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our successful Women's team

Let The Fun Begin

Once you have qualified for the final stages of any event, you have achieved. In whatever event you are competing, no matter how good you are, qualifying is hard. For our Open and Women’s teams, qualifying was a big aim. What follows is the bonus…and judging by what our Open Team has achieved in the first four stanzas of the “Phase of 16”, the bonus could be far from over. Our Women did not fare as well. Firstly, then, the Open team.

Their opponents, France, had not only won their qualifying group stage but their vp total of 248.46 was the highest of any of the 51 countries in the Open competition. New Zealand did not exactly have an easy draw! The match is being played in 6 x 16 board stanzas and 4 have been completed. Take a look at the scores:

Stanza 1                               France 23             New Zealand 22

Stanza 2                               France 18             New Zealand 32

Stanza 3                               France 22             New Zealand 24

Stanza 4                               France 18             New Zealand 54

That leaves, with just 32 boards left, New Zealand leading France 132-81. In typical Kiwi understatement ,”not bad, eh?”

New Zealand kept the French lead to the absolute minimum in the first stanza with the right opening lead on this board, both North players declaring in 4:

 

 

It looked like Ashley Bach (West) got a diamond overcall in during the auction as his partner led that suit. The declarer now has to lose a trick in each suit as long as the defence find a spade switch. Bach-Cornell did and the contract was defeated. The overcall did not seem to happen in the other room as against Michael Whibley, East led the 10. The defence could no longer switch to diamonds in time (the switch has to come from East) and the diamond loser disappeared on the 13^th club for 620 and 12 imps to New Zealand.

Board 13 looks to have been a lucky board for our Open team as it produced 13 imps for New Zealand in Set 3:

 

I cannot see why any East-West pair would voluntary contract in 5 unless their opposition had bid to 4 during the bidding. So, let’s give Michael Ware and GeO Tislevoll the credit for having done that, a fairly ugly spot but which should only cost 500 (down 2) if doubled. With 4 making thanks to a successful trump finesse (notice North cannot keep West off lead no matter whether he wins the K lead from the East hand or ducks that trick), you could expect to gain a useful 3 imps. However, 3 became 13 when the French bid on. The K lead ensures three tricks for North though perhaps in an effort to make the unmakeable, the contract went 2 down.

Michael Whibley- Matthew Brown, in their international debut as a partnership, are having a wonderful time. Their captain must think so, too, as they played all 64 boards today. The fourth set of the day saw a stream of swings head in one direction. New Zealand gained imps on 10 of the 16 boards. The joint biggest, 11 imps, came as a result of another lead problem:

The French East-West settled for 5 and on the lead of the K, made a comfortable 11 tricks. Matthew and Michael were more ambitious and tried 6. Whether South had been quiet in the auction, I am not sure, but the French North led a passive trump. In some other matches, 6 was made even with the high spade lead but it was a lot easier to make without one. Matt Brown could draw trumps and play diamonds carefully twice from hand to set up a spade discard on the fourth diamond.

Our Women met Sweden, who had finished 3^rd in their qualifying group. A good start is very useful in a long match. One team got one but it was not New Zealand.

Stanza 1               New Zealand     34  Sweden 82

Stanza 2               New Zealand     31  Sweden 11

Stanza 3               New Zealand     26  Sweden  53

Stanza 4               New Zealand     26  Sweden  61

That’s  Sweden 207 New Zealand 117. Plenty of imps in for New Zealand but far too many out. Indeed, New Zealand’s imp total would see them very close to leading most of the other Women’s matches.

Shirley Newton and a resplendent Jenny Wilkinson, in red and fully recovered from her testing out the Polish hospital system, in action against the young Swedish pair,Emma Ovelius and Ida Gronkvist.

 

32 boards to go. A real tough ask now for our Women but let’s hope the Open can defend their lead of 51 imps.

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

 

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