After the relaxing sightseeing on Wednesday, we got back to a full day of bridge on Thursday. The playing room at the Pace Park Hotel is well lit, spacious and comfortable, with responsive air conditioning.
The winners of the Open Pairs, contested by 14 pairs on Thursday afternoon were Sue McIntosh and Phil Cooper (pictured, above left), with Babs Matthews and Joyce White a close second.
Board 9 was interesting. As South, you hold:
| S | 4 |
| H | KQ43 |
| D | KQ782 |
| C | AK10 |
North opens 2H. How do you value your hand? With the wonderful heart fit, a singleton spade and good values elsewhere, one player bid 4NT immediately and heard 5H (2 key cards without HQ), so bid 6H. Partner turns up with:
| S | 83 |
| H | AJ10962 |
| D | A1065 |
| C | 3 |
and 6H is a laydown. A more cautious approach, bidding a 2NT enquiry, allows EW to find their spade fit and NS end in 4 or 5H after a competitive auction. So 6H was an absolute top.
In the evening, the IMP pairs was closely contested and the lead changed several times over the last two rounds.
At the end, the winners were Joan Murphy and David Killick (pictured, above right), with Karen Dewar and Adrian Fontes second.
And now we are moving into the second Swiss event, with ten matches of eight boards to look forward to over the next two days.
Good luck everyone.