2013 ended with a flurry of activity as hundreds of players attended the EBU Year-End Congresses in London and Blackpool.
In London, Phil King & Waseem Naqvi took the lead at the midway point of the opening Swiss Pairs and went on to finish three VPs ahead of Anita Sinclair & Zia Mahmood. Sunday's Open Pairs was won by Simon Gillis & Espen Erichsen ahead of second placed Frank Wharton & Paul Walker, and the Mixed Pairs was won by Christopher Wilson & Abbey Smith, with Samantha Punch & Tim Rees in second.
The Swiss Teams rounded off the London congress, with the team of Jeffrey Allerton & Peter Lee and Graham Osborne & Frances Hinden scoring a maximum in the final match to pip the team of Neil Rosen & Anne Rosen and Jeremy Willans & Ian Draper by a single VP. In fact only four VPs covered the first six teams.
This was in stark contrast to the Swiss Teams in Blackpool where the team of Bernard Goldenfield & Rhona Goldenfield and Joy Blakey & Irving Blakey won by an emphatic margin of 27 VPs. The team of Tim Matthews & Babs Matthews and Bill White & Joyce White were second.
Earlier in the Blackpool congress the Swiss Pairs had been won by Keith Sowerbutts & Phil Godfrey, with Nick Woodcock & Sue Woodcock in second; the Mixed Pairs was won by Bill White & Joyce White, ahead of Paul Littlewood & Fiona Littlewood in second; and the Open Pairs was won by Peter Hall & Nigel Marlow, who finished nearly 5% ahead of their nearest challenges Keith Seabold & Peter Rogers.
January 2, 2014