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There were no surprises at the end of the North Island Teams as four members of the current New Zealand Open Team, Michael Cornell, Ashley Bach, GeO Tislevoll and Michael Ware won the event emphatically by just under 17vps. However, they were given a fight by a Dunedin team which led for several of the earlier rounds. The top ten positions in the 34 team field were:

1.	Cornell	Michael Cornell, Ashley Bach, GeO Tislevoll, Michael Ware	121.16
2.	Yuan	Herman Yuan, Yuzhong Chen, Rachelle Pelkman, Murray Wood	104.19
3.	Westoby	Jonathan Westoby, Malcolm Mayer, Denis Humphries, David Dolbel	100.65
4.	Schwartz	Arleen Schwartz, Murat Genc, Margaret Perley, Paul Freeland	99.71
5.	Young	Alice Young, George Sun, June Lei, Gong Yunfei	94.55
6.	Solomon	Richard Solomon, Ian Berrington, Gary Chen, John Wong	94.09
7.	Jones	Pat Carter, Julie Atkinson, Barry Jones, Jenny Millington	93.25
8.	Miao	Clair Miao, Wayne Burrows, Carol Richardson, Andi Boughey	92.43
9.	Ker	Charles and Anthony Ker, Alister Stuck, Russell Wilson	92.26
10.	Curry	Michael Curry, Liz Fisher, Neil Stuckey, Barry Palmer	91.16

 

Who and what is missing?                           Strong performance from down South

            
We have 3 of the winners, Ashley Bach,         Paul Freeland, Margaret Perley, Arleen Schwartz and
GeO Tislevoll and Michael Cornell but           Murat Genc had a fine weekend until they met the Cornell
Michael Ware had made a quick get-away    team in the penultimate round.
and had taken his victory joke with him!

Schwartz were very much in contention before they met Cornell in round 7 (8 rounds of 14 boards). At that point, on the back of five successive victories Schwartz had 89.54 vps with Cornell on 88.13. However, in the head-to-head, Cornell had three double-figure swings in with none in the “out” column and scored 17.77 vps. In the final round, Cornell had a comfortable win over Ker while Schwartz lost narrowly to Westoby.

The event was very well run, as usual, by the Tauranga Club and the directors, Murray Wiggins and Tony Morcom.

The battle of the majors – part 1 (with a third suit on the side!)

“Do not put an 8 card suit down as dummy.”

The above is a quote from a recent article on this website. It rang very true in one board from Round 7. Firstly, though, how many spades would you bid with the following hand at equal nil vul. after your right -hand opponent opens 1:

 AKT9753

 T82

 KJ

 2

Some might have taken the low road with just 1, others a higher route 4. It seems a little too good for a pre-emptive 3 at that vulnerability. Over a direct 4, and a pass from opener’s partner, fourth to speak had an easy to call 5 but would you have tried 6 on the West hand below had South competed with 5? Making the 8- card diamond suit declarer would have been a remarkably good idea this time:

 

It is unclear what West expected to do with their 4 little clubs though the minors East held, along with the break in both spades and diamonds were perfect for those Wests who tried 6. Five West players tried with 4 being allowed to play there, 3 times doubled. One wise North-South pair retreated to 6 which was neither doubled nor defended to the full. (one down)

In the Cornell v Schwartz match, Michael Cornell ended as declarer in 4. It seems that Ashley Bach had no qualms in putting down his 8 card suit as dummy!  In theory, this contract can be defeated by one trick on a trump or club lead (then trump switch) but the K seems a stand-out selection from the South seat. Thus, 4 made though Schwartz gained 6 imps when Ware-Tislevoll doubled 5 in the other room, declarer making the overtrick.  
Young, Keen and Loving it.....                                 .... More Mature, still keen and Loving it.

                  
That's three young Aucklanders, Zachary Yan,          They certainly do...Sonia Crawford from Matamata
Ryan Song and Yi Wei Qi.                                           and Rotorua's Tom Winiata.

The battle of the majors – part 2

It is usually nice in such hands to hold the spade suit when these battles occur. How though do you handle the situation when you have the hearts:

 

3 is pre-emptive rather than constructive though at that vulnerability should not be a 4-3-3-3 one count! So, it seems there are two strongish hands and two weak hands in the North and East seats. What do you do in the above situation?  

If you bid 4, you must know what you will do when the opposition bid 4. Maybe they will bid 4 whether or not you bid 4? Who can make what?

The winning action, probably, was not to bid 4 or if you do, to bid on to 5 because fortune favoured the spade bidders:

 

The well-placed K and A meant that 4 was a make while in 4, the defence had four tricks to take, or should have! These were the results at the 34 tables:

4	S	450	5
3	S	200	1
5	W	100	1
4	S	-50	11
5	S	-100	2
3	W	-170	3
5x	S	-300	2
4	W	-620	8
4X	W	-790	1

 

Thus, out of 34 tables, 16 defended 4, 11 successfully, while 9 got to play 4 and 4 sacrificed in 5. South has a tough decision to make over 4. Perhaps passing 3 would have been a good idea to see if one’s opponents do try for the vulnerable game. At 3 tables they did not.

The board was imps out for Cornell as 4 made when Cornell- Bach were defending but not at the other table. However, by that point, the tournament had been well won.

  A Mug Shot!                                                                                            Just Nice to be there                                                                          

             
  Peer Bach and Brett Glass are having an intelligent conversation     That's Auckland's Hafizur Khan and Nick Edginton. Julle
 about one of the more interesting hands of the day. Does Andrew     Atkinson is far too engrossed in the match scores to pose
 Janisz care? He is totally engrossed in his "cuppa!                             for the photographer!

thanks to Anna Kalma for the photos.

 

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