19 October

The latest news regarding Interclub is that we have 26 teams playing in this event. Our numbers are down from last year when we had 30 teams, but it enables us to play a round-robin of 25 rounds of 8 board matches.

The schedule is as follows:

• Thursday 14.00 – 17.30 3 matches; 19.30 - 23.00 3 matches
• Friday 09.00 – 12.30 3 matches; 14.00 – 17.30 3 matches; 19.30 - 23.00 3 matches
• Saturday 09.00 – 12.30 3 matches; 14.00 – 18.40 4 matches
• Sunday 09.00 – 12.30 3 matches; 12.45 Lunch and prizegiving

The Bi-annual SABF A.G.M. will take place immediately after the end of the session on Saturday evening.

This programme means that we will have a long and hard tournament, but I am sure a lot of good bridge and hopefully also a lot of fun for all.

See you there,

Helen

#10 - 13 October

Greeting all,

I have had a most exciting week trying to get an answer to a question that has puzzled many players: "Can one open a 1nt with a semi-balanced hand? (including a singleton)" Lots of replies were received from a broad spectrum of local players, mainly from those with International experience.

I have also written to David Stevenson (Senior TD in the U.K.) and asked him to peruse our Rules and Regulations that are posted on our web site. He has agreed to do so, but has asked for a little time. He did however state that countries can play any rules they wish and the WBF rules and regulations are for international competitions in particular, but many countries have adopted the WBF standard.

We realize that to change the rules will take time as we have to get a body of players together, that have experienced international and local tournaments, to recommend the changes, but in the meanwhile, with the Inter-provincial and Interclub taking place at the end of this month the SABF have decided to allow the opening of 1NT with semi-balanced hands which may include a singleton. If it becomes part of your system it has to be alerted and a full explanation given. Furthermore, your convention card must state that your 1NT opening/overcall can be semi-balanced and can hold a singleton.

As the Interprovincials will be played using screens, Peter Jackson (TD of the event) has requested that you have a written statement stating ‘can have a singleton’ to be flashed by players on both sides of the screen.


I visited Bloemfontein during the past week and I can tell you that the venue is great - airy, lots of light and there is a great pub - and lunches can be ordered on the premises.

The inter-provincials will be broadcast LIVE on BBO VUgraph, so you can have ringside seats to watch your province battle it out.

InterProvincials Schedule (with hospitality half-time breaks):

• 1st match: Tuesday 14.00 ending 18.15
• 2nd match: 19.30 ending 23.45
• 3rd match: Wednesday 10.00 ending 14.15
• 4th match: 15.30 ending 19.45
• 5th match: Thursday 08.30 ending 12.45

These times will be strictly adhered to.

We still have place for teams to enter the Interclub and the closing date is the 16th October.
We presently have 26 teams which will enable us to have a 9- or 10-board round robin.


Look forward to seeing you there,

Helen

#9 - 1st October 2009

Greeting everyone,

We are now into October and the Inter-Provincial and Interclub events loom ahead.

For the Medwin and Berkowitz starting on Tuesday afternoon the 27th October, we have 6 teams in each which is most gratifying as there in no head scratching to fit the matches in without a bye.

We will play 32 board matches and the provisional times are as follows:

• session 1 Tuesday afternoon 14h00 - 17h45
• session 2 Tuesday evening 19h45 - 23h30
• session 3 Wednesday morning 10h00 - 13h45
• session 4 Wednesday afternoon 15h30 - 19h15
• session 5 Thursday morning 09h00 - 12h45

The closing date for the interclub is the 16th October. Please can we have your entries in as soon as possible as we cannot plan the schedule unless we know how many clubs are involved and only then do we know how many matches and boards to prepare.

The Bi-annual A.G.M. will take play directly after play on the Saturday night.

Once again a reminder that there are many B & B’s in the area close to the Orangia Bowling Club and the Protea Hotel and the new casino hotel are also in the vicinity. There is a list of B & B’s on this website under Free State Open pairs which is being held on the preceeding weekend and is a Red Point tournament.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Helen

#8 17-September-2009

I would like to wish all our Jewish players Shana Tova a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year and Well over the fast.

To our Muslim players after a month of fasting in Ramadaan we wish you Eid Mubarrak .



I thought this snippet I received from Sid Ismail would be of interest.

From a post in Newsgroups on 15-Sept:

In last month's Spingold quarter-finals, Matt Granovetter and Ron Rubin were hauled before a disciplinary committee and given a 30-day probation for excessively slow play. Their opponents were not disciplined.
(Ref: NABC Daily Bridge Bulletin, Aug 2, 2009
http://www.acbl.org/nabc/2009/02/bulletins/db10.pdf ).


Teams in other national events were twice penalized 3 IMPs for having a cell phone in their possession during play.

Sounds like the ACBL has decided to be some muscle behind the regulations.

0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0

#7 - 4 September

News from Brazil (Senior Team)

- might be outdated as it comes from Peter Terblanche (NPC), but great to get the insights from him.

1st Letter
Despite the fact that the team results are not what we would have wished for at this stage, the team is working really well together and we are all enjoying the cut and thrust of World Championship bridge. We had our best result earlier today against hosts Brazil with Chris Bosenberg, Neville Eber, Brian Marcus and Nick Buratovich scoring a 24/6 win. We are lying near the bottom of the table but are looking forward to the climb up the ladder. We play one of the favourites Australia tomorrow (their team includes the famous bridge author Ron Klinger) and are hoping to emulate the performance of the Boks in
Perth last Saturday. Then on Wednesday we play both the USA1 and USA2 teams so we have a couple of interesting days ahead. The Round Robin stage ends on Saturday and we will need a lot of good wins to qualify for the Quarter Finals.

