Wessex League 2007-8
"A" Team Match Reports
Holly Kilpatrick reports:
I regret to report that the 'A' Team lost their final match to Oxford 'B' by 18 - 2 at the Oxford Bridge Club last night Thursday 17th April 2008. It was an evening of thin games and slams and difficult decisions; bid, double or pass? Our result sheet of very varied scores tells the story of our very different ways of tackling the issues. I feel bound to say that Oxford got it right more often than we did! Sadly neither team went home happy: We lost the match and Oxford 'B' had needed a 20 - 0 win in order to be promoted to Division 1. We await with anguish the result of the match between Aylesbury B and Thame A, which takes place on Monday 21st. Aylesbury B gained 5 points in their match against Wallingford last night so in order to remain in Division 2 they need more than 5 points against Thame A and we, in turn, need them to get fewer than 5 points for us to remain there! I would like to thank the team, who fought hard last night: Lorna Swadling and Alastair Gidman Betty Dick and John Cecil Sandra Nicholson and Krys Kazmierczak Holly Kilpatrick and John Spencer John and I did have one joyous board. The bidding had gone 1NT from John, 3NT from me. The lead was the JH and down went my dummy: S xxx H 32 D AKxx C AQxx I cannot recall all of John's hand but his heart holding was Qxx The jack runs round to John's queen and he has 9 more top tricks. The partner of the person on lead held: H A,x. [Instead of taking his ace and leading the other heart back for his partner to take another five heart tricks, he ducked. His partner had made the correct standard lead of the jack from KJ10xxx.] Some of us felt we should have been in the other part of the club where Peter Jordan was running a very lively seminar on 'declarer play'.
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Alastair Gidman reports:
On Thursday 3rd April 2008 our Wessex League 'A' Team turned out to play Wallingford 'A' in far off Britwell Salome. Sean and Mark had a stormer in the first half to give us a 22 imp lead, bidding 2 slams, including a 6NT bid at all 4 table, but which only they made. In the second half, we held our own until the last 4 boards which included 3 game swings against us unfortunately. The final result was 12 - 8 to Wallingford.
One interesting hand was the following:
Board 14
N
S xxxx
H KJ10xxx E/W game
D J
C xx
E W
S - S Axx
H Qxx H A
D KQ10xxxx D Ax
C xxx C KQJxxxx
S
S KQJ10xx
H xxx
D xxx
C A
In one half E/W scored 620 each, so that was flat. In our half Steph and Steve bid simplicity itself......3D - 6D and made the necessary 12 tricks. Wonderful...thanks very much! At our table Lorna found a 3H bid over E's 3D, which enabled me to take out some insurance in 6H. This could be 4 off if E/W get their spade ruffs in, but they didn't, so it went 2 off and gave us 14 IMPs in. Not enough unfortunately. But my thanks to everyone and well played.
The team who put up such a great fight was: Lorna Swadling and Alastair Gidman Betty Dick and John Cecil Steph and Steven Bliss Mark Hannon and Sean Terry
Thank you all very much and also to Rod, who stood by as our reserve.
The 'A' team still have every chance of staying in Division 2 but it all depends on our score against Oxford 'B' on 17th April and also the score when Aylesbury 'B' play Thame 'A'!
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Holly Kilpatrick reports:
The Summertown ‘A’ Team lost a hard fought match
against Thame ‘A’, the division leaders, at the Oxford Bridge Club on
Thursday 6th March. At
half time, things looked pretty black; we were minus 44 down, largely because of
two boards. On one, both their pairs
had bid a vulnerable game, not found by our pairs, via a sophisticated bidding
system, and John Cecil and I had an undefeatable vulnerable slam bid against us,
again difficult to find and not bid elsewhere.
However, the second half was inspirational and the gods seemed to be with us. We bid and made a vulnerable 6C, not found elsewhere and had plus scores on 9 out of 12 boards. The final scoreline was 15-5.
On one hand, the secret of success lay with OGUST.
Do you use it as a response to a weak two opener?
If so, what do you bid with the following when partner has bid 2NT over a
2S opener?
