Mavericks Summer Nationals – Reflections

A bit late to reflect on the event given that another fairly major event has commenced today, but nevertheless, here are a few thoughts.

Ab Initio, that the Nationals were extremely well organized goes without saying. To conduct an event over two venues so distant from each other required organization of phenomenal proportions and the organisers were equal to the occasion so kudos to them. To mention just one aspect, the scoring for the silver involved the usage of 2 Bridgemate servers due to logistical issues. Not too many people have done this, I am sure and nobody in India all alone, so take a bow Srini.

Another good thing that happened was the introduction of 14 board matches. It tended to reduce the shoot out effect that 8 board or 10 board matches tend to have.

While some people were muttering about there being only 8 qualifiers instead of 16, one has to point out that qualifying 16 teams in a field of 30 or less is being too generous.

But here are a few thoughts that hit me after all the excitement had died down.

In Absentia

The number of top players who were conspicuous by their absence was extremely large.

We start with Kiran Nader. I don't remember a national championships that has taken place without her presence and active participation. We certainly missed her. I hope this was a one off event.

Another notable luminary missing was Anand Samant. He too has been a fixture at all national championships, either as a player or an organizer and his absence, not to put too fine a point on it, was noticed by this author for sure.

A third player who was missing was Dipak Poddar. Normally, even if he does not play an event of this stature, his name is visible in the form of a team bearing his name.

A fourth player whose absence we noticed was KR Venkataraman. Once again, we don't know the reasons therefor.

A Youth Event

This event saw a lot of young names gain prominence. The first set of names that comes to mind, of course, is Mavericks Prodigies, a team crafted by Subodh Maskara. That the team reached the semi finals shows the budding potential that is prevalent in India.

The silver event saw many more youngsters. Prominent among them were Soham Sarkar and Subashree Basu who not only did well in the teams, but also scored well in the Match Point pairs finals. Another pair of youngsters, Aniruddha Prakash and Shubham Acharya we semi finalists in the silver teams and, with their respective partners also among the prize winners in the Match Point Pairs finals. All four of them will be playing for India in the U26 section for the world juniors. We wish them all the best.

Match Point Pairs Finals

The event raised considerable bitterness in a WhatsApp group and the semi finalists and finalist from the teams were given direct entry to the finals. That 6 of these pairs bagged prizes in the pairs (total 8 prizes) would have left the qualifiers smarting even more at their efforts not having borne fruit thanks to this 'unjust' seeding.
The matter regarding the merits of direct seeding are always debatable. I am attempting to view what happened in light of logistical constraints. Organizing a third elimination of pairs would require an additional day of events. The organizational costs of doing so are quite considerable. Apart from hall hire charges, there is also the cost involved with organizing lunch for the players.

From the point of the view of the players, having to stay on for one more day has tremendous cost implications as well. While most of the top players are sponsored, the rest have to bear their own expenses which are considerable.
Also, denying the finalists the right to play in the finals has its own share of issues. It is not their fault that they were unable to participate in the qualifying events because they were playing another gruelling event.
I am not saying that this is the right answer, but we have to find out a way of arriving at a suitable solution without acrimony and vitriol.

Post the Nationals

Ten days have passed since the nationals are over and we would like to point out gently a few points that still need attending to.

First of all, master points gained in the event are yet to be updated. In all fairness, we are not aware what a reasonable time frame is, but we hope it gets done sooner rather than later.

Secondly, somebody enquired with me if prizes had been disbursed since they hadn't received their prize. The organizers have clearly stated 10-15 days would be required to complete disbursement. We are positive that it will happen soon.

Having mentioned the above, around a month ago, juniors were mentioning that they had still not received their prizes for the junior nationals. We hope that that situation has changed and they have received them.

Tail piece

A lot of constructive action has been taken by the BFI over the run up to the nationals and beyond. We understand that the secretary met with a few players who were seeking to open a window of communication with the BFI and agreed that he would take steps to ensure the same. One healthy development is the upcoming events page on the BFI website.

We hope that this trend continues and we have a strong and healthy interaction with the BFI committee.

Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.