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DOWN TO THE WIRE.

The final of the Gold Coast Teams between two mainly Kiwi teams came down to an extraordinary climax. Let’s remember first the two teams:

Bach  Ashley Bach, Nabil Edgtton, Matthew Brown, Michael Whibley, Alex Antonios

Ware  Michael Ware, Nick Jacob, GeO Tislevoll, Terje Lie, Max Henbest, David Wiltshire

The final consisted of 4 x 12 board sets. After three of those, Ware led 121-97.1 and seemed to be in control. With just three boards left, Ware’s lead had increased to 29.9 vps. Surely, they could not lose it from there?

However, on board 22, Ware – Jacob bid to the impossible 6 contract on these cards:

 

The A was on-side but there was no magic club position, allowing their opposition to gain 13 imps when Whibley-Brown stayed in 4. The lead was down to 16.9 vps with 2 boards to play.

 

3 was a Bergen Raise showing 6-9 hcp and spade support. However, Whibley-Brown were allowed to bid and play in 4 where there were just 3 diamond losers. That was 620 to Bach.

Meanwhile, at the other table, Bach-Edgtton bid the East-West cards a little more aggressively, making one more important bid, to 4. Again, there were only three losers, A, a heart and a club… and again Bach picked up +620, +1240 in all and a huge 15 imps. The lead was suddenly down to 1.9 imps with just one board left.

 

Despite some spade interference from their opponents, Whibley-Brown bid to the top spot of 6. There was some doubt as to the meaning of 5 but Michael Whibley had no ambitions higher than 6..and Matt Brown respected that decision. When the heart lead was not found, Michael had his overtrick though that would not have been enough by 0.9 had the same contract been played at the other table, even if the heart lead had been found.

However, that was not to be the case. For Ware, Henbest – Wiltshire had an uncontested auction. Max Henbest (South) used keycard in clubs and got the 1 or 4 response. Already committed to slam, he then asked for the trump queen. Not only did David Wiltshire have it but he had a good running diamond suit and presumed his partner would have all the missing keycards to be bidding this way. Hence, Wiltshire’s reply was 7!

The spotlight then fell on the defence. Ashley Bach (West) made a Lightner Double asking for an unusual lead…often dummy’s first bid suit (the bidding had started 1-1) and Nabil Edgtton found the heart lead to defeat the slam, gain 14 imps for his side and win the final by 12.1 imps.

A breathing-taking victory for Ashley Bach, Nabil Edgtton, Michael Whibley, Matthew Brown and Alex Antonios. They picked up 42 imps in those last 3 boards.

One name missing was that of Michael Cornell who was meant to be a member of this team but who could not travel from New Zealand at the last minute because of a family illness. Thus, Nabil was added to the team along with his friend, Alex, who had been taught to play bridge by Nabil only three months ago. Quick learner and great teacher!

Final Results from the Ivy Dahler Swiss Pairs

		Ivy Dahler Butler Swiss Pairs
		109 tables
		North-South    top 30
3rd		Liz and Blair Fisher	134.96
7th		Mark Siegrist - Andrew Janisz	128.17
13th		Steve Boughey - Fraser Rew	118.94
9th		Bruce Marr- Michael Sykes	125.66
15th		Andrew Tarbutt - Alister Stuck	118.43
18th		Jane Morris - Bev Henton	116.95
21st		Chen Ding - Herman Yuan	115.81
22nd		Annette and Stephen Henry	115.62
29th		Kate Terry and Judy Pawson	110.42
30th		Leslie and Russell Watt	110.00

 

		East - West
3rd		Michael Courtney - Sue Ingham	129.09
15th		Hayden Seal - Jan Davis	117.22
18th		Fuxia Wen - Ian Berrington	112.98
19th		Murat Genc - Arleen Schwartz	112.74
25th		Barry Jones - Jenny Millington	110.92

 

