So, my belief that the Junior Camrose could be won by anyone was proved right in my absence. I saw a little bit of NIBU v England, but had to leave to watch Aberdeen v St. Johnstone at Pittodrie, which was a disappointing 0-0 draw. You don't get 0-0 draws in junior bridge, and I returned to see that CBAI were 3-0 up on England in Round 8, with the table after Round 7 thus:
Scotland: 122
England: 102
CBAI: 101
NIBU: 95
Although I did not know the match scores, England had clearly had a terrible time of it, and CBAI were the biggest improvers: not only did they get the most VPs in Rounds 6 and 7, they did so without playing England. Scotland had opened up a 20 VP lead, but this was nothing, as they were losing to the currently bottom NIBU. So, I pick up mid-way through...
CBAI v England
K J 7 5
Q J 4
A 9 7 6 2
6
8 3
7 6 5
4
A K Q x x x x
Ireland were well ahead when this board came up.
The Irish South opened this a gambling 3NT. His team mates had already gone down, doubled in 1NT in the other room, so he needed some luck here. West doubled, and when it came back round to South, he trusted his partner's pass to such an extent that he Redoubled. This would have worked had the defence established a major trick for him, but unfortunately they took one heart, got the position, and knocked out the diamond. This swing set England on their way to a win; a win I didn't watch owing to playing in a tournament. A 19-11 win for England kept them in second place on 121. Scotland had almost made a fightback, losing 16-14 to NIBU, which put them 15 ahead going into the last round.
So, any double-figure VP score would do for Scotland, apart from maybe 10 as I don't know what the tie-splitting procedure was. It was the NIBU v England match on Vugraph, however, and I was invited to play elsewhere.
So, it was a race to the finish. England did all they could on boards 28 to 31, gaining all 37 of their match IMPs here. Two big swings came through bidding slams that the Irish didn't bid; one came through making a Game the Irish played but didn't make. It was all to no avail, however, as a 20-10 win was not enough. Scotland matched it with a 20-10 win of their own, so even a maximum for the English would not have done.
The full results were:
JUNIOR CAMROSE
Scotland 156
England 141
CBAI 122
NIBU 121
PEGGY BAYER
England 182
Scotland 167
NIBU 102
CBAI 77
Congratulations to the winning teams. The Scotland Under 25 team did well to emerge ahead when the music stopped in a very tight Junior Camrose field where every team beat every other team at least once (at least by my reckoning). It was especially tough given they were doing it four-handed.
The England Under 20 squad were red-hot favourites for the Peggy Bayer, but they still had to do the job. It looks like perhaps Scotland gave them a run for their money, since England finished only as far ahead of them as Scotland were against England in the Junior Camrose.
All in all, I'm glad I spent the vast majority of my weekend sitting in front of my computer on BBO. The juniors don't disappoint with exciting and quality bridge, and I look forward to a couple of weeks' time, when the Full Internationals play the second weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment