ORBIS WORLD BRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIPS DAILY NEWS JANUARY 7-21 BERMUDA 2000 JEAN PAUL MEYER, CO-ORDINATOR / MARK HORTON, EDITOR BRENT MANLEY & BRIAN SENIOR, ASSISTANT EDITORS STELIOS HATZIDAKIS, LAYOUT EDITOR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue: 2 Sunday, 9 January 2000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Directors to decide close Bermuda-Netherlands match Bermuda's Venice Cup team battled the heavily favored Netherlands squad to the wire Saturday, only to lose by 1 IMP.The locals will have a second chance today when Chief Tournament Director Bill Schoder reviews the facts of a disputed board that could turn defeat into victory for Bermuda. Here is what happened. In the third match of the round-robin, Audrey Smith, playing with Diana Diel against BepVriend and Marijke van der Pas, opened 2H as North and was allowed to play there. She took eight tricks, but turned one wrong in the process. The official scorer had her doing down one for minus 50. In the other room, East-West (Judy Bussell and Stephanie Kyme) bid to 3D and were defeated one trick for minus T0. That resulted in a 4-IMP swing to the Netherlands, enough for a 44- 43 win (15-15 inVictory Points). If the board is a push, as Bermuda claims it should be, Bermuda will win, 43-39. After the match but within the correction period, Smith realized she did not go down in 2H and should have been credited with plus 1T.They spoke to a tournament director and officially filed a protest, but the matter could not be handled because the Dutch team had left the playing area and could not be found. Schoder said he will speak to the players involved in the match to determine the facts and make a decision about the scoring of the board before play begins today. He said there was nothing else he could do in the absence of the Dutch team. 'It's like trying to put feathers back into a pillow when they get away,' he said. Meanwhile, the Bermuda squad, most of whose members are playing in international competition for the first time, were on tenterhooks awaiting the decision. 'It's important to us,' said Smith, 'to win any match.' Here is what happened according to declarer. N/S Game Dealer West. S A 6 5 H K Q 9 6 4 3 D T C 8 7 6 S Q T 8 S K 7 3 H A J H T 7 2 D J 8 5 3 2 D K 9 4 C J 5 4 C K Q 3 2 S J 9 4 2 H 8 5 D A Q 7 6 C A T 9 Smith, playing 2H as North, recalls getting the opening lead of a low diamond. She won the DA in dummy and played a heart: jack, king, 2. She then played the SA and another spade, taken by East with the king. East played the CK and continued with a club when Smith ducked. Smith won the CA and played dummy's other heart, taken by West with the ace. Smith says she doesn't remember what West did at that point, but there doesn't seem to be any way for the defenders to take more than two black tricks from that point, since there is no way for West to promote the HT in her partner's hand. Orbis Bermuda Bowl - Round 1 USA 2 v USA 1 Second squad is first in match of USA teams USA 2 took charge early in their match with USA 1 and rolled to a 46-37 victory in the opening match of the round-robin phase of the Orbis Bermuda Bowl.The win earned the team 18 Victory Points. USA 2, led by Jeff Wolfson, started Zia Mahmood-Michael Rosenberg and Chip Martel-Lew Stansby against Jeff Meckstroth- Eric Rodwell and Bob Hamman-Paul Soloway in the morning vugraph match. Sitting out the first round for USA 2 were Wolfson and Neil Silverman. Nick Nickell and Richard Freeman were out for USA 1. The Nickell squad was ahead, 7-0, after three boards, thanks in part to some overbidding by Zia and Rosenberg. Board 4 started the turnaround for USA 2, also the result of overbidding. In one room, Meckstroth and Rodwell bid to 3NT, which had no play and finished two down for minus 200, while Zia and Rosenberg stopped in a club partial, scoring plus 130 for an 8-IMP swing. Two boards later, Martel found a way to take T tricks in a heart game with the help of a winkle. Dealer East. S A 6 5 H 8 6 5 2 D K Q 3 C A 8 5 S Q 3 S T 9 8 7 4 H K J T 9 4 3 H A Q D 4 D A J 8 6 5 C K J T 9 C 2 S K J 2 H 7 D T 9 7 2 C Q 7 6 4 3 West North East South Soloway Rosenberg Hamman Zia - - 1S Pass 2H Pass 2S Pass 3H Pass 4H All Pass Rosenberg led the DK, taken by Soloway with the ace. Soloway