All News

Congratulations to our newest Grandmaster, David May.

Don’t like Mondays?

So which Monday in recent months would be the worst Monday for a possible COVID lockdown in Wellington? Could it be the 21st of June? There was a busy week ahead for the Wellington Bridge Club - the big monthly teams event on Wednesday, Swiss Pairs on Thursday, with the Wellington Region Teams on the coming weekend.

It happened. Just a possibility at first, but that prompted queries, and a more than usual number of withdrawals from the Wednesday and Thursday events. Later on, certainty arrived. The weekend Regional Teams were cancelled, and the monthly teams and Swiss couldn’t go ahead under Level 2 limits of 100 persons. Any other week…….

Thanks to Alister and NZBridge for their help with the refunds for the cancelled weekend event.

The much more bridge that did happen

The Karori Club continues its practice of running one section Junior tournaments. This time there were 16 pairs competing on the 30th May. Mary Scott and Jill Duckworth were the first North South pair, with Elizabeth Gibson and Jaedyn Eade the first East West pair.

                                     Top Juniors
      North-South                                    East - West

              
Mary Scott  & Jill Duckworth    Elizabeth Gibson &Jaedyn Eade

The same weekend, the popular Victoria Swiss attracted 46 pairs. As NZ Bridge had held its annual meeting with the regions in Wellington on the previous day, the field had a few more visitors than usual. However, they didn’t completely eclipse the locals. Mariusz Tumilowicz and Mindy Wu, who are beginning to feature in these updates, came first from Anne-Marie Russell and Jack James. Visitors Michael Ware and Grant Jarvis were third. The last round saw some up and down movement of these three pairs and the eventual 4th placegetters, two more locals, in the two Murrays, McMillan and Phillips.

There were 24 pairs in the Upper Hutt Open two weeks later. Alan Grant and Nick Whitten <> averaging 57.3%, won by over a 2% margin. Murray McMillan and Anthony Ker were second. A week later, it was the Kapi Mana Open. This time, there were 26 pairs. Graeme Norman and Patrick D’Arcy <> headed off Alan Grant and Anthony Ker.

                                      Top at Upper Hutt                                                    and at Kapi Mana

                                                                   
                             Alan Grant & Morrinsville's Nick Whitten                          Pat D'Arcy & Graeme Norman                                      

Lynn Hall reports that Masterton held its Intermediate/Junior tournament that same weekend. Although the turnout was low, the nine and a half tables that played enjoyed a warm cosy atmosphere while outside it poured with rain. The winners were Jeffry Craanen and Simon Webber from the Hutt Club, with Judith Smith and Clare Crossling from Masterton, 2nd, and Frances Tacon and Cath Penney, 3rd, also from Masterton.

In her report, Lynn says that Masterton started lessons with 34 beginners, which dropped down to 26, who have joined up and are enjoying the lessons led by Jill McLean and Barry E. Smith.  Most beginners are turning up regularly, with very few having a night off and all are enjoying the learning process.

After we came back from Level 2, the Kairangi Multigrade Teams took place on the 4th July, with its usual format. The winning team was Ruth Brucker (Captain), Ruth Harley, Graham Stronach, and Marina Smith.  Ruth Brucker and Graham were the Open pair.

 
Ruth's Brucker & Harley, Graham Stronach
& Marina Smith with the sponsor, Kellie
McInstry of Trustees Exectors between the two
Ruths at the rear.

The Clubs Playoff

The fourth annual competition between teams from local clubs was held on Sunday 11th July. It perhaps means different things to different folk.  I see it as a way for clubs to reward their keener players with the opportunity to have a fun day’s bridge competing against their peers in other clubs. The format had a club team of four grades (yes Open Restricted), with one pair in each grade. There are six matches of 9 boards, Club X’s Open pair plays Club Y’s Open pair, ditto their Other pairs play their equivalents. After a random draw for the first round, there is a Swiss movement of the clubs.

Nine of the twelve local clubs entered the competition, which meant that we needed a tenth team to avoid byes. As usual, we picked a Nomads team from several clubs, and, as usual, this composite team performed credibly, coming midfield. The Karori Bridge Club team were first, their club’s second win in this event. They also had the top Open and Open Restricted Pair.

 

The Karori Bridge Club team were first, their club’s second win in this event. They also had the top Open and Open Restricted Pair.

    Top Open Pair                               winning Karori team                      Top Restricted Open Pair                      

   
Mariusz Tumilowicz &                                                                            Tani Blackburn & Luke Kelly
Mindy Wu

Victoria, who came second, provided the top Intermediate and top scoring pair, and Kairangi, third overall, had the top Junior pair.
 Top Scorers                             Top Juniors

 
Derek Gill & Stefan Prentice   Liam Doonan & Mary Scott

The Hutt club ran a smooth operation and were generous hosts. As it might take some searching to find the results, given the complicated format, here’s the overall result on the day for the 10 competing teams.

Something unexpected for me was that the format catered for the grazers amongst us. Assemble 40 pairs in 10 teams in the social area beside the tea table. Then have them go away to play 9 boards, return to top up carbs, repeat that 4 more times, before gathering for the final nibbles, drinks and prizegiving. I don’t think the clubs chose their representatives for their eating capacities, but it hardly mattered. The food vanished as quickly as it was replaced.

Latter half of July

The Karori Intermediate and Paraparaumu Junior were both held on the 18th July. Two consistent performances saw Martyn Rew and Andrew Cushnie win at Karori from Yvonne Helps and Kaye McCredie. There were 18 pairs in the Paraparaumu Junior, with Angela and Paul Harper coming in ahead of Vicki Boffa and Shelley Ross. 70% in the first session proved too hard to overcome.
     Karori winners

Martyn Rew, past President Annette Prebble
and Andrew Cushnie

The 5A Wellington Open was held on the 25th. There were 38 pairs entered. Kate Davies and John Patterson, averaging in the sixties, led from Patrick D’Arcy and Graeme Norman. An 8B Restricted Open for Provincial Masters and below had been planned for the same time, but was cancelled with insufficient entries. Kim Tate and Bill Gardner were amongst those subsequently moving into the Open event, and were the top Open Restricted pair, averaging just over 50% in both sessions.

Rubber Bridge Wellington Region

The local competition has now finished. The two pairs who have qualified to play in the National Finals are Russell Dive/Anthony Ker, and Martin Reid/Peter Newell.

Interclub

Interclub has just completed its fifth round. There is no change in the leading teams since my last report after the third round.

 

Group	Number of Teams	Team	Captain
Open	8 teams	Wellington 1	Annette Henry
Restricted Open	10 teams	Wellington 4	Margie Michael
Intermediate	26 teams	Kapi Mana 1	Margaret Francis
Junior/Novice	16 teams	Hutt 1	Neil Sargisson

 

The second place in the Junior/Novice group is still held by Kairangi 2, the Sarah de Groot team, one of the five novice teams.

Go Back View All News Items