All News

A NEW NAME TO CHASE

The day started with the New Zealand Open Team chasing Japan who had come off a huge day to take the lead. A lot can happen in 24 hours or 4 matches. First up for New Zealand was Thailand with a bucketful of imps changing hands, the majority in the right direction as New Zealand won 53-40 (13.72). While we would have liked a bigger win, the deficit behind Japan was reduced to just 3.01vps as Japan suffered a small loss to Malaysia.

 

 

Ashley Bach’s negative double gave his partner the chance to pass for penalties. While Michael Cornell could not score a club ruff, the defence took three spades, three trumps and two aces for 5 down and +1100. The contract and defence was the same at the other table with just one exception: West did not double and Martin Reid could write down a relieved -250, 13 imps passing to New Zealand. However, a missed grand slam cost New Zealand 13 imps with 17 more being lost in an unusual way in the board reported below in the Ladies’ first match.

Our Ladies started their tough day with a match against Australia and lost by just one imp. 26-27 (9.67).

Sue Lusk (Australia), Susan Humphies and Steph Jacob

A calamitous excursion to grand-slam and a misdefence cost New Zealand 26 imps but half that number came back on the following board:

 

5 was exclusion Key Card (i.e. asking about the three aces and K but not the A..the implication being the asker was void in that suit) with Steph’s pass of the double showing no key cards. No doubt, much to Steph’s relief, Susan stopped in 5 which she made for the loss of a spade and the A. The Australians bid to 6 which was defeated by one trick.

 

Alas for our Open Team, this board cost big time. With the West hand hidden, Newell-Reid could not defeat 6 while Michael Cornell had problems as East in 5 as this contract was defeated by one trick with 17 imps going to Thailand.  

In Match 2 of the day, our Ladies faced Chinese Taipei and gained an excellent 36-29 (12.16) win.

 

As North, Jenny Wilkinson had few problems making 3NT as she made two overtricks. However, South became declarer in the same contract for Chinese Taipei. Presumably Glenis Palmer led a spade as this time, the contract was one down.

Malaysia seemed to be troubling a number of the fancied teams. In match 2, it was New Zealand’s turn as our Open Team lost 33-36 (9.03). Yet, we regained the overall lead as Japan lost heavily to Singapore. A missed slam cost New Zealand but they gained from a bad one bid by Malaysia which rightfully was defeated.

In their next match our Open team beat Singapore 33-18 (14.19). Our lead increased with Japan losing again though there was a new threat, China, who picked up a near maximum off bottom placed Kuwait and had moved into second place, nearly 7 vps behind. No slams this time but a useful penalty when the opposition bid a little too high and a defeated game made at the other table provided most of New Zealand’s imps.

The mid-table teams were providing stubborn opposition and the Open Team’s final match, against China Hong Kong, ended in a 25 all draw. Meanwhile China scored another near maximum, against Korea 2 and finished the day 2.93 vps ahead of New Zealand in first place.

1. China	303.99
2. New Zealand	301.06
3.Chinese Taipei	297.33
4. Japan	293.10
5. Indonesia	287.35
6. India	273.95

 

Our Ladies finished with the toughest test of all, against China, losing with respectability 16-29 (6.28). Three failing finesses defeated Cartner-Palmer’s 5 contract when it seems their opposition had sacrificed in 4. However, the rest was tight and at the end of the day, our team had done well against the top three. They are still 5^th, 7 vps ahead of Japan but with a big gap, 30vps, behind 4^th placed Indonesia. Their matches today, against Korea 2, India and Singapore offer the chance of closing that gap.

Meanwhile, our Open Team play Australia, Korea 1, India and Indonesia as the going gets tougher.

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

Go Back View All News Items