I am writing a daily blog for the World Bridge Federation. It is included here but without photos - No Bridge hands so far
I was fortunate to receive an invitation to be a journalist
for the World Bridge Federation at the 3rd World Youth Pairs
Tournament in Atlanta Georgia.
Juniors
GIrls
Youngsters
Lunch is in the fast food
court below which I only discover today. I wasn’t attracted to what was on
offer so went and bought a salad and fruit which hit the spot. There is a $424
million Powerball jackpot tonight so if this blog ceases to be updated you can
make your own assumptions.
I was fortunate to receive an invitation to be a journalist
for the World Bridge Federation at the 3rd World Youth Pairs
Tournament in Atlanta Georgia.
The event is being played at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta
alongside the US Summer Nationals. I arrived here on Friday afternoon and after
scouting out the facilities and playing area which is excellent. The tournament with 150-200 participants starts on Sunday 4 August with the Pairs Tournament and as the field is reduced a Board a Match
(BAM teams) starts on Thursday with both events concluding Sunday 11 August followed by the closing ceremony.
The organisers have arranged a number of activities which I
am VERY excited about including:
Georgia
Aquarium Night
Dinner at
Hard Rock Café
Braves
Baseball Game, Food at Game
World of
Coca-Cola visit
At my age I am not sure about dinner and DeeJay but let’s
see about that.
It’s Saturday and players are coming along and registering,
getting their T-Shirts, welcome packs and event bags.
Saturday night rolls around and at 19:30 the opening
ceremony takes place ion one of the ballrooms. It is well attended by players,
officials and some parents.
The highlight for me was
the 40+ strong Chinese contingent getting up on stage and performing “we are
the world” – awesome.
A light dinner of hot dogs and Nachos satisfied all of the
youngsters – off to bed and ready for battle the next morning.
Sunday and the room is all ready for action. Things start
smoothly with 32 pairs in the Juniors (U26), 40 pairs in the Youngsters (U20)
and 12 pairs in the girls. The only minor regret as that these is limited
participation from some European Countries which could have increased numbers
had they participated.
Five rounds of two boards make up each stanza and after 20
boards lunch is served back at the hotel followed by another three stanzas of
10 boards each.
During the fourth stanza I am pleasantly surprised to find
an Aussie pair at the top of the Juniors:
I am guessing this young
lady won’t be giving up bridge any time soon – and yes it is permanent.
Sunday early evening and
the finalists for the Pairs has been decided. There is a good mixture of
countries represented in the various divisions:
Juniors: Turkey, USA,
Australia, Italy, Japan, Argentina, Costa Rica and Canada make up the 16 pair
final.
Youngsters: USA lead the
Sino-American battle in this division by 24-16 players in the 20 pair final.
Girls: Italy, USA,
Venezuela and China make up the 8 pair final.
Tomorrow will see four
tables shown on BBO starting at 10:00 EDT (07:00 PDT, 20:00 Australian East
Coast, 16:00 Europe and 15:00 UK time) for those wishing to follow the action
from the finals of the pairs.
After play the entire
tournament were invited to the nearby Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Unfortunately
the restaurant was not well geared for an invasion of youth players but all
ended up well.
The directors and
statisticians have reported that:
-
very few rulings involving system disruption
(one Australian forgot the system)
Monday morning and everything is a go. So we have two days
of pairs finals followed by knockout teams and then Board-a-Match teams.
I haven’t had much of a chance to see Atlanta but it has a
nice feel to it with a lot of greenery EVERYWHERE and some lovely old Southern
style buildings amidst the modern concrete jungle. I’m not sure I will get much
of a chance to see very much but will certainly try.
Today I have decided to interview Mr Qiu Wei Chang about the
state of bridge in China as well as the 40+ contingent of Chinese players at
this Championship. A lot of what I found out is quite interesting and should
appear in tomorrow’s Bulletin.
I even managed to do some BBO operating for a session and
watched quite an interesting group of boards so off to do some writing.
