The final day of the Congress again dawned bright and clear. With a one o’clock start, there was less time for adventure in the morning, so most of us stayed around the hotel, bathing, relaxing around the pool, or taking advantage of the hotel’s facilities.
At the beginning of match 7, the Davies team (Stuart Davies, Lesley Bridson, Catherine Thompson, and Nichola Cockerill-Smith) were leading the event, and they remained in the lead throughout the afternoon. When the final match started, there was the theoretical possibility they could be overtaken, were they to lose 0 -20 or 1 – 19, but they managed a 9 – 11 loss, comfortable enough for them to win the competition they had previously won in Venice (2023).
These EW cards from the last match were drawn to my attention by Nichola. What slam would you like to be in?
These are the north/south hands
6D is the safest, 6H goes off because you must ruff the second club with the HA and, although the H10 appears on the next round, the 5 – 1 break is enough to defeat the contract. Amazingly, 6S makes because the spades split 3 – 3.
Out of nineteen teams, six played in 6D, one in 6H and two in 6S: they all made. However, three pairs did not even bid game.
Nichola’s team lost 10 IMPs on the board as their EW pair played in 4S + 2, while the opponents bid and made 6D. However, small gains on three other boards and a further loss of -1 meant that they were 2 Imps down at the end of the match, which converted to a loss of 9 – 11, enough for overall victory with 137 VPs.
Gary Hyett, Raymond Semp, Andrew Urbanski and Colin Jones were second on 127 VPs with Kathy and Denis Talbot, Chris Taylor and David Wing third on 114 VPs
Particular mention for Andrew and Colin, who were also the runners-up in the Swiss Pairs.
The day ended, as is traditional, with the sponsors reception, a chance to drink some good Cretan wine and enjoy some nibbles, applaud the event winners from through the week, listen to some brief speeches and be reminded of the next Congresses to be held in Portugal (February) and Tenerife (November).
Chris Benneworth