TIT FOR TAT

May 9th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

Neil Kimelman on the silver medal team shared some hands from the Canadian Team final with me.

3/8 Board 13.

Dealer North. Both vulnerable.

Dealer: North Vul: Both	North ♠ 7 ♥ AJ864  ♦ AJ109 ♣ J105
West ♠ A54  ♥ Q103  ♦ K432 ♣ A84		Kimelman ♠ KQ1092  ♥ 72  ♦ Q7  ♣ KQ93
	South ♠ J863  ♥ K95  ♦ 865 ♣ 762

Don Pearsons-West and Neil-East was in 4♠ got the five of hearts lead from South, won by the North’s Jack. The next heart won by South’s King. The diamond switch went to North’s Ace. Given the chance, Neil guess the spade position and picked up the Jack, made 10 trick for + 620.

At the other table, Vincent Demuy as West was in 3NT. North led the ten of Diamond won by dummy’s Queen. Vincent also guess the spades to make 10 tricks for +630. Pushed the board.

Board 15.

Dealer South. Nouth-South vulnerable.

Dealer: South Vul: N-S	Korbel ♠ AK74  ♥ AKJ5  ♦ Q1064 ♣ 7
West ♠ QJ865  ♥ 108743  ♦ 32 ♣ 2		East ♠ 93  ♥ Q62  ♦   ♣ KQJ109654
	South ♠ 102  ♥ 9  ♦ AKJ9875  ♣ A83

It was a spirited auction. 

East led the King of clubs.

Daniel Korbel as North drove to 7NT. He played skillfully. Won the club lead with the Ace. Played two rounds of diamonds. Then cashed the Ace and King of spades. Run the rest of the diamonds. Executed the double squeeze and made 13 tricks for +2220 win 2 VPs.

This was the position with four card ending.

When Daniel played the eight of diamond, West had to keep the Queen of spades otherwise the seven of spade in dummy would be good, so he let go the seven of hearts, North could discard the seven of spades. East in turn was squeezed between hearts and clubs. 

Dealer: South Vul: N-S	North ♠ 7  ♥ AKJ  ♦   ♣
West ♠ Q  ♥ 1087  ♦   ♣		East ♠   ♥ Q62  ♦   ♣ Q
	South ♠   ♥ 9 ♦ 8 ♣ 83

At the other table Jonathan Steinberg and David Sabourin had bid and made 7♦ for +2140.

Bernie Ludewig (1954 – 2012)

May 8th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

Bernard Ludewig (1954 – 2012)

Bernard Ludewig

We thought we still had so much time!  But now Bernard Ludewig is not with us anymore. He died, which still seems inconceivable to us, on 21. March 2012.

On 24.11.1954, in Marburg, Bernard Ludewig was born as the son of a German father and a French mother. He spent his youth in Marburg, Koblenz and Belgium. From there he headed to Heidelberg to study at a university after having received his “Abitur”. Having grown up with a multilingual family, his studies did not turn out to be very difficult for him. So alongside his studies he still found a sufficient amount of time to optimize his skills in other important parts of his life – particularly in the game of Bridge.

And he became a bridge player and put his heart and soul in it. The list of top rankings he received is long. He could look back upon nine German championships and numerous second- and third-rankings. Even though he loved team play more than pairs’ tournaments, he won his first German tournament in 1987 in the last-mentioned form. His greatest success as a sportsman was the win of the “Rosenblum-Cup” in 1990, the first big title a German team achieved in an open tournament. As the captain of the ladies’ national team,  which played an important role during many world- and Europe tournaments, he also became successful internationally. Bernard Ludewig’s calm and well-adjusted manner as well as his ability as a bridge player is what made him such a convenient captain. More importantly, he was a sportsman with all his heart – fair at all times, but still ambitious.

This personality with all the tolerance, warm-heartedness and serenity was definitely one of his strongest points which made him so unique. Also offside the “bridge table” he was a reliable, attentive and caring friend for plenty of job-related and personal acquaintances, especially for his children Katharina and Stefan, whom he gave everything, and is wife Susanne, who he loved so much and with who he celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary last year – which is definitely not a matter of course anymore these days.

