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eCongress Newsletter issue June - July 2019

Flying the Flag
New South Wales
This issue of eCongress newsletter was postponed for 2 weeks, so as to include the results of the Interstate Teams Finals in the Australia National Championships (ANC). The Interstate Teams Finals were completed last Thursday 18 July.
Four teams (Open, Seniors, Women's and Youth) were sent to Melbourne representing NSW at the Australia National Championship (ANC). A lot of flights were cancelled due to the windy weather the day before the Interstate Teams Tournament, luckily all our representatives arrived safely and on time for the competition.

After a few rounds to warm up, the NSW Open Team kept climbing up in the Qualifying Robin and gained a spot in the Final to compete with SA for the 2019 ANC title. The NSW Women's Team wavered between 2nd and 3rd place but, just missed out to WA in the Final. The Seniors' and the Youth Teams have done really well, consistently led all the way to the Final comfortably. 

Our Open Team played against SA in the Final, losing by only 0.8 IMPs! We are very proud of them - considering SA had carried-over 6.8 IMPs from the Qualifying rounds and they started with zero, our Open Team played really well by not making it easy for SA. The Seniors' and the Youth continued their success in the Final Stanza, and brought home the crown.

Congratulations to them all, we couldn't be more proud of our state representatives! More results can be viewed HERE.

The Australia National Championship (ANC) will be held at Adelaide in 2020, and will be hosted by NSW at Orange in 2021.
The NSW Teams in Blue: (Top left) The Open Team - Matthew Thomson, Peter Buchen, David Weston, Lorna Ichilcik, Lynn Kamin, Julian Foster and John McIlrath (NPC). (Top right) Nicki Strasser, Warren Lazer, Pauline Gumby, Andrew Markovics, George Bilski and Peter Jeffery. Hugh Grosvenor (NPC) (absent). (Bottom left) The Women's Team - Sophie Ashton, Susan Humphries, Ruth Tobin, Marcia Scudder (NPC), Helene Pitt, Judy Mott and Cathryn Herden. (Bottom right) The Youth Team - Jacob Rose, Lara Topper, Alex Phillips, Ailsa Peacock, Matt Smith, John McMahon and Charles McMahon (NPC).
Bridge is no different to other sports. You can re-watch matches closely and cheer in front of the screen via BBO Vugraph! Please visit the Vugraph schedule of Bridge Base Online, and click onto the 2019 Australia National Championship for archived broadcast of the matches. You can also leave a hearty message for the NSW representatives on the ANC Teams facebook group. 
Back to our home state, the State Veteran Pairs will be held at Bowral from 26-28 July. This State Event is well organised and the Christmas in July party is always an after-congress highlight. The event was open for entries on 1 February and was completely fully booked on 4 February! Enter early and don't miss it next year.
More Regional news - the Country Teams Championship is part of the State Open Teams Championship (the official name is John Arkinstall State Teams) with the country side of NSW divided into four zones (Northern, Eastern, Western and Outer Metro). Teams first qualify from clubs, then compete in the regional final, and progress to the Zone Finals. Six Country Teams (winners in the four Zone Finals) will be sent to the John Arkinstall State Open Teams Championship Finals on 15-17 November. Two teams will qualify directly to this Finals weekend from the NSWBA Monday Night direct qualifying event, and another two teams will earn their spots from the Metro Final (in conjunction with the Jacaranda Teams).
All four Country Teams Zone Finals have been held. The Country Teams representatives will be announced on the NSWBA website once the results are finalised. For the moment, please click on the name of the Zones below to view the results:
The local congresses provide a lot of choices for a bridge weekend away. In the last few weeks, we had: You don't need to be an expert to write about your bridge stories, share your experience with us when you next go to congresses! 
Congratulations to the NSBC@Lindfield Novice and Restricted Teams. Michael Hogan, Jay Novick, Clare Ainsworth and Mary Poynten were pleased to win in the Novice Teams. The Restricted Teams was won by Ellen Borda, Jane Biscoe, John Russell and Judith Parson.
Congratulations to the NSBC@Lindfield Novice and Restricted Pairs - John Mottram (NSBC President) and Richard Kuipers (Sponsor - Two Men & A Truck) congratulated the winners of Novice Pairs Colin Speller and Jodi Gudaitis and Restricted Pairs Kathryn Stewart and Susan Feeney.
Congratulations to the winners in the IBA Chris Diment Memorial Congress. Jill Macrae (IBA President) presented the prizes to the Pairs winner Jenna Gibbons & Julian Foster and the Teams winners Martin Willcox, Vicky Lisle, Kae French and Ian Lisle.
The NSBC Festival at the end of June gave a chance for players from different divisions to win. (Top) Winners of Friday Teams - 1st Adams Team: Peter Gill, David Adams, Elizabeth Adams, Tony Nunn and Jane Dawson (absent); 2nd Pitt Team: Rena Kaplan, Giselle Mundell, Helene Pitt and Ruth Tobin; 3rd Watts Team:   George Bilski, Nicky Strasser, Mike Prescott and Marlene Watts (absent).
winners of NSBC Festival Matchpoint Pairs
The NSBC Festival Matchpoint Swiss Pairs was divided into 3 categories. Marlene Watts and Mike Prescott came 1st in the Open division. Kay Moyes and Fiona Lavery won in the Intermediate section. Penny Brodie and Madeleine Gray came 1st in the Restricted category.
The NSBC Festival Swiss Pairs NS winners Lavy Libman and Tomer Libman. EW winners Julian Foster and David Weston.
Congratulations to the winners of Open Swiss Pairs in the Brisbane Water Woy Woy Super Congress. Open Swiss Pairs were won by NS Cevat Emul & Steven Bock and EW John McIlrath & Patricia Grigson.
There was a separate field for Novice & Restricted players in the Brisbane Water Woy Woy Super Congress. Kerry Rymer & Kit Meyers came 1st in Restricted Swiss Pairs and Graeme Schubert & Charmain Mills won in the Novice Swiss Pairs.
Well done in the Brisbane Water Woy Woy Super Congress - Open Teams winners Cevat Emul, Wayne Zhu, Steven Bock and Kevin Davies. Restricted/Novice Teams winners Colin Speller, Jodie Gudaitis, Stephen Calcroft and Peter Cloughessy.

