Captain's Report

The First World Mind Spots Games in Beijing, China is now history. It was a wonderful experience for Canada's Youth Team (under 28). Members were Michael Yuen (NPC) Erin Anderson, David Grainger, Roy Yang Li, Matthew Mason, David Sabourin and Kai Zhou.

In preparation for the Championship, with thanks to Eric and Bev, all three pairs took part in Kokish-Kraft's training and worked very hard on their partnerships.

While in Beijing, we had a slow start for the first day. There after we played hard and were as high as 10th place. We were in it right up to the second last match on the last day for a qualifying spot. Our final standing after 17 Swiss matches was 24th out of 74 teams with 263 VP, that translated to 15.47 imps average per match. On the whole everybody played well. As you can see in the Butler rating all three pairs were on the plus side.

Our players were well behaved at and away from the table, positive and were supportive of each other. Everybody was happy with the amount of matches they were scheduled to play.

I noticed we lost all but one of our late afternoon matches to lesser teams, Jet lag may have played a part.

Bridge Mates were used to record the contracts, leads and results. However no records were kept for the play till the KO stage.

The conditions of contest to qualify 8 teams out of 74 after 17 Swiss matches for the KO stage was unreasonable. That also meant more then 80% of the teams were playing meaningless matches for the last 3 days out of 7.

After the Team Championship Granger and Sabourin registered to play the Open Pairs. They won the two day qualifying sessions and placed 58th in the final.

Housing on site was great, our suite had three bedrooms, sitting room and three bathrooms. We were happy with the rooming arrangement. The food, breakfast, lunch and dinner were served buffet style at the North Star Hotel, was good on the whole but not to everybody's taste as most of the time the food provided was Chinese.

Just a note to say Thank You for choosing me as the Captain for the Youth Team (Under 28) for Beijing. I enjoyed my time with The Team and glad to do my part for the good of Canadian bridge.

Did You See THAT!

At the Transnational Mixed Teams in Beijing. During Round 12 of the Swiss, Canada's Susan Culham (South) was playing with Bryan Maksymetz (North) against Team S. Rimstedt when board 24 arrived at the table.

		♠	KQ82
		♥	AK85
		♦	10754
		♣	8
♠	J963			♠	754
♥	J2			♥	1063
♦	6			♦	AQJ3
♣	A109543			♣	Q76
		♠	A10
		♥	Q974
		♦	K982
		♣	KJ2

Dealer West. None Vul. This was the auction.

West	North	East	South
pass	1◊	pass	1♥
DBL	3♥	pass	3♠
pass	4♣	pass	4◊
pass	4♥	pass	pass
pass

West led the diamond six, seven, ace and two. The diamond queen came back, king, ruffed by West with the heart two, four. He led back the Heart jack, ace, three and four. Susan played the Heart five, six, queen and West discarded the club three.

Susan can see she is a trick short for her contract even if she guessed the club position, came up with the fantastic play of the spade ten, three, two and four. After spade ace, six, eight and seven. Susan played heart nine, club five, king, ten. She was able to discard her diamond losers on the king and queen of spade. Led club eight, seven, finessed the jack and ace. The club king was her tenth trick. Four hearts made for plus 420. Keeping her teams' hope for making it to the KO stage alive.

It was not easy for West to cover the spade ten as the spade eight in dummy may then come into play.

At this point the west player turned around to his friends that were watching and asked "Did you see THAT!"

What a great lead

Sabine Auken (North) and Daniela von Arnim of Germany was playing against China when this hand came up.

Holding S103 H109842 DQ10 C8762 on lead with the following auction. What would you lead?

Dealer East. all NV.

West	North	East	South
		1D	pass
2NT*	pass	3NT	all pass

Sabine found the queen of diamond lead!
The full deal is.

	North
	♠ 103
	♥ 10984
	◊ Q10
West	♣ 8762	East
♠ Q64		♠ 9875
♥ AQJ		♥ K5
◊ A43		◊ J652
♣ Q1093		♣ AKJ
	South
	♠ AKJ2
	♥ 763
	◊ K987
	♣ 54

The Chinese declarer (West) after checking the Germans' lead agreement (Queen from king, queen, ten, nine asking partner to unblock the jack) won the queen, two, seven with the ace. She can count to eight tricks and believing the lead, can see the ninth. Confidentially played the diamond three, ten, jack and king. Down one and Germany won 10 well earned imps.

At the other table Pony (West) also in three no trump. Got the ten of heart lead won by the king and led spade from dummy toward her hand twice to score the queen of spade for her contract.