Well not a lot of writing but various bits and pieces. I
really have to get my A into G to find some interesting hands.
Well it’s Monday evening and the B Consolation has been
decided:
Rank
Pairs
Nationality
%
1
VEN - VEN
68.11
2
AUS - AUS
64.53
3
JPN - JPN
63.48
4
JPN - JPN
62.95
5
CHN - CHN
62.26
6
USA - USA
60.71
7
VEN - VEN
58.56
8
CHN - CHN
57.81
9
CAN - USA
57.24
10
ARG - ARG
56.37
Obviously disappointed with the my countrymen missing out on
winning the event but it was 3.6% so the Venezuelans were worthy winners.
Interesting to note the mix of countries at the top of the B Consolation a nice
pointer to the future of youth bridge.
Get back to the hotel around 18:00 where dinner is provided
and guess what it is – Southern Fried Chicken Mashed Potatoes and Salad –
pretty yummy actually. Then of to Georgia Aquarium the world’s largest. I must
say I was pretty impressed as were most of the youth players.
Dimitri Ballas reports that a young 11 year old Chinese boy
came to him and said the score of 2NT making had been entered in the wrong
direction. On examination of the hand record it seemed that the score claimed
was impossible. Dimitri, expecting a very limited answer kindly asked do you
remember the play and was shocked to find that the player could recount the
play card by card and did in fact, through a very weird defence AND PLAY, make
2NT – problem solved.
Director Jacek Marciniak comes to the CTD and asks “they
don’t have time to complete the board should I cancel the board or award
60%/50% to avoid tears”!! A sensitive director indeed
Tuesday Morning and the weather is warm very humid but
overcast. It is the final two stanzas of the pairs and I am hoping for a good
showing from the Australians still seeking glory in the finals. Hollands-Howard
may find it tough to catch up 5.5% with just 20 boards to go but Ellena and
Lauren have some chance with only 1.5% to catch up. Go Aussies go.
Rank
Pairs
Nationality
%
1
ITA - ITA
59.11
2
AUS - AUS
57.50
3
TUR - TUR
55.18
4
USA - USA
54.46
5
AUS - AUS
53.57
Tuesday morning went smoothly and the end of the first
stanza saw first versus second in the Girl’s division.
But by the end of the tournament the Italians were
victorious in both the Juniors and Girls, a rare double considering there are
only four Italians competing at the tournament:
|
Georgia
Aquarium Night
|
|
Dinner at
Hard Rock Café
|
|
Braves
Baseball Game, Food at Game
|
|
World of
Coca-Cola visit
|
|
|
|
| |||||
|
1
|
|
|
VEN - VEN
|
68.11
| ||||
|
2
|
|
|
AUS - AUS
|
64.53
| ||||
|
3
|
|
|
JPN - JPN
|
63.48
| ||||
|
4
|
|
|
JPN - JPN
|
62.95
| ||||
|
5
|
|
|
CHN - CHN
|
62.26
| ||||
|
6
|
|
|
USA - USA
|
60.71
| ||||
|
7
|
|
|
VEN - VEN
|
58.56
| ||||
|
8
|
|
|
CHN - CHN
|
57.81
| ||||
|
9
|
|
|
CAN - USA
|
57.24
| ||||
|
10
|
|
|
ARG - ARG
|
56.37
| ||||
|
|
|
| |||||
|
1
|
|
|
ITA - ITA
|
59.11
| ||||
|
2
|
|
|
AUS - AUS
|
57.50
| ||||
