Happy New Lockdown folks! Despite the seemingly relentless bombardment of sobering Covid statistics, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. I know several members have already received their first vaccination. Nevertheless, it will be some time before face-to-face Bridge resumes and so on-line Bridge continues to entertain us.
There were slams galore in our weekly on-line duplicate event last night. The evening started (and finished) with a bang! Congratulations to David and Sally Williams who were the only pair to bid and make the optimum contract of 7 No Trumps on Board One. Most other pairs were in a small slam. Quite remarkably, the final board, Board 24, also saw one successful pair, Jean and Tony Tyler, make 7 No Trumps. Again, most other pairs made the small slam. Congratulations also to Peter Cole and Carolyn Morant who were the only pair to bid and make 3 small slams during the evening. In fact there were 4 different boards where slams were bid and made.
The pace of play at these sessions has improved considerably since we first started. I had finished by 9.20 pm last night and I think everyone had completed their 24 boards in two and half hours. Do please claim if there are several tricks left where the play is obvious, collectively it saves a lot of time. Remember, we always have a “Stand-by” Pair, so you are guaranteed to get a game. We needed one more pair for 9 tables last night. Also, the “find a partner” facility is still operating on the club website.
Our on-line Team of Four, David and Sally Williams together with Pat and Nigel Haslam, continue to perform very well in the on-line League. I note that they won their latest match by 20 VPs to nil. Victories don’t come much more emphatic than that!
Personally, I have entered the individual “Indy Knockout”. I will be playing in the quarter final on Wednesday (13th) at 3.00 pm. Feel free to spectate/kibitz if you like. The Daily individual competition is a slightly strange format that you might want try sometime.
Finally, congratulations to Bill Holmes who celebrates his 90th birthday this Sunday. We all wish you many happy returns Bill!
Stay safe and stay sane. Andy