Life Goes On

. Michael at the Art Zone .

It was the last day of the Swiss and our team needed a good day to have any chances of making into the KO stage.

Match 15th vs Austria we won 50 imp to 38 imp and with 18 vp we claimed to 14th position and gave us hope.

Match 16 vs Belgium we lost 22 imp to 51 imp and got only 8 vp.

Match 17 vs Portugal we lost 26 imp to 38 imp and got another 12 vp.

Our total of 263 vp was good for 24th position out of 74 teams.

Over all The Team played hard and got along well. We even made some new friends and had lots of fun. We had a shot up to the last day and that is all we can ask for.

So it is over for the Youth Team in this event. David and David will play the pairs for the next few days. Others will visit friends and sight see. I will play the Transnational Mixed Team and enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada.

A Telephone Number

Match 13 against France, David Grainger (North) and David Sabourin (South) were in action on Board seven.

	North
	♠ QJ1098
	♥ KQ1052
	◊ 1064
West	♣ void	East
♠ 6432		♠ AK75
♥ A7		♥ 86
◊ QJ7		◊ 983
♣ A872	South	♣ KJ104
	♠ void
	♥ J943
	◊ AK52
	♣ Q9653

Dealer South All Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
			pass
pass	pass	1♣	pass
1♠	2♥	2♠	4♥
4♠	DBL	all pass

Holding five trumps David Grainger was more then happy to double four spade when the bidding tray came back to him.

Opening lead was the heart king, six, three, ace. Declarer played spade two, eight, ace and heart four. The club king was ruffed by north with the spade nine. Play of spade queen forced the spade king. The club jack was covered by queen, ace and north discarded the diamond four. Club eight, diamond four, ten and six. Declarer now out of winners played the diamond nine, ace, seven and ten. Sabourin led heart nine, seven, ten and eight. Grainger got in to draw trumps then played winning hearts to beat four spades doubled five down for 1400.

Peking Duck

There are only two matches to-day.
Match 13 vs France we lost 28 imp to 47 imp, that is 11 vp to us.
Match 14 vs Australia we lost 17 imp to 32 imp, added another 12 vp to our total.
Our total after 14 matches is 225 vp good for 21st position.
After the evening match, our team went out for Peking Duck and a nice evening.

Another Sunny Day At Home Away From Home

It was a nice day in Beijing. The Team is playing well and having fun.



Match 10 vs Germany we won 70 imp to 10 imp, that is 25 vp.

Match 11 vs Estonia we won 52 imp to 16 imp, 23 vp more.

Match 12 vs Italy it was a tie 41 imp to 42 imp, that means another 15 vp to us.

For the day we won 63 vp and now total of 202 vp. Ranked 11th.

Master Bidding

At Swiss Match 11 Canada against Estonia. Kai Zhou (West) playing with Roy Yang Li (East) conducted a nice auction to six diamond on board 7.

	North
	♠ 9852
	♥ 973
	◊ 743
West	♣ Q96	East
♠ KJ		♠ AQ3
♥ 10865		♥ AJ2
◊ KQ9865		◊ J2
♣ J	South	♣ AK1075
	♠ 10764
	♥ KQ4
	◊ A10
	♣ 8432

Dealer South All Vulnerable

West	North	East	South
			pass
pass	pass	1♣	pass
1◊	pass	2NT	pass
3◊*	pass	3NT
6◊	all pass

Roy opened the bidding with one club, the opponents passed throughout. Kai responded one diamond, Roy jumped to two no trump. Kai bid three diamond, which is check back stayman, after Roy's reply of three no trump. Kai reasoned that partner must have useful cards for the small diamond slam and jumped to six diamond. At the other table the opponents stopped at three no trump and 10 imps to Canada.

Sunny Day

Canada's Youth (U 28) Team Michael, David, David, Erin, Matthew, Roy and Kai with jackets sponsored by Masterpoint Press.

Match 7 vs Uruguay we won 40 to 9 imp or 22vp.
Match 8 vs Pakistan we lost 22 to 24 imp but in vp is a tie, add another 15 vp.
Match 9 vs Romania we had a small lost 42 to 47 imp, add another 14 vp.
For the day we added 51 vp to our total of 88 from yesterday. Our total is 139 vp and we now rank 30th.

Lucky Hands

David Grainger (North) was playing with David Sabourin (South) in round 4 today.