Upcoming Events
Events highlights from 23 July - 31 August. Click HERE to view all congresses in the whole year.

CONGRESSES IN NSW LOCAL CLUBS
Jul 27-28 (Sat-Sun) Taree Bridge Club
Teams
Event Details >

Jul 28 Peninsula Bridge Club
Swiss Pairs
Event Details >

Aug 3-4 (Sat-Sun) Orange Bridge Club
Swiss Pairs and Teams
Event Details >

Aug 4 (Sun) Nowra Bridge Club
Teams
Event Details >

Aug 4 (Sun) Trumps Bridge Centre
Winter Teams
Event Details >

Aug 10-11 (Sat-Sun) Central Coast Bridge Club
Novice and Restricted Congress
Event Details >

Aug 10-11 (Sat-Sun) Moree Bridge Club
Pairs
Event Details >

Aug 10-11 (Sat-Sun) Wagga Wagga Bridge Club
41st Annual Congress - Swiss Pairs and Teams
Event Details >

Aug 11 (Sun) Ingleburn RSL Bridge Club
Teams
Event Details >

Aug 18 (Sun) Parkes Bridge Club
Murial Waddell Memorial Teams Day
Event Details >

Aug 24-25 (Sat-Sun) Tamworth Bridge Club
Swiss Pairs
Event Details >

Aug 25 (Sun) NSBC@Lindfield
Teams
Event Details >

Aug 25 (Sun) Toronto Bridge Club Teams
Teams
Event Details >

Aug 25 (Sun) Tweed Bridge Club 
Birthday Congress Teams
Event Details >

Aug 31-Sep 1 (Sat-Sun) Blue Mountains Bridge Club Inc
Bygone Beautys Swiss Pairs and Teams
Event Details >

NSWBA EVENTS
Jul 29-Aug 12 (over 2 Mondays) NSWBA State Swiss Pairs
Event Details >

Aug 19-Sep 9 (over 4 Mondays) NSWBA State Open Teams Qualifying
Two teams will qualify to the State Finals on the weekend of November 15-17
Event Details >


STATE EVENTS
Jul 26-29 (Fri-Sun) State Veterans Pairs
Celebrating Christmas in July at Bowral as well!
Event Details >

Jul 29-Aug 4 (Mon-Sun) State Wide Pairs
Event Details >

Aug 3 (Sat) State Individual
Event Details >


NATIONAL (ABF) EVENTS
Aug 10-11 (Sat-Sun) Swan River Open Swiss Pairs
Perth
Event Details >

