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In my last regional update, I mentioned that my partner and I were heading off to the Gold Coast Congress. So were many other Kiwis, including a large chunk of my particular club, the Wellington Bridge Club (WBC). NZBridge reports at the time gave details of Kiwi achievements. Two members of the WBC, Stephen and Annette Henry, came second in the Open Swiss Pairs held on the last day. Towards the end of this update, I'll digress into a paragraph or two of my own bridge story down in the depths of the Congress.                             

Interclub 2017

The Interclub competition has managed to fit in two monthly rounds before the end of March. Once again, we are not short of teams; 10 Open, 12 Open Restricted, 22 Intermediate, 16 Junior and 4 Novice, 64 in all. It's pleasing to see teams from Masterton and South Wairarapa coming over the hill and doing well.

Local Tournaments

There have been a few events since the last update. Consistent with the spirit of Jane Stearns' presentations (more below), we'll devote some time to Intermediate and Junior tournaments run by a smaller club, the South Wairarapa Bridge Club. Thanks to Katherine Gough for providing me with the update.

Intermediate and Junior Tournament held in Greytown on the 2^nd April

There were 11 tables in the Junior Tournament and 12 Tables in the Intermediate. The Tournament Organiser was Lizzie Catherall, who, with the support of a mainly new committee, worked hard to make this a very successful tournament. About four weeks beforehand, they started actively canvassing Junior club players, and those of their sister club, Masterton. The winners of the Junior Tournament were Anna McDonald and Birgitta Harper (from ther home club), with an average score of 63.64%. This was their first win in a tournament. Second were Masterton player Simon Dixie and David Fowler (Wellington Club) with a  score of 61.71%. Third place in the Junior Tournament were Ann McLeod and Rachel Blundell with 59.32%

          

Anna McDonald and Birgitta Harper                 Simon Dixie and David Fowler

The club was confident it would get a good turnout from its very competitive Intermediate players and were thrilled that 22 entered. The winners were Jeffry Craanen and Elaine Richardson from the Hutt Bridge Club with a score of 60.13%. In second place were Jude Lucas and Karen Eriksen from Wellington, with 57.29%. Third equal were Mira Trifunovic and Graeme Potter from Wellington and local players Katherine Gough and Di Martin with 56.82%.

                       

Jeffry Craanan and Elaine Richardson        Jude Lucas and Karen Eriksen

Similar events had been held earlier in February (26th) at the Masterton Bridge Club. Ann McLeod and Rachael Blundell (57.5%) won the Junior Tournament from William Hamilton and John Wales (56.0%) and 10 other pairs. Denise Barnett and Jeremy Morley (62.7%) won the Intermediate Tournament from Mira Trifunovic and Graham Potter (59.6%) and 16 other pairs.

Also at  Masterton, the Open Pairs was held on the 26 March and won by Alan Grant and Anthony Ker with 60.34% from Graeme Norman and Patrick D'Arcy. Graham Weir and Arumugam Kumarasamy were third.

Kapi Mana held a Multigrade Intermediate/ Junior Tournament on the 19th March. The top Intermediate pair was Mira Trifunovic and Graham Potter (third mention in this update!). The top Intermediate/ Junior pair was Alan and Jann Dyer, and the top all Junior pair was Adrienne Dale and Miriam Lewin.

The Paraparaumu Open was also held on the 19th. Judith Jackson and Jeanne Wardill came first, Alister Stuck and David Macdonald were second, with Donna Upchurch and Nebojsa Djorovic third.

 Wellingtonians on their travels

Now we go out of the region for some away matches in March. Robyn Freeman-Greene and Dale Lacey were part of the winning team in the Nelson Open Teams on 11 March. In the Marlborough Pairs and Teams later in the month, Kate Davies and John Patterson won the Pairs, and joined Maurice Carter and Barbara Fechney to win the Teams competition.

Junior League

At the time of writing, we have held 3 out of the 13 tournaments covered in this year's Junior League competition. Rachel Blundell and Ann McLeod are the early joint leaders.

The purpose of the League is to encourage more Junior grade players to participate in more Junior Grade Tournaments in the Wellington Region. Points are collected for overall finishing positions in tournaments, plus “Bonus Points” for things such as; playing in a Junior Tournament, achieving 50% or better average overall in a Tournament, and winning a Session outright.

This is a Wellington Regional Committee initiative and applies only to events within the Region. The total prize pool has been increased, from $400 in 2016, to $500 in 2017. The prize money is apportioned among individual players. Since it is an individual event, players can swap partners between tournaments, but forming a regular partnership probably helps in achieving optimum results.

Meeting with Wellington Region's Clubs

The Regional Committee and local clubs met towards the end of February. Jane Stearns gave her presentation on "Rejuvenating a Bridge Club" and held a workshop. The Regional Committee appreciates clubs' participation in this meeting. Jane, who has recently been elected to the Board of NZBridge, didn't stop at attending this meeting. She toured many local clubs, including going up the Kapiti coast and over into the Wairarapa, as well as some city clubs.

You can catch up with how she spent her time in the Wellington Region from her blog entry at  please click here

Since then, Greg Whitten of the South Wairarapa Bridge Club has joined the Wellington Regional Committee.

Kairangi Bridge Club Building Upgrade

It's happening. The last playing night in the club rooms before the upgrade is the 13 April, and the Kairangi club members head off to Rongotai College and the Seatoun Village Hall for a few months. We expect to see them moving back in late July.

Gold Coast Congress

We (my partner and I) entered the Pairs, Teams and Swiss pairs in the Restricted Grade. The Restricted Grade at the Congress is their third highest grade, just above Novice, open to persons below NZ Master.

In case you haven't previously seen what "Enough tables for 530 tables of bridge in one room"looks like, here it is:

 And here's a few of the WBC players at the Congress, attending day one of a rolling evening barbecue. 

For those who have never been to The Gold Coast Congress

The Joys ..but stay awake until the very end!

The rest of this update is about how I got on. Aside from catering to the high interest of the bridge community in my experiences at the table, it gives a picture of what awaits the average bridge player thinking of entering the congress at this level.

The first event was the Pairs. Two qualifying rounds and the field is split into 5 groups of 14 tables for a three session play-off over the next two days. You eventually play 3 boards against the 27 other pairs in your group. Gail and I qualified for the top group, a tactical blunder as we were soundly beaten in all three sessions. Our colleagues in the other groups fared much better.

The next event was the Teams (12 rounds x 14 boards over 3 days). We had previously managed to persuade Donna Upchurch and Nebojsa Djorovic (see Paraparaumu Open above ) to play with us. We obtained a few good results, fading from second to third in the last round.

(Paul is far too modest to say that there were 90 teams competing and that they achieved excellent results in qualifying for the final of the Restricted Pairs as well as high finishes in the Teams and Swiss Pairs. Meanwhile, being the partner of the reporter does not give you name suppression. So, well done, too, to Gail Tippett.)

The final event was the Swiss pairs of about 90 pairs. Ten matches of eight boards over one and a half days. We had some of the good hands and much of the good luck that you need in Swiss Pairs. In the last round, we again faded, this time from second to sixth, thanks to a massive swing on one hand.

This is the end of day 8 of bridge, the last match, the NZ opponents are chatting about a fun social time, winding down and heading home, with 3 or so boards to go. We've previously bid and made a slam and the match seems to be going well otherwise. You (North) pick up K7532 Q K9876 98, vulnerable against non-vulnerable. The bidding starts on your left. 2 2 4. It's now your bid. You have actually dozed off by this time and pass 4 (makes 4 for -420). Most N/S were in 4 or 5 making 5 for +650. Ouch.

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