	North
	♠ 752
	♥ AJ
	◊ AK10762
West	♣ AQ	East
♠ AQ104		♠ K6
♥ K97		♥ Q65
◊ 984		◊ Q3
♣ 653	South	♣ K98742
	♠ J983
	♥ 108432
	◊ J5
	♣ J10

Dealer East. All Vul.

West	North	East	South
		pass	pass
pass	2NT	pass	3C
pass	3D	pass	3S
pass	3NT	pass	pass
pass

East led the 4th best C, to the jack, three, queen. David now played the diamonds from the top and when the queen came down he claimed nine tricks.

Here is another fun hand in the same match.

	North
	♠ A753
	♥ 103
	◊ KQJ3
West	♣ K95	East
♠ KJ42		♠ 10986
♥ J64		♥KQ87
◊ 10974		◊ 862
♣ AQ	South	♣ J6
	♠ Q
	♥ A952
	◊ A5
	♣ 1087432

Dealer North. E-W Vul

West	North	East	South
	1D	pass	1H
pass	1NT	pass	2NT
pass	3NT	pass	pass
pass

East led the nine of spade, covered by the queen, king and ace. David played three of diamond, two, ace and seven. Two of club, queen, king and six. Now nine of club established the suit for five trick and when the spade broke four-four David could claim nine tricks one more time!
We had an almost average day earning another 44 VP to bring our total up to 88 VP for the event. The Team is in good spirit and looks forward to another exciting day tomorrow.

Team at Play

Erin Anderson and Matthew Mason

Team at play

David Grainger

David Sabourin

Team at play

Kai Zhou and (Roy) Yang Li

Swiss Gambit

Matt, Erin, Kai, David and David.

The first two matches has not been kind to us as our opponents kept making magic bids and landed on their feet. It has been a tough day as we lost both matches.

We needed a momentum switch. It is time for a good result when we (David, David, Erin and Matt.) sat down to played Ireland.

As soon as the match was over everybody got to-gather to Compare. "+430, win 1" "+300, win 12" "+600, win 13" "-400, push" "+800, Win 15" "-130, push" "-50 lose 5" and so on. We won big, 61 IMP to 7 IMP. That converts to 25-3 VP win. As I tell everybody "nice set Team".

Canada Open Team had a good day, winning 61 IMP and 2nd of group A. Canadian Woman had 37 IMP ranked 14th in group F. Our Senior Team also had a nice day with 67 IMP ranked 1st in Group I.

The U21 had 51 IMP and ranked 8th. The U26 had 34 IMP and ranked 14th. U28 had 44 IMP, almost back to average, ranked 38th.

The rain has stop and dinner is more enjoyable.

Opening Ceremony

The Team (under28) ........... Parade of national flags

To-night was the opening ceremony of the Mind Sports Game atthe Olympic Sport Center Gymnasium. There are 143 nations and over 300 player taking part in these games.
The ceremony was much like the Olympic game. First the parade of the flags then hoist of the Chinese Flag and the WMSG flag, complete with anthems. Speeches were followed by oath-swearing by player and official. There was an excellent performance by a dance troop representing the disciplines of the competition. It was a good show enjoyed by all.

Another memeber of The Team

Hey - I'm Matthew Mason and although I've dropped off the bridge radar over the last few years, I am very pleased to be back at my second world junior bridge championships. I certainly try to make bridge as fun as possible for everyone around me and have a pretty easy-going attitude towards the game. Many thanks to my partner, Erin, for putting up with me and to Michael Yuen and the Canadian Bridge Federation for making this all happen.

Away from the table I very recently started working for a large pension fund after 5 years at a Canadian investment bank and am coming up on my one-year wedding anniversary to my wonderful wife Andrea. I love playing volleyball and music/the arts is always in the back of my mind. We just bought a house in Toronto and that, coupled with our new black lab puppy, takes up most of my free time.

Thanks again for this opportunity and hopefully I won't embarass myself too much!

Matthew

Fun Filled Day

We (Jeff and I) picked up our friends Susan Culham and Kiz Fung from their hotel and headed for The Great Wall at Mutainyu. Because it is the National holiday week the traffic on the road was very busy, took us close to two hours to get there. It was all worth it once we came in sight of the Great Wall.
Everybody had a great time. Part of the fun was the cable car ride 35(RMB) up the mountain. The view from there was breathtaking. The Wall is more impressive in real life then all the pictures I have seen in books. After walking for a while on the Wall, we decided to take the wheeled toboggan ride 40(RMB) down. I even paid the 1(RMB) to insure Susan's safety!

