Swiss League
The Sanjay Damle Memorial Swiss League was completed yesterday as 37 teams fought it out for 8 spots in the Super League to be played today. Team Monica Jajoo, which has been turning in pretty consistent performances over 2021, topped the league with Aristos a distant second. The third place was taken by Texan Aces which was a nearly equal distance behind the second place.
The final results can be seen here.
The super leaguers play 7 rounds of 8 boards each.The schedule for the super league is given alongside.
Arrangements have been made to kibitz the Super League in a delayed broadcast. Click here to Kibitz.
Please note that RealBridge have cautioned us about the possibility of a glitch in the server so, in case there is any issue in the morning, we will try and fix it post lunch.
Match Point Pairs
The match point pairs gets under way at 10:30 am today. There was some indecision in our minds whether to keep it at 18 boards or 20 boards, but the directors have graciously acquiesced to player requests to keep each session of 20 boards.
76 pairs are participating in the event. There are 10 prizes on offer, as shown alongside. In addition, there is a Special Prize. This will be for the best performance by a pair where both particpants have less than 100 Master Points each.
Going forward, BridgeFromHome hopes to make this a regular feature in order to encourage newer and less experienced participants
The prizes for the pairs event total Rs. 21,250.
Interesting Hand
Only 3 pairs bid this cold slam in spades. A number of pairs had the hand gratuitously passed to them. Most of these pairs chose to open the East hand 4 Spades after which nothing can be done really.
But with intervention, it can be difficult to bid. At one table, South opened 3 Hearts which North raised to 4. East really had no choice.
At a few tables, the South hand opened 2H. Wherever this happened, the East hand still bid 4S. I do believe there is a case for a reopening double and, if partner bids a 2NT Lebensohl, bid 4 Spades. Now partner has the opportunity to cue his club ace which will send the pair rolling into slam.
At another table, the North hand opened 1 Club over which East overcalled 4 Spades. I wonder how the hand should be treated after the 1 Club opening.
We would welcome comments on this from experts. Please post them in the comments section of the blog for the edification of our readers.