then played a club to the king and Rosenberg's ace. Rosenberg got out with a trump to dummy's queen and Soloway's king. Soloway then played the CJ, running it to Zia's queen when Rosenberg followed low. Soloway had to lose two spade tricks and finished down one. At the other table: West North East South Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell - - 1S Pass 3H (1) Pass 4H All Pass (1) Natural and invitational. Meckstroth led the DK to dummy's ace.At trick two, Martel led a club to the jack and ace. Meckstroth got out with a trump. Martel won in dummy, ruffed a diamond, ruffed a low club and ruffed another diamond. He then ran trumps, reaching this position: S A 6 5 H 8 D -- C 5 S Q 3 S T 9 8 H J H -- D -- D J 8 C KT C -- S K J 2 H -- D -- C Q 7 On the play of the West's last heart, South was in trouble. He had to hold on to a club to keep Martel's CT from being good, so South had to pitch a spade. No matter which spade South let go of, it would result in T tricks for Martel, whose plan was to exit with a low spade. If South had discarded the S2, he could win dummy's T with the jack but would have to play another spade to keep Martel from taking another club finesse for the contract. If South's last spade was the king, North would have to overtake with the ace to avoid the club endplay, but then North would have to give West the free club finesse or put him in dummy, where the spades were good. If South discarded a spade honour, Martel would be able to build a spade trick on power, with the club finesse a constant threat on South. Plus 620 was good for 12 IMPs to USA 2. The team earned another T IMPs on Board 11. Dealer South. S K T 2 H Q 5 D A Q 5 3 C Q 9 5 2 S Q 7 4 S A J 9 6 3 H K 8 3 H A 7 6 D K J 9 4 2 D 8 7 C K 3 C A 8 6 S 8 5 H J T 9 4 2 D T 6 C J T 7 4 West North East South Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell - - - Pass 1NT (1) Pass 2H (2) Pass 2S Pass 3NT Pass 4S All Pass (1) 12-14. (2) Transfer. Martel got home T tricks without much difficulty to score plus 420. At the other table: West North East South Soloway Rosenberg Hamman Zia Pass 1D Pass 1S Pass 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass Rosenberg led the C2, taken in dummy with the ace as Zia signaled encouragement. Vugraph commentators Eric Kokish and Barry Rigal speculated that Soloway might try to steal a diamond trick with a low one to the king, and then start on spades.They were right. At trick two, Soloway led the D7, Zia played the T and Soloway put up the king. Rosenberg won the ace and persisted in clubs. Soloway won the CK perforce and played a spade to dummy's jack.When this held, he tried the D8 from dummy, playing low from his hand. Rosenberg considered his play for some time before ducking, and Soloway's contract was dead. He could not reach his hand for another diamond play and then return to cash the suit. When the SA did not bring down the king, Soloway conceded another spade - and down one. USA 1 recovered 4 IMPs on the next board and earned a 9-IMP swing when Hamman and Soloway bid to 3NT on Board 13 (making for plus 600) while Stansby and Martel stopped in 2H, making five. There was more bad news for USA 1 on Board 15, however, when Zia and Rosenberg played 4S from the "right" side and scored up their vulnerable game. N/S Game Dealer South. S Q 9 3 2 H 9 8 7 6 3 D K 8 C Q T S - - S J T 8 6 H A T 5 4 H J 2 D A J 9 2 D T 7 4 C K J 8 4 3 C 9 6 5 2 S A K 7 5 4 H K Q D Q 6 5 3 C A 7 West North East South Soloway Rosenberg Hamman Zia - - - 1S Dble 3C (1) Pass 4S All Pass (1) Spade raise. Soloway led a low club, eliminating Zia's loser in that suit. Zia won in dummy, played a club to his ace, a diamond to the king and another diamond, ducked to West's 9. Zia eventually lost a heart and a trump trick, but he made his contract. At the other table: West North East South Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell - - - 1C (1) Dble (2) 1D (3) 1S (4) Dble (5) 3C 4S All Pass (1) Strong, artificial and forcing. (2) Two-suited hand. (3) Artificial, showing values. (4) Support for clubs. (5) Strength in spades. The unusual auction -- Meckstroth and Rodwell specialize in highly artificial bidding sequences -- made Meckstroth declarer, and on a club lead he could not avoid a loser in each suit. Plus 50 for Martel-Stansby was good for another