There are a lot of good bridge players but good partners are rare. Bernard Ludewig was not only the best bridge partner I have ever played with but also a cautious colleague and loyal friend over many years. Even when our career (and bridge-) paths parted, we stayed in touch. Sometimes we dreamed about the good old times together, when we drove to a bridge tournament in his sky blue Peugeot 404, with the last bit of money we could find, always accompanied by Wolfgang Ambros’ music and his “Watzmann”. During all of this time I never heard a single mean word from him, even when he stopped in four hearts with his 23-count hand after my weak-two-opening, going one down, he only said: “I already expected it to be quite close…” And when Georg Nippgen and I accidentally turned off the main fuse while trying to exchange a light bulb and his(Bernard’s) day work vanished, even then he reacted even-temperately and asked: “Which world champion was that?” He couldn’t have possibly known that it was the two of us who tried to solve the problem…

At last it might seem like a bitter irony of destiny that of all organs his heart was the one that failed – and he was a man with so much goodness and heart – and he had to pass away from us way too early.

Obituary – By Jochen Bitschene.

On a personal note.

Bernie was such a nice guy. I enjoyed all the championships we worked to-gather both at and away from the table. Will miss him in The Worlds for years to come.

My condolences to Susie and the family.

People having fun

May 6th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

Muriel Dalphond

Everybody having a good time.

Daniel Korbel and JC.

Michael Roche and his honey in waiting

Boris Baran, Jurek Czyzowicz and Dan Jacob.

Danny Miles, Joe Silver and Les Amoils.

Dennis Gamble and Kathie Macnab

The Unsung Heroes

May 5th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

Here are some of the people that who make this Championship so enjoyable. Thank you very much.

Guy Fautux - Doug Rankin

Henry Cukoff - Guy Fauteux

CBF Zone Director - Jean Castonguy

Vugraph operators – Sharyn Reus and Tony The Tuna

Friendly Bartender - Barbard Corcoran.

Canadian National Team Final

May 4th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  2 Comments 

In one of the most exciting Semi Final match yesterday. Two old friends from Winnipeg, Todd and Cannell played each other to a one IMP decision. 

In to-day’s final with one set to play for the day. L’Ecuyer gained IMPs in all 4 sets. There will be another 64 boards to play.

L’Ecuyer  37 + 41 + 25 + 36 + 52 + 45 = 236

  Todd       19 + 32 + 19 + 23 + 26 + 12  = 131 WD

We have a WINNER.

L’Ecuyer :  Nicolas L’Ecuyer, Vincent Demuy, Leslis Amoils, Derren Wolpert, Danny Miles and Daniel Korbel Are the Canadian Champions. Well done.

Don Pearsons, David Sabourin, Neil Kimelman, Bob Todd, Jonathan Steinberg and Doug Fisher.

Todd (Bob Todd, Doug Fisher, Neil Kimelman, Don Pearsons, David Sabourin, Jonathan Steinberg)

The match will be 128 boards played over 2 days. You can watch them in action on BBO.

Here is a nice defence by Leslis Amoils and Derren Wolpert in the 4th quarter of the final. After the Ace of spade, Les played another spade, so when he got in he with the king of hearts. He was able to reach Derren with the club ace in order to lead another spade for a trump upper cut.

At the other table North after the Ace of spade switches to  club, can’t beat it anymore.

Bridge Week Winners

May 4th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

The Canadian Women Team winners.

Debbie Bennett, Lesley Thomson, Linda Wynston, Hazel Wolpert, Ina Demme and Pamela Nisbet.

 The IMP Pair winners.

Michael Gamble and Ranald Davidson.

The CNTC B winners.

Robert Trembly, Carl Levesque, Andre Renaud and Gerard Turcotte.

The CNTC B Silver medal team.

Rupa Krishnan, Duddow Cooney, Pamela Keim and Jason Larrivee.

ACBL CEO Robert Hartman, Dick Anderson and George Retek.

