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Biritch and I have been somewhat absent from the local scene for much of the preceding months, and this report is therefore a little sketchy and largely hearsay. As always, a large number of tournaments have taken place, and many of our local players have shone both nationally and internationally.  Let’s start with the latter. Pride of place most assuredly goes to Mike Cornell and Ashley Bach, who became New Zealand’s first ever World Champions in Poland in the Open Pairs there, and also to our Open and Women’s’ Teams who qualified for the knock-out phases of the World Bridge Games. Brilliant!

Recent Tournament Winners

The Auckland Club hosted a number of its Thursday tournaments, ever popular with those of us who have ceased to be obliged to earn our livings. Winners were Rachael Goffin and Lynne Geursen in August, Pauline Andrews and Amelia Herbert in both September and November, and Barry and Glenis Palmer with Neil Stuckey and Stan Abrahams in October.

The Colbeck Cup, awarded to the player who records the best overall performance in all Thursday tournaments, was won by Mike Curry. Auckland also was the scene of a rare triumph for yours truly, ably carried by Steve Boughey, in the Wes Dodd in October, and wins for Ian Clayton and Richard Solomon, and Mark Paget and Mark Lynn in the Billie Tohill and Tudor Biggs events respectively, and John Wang and Alice Young in the Akarana Club’s Swiss pairs.

Further afield, Mount Albert held two events, a Junior tournament won by Mandy Maclean and Nick Edgington and a Restricted won by Yuzhong Chen and Jeffrey Chang. Down south to Papatoetoe, another win for Steve Boughey with Cheryl Winsor in the Open event, and for Jacob Kalma and Jeremy Fraser-Hoskin in the Intermediate. And back over the bridge to Orewa, where William Liu and Andrew Tarbutt took their Open tournament and William Han and Prem Soundranayagam the Intermediate.

Rounding out the regular tournament schedule, Mitsuko Wada and Takayo Yanagisawa won the Royle Epsom Junior event, mother/daughter combo Rachelle Pelkman and Rebecca Wood the Howick Open, Alma Priest and Ilo Hellaby that club’s Intermediate, Anna Powell and Sharon Marryatt North Shore’s Intermediate, and Alec Isaacs and Nick Edgington the Junior. Almost finally, local players who did well in the NZ Wide Pairs were Paul and Jeanette Grimmer, and Andrew Tarbutt and Tracey Lewis in 8^th and 12^th places overall respectively.

Last Night of Inter-Club

And let us not forget the year-long Interclub championship, where the winners were Howick 2 in the Junior section, Waiheke in the Intermediate, and Auckland Palmer in the Open. Phew!

The winning Howick Junior team was "Junior" in every sense of the word. Three of the main four team members are Macleans College students. Pictured are William Han, Vincent He and Zachary Yan. They are aged 13,14 and 15. Also pictured is Prem Soundranayagam who is just a little older as you can tell from the prize he received.

These two gentlemen keep the ever so popular inter-club running so well year after year. Pictured are its two directors, Tony Morcom and Peter Bowyer.

A Play Tester

Not too much in the way of “goss” for you this edition, but here is a hand for you.  This hand defeated every declarer in a recent top level tournament. Can you do better?

 

 Most declarers ended up in 4♠ on the hand, and received the standard heart lead. It looks simple – win A♥, dispose of South’s losing hearts on North’s good diamonds, and play a trump towards the king. When you do this, the queen appears. If you cover this with the king, you cannot make it any more, as you will lose four trump tricks. What you must do is ruff a heart after playing out your diamonds, eliminate West’s clubs and then exit with a club. West will ruff but cannot then prevent you from making the K♠ for your tenth trick. Curiously, 3NT has 10 top tricks without any need for the spade suit!

 

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