|
3
|
|
|
TUR - TUR
|
55.18
| ||||
|
4
|
|
|
USA - USA
|
54.46
| ||||
|
5
|
|
|
AUS - AUS
|
53.57
| ||||
Juniors
Rank
Pairs
Nationality
%
1
ITA - ITA
57.81
2
TUR - TUR
57.48
3
USA - USA
57.31
4
AUS - AUS
53.61
5
AUS - AUS
53.08
|
|
|
| |||||
|
1
|
|
|
ITA - ITA
|
57.81
| ||||
|
2
|
|
|
TUR - TUR
|
57.48
| ||||
|
3
|
|
|
USA - USA
|
57.31
| ||||
|
4
|
|
|
AUS - AUS
|
53.61
| ||||
|
5
|
|
|
AUS - AUS
|
53.08
| ||||
GIrls
Rank
Pairs
Nationality
%
1
ITA - ITA
60.49
2
VEN - VEN
59.96
3
USA - USA
57.76
4
CHN - CHN
49.74
5
CHN - CHN
49.21
|
|
|
| |||||
|
1
|
|
|
ITA - ITA
|
60.49
| ||||
|
2
|
|
|
VEN - VEN
|
59.96
| ||||
|
3
|
|
|
USA - USA
|
57.76
| ||||
|
4
|
|
|
CHN - CHN
|
49.74
| ||||
|
5
|
|
|
CHN - CHN
|
49.21
| ||||
Youngsters
1
USA - USA
62.28
2
USA - USA
60.14
3
CHN - CHN
56.43
4
USA - USA
55.46
5
USA - USA
55.07
Off to the provided lunch – Burritos – hmmm no!! I just
spent 12 days in Mexico so opted for a BBLT. No I know what you are thinking an
extra B but in fact it was with a double serve of delicious very well done
bacon – it certainly hit the spot.
Back to the venue to catch up on bits and pieces before the
knockout teams starting at 16:00.
So the teams kick off with two ten board matches the second
of which I operate on BBO but nobody told me they use a different system here
did they. Anyway that got fixed and, with the new WBF Victory Point Scale the
standings are:
|
1
|
|
|
USA - USA
|
62.28
|
|
2
|
|
|
USA - USA
|
60.14
|
|
3
|
|
|
CHN - CHN
|
56.43
|
|
4
|
|
|
USA - USA
|
55.46
|
|
5
|
|
|
USA - USA
|
55.07
|
|
Juniors
|
Youngsters
| ||||
|
Final
Rankings
|
Final
Rankings
| ||||
|
Rank
|
Team
|
VPs
|
Rank
|
Team
|
VPs
|
|
1
|
WAR OF ROSES
|
38.30
|
1
|
BERK
|
39.44
|
|
2
|
CALIFORNIAN ACES
|
33.96
|
2
|
CHINA XNWY
|
38.71
|
|
3
|
TURKIYE
|
25.65
|
3
|
KRISTENSEN
|
28.00
|
|
4
|
ARGENTINA
|
24.65
|
4
|
USA JENG
|
27.97
|
|
5
|
AUSTRALIA
|
22.63
|
5
|
CHINA SX CLUB
|
23.51
|
|
6
|
ITALIA
|
22.60
|
6
|
BERMAN
|
20.56
|
|
7
|
USA JOLLY
|
21.56
|
7
|
CHINA GIRLS SX CLUB
|
20.13
|
|
8
|
JAPAN
|
20.13
|
8
|
CHINA QFL
|
19.14
|
|
9
|
USA MANFIELD
|
18.58
|
9
|
BERK S
|
17.46
|
|
10
|
VENEZUELA
|
7.10
|
10
|
LIN
|
16.77
|
|
11
|
WERNIS
|
2.99
|
11
|
GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL
|
16.59
|
|
12
|
FCBC
|
1.85
|
12
|
CHINA WFL
|
13.43
|
|
13
|
MIDNIGHT SUNS
|
12.00
| |||
|
14
|
ZHIHAOLE SCHOOL
|
6.88
| |||
|
15
|
BRIDGEMATES
|
3.41
| |||
Not really sure why but Paolo Clair decides to collect the
explanation of the bidding sheets at the table after play and finds a slip of
paper with the following:
“Are you enjoying your time here? I enjoy playing bridge
very much but I don’t like the food here. The food makes a lot of Americans
overweight so I don’t eat much/many (I don’t know which of them is right)”
At another table “Do the people from China like the food
here?” “No I love it is the reply”
So mixed reviews of the food.