CNTC C Final

May 4th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  1 Comment 

The top 4 teams are :

Josette Levesque – Chantal Dube – Sylvie Levesque – Yves Decelles

Terry Visentin – Michael Shaw – Jenna Tichon – Ken Goodridge – Neil Goodridge

Duval – Johanne Sevigny – Jean-Pierre Longpre – Liliane Theberge – Lydia Simard

O’Loughlin – Watson – Roberts – Michael Moore – Steven Mehta – Catherine Kinsella

In the Semi Final the match up : 

Levesque  24  + 38 = 62  VS Duval 12 + 49 = 61 

Visentin  26  + 52 = 78 VS O’Loughlin 40 + 21 = 61

In the Final. 32 boards.

Levesque  66  + 30 = 96 VS Visentin 30 + 31 = 61

Levesque is the CNTC C Champion, Congratulations.

The winner - Yves Decelles, Sylvie, Chantal Dube and Josette Levesque.

Neil Goodridge, Ken Goodridge, Jenna Tichon, Terry Visentin and Michael Shaw.

Canadian Senior Team Champhionship

May 4th, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

The round robin is over and our team, ended up in 5th just missing out the KO stage, oh well can’t win them all. Thanks to Karl, Leo and Rod for the most enjoyable event.

Rod Mackenzie, Karl Hicks, Leo Weniger and I.

Baran won the round robin and they picked Domansky, the boys from Thunder Bay.

The Senior Team match up in the Semi Final will be :

With one set to play Baran opened up a useful lead of 59 IMPs. 

Baran  32  + 41 + 34 + 57 = 164 VS Domansky 16 + 8 + 24 + 2 = 50

Baran NPC: Dan Jacob, Robert Lebi, David Lindop, Jurek Czyzowicz.

Domansky : Don Domansky, David McLellan, Roland Laframboise, Larry Hansen.

In the Curry and Silver match, both team pulled their goalie resulting in a wild shot out.

Curry  29 + 77 + 25 + 13 = 144  VS Silver 22 + 22 + 74 + 39 = 157

Curry : Bert Curry, J Mark Siegrist, John Bowman, Bill Bowman. 

Silver : Joseph Silver, John Cuoba, John Carruthers, Martin Kirr.

The final will be 64 boards on BBO.

Baran  27 + 45 + 27  + 21 = 120  VS Silver 38 + 16 + 27 + 62 = 143

Silver won Gold and Baran won Silver. Well done and Good luck in the Worlds.

Martin Kirr, Joe Silver, John Guoba and John Carruthers.

Robert Lebi, Dan Jacob, Daive Lindop, Jurek Czyzowicz and Boris Barn.

3/4 place Teams :

Larry Hansen, Don Domansky, David McLellan and Roland Laframboise.

 3/4 th The Curry teaam. Bert Curry, J Mark Siegrist , John Bowman and Bill Bowman.

Bridge week Open Semi Final And Women Final

May 3rd, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

We will have new Canadian Champions this year in both the Open and the Women.

In the Open : Rayner and Roche part of last year’s winning team lost in the Quarter Finals yesterday. Doug Baxter, Mike Hargreaves did not play this year. David Lindop and Jim McAvoy are in the Seniors.

In the Women : Last year’s winners Joan Eaton, Karen Cumpstone,Sandra Fraser and Katrin Litwin did not enter the Championship this time around.

In the Open Semi Final :

Cannell  39 + 24 + 50 + 36 = 149  VS Todd 23 + 64 + 35 + 28 = 150

Cannell (Drew Cannell, Daniel Lavee, Paul Thurston, Jeffrey Smith, Pierre Daigneault and Kamel Fergani)

Todd (Bob Todd, Doug Fisher, Neil Kimelman, Don Pearsons, David Sabourin, Jonathan Steinberg)

L’Ecuyer 42 + 42 + 49 = 84 VS Janicki 19 + 15 + 11 = 34  WD

L’Ecuyer (Nicolas L’Ecuyer, Vincent Demuy, Leslis Amoils, Derren Wolpert, Danny Miles and Daniel Korbel)

Janicki (Paul Janicki, Morrie kleinplaz, Bob Kuz, Barry Senensky, Waldemar Frukacz and Stephen Copper)

Todd won by 1 IMP!

To-morrow’s Final will be

L’Ecuyer VS Todd. You can watch it on BBO. 

In the Women Final 72 boards. You watch this on BBO.

