U16s Diary - Day 5

By NPC, Giorgio Provenza

Too little too late?

Our world championship seems a tale of two halves. In the first 10 matches we have scored 84.45 VPs. In the following 6 we have scored 85.52 VPs. I think that says it all.

This comeback of ours means that with one match to go we still have a theoretical chance to qualify. Very theoretical though, because together with us winning very big our last match with Norway, we need so many other things to happen that I won’t list them. More or less a miracle. Sometimes miracles do happen though.

Today something happened that I would have never thought it was possible. Three of the team said they had had enough bridge. Some explanation is in order.

The schedule for the U16s has been brutal. Today, as it had already happened two days ago, all the other age groups were finished after round 3 and had the rest of the day off. The younger ones were left to play another match.

Worse than that, when this happens everyone goes home. The Vugraph shuts down, there is no match on BBO, nothing. Today the NPCs of the U16 have signed a petition asking the WBF to reconsider the schedule for future events.

And before the final match of the day, three of team asked me to sit out because they were tired. I then asked the tournament director if I could fill in, as a fourth (how often have I done that in my classes?).

I was told that despite my young(ish) look, maybe U16 is a bit of a stretch. So I asked my veteran player to take one for the team and play one more match.

Probably because of the tiredness across the field, this was the match with the highest number of IMPs exchanged so far (of our matches). The highlight was the very last board:

Board 12. Dealer West. N-S Vulnerable.
	♠ A K 9 7 4 ♥ J 7 5 ♦ A J 9 7 ♣ T
♠ Q ♥ Q 6 3 ♦ T 6 4 3 ♣ K 7 6 3 2		♠ J 6 5 3 2 ♥ T ♦ 8 ♣ A Q J 9 8 5
	♠ T 8 ♥ A K 9 8 4 2 ♦ K Q 5 2 ♣ 4

Can anyone guess how we won 18 IMPs?