MEMORIES FROM MARTINIQUE

and the CACBF ZONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Kalenda Resort, Fort-de-France

May 24th - 31st, 2003

FULL RESULTS

After an overnight in Santo Domingo, I arrived at the airport in Fort-de-France and completely forgot the hotel name when asked by the immigration officer. He took pity on my bad French, and let me pass. But I was never really worried - VIM was my ride!

Jean Yves Dabreteau (VIM and the "older half of The Brothers") was there to greet and take me to the hotel, something that he seemed to do for everybody at the TD seminar as well as most of the players. After unpacking and settling in, I went down to the bar and found my soon-to-be slaves, Felix & Jaik, as well as Michael Gill from Barbados and Jack Rhind from Bermuda. Kojak (Bill & Bud Schroder) joined us for a libation and a schedule was set for our sessions with him.

Over the next couple of days, we discussed many topics of which the most notable were assigning calculated adjusted scores and the upcoming rewrite of the Laws. Meanwhile, my slaves, VIM, and I were busy preparing for the championships. Mixed in with these duties were the meetings of the Board of Directors of the CACBF, where VIM was confirmed as president.

Reflecting back on the week, I would have been dead on my feet if it were not for the tireless work of Felicity Reid and Ralph Jaikaransingh. With VIM and his committee participating in all of the events, it was up to us to make things run smoothly - and they did except for a little hiccup at the start of the pairs.

Well, enough of that - let the games begin! First on the slate were the Team Championships.

In the National Open Teams (NOT), it looked like a toss-up. Perennial contenders Guadeloupe and Venezuela would be in the fight for a playoff spot while Bermuda (our newest CACBF member), Trinidad, and Martinique would also stake a claim in the top four. Guyane, Barbados, and St. Lucia have some line-up problems so things would have to go their way in order to make the knockout round.

After the first day's play, Guadeloupe was leading the pack with 74 VPs out of 75 after blitzing Bermuda, Martinique, and St. Lucia. Guyane had a firm hold on 2nd with 60 VPs, while Venezuela were in a solid 3rd at 48. Bermuda, Barbados, and Trinidad were bunched together at 39, 39, & 36 while St. Lucia and host Martinique were trailing the field. After play on Monday, with only one match left to go, Guadeloupe was still dominating at 120 VPs, despite suffering a blitz at the hands of the Trinis. Venezuela had moved up in the rankings at 104, while Bermuda had recovered nicely to lie 3rd at 98. Trinidad was in a strong position following big wins over St. Lucia & Guadeloupe and held the important 4th spot at 90 VPs. Guyane, with 86 VPs, had fallen back after a great start but were still in the hunt. By this time, Martinique & Barbados & St. Lucia had played themselves out of contention.

The key final matches of the Round Robin pitted Guadeloupe against Guyane, and Venezuela versus Trinidad. Both Guyane and Trinidad won their matches, but for Guyane, it was not enough. The final standings of the National Open Teams Round Robin had Guadeloupe in 1st place at 133 VPs, Bermuda in 2nd at 122 VPs, Venezuela 3rd at 115, Trinidad 4th with 109, and Guyane & Martinique just missing the boat at 103 & 96. For the National Open Team Knockout, Guadeloupe had to make a tough choice - play Trinidad & trail by 18 IMPs before playing a board or play Venezuela & lead by 7 IMPs. As would most teams, they chose Venezuela - a decision they would live to regret. Venezuela had a big first half in their semi-final, 75 to 33, completing wiping out the carryover and then some. Guadeloupe was unable to recover and lost the second half as well, 35 to 39. In the other semi-final, Bermuda dominated Trinidad 55 to 26 in the first half and 55 to 39 in the second half. So, the stage was set for the finals - Venezuela, with their multiple CACBF championships, versus newcomer Bermuda, who had a 6 IMP carryover from their round-robin match. Bermuda jumped out of the starting gate, winning the first two quarters 64 to 29 and 45 to 30, to lead at the half 115 to 59. Venezuela made a good comeback, taking the 3rd quarter 57 to 29, to trail by only 28 IMPs going into the final 20 boards. Although Venezuela won the 4th quarter 40 to 21, they ended up 9 IMPs short of their goal and BERMUDA was crowned the 2003 CACBF National Open Team Champions. Congratulations to the winning team of Roman Smolski, Vera Petty, Alan Douglas, Ian Harvey, Charles Hall, Anthony J. Saunders, and npc Jack Rhind. If we can trust the numbers from the Butler Ranking from the Round Robin (of which I have my doubts), Alan Douglas and Ian Harvey seemed to be the stalwarts of the winning team from Bermuda.