		Intermediate  88 pairs    top 30
3rd		Nicky Bowers - Joy Watkinson	128.59
11th		Julian and Pamela Glyn	117.62
22nd		Graham Westenra - Mary Penington	112.58
27th		Kay Leeton - Jenny Hoff	106.79
30th		Susan Rowe - Brian Craig	106.15
		Restricted 98 Pairs   top 30
1st		Brad Tattersfield - Jan Borren	148.81
4th		Anna Chappell - Marilyn Kennedy	125.35
6th		Jenni Borren - Margaret Robbie	126.66
10th		Chris Glyde - Maria Casci	119.06
12th		David Spencer - Sandy Buzzard	118.37
13th		Sue Hunt - Sue Skarupsky	117.53
14th		Kevin Birch - Julie Quilty	117.13
15th		Nick Edginton - Rhonda Graham	116.64
16th		Adrienne Dale - Miriam Lewin	116.50
18th		Steve and Mary Colling	115.26
19th		Kaye McCreadie - Yvonne Helps	115.13
21st		Keith Mabin - John Joseph	112.27
24th		Stuart Schon - Maeve Doyle	109.40
26th=		Pam Whitehead- Stuart Grant	108.68
28th		Rosemary Jackson - Takayo Yangisawa	108.39

 

Special congratulations to Wellington’s Jan Borren and Brad Tattersfield who won the Restricted section in some style finishing some 20vps ahead of second place. They won all 10 matches including round 5 against Jan’s wife Jenni and her Rotorua partner, Margie Robbie. Jenni and Margie were still on target for a very high finish themselves but lost their last two matches to finish 5^th.

A Neat Victory

At the start of the week, I apologized in advance if I missed out any Kiwi names from these reports. Shamefully, I have to admit I omitted a whole event and it was one where we had a Kiwi quinella. So, just a few days late, here are the results of the Monday Butler Swiss Pairs, 0-500 category. With 58 pairs taking part, these were the Kiwis who made the top 20.

		Intermediate Monday Butler Swiss Pairs (0-500mps)  58 pairs
		top 20 finishes
1st		Graham Westenra - Mary Penington	88.07
2nd		Murray Wiggins - Tilley Tillainathan	82.15
4th		Maria Casci - Chris Glyde	78.94
9th		Brad Tattersfield - Jan Borren	72.91
12th		Peter and Jillian Ramsey	71.30
13th		Barbara Imlach - Annette Martin	70.96
16th		Mariusz and Barbara Tumilowicz	66.07
17th		Virginia Warren - Marsha Woodbury	65.84

 

That was a truly great result for Graham and Mary. They were unbeaten in their 6 rounds with 5 wins and a draw and saved the best till last with a 34 imp win in the last round to record a perfect 20. Murray and Tilley may well have thought that they would win as they too scored 20 vps in the last round though it was the pair from Blenheim who held on to first place for a win of which they were both delighted.

The Huge Gold Coast Convention Centre ( or part of it!)

Near the front of this picture is Susan Humphries. Although in these reports, we had to put Susan in italics as she is now firmly Australian based, her roots are of course very much on this side of the Tasman. The last few weeks have been very interesting and enjoyable for Susan. She has made the Australian Women's Team for the World Championships later in the year. Then, on the very significant February 29th this year, she took the opportunity to pop the question to her partner, Liam Milne, another of our bridge exports to Australia. Naturally, Liam made a very positive reply!
As years go by, we can forget some people's contribution to bridge in New Zealand. Susan has made a considerable contribution towards international youth bridge here in New Zealand. Her enthusiasm for the game is huge and I am sure all bridge players here wish her and Liam well for the future...with perhaps the one exception of when she lines up against the Kiwis later this year in the World Champs.

Whether one talked about the successful Houdini act of the Open Teams winners, those like Graham and Mary who exceeded all expectations in winning their event or the hundreds of Kiwis who played with less success at the table, I am sure all would say this was a fabulous Congress in just about every way. To find fault would be extremely picky.

I hope you have enjoyed these daily reports.

Richard Solomon

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