Aug 13-18 (Tue-Sun) Coffs Coast Gold Congress
Coffs Harbour
Event Details >


BRIDGE HOLIDAYS
Jul 27-Aug 18 (Sat-Sun) Finesse
Vive La France
Holiday Details >

Aug 2-9 (Fri-Fri) Holiday Bridge
Tangalooma Resort
Holiday Details >

Aug 25-30 (Sun-Fri) Trumps Bridge Centre
Rich River Moama
Holiday Details >

Aug 26-29 (Mon-Thu) Bridge with Beauchamp
Briars Inn
Holiday Details >
FEATURED ARTICLES
Congress Stories by
Rakesh Kumar
Rakesh reports on some bidding problems he faced in the Illawarra Bridge Association (IBA) Congress Pairs. And hear about the experience of the winners of the Teams, who said "When you're on a roll, good things happen".

IBA Chris Diment Memorial Congress

Who was Chris Diment?
Chris Diment was a long-time IBPA (International Bridge Press Association) member. He died in 2012. Chris worked in a lot of national events since 1980's. A very close friend of Sean Mullamphy, one of the only four International Directors in Australia (even though he no longer actively directs in tournaments), described Chris as a director who had eyes for details.

Find out more about the person we pay tribute to from The remembrance of Chris Diment by Sean Mullamphy on page 18 of the IBPA Bulletin issue 557.
New Book 
Outsmart the Bridge Experts
by Danny Roth
$29.95 (online) 10% off when purchase from Paul Lavings' Stall at NSWBA

Bidding is all about learning a language: how to communicate and understand. Over the years, bidding languages or, “systems,” have become more explicit and accurate than they were in decades past, and thus players joining clubs and entering tournaments need to be familiar with, at least, basic bidding in current use. It is particularly important to be able to judge the quality, or trick-taking potential, of a hand, both at offense and defense. The vast majority of bidding disasters occur in competitive situations, notably in deals where there is a lot of distribution around and close decisions with potentially expensive costs need to be made. This book teaches readers how to avoid mistakes in these areas.  

The book is available on Paul Laving's online bookstore Bridgegear, or 10% off when purchase at the NSWBA stall:
Ask a Director
by Matthew McManus
Q: Am I being psyched? 
A: West's call is certainly light on. I think that it is sufficiently unexpectedly weak as to qualify as a psychic call. Having said that, I do not believe that there is any room for any further action by the director. There is nothing to indicate that East has "fielded the psyche"....
Read the full answer HERE>

To understand situations better where a director is called, Matthew McManus has explained them in detail and the reasons behind the rulings in his articles. They are written from the angle of players. Review his columns to be a better congress player. Review his columns here >
CONGRESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Your Association is pleased to acknowledge this 2019 Award. There will be four categories:
  • Open
  • Intermediate <750 MPs
  • Restricted <300 MPs
  • Novice <100 MPs
Click HERE for our current "interim" list, as at 31 May 2019. This award is based on masterpoints earned at NSW Congresses held under the auspices of NSWBA during the year.
CONGRESS PSYCHE REGISTER
The NSWBA has decided to establish a central psyche register for all congresses held in NSW.

The laws permit players to deviate from their systemic agreements so long as the partner of the player who does so has no greater reason to be aware of this deviation than the opponents. Once your partnership has a history of deviating from its agreements in a certain situation you are required to inform your opponents of this tendency.

If you feel that your opponents have psyched against you, please email details of the hand to the psyche register – no action will be taken against players who are reported to the psyche register but once a pair has multiple entries in the psyche register, congress directors will be informed so that they are aware of this history when making their rulings.

A form which can be used for submissions is available HERE.
ABOUT eCONGRESS
The eCongress is a monthly newsletter published by the NSW Bridge Association. It updates you with the latest congresses in the month, interesting hands and analysis from events, and tips regarding bridge laws.

Subscribe now >
NSW Bridge Association
+61 2 9264 8111
office@nswba.com.au
www.nswba.com.au
Level 1, 162 Goulburn Street,
East Sydney 2010
SEND US YOUR STORIES
Do you have a story to tell or a photo to share after playing in a congress? Let us know, we will be pleased to publish it. 
Submit your stories / photos>

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