You’ll notice Italian,
Maurizio di Sacco eating the pasta so my view is the food is OK. Anyway I’ve
been enjoying it.
So there ends Day 4 of
the Championships and Day 3 of the play. More tomorrow when the Knock-Out Teams
continue.
Wednesday morning and
it’s raining. Now I need to tell you that I have been away for 20 days and each
and every day I have been away the weather forecast has been for rain and today
is the first day that it actually happened so I can’t really complain.
On the way I stop at an
ATM to get some cash and find that three different banks have three different
charges for the use of their machine ranging from $2.25 to $5.00 it pays to shop around.
A discussion over
breakfast with the Captain of the Colombian team about what insights I may have
into promoting youth bridge and then off to the venue where I deal with emails
photos articles and bits and pieces before the beginning of the day.
Oh over breakfast my
esteemed editor gave me a small pep talk about expecting more material today so
I will have to rev myself up.
After the first match I
have finished two articles so I am good shape to achieve what is expected of
me…..phew!
I am sitting here while
two Americans are discussing the signalling method. The conversation goes:
“When do we lead the Ace
or king from AK”
“Give me an example”
“Against 6NT you have AK
which do you lead”?
A nearby director says
“you double first and then lead either”
I manage to let my
fingers do a lot of walking and write three articles in a short space of time
which frees me up for the rest of the day for other things.
Lunch is in the fast food
court below which I only discover today. I wasn’t attracted to what was on
offer so went and bought a salad and fruit which hit the spot. There is a $424
million Powerball jackpot tonight so if this blog ceases to be updated you can
make your own assumptions.
Three more matches after
lunch and the qualifiers are determined.
With one match to go
Australia are running 7th with seemingly little chance of
qualifying. Hold that thought!! The format of the event is 6 rounds Swiss with
the last round a Danish. This means that just for the last round you can play a
team that you have already played.
War of the Roses meet
Italy for the second time and beat them soundly while Australia have a great
win. The final scores are:
|
1
|
WAR
OF ROSES
|
102.65
|
|
2
|
TURKIYE
|
88.32
|
|
3
|
JAPAN
|
80.94
|
|
4
|
AUSTRALIA
|
77.64
|
|
5
|
ITALIA
|
77.16
|
|
6
|
CALIFORNIAN
ACES
|
72.79
|
|
7
|
VENEZUELA
|
70.47
|
|
8
|
ARGENTINA
|
69.07
|
|
9
|
USA
JOLLY
|
66.77
|
|
10
|
WERNIS
|
63.50
|
|
11
|
USA
MANFIELD
|
52.49
|
|
12
|
FCBC
|
16.20
|
Hold that thought!!
The directors have made a
ruling on a board in favour of the USA against Italy. There are no appeals at
this event but a team may ask for a further review of the Director’s ruling. I
must say that the directors here have been great. Whenever there is a ruling
requiring bridge judgement they ask any good bridge players, including me who
they have clearly misclassified, before coming to a decision.
Anyway the Director’s
ruling is upheld and the Italians take it very graciously – I guess having
already won the pairs titles made it a little easier.