T IMPs to USA 2. The loss would have been worse but for the final board of the set. Dealer West. S A T H T 8 5 3 D K 8 2 C Q J 9 8 S J 7 S K 9 5 4 H A Q J 9 7 H 2 D Q J 9 4 D A T 6 5 C A T C K 5 4 2 S Q 8 6 3 2 H K 6 4 D 3 C 7 6 3 West North East South Soloway Rosenberg Hamman Zia 1H Pass 1NT Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass Hamman and Soloway play Flannery, so Hamman chose 1NT instead of the more normal looking 1S response. Zia led a low spade, taken by Rosenberg with the ace. Rosenberg returned the CJ to the 4, 3 and ace. Next came the DQ, which held, followed by the D9, which also held. A third diamond to the king and ace put Hamman in his hand, and he played a low heart to dummy's queen. When that held, Hamman followed with the HA and another heart. He finished with 11 tricks for plus 660. At the other table: West North East South Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell 1H Pass 1S Pass 1NT (1) Pass 3NT All Pass (1) Showing a strong 1NT opener. Meckstroth got off to the lead of the CJ (Rusinow), taken by Martel with the ace.The DQ followed, covered by the king and ace. Martel then played dummy's heart to the 9 in his hand, losing to Meckstroth's T. With accurate count in the club suit from Rodwell, Meckstroth continued with the CQ, which Martel took in dummy. Martel played a diamond to his hand and cashed the HA, but when the king didn't fall he had too many losers. Plus T0 for Meckstroth and Rodwell was good for 13 IMPs, narrowing the margin of USA 2's victory to 9 IMPs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian Open Team Bagchi & Browne, Rothfield & Rothfield, Del' Monte & Richman Wally Scott,a retired actuary from Melbourne is the NPC. He won the Far East Championship back in 1969. Khokan Bagchi of Sydney is currently living in Tonga, where he is an environmental scientist specialising in risk management. He qualified for the semifinals of the World Pairs Championship in Miami in 1986, and played in the Bermuda Bowl in 1997 and in Lille in 1998. Seamus Browne, a bridge teacher and journalist in Sydney appeared in the Olympiad in 1980 and in the Bermuda Bowl in 1997. Ishmael Del'Monte, is a Sydney based bridge professional, who represented New Zealand as a junior, winning a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Bali in 1995. His first appearance for Australia was in 1999. Bobby Richman, is a Melbourne based professional, and made the first of his Bermuda Bowl appearance as a junior in 1979, the event where Australia finished third in the Round Robin. He won the Maccabbiah Teams in 1997. Carole Rothfield, based in Melbourne is a company secretary. Major wins include the Maccabiah Teams in 1985, and the ACBL Mixed Teams in 1997. Jessel Rothfield is a Melbourne property developer who, by a strange coincidence, has the same wins as Carole! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OrbisVenice Cup - Round 1 China v Great Britan European champions, Great Britain, met the runners-up in the last Venice Cup, China, in the first round of the round-robin on Saturday morning. China knocked Great Britain out at the quarter-final stage in Hammamet, so the Brits were looking for a little revenge. They could not have asked for a better start than that which they achieved on the first board. Board 1. Dealer North. S 3 H K 6 5 D Q 8 3 C Q T 9 7 4 3 S K Q J T 6 S A 8 5 4 2 H A 9 8 7 4 2 H Q 3 D 4 D J 9 6 2 C K C A 5 S 9 7 H J T D A K T 7 5 C J 8 6 2 West East Dhondy McGowan - 1S 2H 2S 4D 4S Pass 4D was a splinter bid but it was not enough to get Liz McGowan excited, looking at a minimum hand with poor trumps. When she signed-off, Heather Dhondy made a disciplined pass. Ling Gu led a top diamond and switched to a club; +450. West East Wang Sun - 1S 2H 2S 3S 4S 4NT 5H 6S Pass Here 3S was forcing. Ming Sun signed-off in 4S but Hongli Wang took control with 4NT and bid the hopeless slam on discovering two key cards; -50 and 11 IMPs to GB. A series of minor swings had moved the score on to 15-2 when the next major swing board came along. Board 6. Dealer East. S A 6 5 H 8 6 5 2 D K Q 3 C A 8 5 S Q 3 S T 9 8 7 4 H K J T 9 4 3 H A Q D 4 D A J 8 6 5 C K J T 9 C 2 S K J 2 H 7 D T 9 7 2 C Q 7 6 4 3 West East Wang Sun - 1S 2H 2S 3H 4H Pass Nicola Smith led the king of diamonds to dummy's ace. Wang led a club to