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Welcome back. As we watch anxiously at what is happening now on our side of the Tasman, we remain eternally grateful that we have still been able to participate in our great game live and hope we can do so again very soon.

Of course, there is little evidence as yet that cats are susceptible to Covid. So, Biritch the Russian Blue is having a great time of it. I asked him recently if he had come across any hands on which he had shone (which is actually most of them, apparently). With a supercilious twirl of his tail, he sketched out the following offering on the back of an old packet of Pedigree Chum.

 

Biritch as South ended up as declarer in 6 after some spirited bidding, with West overcalling in spades and East showing a long heart suit. West duly led the J and Biritch somewhat uncharacteristically paused to consider. The K looked likely to be well placed on the bidding, but there was still a second spade loser and theQ to consider; this was also likely to be with West. If the diamonds broke 3-3, that would provide a discard, but that seemed to be low odds. As usual, Biritch found an elegant solution. He ruffed the lead, drew trumps in two rounds and… led a low diamond towards the Jack! West was fixed: if he took the Q♦ there would be a discard for the losing spade however the suit broke, whereas if he did not he would never make it. A classic Morton’s Fork play.

Back to the real world.

Late June, Howick was the scene for their annual Open and Intermediate/Junior tournament, with perennials Grant Jarvis and Jan Cormack winning the former with two consistently solid 60%+ sessions, and Wendy Morris and Kevin Birch the latter. And into July, a second dual event at Mount Albert starred Prem Soundra and Gong Yunfei in the Open division and Marlene and Jeff Brown the latter. Auckland’s July Thursday Swiss teams provided yet another opportunity for the Ian Berrington/Fuxia Wen Show, who won all six of their matches at an average of almost 15 VPs apiece. Ian and Fuxia also led the field at the Club’s August Pairs event, but this time with different partners, Ian teaming up with Malcolm Mayer to just head off Fuxia with Duncan Badley.

   Mid-week  Success  at Auckland                            and at Akarana                                            
                                          
Ian Berrington and Fuxia  Wen with the                                Grant Jarvis and Jonathan Westoby 
representitive from Rawhiti Estate Retirement
Homes, the event sponsor, and Club Manager,
Deborah Tangney

                                     

Also in July, the Akarana Club organised a 5A Swiss Pairs event run over the four Wednesday evenings. This proved extremely popular, with a strong field of 38 pairs participating, aided in part by pizza and a guest talk before each session. The event was very close, with Grant Jarvis and Jonathan Westoby emerging victors in the final match. Another novel feature was matching up star pairs with the best others to play in August’s Teams event.

Finally in July, at the North Shore Restricted Pairs, Rosemary Jackson and Hafizur Khan emerged as winners, and at Howick Aaron Starr teamed up with our other rising Star Jeremy Fraser-Hoskin to win their Open 8B event.

The popular Inter-Club

The 10-month long Interclub Tournament is back up and running after the hiccups of last year. After 5 rounds, in the Junior division, Howick Hopefuls lead from Papatoe Ange. In the Intermediates, Papatoe Rob has a slight margin aver Waiheke Sharks, and in the Open, Royle Epsom Kinga is leading from regular contenders Akarana and Auckland Carter.

Charity Events

Two great charity events in July by local bridge clubs to report. The Howick Club ran an event at the beginning of July in aid of the Totara Hospice, and raised over $5,500 for this worthy cause. Howick’s Brian Craig writes:

“Our tireless organiser Mary Wood once again did an excellent job in personally visiting and securing goods, vouchers and services from 120 local businesses and the arts groups, to whom we extend our heartfelt thanks. Special thanks are also extended to Lenice Clarkson for her valued contribution in organising the auction items, raffles and prizes. Howick Bridge Club has been running the hospice fundraising event for three decades during which time has raised in excess of $100,000.00 for such a worthy and deserving cause.”

Here the event organiser Mary Wood hands over the cheque to the Hospice representatives Jo Davis and Hannah McAvoy. And the bridge? Oh yes – this was won by Dawn Brayshaw and Henriette Annabell in the East-West direction, and Jeffery Ren and Joy Zeng North-South.

 

And later in July the equally tireless Wendy McEntegart and Karen Smith put on a super Pink Ribbon breakfast in aid of Breast Cancer Research. All raffle and other prizes were donated free by local businesses and individuals, as was all the catering, and the event was attended by well over 100 players and others. Final tallies are still being added up, but the latest estimate is over $23,000. Well done all!

 

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