So Australia qualified
for the semi-finals:
|
WAR OF ROSES
|
Adam GROSSACK, Kevin DWYER, Owen
LIEN, Adam KAPLAN, Marius AGICA, Zachary GROSSACK
| |
|
JAPAN
|
Tadahiro KIKUCHI, Kosuke ITO,
Koichiro HASHIMOTO, Takumi SESHIMO, Yuki HARADA, Ryoko OYAMA
| |
|
TURKIYE
|
Akin KOCLAR, Muhammet OZGUR, Sarper
USLUPEHLIVAN, Erkmen AYDOGDU, Altug GOBEKLI, Berk GOKCE
| |
|
AUSTRALIA
|
Peter HOLLANDS, Justin HOWARD, Nathan
HOWARD, Lauren TRAVIS, Maxim HENBEST, Ellena MOSKOVSKY
| |
In the youngsters 8 teams
qualify with much less drama:
|
1
|
CHINA XNWY
|
106.18
|
|
2
|
USA JENG
|
92.24
|
|
3
|
BERK
|
87.54
|
|
4
|
CHINA SX CLUB
|
85.70
|
|
5
|
KRISTENSEN
|
82.21
|
|
6
|
CHINA WFL
|
76.67
|
|
7
|
LIN
|
75.57
|
|
8
|
BERMAN
|
69.79
|
|
9
|
GREEN PRIMARY
SCHOOL
|
68.39
|
|
10
|
BERK S
|
68.26
|
|
11
|
CHINA GIRLS SX
CLUB
|
67.68
|
|
12
|
ZHIHAOLE SCHOOL
|
64.17
|
|
13
|
CHINA QFL
|
63.59
|
|
14
|
BRIDGEMATES
|
36.37
|
|
15
|
MIDNIGHT SUNS
|
19.64
|
After selection of
opponents the Quarter Finals looks like
this:
|
CHINA XNWY
|
Tianyi JIN, Zhizhou SHA, Kaiwen WU,
Kai JIN, Felicia Xinying YU, Yiling SHEN
| |
|
BERMAN
|
Murphy GREEN, Asya LADYZHENSKY, Evan
BERMAN, Jeffrey SCHWARTZ
| |
|
USA JENG
|
Andrew JENG, Richard JENG, Burke
SNOWDEN, Oren KRIEGEL
| |
|
LIN
|
Amber LIN, Theo ALLEN, Joseph
LIEBERMAN, Christopher WELLAND
| |
|
BERK S
|
Ellie FASHINGBAUER, Gianni HSIEH,
Victor LAMOUREUX, JASON MILLER, Sedef BERK, John ALTMAN
| |
|
CHINA WFL
|
Yiqin SHAO, Hanchang LI, Bin QIN,
Penghao WANG, Siyuan LIU , Xu HUANG
| |
|
CHINA SX CLUB
|
Licong CHENG, Renyu LI, Yiyang ZHANG,
Zhecheng DU, Yijun SHANG, Yihong LIU
| |
|
KRISTENSEN
|
Benjamin KRISTENSEN, Brandon HARPER,
Gregory HERMAN, Ryan MILLER
| |
Dinner of BBQ Pork back
at the hotel and an early night pour moi – well I thought it was an early night
and would have been had I been able to throw my technology in the bathtub but
that wouldn’t be much fun. Anyway 01:30 but compensated by 08:30 wakeup.
Quick breakfast which, by
now, is starting to look unappealing even though it is actually quite good , and
off to the venue.
Clearly this young player
from Argentina is expecting to double a lot with his double cards
Paolo Clair approaches me
that there is a friendly game proposed this afternoon between the WBF Staff
against some of our Chinese visitors. I’m up for it even though I am playing
with the President of the World Bridge Federation, Gianarrigo Rona. Well he’s a
good friend before we play we will see how it finishes up.
Anyway back to work if
you can call it that.
Sometimes you are proud
to be a bridge player. An infraction took place at the table and the directors
made a ruling that instead of winning 6 imps on the board the team would only
win 3 imps. The team, on being told this apologised to the director and thanked
him for his considerations. More of this please.
The “friendly” starts and
I am playing the second 10 boards.
So at 16:00 I sit in for my ten boards and I am thinking I
hope they win but then again I am very competitive. I promised no bridge hands
but this is a must – I pick up
Q 10 6
A K 8 7 3
A K 4
J 10
For some unknown reason I open 1NT (it’s too strong) and
partner raises to 3NT. My right hand opponent a charming 12 year old says
double holding S A-K-J-5-3 and I can’t help myself I redouble making 10 tricks
for +1000. I feel kind of guilty and they look unhappy. The next board arrives
at the table and my partner says OH I’ve played this the boards haven’t been
shuffled including the one which we just played which he sat in the opposite
direction. Well you’ve never seen two happier kids.