In the National Ladies Teams (NLT), Venezuela appeared to be the favorite for a berth in the finals so the battle lines were drawn to see whether Martinique, Barbados, Guadeloupe, or Trinidad would be their opponent.

After play on Sunday, Trinidad had jumped into the lead with 63 VPs based on their three wins while Guadeloupe (50) & Barbados (46) were battling for 2nd. Martinique & Venezuela were certainly not out of it, having 38 & 37 VPs. At the end of the second day's play, the Trinis maintained their position at the top of the leader board with 118 VPs, despite their loss to Guadeloupe. Venezuela, meanwhile, had recovered their entire team (one due to a bad fall while shopping and their third pair due to late arrival) and was regaining their form to climb into 2nd at 101 VPs. Guadeloupe & Barbados were still in contention at 95 & 88, but hosts Martinique were beginning to fall behind. When Tuesday drew to a close, the standings with one match to play were Venezuela with 164 VPs (virtually assured of a berth in the finals), Trinidad with 155 VPs (having suffered a blitz by the Venezuelans), and Barbados in 3rd at 142 VPs (they had a bye in the last match and needed the miracle). When all was said and done, the final standings of the National Ladies Teams Round Robin had Venezuela comfortably in 1st place, followed by the rookie-studded Trinidad in 2nd and the Bajans had to settle for 3rd when the Trinis treated Guadeloupe to a 19-11 VP loss in the last round. So the battle lines were drawn for the National Ladies Teams Final, with Venezuela carrying a 13½ IMP lead into the contest. The Trinis wiped out the carryover by winning the 1st quarter 71 to 53, but then suffered a disaster in the 2nd quarter when the powerful Venezuelans rolled over them 85 to 11. Although the Trinis won the last 2 quarters, 67 to 51 and 61 to 49, they were unable to overcome the deficit and VENEZUELA became the 2003 CACBF National Ladies Teams Champions. Congrats to captain Zoraida Diebold, Morella Pacheco, Rosario Nunez, Maro Devletian, Ivy Smith, and Fida Hirschaut. Checking out the Butler Ranking from the Round Robin, it is worthy to note that the top two pairs were from Venezuela - Hirschaut/Smith and Nunez/Pacheco.

The National Seniors Teams (NST) would be a three-way struggle between Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Venezuela. Checking the rosters, it appeared that Guadeloupe's star-studded lineup would make it hard going for the other teams.

The predictions held true as Guadeloupe was never threatened over the three days of competition, defeating Martinique 226 to 153 and Venezuela 230-145. Venezuela saved some face by hanging on to beat Martinique 156 to 147. Best of luck to the CACBF National Seniors Team champions - GUADELOUPE - captain Jean Claude Pelletier, Jean Louis Derivery, Daniel Veron, Andre Rimbaud, Lucien Benchetrite, and Philippe Bonet.

The Open Teams (OT) would be in two pools, with Pool A likely to be dominated by the Delcourt sextet from Martinique & Guadeloupe. Meanwhile, Pool B would be a dogfight between the Bouveresse foursome from Guadeloupe and the Rimbaud sextet from Martinique that included the Brothers.

The Open Team Round Robins went as expected, with Delcourt taking top spot in Pool A with 110 VPs and Traverson a distant second at 87 VPs. Meanwhile, Pool B was a cliffhanger, with the last match deciding the standings. Rimbaud edged out Bouveresse by 1 IMP in that match, so they ended up tied at 85 VPs. With that victory, Rimbaud won the tiebreaker and would meet Traverson in one semi-final while Delcourt took on Bouveresse in the other. The Open Team Semi-finals were fairly lopsided affairs, with Rimbaud topping Traverson 137 to 63 while Bouveresse dealt a 123 to 51 thrashing to Delcourt. The final was never in any doubt, although Rimbaud did hold an early lead. In the end, the 2003 CACBF Open Team Champions were Jean Pierre Bouveresse, Jeannine Moers, Philippe Mathieu, and Pierre Picard from Guadeloupe (? and Martinique ?). The Butler Ranking from the Round Robin showed why Jean Pierre Bouveresse and Jeannine Moers are considered one of the top pairs in the Zone.

While the team events were being played, some of the luminaries played in the Continuous Pairs - Session 1 and Session 2. Winning both sessions with two different partners, Alain Saint-Cyr was unbeatable in the Continuous Pairs Overall. Those who participated in the 1st session had the unenviable pleasure of meeting Kojak at the table, and obviously were not initimidated. Bill & Bud told of one lady who after the auction of pass - pass - 1NT by Kojak, jumped to 5C vulnerable vs not and made it! Her hand s AKx h A d x c AKxxxxxx.

