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Kiwis on the Coast - Day 8, Saturday

DOWN TO THE WIRE.

The final of the Gold Coast Teams between two mainly Kiwi teams came down to an extraordinary climax. Let’s remember first the two teams:

Bach  Ashley Bach, Nabil Edgtton, Matthew Brown, Michael Whibley, Alex Antonios

Ware  Michael Ware, Nick Jacob, GeO Tislevoll, Terje Lie, Max Henbest, David Wiltshire

The final consisted of 4 x 12 board sets. After three of those, Ware led 121-97.1 and seemed to be in control. With just three boards left, Ware’s lead had increased to 29.9 vps. Surely, they could not lose it from there?

However, on board 22, Ware – Jacob bid to the impossible 6Spade-small contract on these cards:

Board 22
East Deals
E-W Vul
6
K J 9 4 3 2
Q 10 7
Q J 4
A 10 7
A Q 7
K 4 2
K 8 7 3
 
N
W   E
S
 
K Q J 8 4 2
8
9 5
A 10 6 2
 
9 5 3
10 6 5
A J 8 6 3
9 5

 

The Diamond-smallA was on-side but there was no magic club position, allowing their opposition to gain 13 imps when Whibley-Brown stayed in 4Spade-small. The lead was down to 16.9 vps with 2 boards to play.

Board 23
South Deals
Both Vul
A J
A K Q 8
10 7 2
A K 10 9
Q 10 9 7 6 4
J 9 7
A K 3
2
 
N
W   E
S
 
K 5 3 2
3
Q J 8 6
8 5 4 3
 
8
10 6 5 4 2
9 5 4
Q J 7 6
West North East South
Ware Whibley Jacob Brown
      Pass
1  Dbl 3  3 
Dbl Pass Pass 4 
All pass      

 

3Club-small was a Bergen Raise showing 6-9 hcp and spade support. However, Whibley-Brown were allowed to bid and play in 4Heart-small where there were just 3 diamond losers. That was 620 to Bach.

Meanwhile, at the other table, Bach-Edgtton bid the East-West cards a little more aggressively, making one more important bid, to 4Spade-small. Again, there were only three losers, Spade-smallA, a heart and a club… and again Bach picked up +620, +1240 in all and a huge 15 imps. The lead was suddenly down to 1.9 imps with just one board left.

Board 24
West Deals
None Vul
5
5
A K Q 6 4 3
Q 8 6 4 3
K J 9 6
A 9 8 6 2
10 7 2
7
 
N
W   E
S
 
Q 10 8 4 2
10 7 3
J 9
J 10 5
 
A 7 3
K Q J 4
8 5
A K 9 2
West North East South
Ware Whibley Jacob Brown
Pass 1  1  Dbl
3  5  Pass 5 
Pass 6  All pass  

 

Despite some spade interference from their opponents, Whibley-Brown bid to the top spot of 6Club-small. There was some doubt as to the meaning of 5Heart-small but Michael Whibley had no ambitions higher than 6Club-small..and Matt Brown respected that decision. When the heart lead was not found, Michael had his overtrick though that would not have been enough by 0.9 had the same contract been played at the other table, even if the heart lead had been found.

However, that was not to be the case. For Ware, Henbest – Wiltshire had an uncontested auction. Max Henbest (South) used keycard in clubs and got the 1 or 4 response. Already committed to slam, he then asked for the trump queen. Not only did David Wiltshire have it but he had a good running diamond suit and presumed his partner would have all the missing keycards to be bidding this way. Hence, Wiltshire’s reply was 7Club-small!

The spotlight then fell on the defence. Ashley Bach (West) made a Lightner Double asking for an unusual lead…often dummy’s first bid suit (the bidding had started 1Diamond-small-1Heart-small) and Nabil Edgtton found the heart lead to defeat the slam, gain 14 imps for his side and win the final by 12.1 imps.

A breathing-taking victory for Ashley Bach, Nabil Edgtton, Michael Whibley, Matthew Brown and Alex Antonios. They picked up 42 imps in those last 3 boards.

One name missing was that of Michael Cornell who was meant to be a member of this team but who could not travel from New Zealand at the last minute because of a family illness. Thus, Nabil was added to the team along with his friend, Alex, who had been taught to play bridge by Nabil only three months ago. Quick learner and great teacher!