We ended up winning by 19 IMPS over the ten boards. I was
extremely impressed with their bridge, their table manners and it was a joy to
see young kids having fun playing the game I love.
Comes the end of the Semi-Finals in the Juniors and Australia
who were leading by 36 after 16 and 19 after 32 of the 48 boards. With a board
to go Australia were 10 IMPs behind and an incredibly exciting hand sees
Australia qualify by the finals by 4 IMPs. I’ll post the hand in here after it
appears in the Bulletin tomorrow morning.
Australia-Turkey
The Very Last Board by Murat Molva
Dlr: West
♠ J
Vul: E-W ♥ A K 10 9
6 5
♦ 4
♣ A K 10 6
5
♠ 7 5 ♠ Q 10 8 4
3 2
♥ 3 2 ♥ Q J 4
♦ 10 9 8 6 5 ♦ A K Q J
♣ J 9 4 3 ♣ --
♠ A K 9 6
♥ 8 7
♦ 7 3 2
♣ Q 8 7 2
Closed
Room
West North East South
Hollands Gokce
Howard Gobekli
Pass 1♥ 1♠ 1NT
Pass 3♣ Pass
3NT
Pass 4NT Pass 6♣
Pass Pass Pass
East,
Justin Howard, led the diamond ace and continued the suit, forcing declarer,
Berk Gokce, to ruff. Gokce played his club ace and saw the trump void in East.
So he cashed the top hearts and ruffed the third heart with the trump queen in
dummy. Declarer played a trump from dummy, which West covered with the nine and
declarer won with the ten.
Now
declarer went to dummy with the spade king.
This was
the position:
♠ --
♥ 10 9 6
♦ --
♣ K 6
♠ -- ♠ Q 10 8
♥ --__ ♥ --
♦ 10 9 8 ♦ Q J
♣ J 4 ♣ --
♠ A 9 6
♥ --
♦ 7
♣ 8
The last
trump was played from dummy, but this time West did not cover. So declarer was
stranded in dummy and had to lose another trick. Do you see the solution? The
declarer had to unblock the club seven or eight under his ace on the first
round of trumps. Then
he would
have had the club two in the dummy in the
diagrammed position above. He could have finessed in clubs and ended up in his hand. A fascinating
deal. The drama was by no means over. The other table had its own story to
tell.
Open Room
West North East South
Ozgur Moskovsky
Uslupehlivan Travis
Pass 1♥ 1♠ 1NT
Pass 3♣ Pass
4♣
Pass 4♦ Pass
4♠
Pass 4NT Pass 5♦
Pass 6♣ All
Pass
The same
contract was reached, and East, Sarper Uslupehlivan, led his diamond ace, but
then he shifted to a spade at the second trick. This was very effective in that
it removed ne of declarer’s dummy entries prematurely. The declarer played a normal low club off
dummy, and West went in with his nine!! Declarer, Ellena Moskovsky, took it
with her ace and saw the trump void. She cashed the heart ace and king, and
ruffed the third heart with dumm’s club queen. But as the club nine was out of
the way, it was all plain sailing for her. She took the finesse for the club
jack and soon claimed his contract. 14 IMPs to Australia, who won the match by
a mere 4 IMPs. So Australia took the ticket to the Junior Teams final on the
very last board of the 48-board match.
But why did West spend his ♣9 so early at the second trick? After all, if he had held on to that
card, Turkey would be a finalist now.
Well, he
believed it was a mandatory false-card (to give the appearance of a singleton
nine) to create a losing option for the declarer on the second round of the
suit if her only problem was drawing trumps when holding ace-king-ten-fourth.
If declarer drew the second high club from the wrong hand, West would have scored his jack. But when East
showed void on the first round of clubs, his plan went out of the window,
together with the contract and 14 IMPs.