S K Q 10 x x x
H x x
D x x x
C Q 10
I responded 3H thinking it meant ‘good suit honours
minimum points’ (when in fact it usually means 'poor honours maximum points' -
KK). Partner then went to game. When dummy went down this is what I viewed:
S A J x
H A Q xxx
D Q x x
C K x
Sandra Nicholson and Krys Kazmierczak
Lorna Swadling and Alastair Gidman
Rod Cook and Jeremy Mitchell
Holly Kilpatrick and John Cecil
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Krys Kazmierczak reports:
Unfortunately, I have to report that our "A" team lost its away
match against Thame B last night,
Monday 25th February. The boards seemed unexciting for the most part - no slams
at all, and
relatively few games. Thame managed to somehow build up a lead of 31 IMPs in the
first half.
We hauled back 22 of those in the second half, but that obviously wasn't enough.
So the final
scoreline converted to a 13-7 win for Thame. Looking at the scoresheet, out of
the 24 boards
we actually won 13 and drew 2, losing only 9, but the losses were heavier than
the wins. A false sacrifice here,
a game allowed to slip through there, a game that could have been bid elsewhere,
etc.
At least we left Thame a happier bunch for their first win of the season!
Thanks to all the team who did their best:
Betty Dick & John Cecil
Lorna Swadling & Alastair Gidman
Mark Hannon & Sean Terry
Sandra Nicholson & Krys Kazmierczak
I failed miserably on the following hand where I held:
S 10642 H KQ1065 D KQ4 C 10
Dozily, I failed to open this one which easily qualifies for a 1H opening on
the rule of 19, and
even when Sandra opened 1NT I managed to undervalue it, so that we ended up in
2H
when 4H was making. The fact that both Thame pairs also failed to find the game
is no excuse.
Well done to Lorna and Alastair who did bid and make it.
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Holly Kilpatrick reports:
The Summertown 'A' Team scored a superb win over Aylesbury 'B' in their Wessex League away match last night Monday 11th February 2008. The 20 - 0 win is a massive turnaround for the beleaguered 'A' Team, who suffered undeservedly at the hands of Oxford University and Oxford 'C' last year! This is to be the first of many wins for the 'A' team, who still have four more matches to play. It was an evening of excitement and swings with the play somewhat dominated by East/West; John Spencer and I, sitting that way, played no less than 15 of the 24 boards! One board brought in -1110, others brought in +740, +900 and +1200 with eclectic mixes of scores so there was never a dull moment. Aylesbury ''B'' are a charming team and it was a very pleasant evening but we haven't beaten them for 3 years so thank you team which was (in no particular order): Sandra Nicholson & Krys Kazmierczak Betty Dick and John Cecil Lorna Swadling and Alastair Gidman Holly Kilpatrick and John Spencer
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Krys Kazmierczak reports:
Sadly, I have to report that the "A" team did not do very
well against the
University this evening Thursday 15th November 2007. We lost the first half by
14 imps and the
second half by 18 imps. Overall that made for a final score of 4-16 in
Victory Points. Hard to say what went wrong, though we felt there was a
bit of bad luck here and there, e.g. on a slam hand where Sandra chose
to be in 6C rather than 6NT because the latter needs a finesse, whereas
6C only needs a 3-2 break in trumps, which should be better odds. In fact
the clubs broke 4-1 so 6C is off, whereas the finesse was right so 6NT
makes.
They were a pleasant team of youngsters, and Oxford University did win
the last Portland Bowl (University Championships), so perhaps we
shouldn't feel too bad about it.
Thanks to all the team:
Betty Dick and John Cecil
Lorna Swadling and Alastair Gidman
Mark Hannon and Sean Terry
Sandra Nicholson and yours truly
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Holly Kilpatrick reports: Regrettably the A team suffered a 20 - 0 defeat at the hands of Oxford 'C' at the Oxford Bridge Club on Thursday 18th October 2007; not a good start to the season!! It is hard to say what went wrong but it just didn't seem to be our night!! Thank you to all the team and lets put it behind us and look forward to winning the next five matches! Sandra Nicholson and Holly Kilpatrick John Cecil and Betty Dick Rod Cook and Jeremy Mitchell Lorna Swadling and Alastair Gidman