This week sees the CBAI’s first foray into the Celtic Nations Simultaneous Pairs, joining the Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish Bridge Unions in the field. Thanks to all the clubs who have elected to take part; the proceeds raised by the CBAI will go to Irish junior bridge, a very good cause. You should have received all the materials you need from ECATs, who are running the competition, at this stage. If not, please let us know. And a reminder that there are separate games on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but that Thursday’s and Friday’s are combined, so nothing from Thursday should be uploaded, either locally or to ECATs, until after the FRIDAY games have concluded, and that players cannot play both Thursday and Friday nights. We’ll post the daily commentaries, and ultimately the results, here as usual. Don’t forget to check the ECATs site for your overall ranking.
And it’s great to see our own Tom Hanlon enjoying more success internationally. His team (Fleisher) have made it through to the semi-finals of the prestigious, and highly competitive, Soloway Knockout Teams being held as part of the ACBL Nationals in Phoenix. Tom’s semi-final will be broadcast on BBO VuGraph tonight (Wednesday) so you can watch him and cheer him on. Fingers crossed that Team Fleisher can go all the way for a notable victory. The final will be on Thursday. UPDATE Sadly, Tom’s progress in the Soloway ended on Wednesday night in what must have been an agonising fashion for him. Having played very well personally, and seen his team establish a very comfortable lead after three sessions, he sat out the final session and had to watch as his teammates proceeded to blow the comfortable lead, and Fleischer ended up losing by a narrow margin, 125-120. Tom’s team also had a very good performance in the Reisinger Board-A-Match Teams, topping their qualification group, and finishing sixth.