Final Results from the Ivy Dahler Swiss Pairs

    Ivy Dahler Butler Swiss Pairs  
    109 tables  
    North-South    top 30  
3rd   Liz and Blair Fisher 134.96
7th   Mark Siegrist - Andrew Janisz 128.17
13th   Steve Boughey - Fraser Rew 118.94
9th   Bruce Marr- Michael Sykes 125.66
15th   Andrew Tarbutt - Alister Stuck 118.43
18th   Jane Morris - Bev Henton 116.95
21st   Chen Ding - Herman Yuan 115.81
22nd   Annette and Stephen Henry 115.62
29th   Kate Terry and Judy Pawson 110.42
30th   Leslie and Russell Watt 110.00

 

    East - West  
3rd   Michael Courtney - Sue Ingham 129.09
15th   Hayden Seal - Jan Davis 117.22
18th   Fuxia Wen - Ian Berrington 112.98
19th   Murat Genc - Arleen Schwartz 112.74
25th   Barry Jones - Jenny Millington 110.92

 

    Intermediate  88 pairs    top 30  
3rd   Nicky Bowers - Joy Watkinson 128.59
11th   Julian and Pamela Glyn 117.62
22nd   Graham Westenra - Mary Penington 112.58
27th   Kay Leeton - Jenny Hoff 106.79
30th   Susan Rowe - Brian Craig 106.15
       
    Restricted 98 Pairs   top 30  
1st   Brad Tattersfield - Jan Borren 148.81
4th   Anna Chappell - Marilyn Kennedy 125.35
6th   Jenni Borren - Margaret Robbie 126.66
10th   Chris Glyde - Maria Casci 119.06
12th   David Spencer - Sandy Buzzard 118.37
13th   Sue Hunt - Sue Skarupsky 117.53
14th   Kevin Birch - Julie Quilty 117.13
15th   Nick Edginton - Rhonda Graham 116.64
16th   Adrienne Dale - Miriam Lewin 116.50
18th   Steve and Mary Colling 115.26
19th   Kaye McCreadie - Yvonne Helps 115.13
21st   Keith Mabin - John Joseph 112.27
24th   Stuart Schon - Maeve Doyle 109.40
26th=   Pam Whitehead- Stuart Grant 108.68
28th   Rosemary Jackson - Takayo Yangisawa 108.39

 

Special congratulations to Wellington’s Jan Borren and Brad Tattersfield who won the Restricted section in some style finishing some 20vps ahead of second place. They won all 10 matches including round 5 against Jan’s wife Jenni and her Rotorua partner, Margie Robbie. Jenni and Margie were still on target for a very high finish themselves but lost their last two matches to finish 5th.

A Neat Victory

At the start of the week, I apologized in advance if I missed out any Kiwi names from these reports. Shamefully, I have to admit I omitted a whole event and it was one where we had a Kiwi quinella. So, just a few days late, here are the results of the Monday Butler Swiss Pairs, 0-500 category. With 58 pairs taking part, these were the Kiwis who made the top 20.

    Intermediate Monday Butler Swiss Pairs (0-500mps)  58 pairs  
    top 20 finishes  
1st   Graham Westenra - Mary Penington 88.07
2nd   Murray Wiggins - Tilley Tillainathan 82.15
4th   Maria Casci - Chris Glyde 78.94
9th   Brad Tattersfield - Jan Borren 72.91
12th   Peter and Jillian Ramsey 71.30
13th   Barbara Imlach - Annette Martin 70.96
16th   Mariusz and Barbara Tumilowicz 66.07
17th   Virginia Warren - Marsha Woodbury 65.84

 

That was a truly great result for Graham and Mary. They were unbeaten in their 6 rounds with 5 wins and a draw and saved the best till last with a 34 imp win in the last round to record a perfect 20. Murray and Tilley may well have thought that they would win as they too scored 20 vps in the last round though it was the pair from Blenheim who held on to first place for a win of which they were both delighted.

The Huge Gold Coast Convention Centre ( or part of it!)

Gold Coast Congress 2.JPG
Near the front of this picture is Susan Humphries. Although in these reports, we had to put Susan in italics as she is now firmly Australian based, her roots are of course very much on this side of the Tasman. The last few weeks have been very interesting and enjoyable for Susan. She has made the Australian Women's Team for the World Championships later in the year. Then, on the very significant February 29th this year, she took the opportunity to pop the question to her partner, Liam Milne, another of our bridge exports to Australia. Naturally, Liam made a very positive reply!
As years go by, we can forget some people's contribution to bridge in New Zealand. Susan has made a considerable contribution towards international youth bridge here in New Zealand. Her enthusiasm for the game is huge and I am sure all bridge players here wish her and Liam well for the future...with perhaps the one exception of when she lines up against the Kiwis later this year in the World Champs.

Whether one talked about the successful Houdini act of the Open Teams winners, those like Graham and Mary who exceeded all expectations in winning their event or the hundreds of Kiwis who played with less success at the table, I am sure all would say this was a fabulous Congress in just about every way. To find fault would be extremely picky.

I hope you have enjoyed these daily reports.

Richard Solomon

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