the jack and ace and Smith switched to a trump. Declarer won in dummy, ruffed a diamond, then ruffed a club. After ruffing another diamond back to hand, she drew the remaining trumps and cashed the king of clubs. There were two spades and a club to lose now for -T0. West East Dhondy McGowan - 1S 2H 3H 4H Pass McGowan could not bring herself to rebid that spade suit so pretended that she had a third heart instead. Dhondy, of course, went on to game. The play followed exactly the same lines as in the other room except that Dhondy did not cash the king of clubs after drawing trumps. She was down to CKT and SQ3 and South had been squeezed out of a spade. South actually bared the SK to keep three clubs, but it didn't matter. Dhondy exited with a spade and South had to win and lead a club into the tenace (had she kept two spades, the club lead would merely have been delayed by one trick). That was +620 and a further 12 IMPs to the British total. Board 12. N/S Game Dealer West. S Q 3 H K Q T 4 D K 9 7 2 C K 9 5 S A J 4 S 9 7 5 2 H A 8 5 H J 9 3 D J T 5 D Q 8 6 4 C Q J 4 3 C A 7 S K T 8 6 H 7 6 2 D A 3 C T 8 6 2 China's first significant gain came as they played a superior partscore. In the Closed Room, Dhondy opened the West cards with 1D and raised the 1S response to two. Perhaps that is just partnership style, but it looks wrong with such a balanced hand and scattered values.The defense was not taxed in taking 2S off two tricks; -T0. In the Open Room,Wang opened a weak no trump and played there. Smith led the queen of hearts to declarer's ace.Wang led the DT to South's (Pat Davies) ace. From here Wang was comfortably placed to establish two diamonds and a second heart trick. The club finesse meant that she had seven in all; +90 and 5 IMPs to China. Board 14. Dealer East. S T 6 4 H A Q J 8 D 6 2 C Q 9 8 5 S K 2 S Q J 9 7 5 H T 9 2 H 7 D K T 9 8 7 D A Q J 5 3 C J 6 2 C 7 3 S A 8 3 H K 6 5 4 3 D 4 C A K T 4 West North East South Wang Smith Sun Davies - - 1S 2H Pass 4H All Pass West North East South Dhondy Zhang McGowan Gu - - 1S 2H Dble 3H 4D 4H 5D Pass Pass Dble All Pass Is the West hand worth a negative double of 2H? Perhaps the answer depends on how limited the 1S opening is? Wang, whose partner had opened a Precision 1S, did not think she was worth a double. Smith just jumped to 4H and lost the obvious three tricks; +420. McGowan's 1S opening had a wider range and Dhondy did find a double. Now, how far should the North hand raise? I would have thought that 4H was normal, particularly as partner will have a six-card suit far more often than not when North is looking at three of the top four honours herself.Yalan Zhang chose to bid only 3H and McGowan scraped up a 4D bid on her shapely minimum.That allowed Dhondy to go on to 5D over 4H. Ling Gu doubled, but there was only 300 available to the defense; - 300 but 3 IMPs to GB. Board 16. Dealer West. S A K 7 3 H Q 9 D Q J 2 C J 6 5 2 S T 9 8 4 S 5 2 H T 5 2 H A K J 6 4 3 D 3 D T 9 8 6 5 C K Q T 9 7 C - - S Q J 6 H 8 7 D A K 7 4 C A 8 4 3 West North East South Dhondy Zhang McGowan Gu Pass 1D 2H Dble 3H Pass Pass Dble Pass 3S Pass 4S All Pass Knowing that they had the values for game but were off the heart suit, the Chinese pair tried the solid 4-3 spade fit. Even had trumps been 3-3, declarer would have needed some good fortune to find a tenth trick. When they did not divide evenly, she could only take her nine tricks for down one; -50. West North East South Wang Smith Sun Davies Pass 1C 1H 2D 2H Pass 4H Dble All Pass I confess that I would have chosen 3H on the East cards, but far from bidding more than in the other room, Sun started with a simple overcall.When she caught a raise, however, she was willing to go to game. Davies doubled to show her extras and that ended the auction. Davies cashed a top diamond and switched to spades. Sun ruffed the third spade and embarked on a cross-ruff. When the fourth diamond was over-ruffed, she was one down; - 200 and 6 IMPs to GB. Board 19. Dealer South. S K J T 7 6 5 H K T 5 D K C T 7 3 S Q 4 S A 9 8 2 H Q J 7 6 H A 9 3 D T 6 D A Q J 9 8 C A 9 5 4 2 C J S 3 H 8 4 2 D 7 5 4 3 2 C K Q 8 6 What would be your choice with the East cards after a third-in-hand weak 2S is opened on your right? My money would be on 2NT, but both McGowan and Sun preferred 3D. Dhondy left McGowan to play 3D