Once the team round robins were finished, the players had many events in which to try to strike gold. The first of these was an IMP Pairs on Tuesday, where Aline and Eric Cellier from GUYANE grabbed top spot with a whopping 561 IMPs. They had to be careful though as Bajans Michael Gill and Leslie Atherley were nipping at their heels with 552 IMPs.

Wednesday saw the Zonal Swiss Teams, with victory going to the local team of Daniel Dubois, Veronique Caylar, Roger Leclerc, and Georges Pierre Francois with 122 VPs. They were pursued by the Trini NOT at 107, and the Bajan NOT and the Venezuelan NST at 102.

As if that was not enough bridge, there was also an IMP Pairs on Wednesday. This was a cake walk for Bajans Pat Cummins and Dave Blackman who amassed 476 IMPs, while a Trinidad/Guyane connection of Joseph Howard/Christophe Ballanger were a distant second at 321 IMPs.

Finally, on Thursday, the bulk of the players got to test their matchpoint skills in the Zonal Open Pairs Championship. The leaders after the 1st Qualifying Session were Bajans Alan Moss/Charles Hollingsworth at 66.78%, followed by Anne Cordonnier/Paul Bernard from Martinique with 63.71%. The top ten was basically a Barbados (2), Martinique (3), and Guadeloupe (4) affair. The 2nd Qualifying Session saw a couple of veterans from Guadeloupe at the top of the leader board. Joseph Boulogne and Dominique Gerin scored a massive 68.04%, while another pair of Bajans (Pat Cummins/Adelle Springer) were in second at 65.05%. When the sessions were combined, the Open Pairs Qualifying Overall had Boulogne/Gerin in first at 64.63% while first round leaders Moss/Hollingsworth took 2nd with 63.13%. 3rd place went to Bouveresse/Moers at 61.37%.

Friday morning was the Open Pairs Final - 1st session and the Open Pairs Consolation - 1st session. In the final, Bouveresse/Moers showed their stuff with a 65.05% game for top spot, while locals Aymeric & Martine de Tessieres were lying 2nd at 60.65%. In the consolation, Venezuelans Georgina Andres & Rosetta Ammirata led the field with 63.73% with locals Alain Demont/Lucienne De Pompignan in 2nd at 59.59%.

The afternoon saw the second session of both events. In the Open Pairs Final - 2nd session, the Bajan Boys hit their stride with 61.54% to win the session while Vera Petty/Roman Smolski from Bermuda took second spot with 60.90%. When the calculations were all done, the Open Pairs Final - Overall had BERMUDA taking top spot again. Petty/Smolski won top honours at 59.89%, closely followed by Bouveresse/Moers at 58.23%. In the Open Pairs Consolation - 2nd session, a pair of veteran ladies from Guadeloupe, Michele Gerin/Sylviane Boulogne topped the field with 61.67%. Trinis Joseph Howard/Alvin Fitzpatrick were 2nd with 61.15%. When all was said and done, the Open Pairs Consolation - Overall was won by our ladies from Caracas, Andres/Ammirata, with a score of 59.20%. Second went to the ladies from Guadeloupe, Gerin/Boulogne, at 57.47%.

Saturday morning was the Zonal Mixed Pairs. This looked to be the most wide-open event of the week, with many volatile combinations having a chance at the top prize. In the Mixed Pairs - 1st session, it looked like it was going to be a clean sweep for Bermuda as Petty/Smolski ran away from the field with a massive 69.47% game. In a distant second were the Blond Bombshell (Sylvia Faguet from Martinique) and her partner Daniel Veron from Guadeloupe at 62.77%, just edging out Venezuelans Pacheco/Gusso. The Mixed Pairs - 2nd session saw a couple of SSS veterans taking top spot, Bajan Pat Cummins and Trini Nicholas Inniss at 64.13%. They were followed closely by Bouveresse/Moers at 63.99% and the BB & partner at 63.81%. In the final tally, the Mixed Pairs - Final Overall was won by Sylvia Faguet from Martinique and Daniel Veron from Guadeloupe with 63.29%, just enough to finish ahead of the hard charging Bouveress/Moers at 63.02%.

Looking back at the week that was, I will have to insist on some things for the next time. Otherwise, it just takes too much out of me and the rest of the TDs. The players had a great time, what with the morning/afternoon schedule. Only one night session was scheduled so participants always had the time for a leisurely evening meal (with wine, of course). Even after all the work, I am looking forward to 2005 with anticipation!

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