The directors took an hour to consider the non-alert of 3C
showing a five card suit in which case West would likely not have played the
club nine. They found against the Turkish claim and Australia will not meet the
USA Team of War of Roses.
The War of the Roses Team has been greatly strengthened by
the availability of Kevin Dwyer who was always listed on the team but only
became available after being knocked out of the Spingold in the US Nationals.
The Youngsters continues with one segment of the Semi-Finals
completed.
|
|
c/o
|
Segment
| |
|
1
|
Tot
| ||
|
CHINA XNWY
|
0
|
34
|
34
|
|
KRISTENSEN
|
0
|
51
|
51
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
c/o
|
Segment
| |
|
1
|
Tot
| ||
|
USA JENG
|
0
|
39
|
39
|
|
BERK
|
0
|
29
|
29
|
Meanwhile the Board a Match Teams continues alongside the
Teams Finals with the results being:
|
Rank
|
Team
|
VPs
|
|
1
|
ARGENTINA
|
62.48
|
|
2
|
CALIFORNIAN
ACES
|
59.4
|
|
3
|
ITALIA
|
58.8
|
|
|
VENEZUELA
|
58.8
|
|
5
|
CHINA GIRLS SX
CLUB
|
46.8
|
|
6
|
WERNIS
|
43.8
|
|
7
|
CHINA QFL
|
41.8
|
|
8
|
FCBC
|
30.8
|
|
9
|
ZHIHAOLE SCHOOL
|
28.8
|
|
10
|
GREEN PRIMARY
SCHOOL
|
25.8
|
|
11
|
MIDNIGHT SUNS
|
20.4
|
Losing finalists will also drop into this event.
So it’s getting close to Money Time.
Thursday night and I have a dinner arrangement with Boye
Brogeland and Alex Smirnov but their matches in the knockout don’t finish till
22:00 so it’s a light meal in the lobby
bar where Boye is Jubilant having made the final 8 teams by 3 IMPs on the last
board and Alex is sad having lost an appeal and losing his knockout match.
I don’t get to sleep till 02:00 and the next morning feel
more than a little jaded. Three more days to go.
Tonight we are going to a baseball game which, even though
it’s not my favourite game will certainly be fun. Dinner is being provided at
the game - I am thinking hot dogs!!
Another explanation sheet on the table which I should note
was written with perfect apostrophes, question marks and commas:
“I’ll tell you a secret of mine. Bridge is what I call a
sport when people ask”
“What”?
“If someone asks if I play a sport, I say yes”
I write up the first 16 boards of Australia versus War of
the Roses Final and attend a WBF Youth Committee meeting which discusses where
this event will be held in two years time (no inside information but all appeal to me) and back to finish my
article.
The Finals are all decided.
|
GOLD/SILVER MEDAL PLAYOFF
| |||||
|
|
c/o
|
Segment
|
| ||
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
Total
| ||
|
WAR OF ROSES
|
0
|
46
|
69
|
15
|
130
|
|
AUSTRALIA
|
0
|
42
|
24
|
35
|
101
|
|
BRONZE MEDAL PLAYOFF
| |||||
|
|
c/o
|
Segment
|
| ||
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
Total
| ||
|
TURKIYE
|
0
|
51
|
50
|
55
|
156
|
|
JAPAN
|
0
|
26
|
34
|
37
|
97
|
I’m very disappointed that we missed out on the Gold but so
happy for the team that they won the Silver Medal in a World Championship.
In the Youngsters:
|
GOLD/SILVER MEDAL PLAYOFF
| ||||
|
|
c/o
|
Segment
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
Total
|
|
USA JENG
|
0
|
26
|
30
|
56
|
|
KRISTENSEN
|
0
|
14
|
30
|
44
|
|
BRONZE MEDAL PLAYOFF
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
c/o
|
Segment
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
Total
|
|
CHINA XNWY
|
0
|
15
|
35
|
50
|
|
BERK
|
0
|
28
|
13
|
41
|
Well done to all the teams who have fought hard throughout
the tournament. The Board‑a‑Match continues for the next two days leading up to
the closing ceremony on Sunday night.
