World Titles In Tunisia
Newcastle Herald
Thursday October 23, 1997
THE Maitland Club held its annual teams congress last Sunday. A good turn out of 32 teams participated.
The prizemoney was generous and the club received some sponsorship in the form of some fine bottles of wine from Draytons vineyard.
The results were 1st Louis Woo, Chris Dibley, Michael Parfait and Paul McGrath; 2nd Chris van Wyck, Margaret Ingold, Patsy Morris and Judy Macansh; 3rd Julie Gorton, Ken Wilks, Jim Bartlett and Charles Klassen.
The best performed Maitland Bridge Club team was Moira Wonders, Ivor Wonders, Aileen Edwards and Helen Voyer.
Rosemary Pout did an excellent job as convenor.
The major world bridge teams championships, the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup, have begun in Hammamet, Tunisia.
At the time of writing the first three rounds of a 17 round robin have been completed.
In the Bermuda Bowl Australia began with a good win over India.
They then had a small loss to Canada and a small win over Denmark. They are 7th on 49 VP's.
They will have to finish in the top eight to qualify for the quarterfinals.
The Australian women in the Venice Cup have not fared so well. They had a small win over Canada in their first match but then suffered a resounding loss to France.
In their last match on day one they had a small win over Chinese Taipei. They were near the bottom of the field after these three matches.
Let's hope they can improve their position in subsequent matches.
Further results and the quarterfinalists for both competitions will be reported next week. A viewgraph of sorts is available on the WEB. The URL is:
http://www.bridgeplaza.com/ tournaments/wbf/bbvc97/ vugraph/rr0101/index.htm.
In round one USA 1 played USA 2. Michael Rosenberg, partnering Zia Mahmood, for USA 1 did not fare well on the deal shown below. He was East playing in 6NT.
Put yourself in his position and see how you would fare on the lead of the heart 10.
How should you play with only the East and West cards on view?
The contract can be made by winning the heart ace, cashing the spade ace and then leading the jack and overtaking in hand with the queen.
Next, take the double finesse in clubs by leading the queen and then follow with the 10. South will get only one club trick.
You should score five spades, four clubs, two hearts and one diamond. Michael Rosenberg made only 10 tricks.
Unfortunately, he was in the closed room and the play is not available. Perhaps you did better?
However, this result was only a minor setback for USA 1. Overall they had a convincing win.
NORTH ; T62 k Q73 l KJT943 ' 8 WEST ; AJ4 k AK654 l VOID ' A7543 EAST ; KQ973 k J2 l AQ ' QT92 SOUTH ; 85 k T98 l 87652 ' KJ2
© 1997 Newcastle Herald