would not make the trip to Taranaki very often but would surely have been impressed with all aspects of the organisation. Without singling out any part (well, OK, I am!), the catering was absolutely superb. Congratulations to Christina Bower and Leanne Young. Even if one was not near the top of the field, one surely had excellent value for the $70 entrance fee.

All four pairs in the top two teams are aiming for national representation next year in our Open team. They all made excellent statements in advance of the two selection events in Nelson and Auckland in early 2017.

 Keeping up with the play?

I could not resist this picture from the Open Teams. Presumably Matthew Brown was dummy when it was taken. It could be his far away look was because his partner, Tim Schumacher, was playing the hand at a thoughtful pace. Were spades trumps, Tim? Time to draw them! Time to do something, Tim. Steve Boughey hopes so too.

Richard Solomon

Thanks to Murray Carter for the photos.

 

 

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