31 Years

Before play began on the evening of  Tuesday 13th October we marked 31 years of the bridge partnership of Jeanne Wardill and Graham Cheater.  

As a pair, Jeanne and Graham have won the Tuesday Pairs alone on more than 18 occasions, plus countless other events, and have been perhaps the dominant partnership in the club over many years - a remarkable achievement, not least because they’re still speaking to each other!

Many congratulations to them both on a great milestone.

Bridge Regulations

Graham Cheater has kindly contributed the following synopsis of practical guidelines from the new Tournament Regulations, which as of 1st October have superseded the NZBridge Manual published in 2022.

The Regulations are not available in written form but may be found on the NZBridge website here.

Graham writes:

There have not been any significant changes that will impact regular club bridge sessions and most tournaments.

It is however an opportunity to identify a number of issues of which players can be reminded.

1.  A call is not complete until the full bid has been written.  If, for example, a player wishes to make a bid at the 1 level they must write ‘1’ immediately followed by the appropriate symbol viz :

11.3 Players must decide their call before commencing to write (on the bidding pad). Any vacillation among calls may convey unauthorised information and restrict partner’s actions according to Laws 16B1 and 73C.1

2.  If a player holds a hand of undisclosed strength ( i.e. not a passed hand ) and makes a bid that is non-forcing but would, in most natural systems, be considered forcing then that bid must be alerted viz :

11.3.2 Alertable calls over an opponent’s takeout double:

(a) Any bid in a new suit which is non-forcing (except by a passed hand)

(b) Conventional fit-showing jumps

11.3.3 Alertable calls over an opponent’s suit overcall:

(a) Any bid in a new suit which is non-forcing (except by a passed hand)

b) Any natural NT bid which does not promise a stopper in the opponent’s suit

(c) Lebensohl type responses after interference over your 1NT

Slow play

Players are reminded that slow play can adversely affect the concentration and enjoyment for players. Directors, in the interest of harmony, are reluctant to impose penalties but if necessary the recommended procedure dealing with slow play is as follows:

• 1st infringement: a warning is given
• 2nd and all subsequent infringements: a penalty of 25% of the available matchpoints for that board can be applied.

Multi 2 diamonds

This convention is not permitted to be used in tournaments restricted to Novice and Junior players.

5-Year Strategic Finance Plan

At its meeting on 12th October the Committee approved a 5-Year Strategic Finance Plan for the club:

The document is also available here.

The Committee will be holding a special budget planning meeting in November to discuss the implementation of the Plan and the financial forecast.

"Juniors only" Initiatives

At its meeting on 12th October the Committee unanimously decided to cancel the Friday evening "Juniors only" session with immediate effect.  

I'd like to thank those of you who have supported the trial, but it's been clear for some weeks that it was not an attractive option for the majority of the Club's junior players.

I'm pleased to be able to tell you, however, that following the success of last weekend's event there will be a Junior/Novice half day tournament next year.  

Additionally, the Committee has agreed to facilitate the "Summerset" social bridge group and is also looking at other options for supporting our new learners going forward. 

Director Qualifications 2027

See below for the 2027 Club Director examination and Tournament Director assessment key dates:

Recent Results

Palmerston North Open Swiss Pairs 11th October

John Donbavand and Graham Cheater were 5th.

Paraparaumu Multigrade Pairs 11th October

Session Results

In the morning session Ryan Crowley and his partner were 1st N/S, and Nicky Bradley and Suzanne Duncan were 4th N/S.  In the afternoon session Anthea Black and Naciye Bagci were 1st N/S, Stella Jury and Ann Verboeket were 5th N/S, John Donbavand and his partner were 1st E/W, Vicki Boffa and Rachel Patrick were 3rd E/W and Ady Dale and her partner were 4th E/W.

Overall:

Open/Open - 

John Donbavand and partner 4th

Anthea Black and Naciye Bagci 5th

Open/Intermediate - 

Ady Dale and partner 1st

Stella Jury and Ann Verboeket 3rd

Rae Lutman and partner 4th

Intermediate/Intermediate - 

Nicky Bradley and Suzanne Duncan 3rd

Vicki Boffa and Rachel Patrick 5th

Congratulations to all, but especially Ady on achieving 1st place in the Open/Intermediate category.

Kapi-Mana Multigrade Pairs 4th October

(Photo: Kapi-Mana Bridge Club)

Congratulations to Graeme Norman and Murray Lobb who finished 3rd with a score of 56.76%.  

Well done also to both John Donbavand and his partner and Karen Eriksen and Jude Lucas who recorded top 10 finishes in a field of 38 pairs.

Junior/Novice Tournament

We held our first - and slightly experimental - Junior/Novice tournament on Saturday 10th October.  Feedback afterwards from a number of the participants suggests that the afternoon was a success: certainly much was learned.

The half-day event attracted 5 tables and was played under our "Monday Rules" - with the exception that doubling for penalties was permitted.

The winners of the competition were the Paraparaumu Novice pair of Greg and Margie du Bern: many congratulations to them.  

In 2nd place were Liesbet and Phil Gavey.  Marg Gott and Steve MacAskill were 3rd, with Nina and Dave Netherclift 4th - clearly a good day for husband and wife pairings, taking three of the top four places!

I'd like to thank Ruth Law for rising splendidly to the challenges of organising the day, also Derek Snelling for his calm and good humoured work as Director, Di Andrews who did a great job in the kitchen and Chris Farrow for helping me with the scoring after a number of "wrinkles" arose late in the day!