Getting Ready

Floor Plan of BICC

BICC

To-day I registered for the World Mind Sports Game at the Beijing International Convention Center (BICC). This will be our playing site for the next two weeks. After getting my ID card, I checked in to the Hui Yuan International Apartment Hotel.

Modes Of Transportation

Limousine with chauffeur...... Taxi

Limos are best for day trips to the Great Wall and other out of town attractions. Rate are negotiable. Taxi is best for shorter trips in the city, rate starts at 10(RMB).

Both Limo and Taxi are comfortable but not much good when stuck in traffic.

Rickshaws

Tricycle-Rickshaw............. Auto-Rickshaw

Besides walking, Beijing also have a very good Bus and Subway system.

The other option may get you from point A to point B much faster is the Rickshaw. Both the Auto-Rickshaw and the Tricycle Rickshaw are very affordable and provide exciting rides.

Excellent Bidding

David Grainger (East) member of the Canadian Youth Team was playing with John Stewart (West) East Coast expert.

	North
	♠ 1074
	♥—
	◊Q9765
	♣ QJ1082
West		East
♠ KQ65		♠ A9832
♥ A2		♥ KQJ109
◊ AK		◊ 2
♣ 7643		♣ A5
	South
	♠ J
	♥876543
	◊J10843
	♣ K

Dealer East. All Vul.

West	North	East	South
1NT	pass	2H*	pass
3S	pass	4NT?	pass
5D**	pass	5H?	pass
6D***	pass	7NT	all pass

John's 1NT was 15-17. David's 2H was transfer to spade. 3S was super accept with four trumps and top of the no trump range. 4NT was Roman key card ask and 5D shows 3 key cards. 5H was queen of trump ask and 6D show queen of spade and king of diamond. David made the key bid of 7NT and won the board as the other table played in 7S.

Beijing Attractions

Forbidden City or Palace Museum

Ticket is 60 (RMB) each and there are discount for students and seniors (60 Year). It is a confusing place for foreign visitors as most of the signboards are in Chinese. The best way to see the Museum is to rent an audio guide for 40 (RMB) with refundable deposit of 100 (RMB). Be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes and best to give yourself about 6 hours for the tour.


Temple of Heaven

This is also a very large park where the locals come for daily recreation and relaxation. Tickets are 35 (RMB), just like other attractions in Beijing there are discount for students and seniors (60 years).

Ni Hao (Hello in Chinese)

"Who lives sees much. Who travels sees more" Arab proverb.

Beijing or Peking (Northern Capital) is the second largest city in China (Middle kingdom). Has over seventeen millions people. Local currency is the Chinese Renminbi (RMB). The Canadian dollar is worth 6.2 (RMB)

After a wonderful two weeks with family in Singapore. Jeff and I got on a Singapore Airline flight to Beijing this morning. It was a very enjoyable five hour flight.

The new airport is very large and user friendly. All the signs are in both Chinese and English. We cleared immigration, pick up our luggage and passed custom in no time. It was day and night compare to what we had to do to get our visa!

We decided to have some fun and took the fast train into the city instead of the 300 (RMB) town car or the 120 (RMB) taxi ride. Train tickets are 25 (RMB) each and the taxi ride from the train station to our hotel was only 27 (RMB). It is a very cool (14c) day when we touched down and is much colder (8c) in the evening.

Will do some sightseeing this week and looking forward to joining up with The Team.

First World Mind Sports Games

Open Team :: NPC David T. Willis
Vincent Demuy, Kamel Fergani, Marc-Andre Fourcaudot,
Dan Jacob, Robert Lebi, Nicolas L’Ecuyer.

Women’s Team :: NPC John Rayner
Susan Culham, Karen Cumpstone, Kismet Fung,
Pascale Gaudreault, Martine Lacroix, Pamela Nisbet

Senior Team :: NPC Sandra Fraser
John Bowman, William Bowman, Stephen Brown,
Jurek Czyzowicz, Douglas Fraser, Edward Zaluski

Junior Team :: NPC Michael Yuen
Erin Anderson, David Grainger, Yang Li, Matthew Mason, David Sabourin, Kai Zhou

2008 Ortiz Patino Team (under 26) :: NPC Nader Hanna
Team: Anton Blagov, James Dulmage, Charles Halasi, Daniel Lavee, Samantha Nystrom, Scott Rosom

2008 Jose Damiani Team (under 21) :: NPC Bryan Maksymetz
Team: Aled Iaboni, Ethan Macaulay, John Maguire, Malcolm McColl,
Tristan Wood, Gordon Zind