Besides my role with the SA team I have also taken the opportunity to watch some of the best players in the world at close quarters. This afternoon I sat watched a Bermuda Bowl match between the USA and Morocco. I sat behind the great Eric Rodwell and can only hope that some of his genius rubbed off onto me.

The three sessions of 16 boards each are over and scored by 8pm so we have had time to sample the fare at the local restaurants and discuss the interesting hands of the day. We have found the beef quite outstanding and of course the coffee is some of the best in the world.

Hope that all is well back home, and we will all be keenly awaiting the rugby result on Saturday - as we expected the local TV stations give no coverage to any form of football where the ball is not round.

2nd Letter
The fortunes of the South African Seniors team have turned around since I last emailed you. You have no doubt seen the results on the internet. Yesterday promised to be one of the toughest of the tournament with us playing both of the USA teams. In the first match Neville, Chris, Brian and Nick had a very good draw against USA2 - we actually beat them by 2 IMPS for a 15/15 result. I watched the next match sitting behind Neville and the 8 times world champion Bobby Wolff. The highlight for me was when Wolff was playing in a 3NT contract and Chris falsecarded causing declarer to abandon the obvious winning line of a H finesse through Neville. He tried to execute an endplay that caused him to go down in a contract that was easily made in the other room by Maureen and Val. We won the match 19/11 and I played the same combination in the final match against Argentina which worked well - we won 20/10. We have moved up the leaderboard but are still a long way off 8th spot and a place in the quarter finals.

The match against Japan is on at the moment and after 11 boards Neville, Chris, Brian and Nick are 16/14 up. Hold thumbs for us for the rest of the qualifying matches. Team spirit is high and we are all enjoying the tournament and Sao Paulo. Will go back to the Vugraph Theatre now to watch the end of our match.

0-0-0-0-0

#6 - 1st September

I discovered Port Elizabeth’s best kept secret!

The P.E. Mini congress hosted 30 teams and 62 pairs and what a successful event! It was their 37th Congress and my congratulations to the organizers of a fabulous weekend.

The most exciting part of this for me was that there are so many bridge players and tournaments in places that I have never ever heard of: Mcgregor, Bedford and Cradock to name a few. I am certainly going to try to make it my business to discover all the bridge that we have in our country and get to know our players that put so much time and effort into offering bridge to all.

Interclub 2009

We are beginning to receive entries for the Interclub and it promises to be a great bridge weekend. All affiliated clubs can send a team and if the club hosts more than 30 tables 2 teams can enter.

For clubs that don’t have as much exposure to bridge as in the bigger centers, it is a wonderful opportunity to play against varied opposition. So get your entries in as soon as possible as we will probably have to limit the event to 30 teams. Remember that there is a list of B & B’s in the area on the SABF website under ‘Free State tournament’.

School Bridge

Carol Grunder in Gauteng has started teaching Mini-Bridge to Grade 6 and Grade 7's, (ages between 11 and 12 years old) at Gordon and Ikage Schools in Alexandra once a week.
Within a couple of lessons the children have learnt to do the following :-

1. Shuffle, sort and identify the ranking of the suits.
2. Count the points between the two hands. The pair with the most points declares the hand and dummy is put down before the lead.
3. Decide on a trump suit and estimate the number of tricks the partnership expect to make.
4. We reinforce the following:
   - lead low from an length/honour or top of a sequence
   - 2nd hand plays low, 3rd hand plays high
   - lead back partner's suit
   

So, in effect the children are able to play bridge, without the bidding. Teaching these children is a very rewarding experience and the classroom often resembles a market with laughter, shouting and 'high-fives' !

The response to her plea for teachers has been very encouraging but needless to say there is always a need for more help. If anyone wishes to assist her in this worthwhile project she can be contacted at grunder.carol@gmail.com

Warm wishes,
Helen

#5 - 19th August

Greeting all,

A summary of what’s been happening in the bridge world:

Firstly Rob Stephens, one of our junior players, is competing in the World Junior Championships in Turkey with a Bulgarian partner. He played in a 13 round 10-board Swiss and acquitted himself admirably. His team was called T42 and they came 12th out of 40 teams!! He is receiving great support from the players at the Links and we feel sure he will go from strength to strength.

Our Seniors team, namely: Chris Bosenberg, Val Bloom, Nick Buratovich, Neville Eber, Maureen Holroyd and Brian Marcus and non-playing captain Peter Terblanche are leaving for Sao Paulo next week to compete in the Seniors Bowl. We wish them every success and a safe return.


A ‘trials’ meeting was held 2 weeks ago and after much discussion the following proposals were tabled:

• All trials would be held at least 8 months before the event to allow for coaching and practice as a team.
• Requirements for entry into trials:
  South African Passport
  Attendance at national events
  Regular partnerships or committed pairs
  Entrants to be regular club players
  Four year results in major events.
• Open Trials format:
  Bermunda Bowl – Teams Trials
  World Mindsport games – Pairs trials with 10 or less pairs then pairs trials with teams format.
• Womens and SeniorTrials and Commonwealth Games:
  With 10 or more pairs – Butler format of 16 board matches with a teams playoff for the 1st 5 pairs. If less then pairs trials with teams format.
• A trials sub committee is to be formed to take this project further.

All these proposals are in their infancy, but at least we have a starting point to work from.

Next year the Commonwealth Games and the World pairs is to be held in Philadelphia; both take place in October 2010.

Wishing you all good bridge

Helen