Fung 36 + 24 + 30  + 38= 128  VS Demme 25 + 46 + 47 + 32 = 150

Fung (Kiz Fung, Susan Culham, Francine Cimon, Brenda Bryant, Samantha Nystrom and Isabelle Smith)

Demme (Ina Demme, Hazel Wolpert, Linda Wynston, Lesley Thomson, Debbie Bennett and Pamela Nisbet)

Congratulations to the Demme Team they are the 2012 Canadian Women Champion.

CNTC B

Renaud 43 + 21 + 51 + 59 = 115  VS Larrivee 61 + 8 + 45 + 35 = 149

Renaud (Andre Renaud, Carl Levesque, Gerard Turcotte and Robert Tremblay)

Larrivee (Jason Larrivee, Rupa Krishnan, Pamela Keim and Duddow Cooney)

Larrivee WON. Well done.

Bridge Week Quarter Final

May 2nd, 2012  ~  Mike Yuen  ~  No Comments 

In the Open after  4th quarter.

Cannell 44 + 54 + 38 = 136  VS Sinno 47 + 27 +16 = 78  WD

Cannell (Drew Cannell, Daniel Lavee, Paul Thurston, Jeffrey Smith, Pierre Daigneault and Kamel Fergani)

Sinno (Rajaa Sinno, Baha Faha, Ghassan Menachi, Jay Saks, George Retek, Philip Silverstein)

Carriere 27 + 19 + 38 + 30 = 144  VS Todd 49 + 28 + 24 + 58 = 159

Carriere (Ronald Carriere, Frederic Pollack, Larry Crevier, Marc-Andre Fourcaudot, Renald Davidson, Michael Gamble)

Todd (Bob Todd, Doug Fisher, Neil Kimelman, Don Pearsons, David Sabourin, Jonathan Steinberg)

L’Ecuyer 54  + 59 + 69  = 182  VS Zaluski 50 + 28 + 10 = 88  WD

L’Ecuyer (Nicolas L’Ecuyer, Vincent Demuy, Leslis Amoils, Derren Wolpert, Danny Miles and Daniel Korbel)

Zaluski (Edward Zaluski, John Zaluski, John Cook, R Elwin Brown, Herve Chatagnier and Rene Pelletier)

Janicki 56  + 16 + 46  + 49 = 167  VS Rayner 45 + 31 + 29 + 23 = 128

Janicki (Paul Janicki, Morrie kleinplaz, Bob Kuz, Barry Senensky, Waldemar Frukacz and Stephen Copper)

Rayner (John Reyner, Michael Roche, Piotr Klimowicz, Nader Hanna, Roy Hughes and David Turner)

The match up to-morrow will be

Cannell VS Todd

L’ Ecuyer VS Janicki

In the Women. After 4 quarter

Fung 63 + 44 + 73 + 65 =  245  VS Macnab 15 + 40 + 31 + 17  = 103

Fung (Kiz Fung, Susan Culham, Francine Cimon, Brenda bryant, Samantha Nystrom and Isabelle Smith)

Macnab (Kathie Macnab, Elizabeth Lagacy, Anne Mahoney and Trisha Fleet) 

Demme 32 + 35 + 67 = 134  VS Caley 39 + 14 + 2 = 55  WD

Caley (Sylvia Caley, Barbara Saltsman, Sondra Blank, Linda Lee, Deanna Godel and Hope Wener)

Demme (Ina Demme, Hazel Wolpert, Linda Wynston, Lesley Thomson, Debbie Bennett and Pamela Nisbet)

In the final :

Fung VS Demme

In the CNTC B

Henault 29 + 20 + 15 + 67 = 131  VS Renaud 58 + 15 + 63 + 12 = 148

Henault (Alain Henault, Eric David, Marius Moldovan and M. Xavier Combey)

Renaud (Andre Renaud, Carl Levesque, Gerard Turcotte and Robert Tremblay)

Beenard 58 + 15 + 41 + 32 = 170  VS Larrivee 62 + 45 + 56 +  44 = 207

Benard (Nicole Benard, Raymond Boyer, Louis Dessureaux, Guy Duchesne, Louise Mascolo and Diane Majdell)

Larrivee (Jason Larrivee, Rupa Krishnan, Pamela Keim and Duddow Cooney)

In the final :

Renaud VS Larrivee