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Gary Foidl and Brett Glass. 

Waikato Win in National Swiss Pairs.

Brett Glass and Gary Foidl hit the lead at just the right time in the 9 round National Swiss Pairs held this past weekend at the Tauranga Bridge Club. After a small loss and then a draw in their first two matches, they moved up the 44 pair field with 7 successive wins to finish first by 5.76 vps. That was unlucky for Pat Carter and Julie Atkinson who had led for the previous 5 rounds but who lost their last 2 matches, including to Gary and Brett, by 16 imps each time and who finished second:

           

vps

1

Brett

Glass

 

Gary

Foidl

116.77

             

2

Julie

Atkinson

 

Patrick

Carter

111.01

             

3

Wayne

Burrows

 

Clair

Miao

110.17

             

4

Grant

Jarvis

 

Jonathan

Westoby

109.94

             

5

Christine

Gibbons

 

Jenna

Gibbons

108.24

             

6

Jan

Alabaster

 

Jane

Lennon

105.54

             

7

Stephen

Francks

 

Amanda

Matthews

105.03

             

8

Zachary

Yan

 

Michael

Ware

103.67

             

9

John

Wang

 

Kevin

Hu

100.68

             

10

Rob

Davies

 

Aaron

Starr

98.69

 

Boards in the last round of such a competition seem to take on greater significance. The following certainly sealed victory for Brett and Gary. It came just in time too as it was their last board of the tournament.

Board 27
South Deals
None Vul

Spade-small

5 3

Heart-small

K Q J 10 9

Diamond-small

A 3 2

Club-small

A 10 6

Spade-small

J 10 9 7 6

Heart-small

A 8 7 6 5 3

Diamond-small

Club-small

Q 2

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

Spade-small

8 4

Heart-small

Diamond-small

Q 10 9 8 6 4

Club-small

K J 8 5 3

 

Spade-small

A K Q 2

Heart-small

4 2

Diamond-small

K J 7 5

Club-small

9 7 4

 

West

North

East

South

 

Gary

 

Brett

 

 

 

1 Diamond-small

2 NT

Pass

3 Spade-small

Pass

Pass

Dbl

All pass

 

2NT showed both majors. Rather strangely, Gary, North, passed rather than doubled, though when the bidding came round to him, he doubled. The double had to show values. So, with good spades, Brett passed.

With his opponents clearly in trouble, Brett led Spade-smallQ followed by Spade-smallA and switched to a heart. Declarer took the ace to play Spade-smallJ which Brett won to continue hearts. Gary played three top hearts in total keeping one winner in his hand. Brett discarded two clubs.

 Next, Gary played Diamond-smallA ruffed in dummy. Spade-small10 drew Brett’s small trump. Club-smallQ went to Gary's Club-smallA. He cashed his heart winner  and then switched to a second diamond with Brett’s Diamond-smallKJ taking the last two tricks. All declarer took were 2 trumps and Heart-smallA…down 6 and + 1400 and 12.48 most valuable imps. They won the 12 board match by 10.19 imps. Thus, a very significant last board.

This was Brett and Gary’s first 20 A Point win. It was a nice weekend, too, for 4th placed Grant Jarvis who at the start of the event was presented with his Platinum Grand Master plaque. He picked up a further 21As over the weekend.

  Our two Platinum Grand Masters

  Grant Jarvis Michael Ware 25 Platinum GMs.jpg
 Grant closed the A Point gap between Michael Ware and himself slightly over the weekend. 
 Michael has 10113 A Points and Grant a mere 7549. Grant has of course more B Points than Michael. 

A very well organised tournament thanks to all at the Tauranga Club, the director, David Stephen and scorer, Kevin Walker.

Richard Solomon

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