8th CENTRAL AMERICAN REGIONAL

June 27th - 29th, 2003

GUATEMALA

After resurrecting the "Central American" in 2000, our Guatemalan friends once again played the host in late June. This year we were fortunate to have not only Costa Rica and Guatemala, but also Nicarauga and the return of El Salvador (along with the almost lost Open Pairs Trophy).

Following registration and a great lunch on Friday, the games began with the 1st Session of the Open Pairs. Showing that they have been busy in their absence, veterans Jean Claude Kahn & Fidel Samour from El Salvador chalked up a 61.90% to lead the field. Our Nicarauguan reps, Reidar Sundet & Jairo Hernandez, grabbed 2nd at 57.44% while the Cahens from El Salvador (Lorena & Pierre) were lying 3rd with 54.17%. Hollywood (Steve Allen) & I managed 53.87% for 4th, and along with the Guatemalan father/son combo of Sergio Spinola & Andreas Asturias at 53.57% and Ticos Karin Kahle & Roni Brantly at 53.27%, would need a big game in the second session in order to catch the leaders.

After a tasty snack and the inevitable score comparison, we were back at in the 2nd Session of the Open Pairs on Friday evening. Once again, the Salvadorean Vets topped the charts, scoring 63.69%. Of course, this made them unbeatable in the overall so the fight was for respectability. The father/son duo did their best with 63.10% effort for 2nd in the session, while we finished 3rd at 62.50%. The Nicas held in there for 4th with 56.25% and rounding out the top five were Kahle/Brantly at 54.46%.

With the scores all checked, the Open Pairs - Final Overall showed that the Vets from El Salvador really wanted to retain the trophy. Jean Claude Kahn and Fidel Samour won both sessions as they grabbed 1st with 62.80%. Due to some diligent score checking and fine play, Sergio Spinola & Andres Asturias slipped into a distant 2nd place with 58.33%. Hollywood & I had to settle for 3rd at 58.18%, while the Nicaraugans Sundet/Hernandez held on to 4th with 56.85%. Two solid performances by Kahle/Brantly from Costa Rica earned them the last spot in the top five at 53.87%.

On Saturday, the Round Robin Teams began with six teams entered. With such a nice number and the entire day to play the round robin, there would be two 12-board matches in the morning, two after lunch, and the last one after the afternoon snack. Defending champions MACGREGOR were in top form through their first four matches and going into the final round, led the field with an untouchable 91 VPs. This left quite a logjam for the other spot in the final - KAHLE at 60, KAHN at 59, BAILEY at 52, CASSANI at 49, and MIRANDA at 44. The final round match-ups gave every team a shot at the finals so emotions were running high. The key match was KAHLE (Karin Kahle & Roni Brantly and Amy Anette & Karen Solie) versus KAHN (Kahn/Samour and Cahen/Cahen). A big win for either team would guarantee their place in the final, but KAHN's 17-13 victory left the door open for the other contenders. BAILEY's terrorist bridge garnered them a 20-10 victory over MACGREGOR, but they needed the maximum and fell a little short. MIRANDA downed CASSANI 19-11 in the other match, but they both needed the full 25 plus some help from their friends. So the finals would pit the defending champs MACGREGOR (John MacGregor, Steve Allen, Pilar Vitoria, Eduardo Piza) from Costa Rica against KAHN (Jean Claude Kahn, Fidel Samour, Lorena Cahen, Pierre Cahen) from El Salvador.

After a long day, a few drinks at the hotel bar were enough to send everyone to bed early. Sunday morning they were back to the tables for the Finals of the Teams and the Consolation Teams. MACGREGOR had a 12 IMP carryover versus KAHN in the final, and their 50 to 7 first half put them in a commanding position. The 2nd half was more of the same, although the first board gave me some jitters. You hold s AKQx h AJ d KQ c KQ98x and hear the auction go pass - pass - 2S. I chose to double, and it went 3S - 4H - pass, back to me. Well, I trotted out RKCB and when partner produced only one keycard, I knew the hook was in. I tried to play 5NT and had to settle for 6NT due to a misunderstanding. My RHO gleefully doubled with two Aces and I escaped for down 2. I was hoping that this was not indicative of things to come, and was rewarded with a doubled partscore two boards later.

Victorious in the Consolation, BAILEY (Joyce Bailey & Lily Guirola and Carmen Luengo & Maria Rosa Fernandez) won both their matches to finish with 116 VPs. KAHLE had to settle for second place with a total of 96 VPs.

The victory lunch and award ceremony were highlighted by the return of El Salvador to the competition and their commitment to host the event in 2004 in February (?). Keep an eye on the schedule for the dates. Check here for Masterpoint Winners and photos of Pair champs, Team champs, and Consolation champs.

As if we did not have enough bridge, Andres Asturias and our hardworking TD (Julio Cesar Gutmark) organized a quick IMP Pairs with a random draw for partners. Tournament rookie Amy Anette from Costa Rica drew veteran Jorge Pina from Guatemala and they clicked nicely for 1st place, edging out Lily Guirola and Carmen Luengo from Guatemala.

Everyone had a great time, and many of the Costa Rican contingent stayed to sample the tourist delights of Guatemala. We look forward to seeing all of our Central American friends in El Salvador next year!