The Championship Pairs Final was held at The Blackbourne Centre, Elmswell on Sunday 21st April. 26 pairs took part in a close fought 50 board marathon, eventually won by Bury St Edmunds and Abbeygate Bridge Club members Tim Evans and Chris Park.  

The runners up were Richard Evans and John Bloomfield, Roger and Jill Tattersfield third and Guy Lesser and Mike O'Reilly taking fourth place. Barely 2 percentage points separated the top four pairs.

The full results can be seen by clicking on Championship Pairs Result. Thanks to Rob Richardson for directing and scoring

The Suffolk Bridge AGM will be held at the Blackbourne Community Centre, Blackbourne Road, Elmswell IP30 9UH on Sunday May 12 at 2.00pm.

The agenda and other details will be published here shortly.

Nominations for Officers and Members of the Executive Committee and motions for Special Resolutions, proposed and seconded by SCBA members, should be submitted by email or in writing to the General Secretary (Nick Farr, nick@farrhome.co.uk) by Sunday April 21. 

A session of Bridge, with a light tea, will follow. Admission to the AGM is, of course, free to SCBA members. If you plan to stay for the Bridge and Tea, it's just £5/head. Please complete the entry form in the Menu on the left.

Clare Bridge Club Swiss Pairs
 

Sunday 5th May at 10:45 for 11am, Lavenham Village Hall
 

This is a blue pointed event and will be directed by Rob Richardson.
The cost is £17.50 per player, and includes a delicious sandwich lunch.
To enter, please apply (preferably) online by completing this form. Payment is by BACS or by post.

The postal address for payments is Clare Bridge Club 29A Friars St. Sudbury CO10 2AA.

The next Bridge with Lunch event is being held at the Blackbourne Centre, Elmswell, IP30 9UH , on Wednesday June 5.

A glass of wine or soft drink will be available from 12.30pm with lunch served at 1.00pm. A session of Bridge (around 24 boards) will follow at 2.00pm. The event is expected to finish by around 5.00pm.

Entry fee for lunch and bridge is £22.50/head. Click LUNCH for the entry form and to select your choices.  

The SCBA Club Teams of Four event was held at the Blackbourne Community Centre, Elmswell, on Sunday the 24th of March with a record entry of 23 teams. The event was closely contested with only six points between the first three places.

In first position was the Woodbridge team of Dave Walker & John Skinner playing with Humphrey Carey & Clive Rowe with a score of +81 IMPS.

In second place (pictured below) was the Stowmarket team of Brian Pinson & Paul Wilcox playing with Bim & Sam Wilson scoring +76 IMPS and in third place were the Stratford St Mary team of Debbie & Martin Burwood playing with Derek & Rita Brinkley.

Congratulations to them all.

The Director/Scorer was Rob Richardson, boards were provided by Paul Rickard and the Event Manager was Tim Evans.

Click RESULTS to see all the scores.

Captain’s Report by Rick Hanley

Suffolk v Northants 17^th March 2024

Overall, the Suffolk team put up a good performance in the final match of the 23/24 ECL season.  Sadly, the A team lost by 14-6.  However, unlike the Welsh rugby team the previous day, they secured enough points to avoid the wooden spoon.  The B team won by 12-8, due in part to a fine card from Caroline and Mark. 

The main focus, however, was on the C team who needed an 18-2 win to finish top of the table. Unfortunately, the Northants C Team won their division last season and went on to win the national C Team championship.  So, the C team did well to achieve a 13-7 victory. Chris and Andy were the best performers with an excellent card.  The C Team should be very proud of a great season winning 5 of their 6 matches and achieving what I believe is the best ever finish by a Suffolk C Team.

I found board 20 to be the most interesting deal in Sunday’s match (see below).

After my right-hand opponent had opened and rebid spades, I found it difficult to communicate the strength of my hand to my partner and played in 3D. I was disappointed when dummy went down and we had a combined 26 count. Others played in 3NT and several made it when unaccountably a spade was not led. Bill and John did lead a spade and John made the excellent play of the queen of spades preserving communication with partner. When Bill won the ace of hearts, he could return a spade to defeat the contract. Shame on you to all those who not lead a spade! I was surprised that RealBridge claimed that 3NT can be made even if a spade is led. I cannot see how this can be done but if anyone has the answer, please let me know.

As you will know, this was my final match as captain. I have enjoyed every minute. The only match I missed during my tenure was the very first one in July 2017 when I had tickets for the Wimbledon final and witnessed Roger Federer’s last victory in the championship.  I would like to pay tribute to Richard Evans who I believe has played in all the matches when I was captain.  I wish my successor (Paul Whetton) all the best for the future of the Suffolk Team.  Finally, I will offer some advice for the future.  Paul has written some articles on the SCBA website advocating a 5 card major system in preference to a 4 card major system.  As someone who has played 5 card majors for the last 25 years I would not disagree.  However, it seems to me that some of the Suffolk team play a sub-optimal version.  In particular I recommend the 2 over 1 system in preference to standard American.  2 over 1 has really taken over amongst the top players in the UK and the USA.  If you want to learn more about 2 over 1 then I suggest you purchase a copy of Andrew Robson’s excellent new book ‘Strong and Fives’. In it he outlines a very logical rationale for the 2 over 1 system and suggests some other conventions that it is best to incorporate within a 5 card major system.

Click HERE for the entry form.

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