That night I am exhausted so opt out of the baseball game in
which the Atlanta Braves win their 14th straight game 5-0. My
understanding is that a good (hot dog) time was had by all including a
spectacular fireworks display.
Some good news as my friend Boye Brogeland wins his Spingold
Match and makes it to the Semi-Finals.
I may move to Atlanta! As I walked into the hotel I met Julien
Gaviard of France who owed me 60 Euros from my buying part of him during the
Cavendish auction. Everybody gives me money here in Atlanta.
Next morning wake up quite refreshed quick breakfast and off
for the Coke Tour.
And the final of the BAM begins. 12 teams left all starting
on the same score playing 22 rounds of 4 boards each – double round robin.
You have to love the USA. I went to buy some mouthwash and
the prices were $4.69 for 500mls and $5.69 for a litre – one dollar more for
twice the quantity. Go figure.
After 44 boards and a full round robin the standings are:
|
Final Rankings
| ||
|
Rank
|
Team
|
VPs
|
|
1
|
TURKIYE
|
58
|
|
2
|
ITALIA
|
55
|
|
3
|
AUSTRALIA
|
53
|
|
4
|
CALIFORNIAN
ACES
|
50
|
|
5
|
WAR OF ROSES
|
48
|
|
6
|
ARGENTINA
|
43
|
|
7
|
CHINA GIRLS SX
CLUB
|
41
|
|
|
CHINA SX CLUB
|
41
|
|
9
|
WERNIS
|
38
|
|
10
|
BERK
|
36
|
|
11
|
VENEZUELA
|
35
|
|
12
|
JAPAN
|
30
|
The staff dinner tonight at Durangos Southern steak house.
No comment other than the company was good.
Drinks with Alex Smirnov and a relatively early night 23:00
after some family facetime.
So, some musings.
-
The tournament was generally very successful
apart from the lack of participation from European Countries like France,
Netherlands, Poland and Italy.
-
The attitude and spirit of the players was
fantastic and a credit to them all in making the tournament a huge success.
-
Organisationally it went smoothly with the staff
able to cope with changing numbers of entries etc.
-
The Chinese delegation were a very positive
factor for the event.
-
The ability to play the event in a major
international hotel and stay just one block away was fantastic.
-
The support of the ACBL in equipment, Bulletin
facilities etc. was much appreciated.
In terms of my enjoyment factor I would have to rate it a 9
out of 10 so high praise indeed.
The 2014 World Youth Teams Championships will be held 13-23
August 2014 in Istanbul, a city I love so looking in the mail for my invitation
for that. My recollection of Istanbul last time I was there was every taxi
driver turning on the meter and saying “problem traffic” the only two words I
think that they knew in English.
I will post some closing ceremony pictures and final results
as soon as possible and until we meet again….Ciao.
So the Board-a-Match teams finishes and Australia get the
Silver behind Turkey in an exciting last day:
|
Final Rankings
| ||
|
Rank
|
Team
|
VPs
|
|
1
|
TURKIYE
|
108.0
|
|
2
|
AUSTRALIA
|
106.0
|
|
3
|
CALIFORNIAN
ACES
|
103.0
|
|
4
|
ITALIA
|
101.0
|
|
5
|
WAR OF ROSES
|
99.2
|
|
6
|
ARGENTINA
|
89.0
|
|
7
|
CHINA SX CLUB
|
79.0
|
|
8
|
VENEZUELA
|
78.0
|
|
9
|
WERNIS
|
77.0
|
|
10
|
BERK
|
76.0
|
|
11
|
CHINA GIRLS SX
CLUB
|
75.2
|
|
12
|
JAPAN
|
63.0
|
Following the BAM final round there was a closing ceremony
and here are some pics from that function:
So signing off from
Atlanta and see you all at Next Year’s Junior’s in ISTANBUL!!!!