and as that contract went one down I have been promised a beer if I keep the details of the play to myself; -T0. There was more action in the other room: West North East South Wang Smith Sun Davies - - - Pass Pass 2S 3D Pass 3S Dble Rdbl Pass 3NT All Pass Wang looked for a spade stopper with a 3S bid and bid 3NT herself when Sun was able to redouble to show the SA. After a spade lead, the favourable positions in the red suits enabled Wang to make no less than 11 tricks for +660 and 13 badly needed IMPs to China. But GB negated most of that gain on the final board of the match. Board 20. Dealer WestAll. S A T H T 8 5 3 D K 8 2 C Q J 9 8 S J 7 S K 9 5 4 H A Q J 9 7 H 2 D Q J 9 4 D A T 6 5 C A T C K 5 4 2 S Q 8 6 3 2 H K 6 4 D 7 3 C 7 6 3 West East Wang Sun 1H 1S 2D 3D 3H 4D Pass Wang had a maximum for her non-strong club opening, so made a try for game over the diamond raise. Her choice of 3H did not inspire Sun, who signed-off in 4D. That was a comfortable enough make for +130, but would that be sufficient? West East Dhondy McGowan 1H 1S 2D 3D 3NT Pass Dhondy's 2D rebid had a wider range so McGowan was under more pressure to keep the bidding open. Her 3D bid, then, might not have delivered quite as much as the same bid in the other room, but Dhondy bid game herself anyway. Zhang led the queen of clubs and Dhondy won in hand and played the DQ to the king and ace. Next she finessed the HQ. After a little thought, she cashed the diamonds, ending in hand, then exited with king and another club. Zhang could take two clubs but then had to either lead into the heart tenace or open up the spades. Gu had bared the HK so Zhang tried ace then ten of spades. Dhondy ducked and had two winners in whichever suit Gu decided to play; +600 and T IMPs to GB. There is a very long way to go in the qualifying stage but Great Britain can be well pleased with the start they have made. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INVESTING IS OUR STRONG SUIT A daily column on investing by Orbis Investment Management Limited You may meet individuals from Orbis in their hospitality suite.There is limited space for the daily complimentary lunch and presentation hosted by Orbis. Please reserve your place with the staff at the championships' hospitality desk.You may also make appointments to meet with a representative from Orbis by calling the Churchill Suite, Phone 7554. We hope that your matches have started well.This is the first of a series of on various aspects of investment management that will appear here at the end of the Daily News. These articles will explain some basic principles of investing as we see them. Hopefully you will find them light reading and informative. If you have questions about them or would like copies please call us in the Churchill Suite - Room 556.We hope to see you at one of our luncheons. Orbis has recently celebrated its ten year anniversary. Orbis Investment Management Limited was founded in Bermuda in 1989. Prior to that the executives had been based in London and Hong Kong and were managing the investment portfolios of approximately 20 wealthy individuals with a total value of approximately US$70 million. We wanted to allow the business to grow but without detracting from the attention that we gave to each investor.Therefore we decided that the most effective way to allow more investors to join us was to offer our management services in the form of mutual funds.The efficiency of pooling clients' investments allowed us to remain overwhelmingly focused on investment management and not administration. Executives at Orbis have most of their financial assets invested in the funds so our interests are clearly aligned with those of our clients. Ten years ago on 1 January 1990, we launched our Orbis Global Equity Fund, Orbis Optimal Fund and Orbis Leveraged Fund.The core of our investment approach has always been investing in equities (common stocks).This is epitomised in our global equity fund.The Optimal and Leveraged Funds use our selections of equities but seek absolute returns, which is to say that they intend to earn positive returns regardless of the current trend in stockmarkets.We have since added two Japan equity funds, an Africa equity fund and made the Optimal and Leveraged Funds available in a choice of US dollars or euro. The Orbis Global Equity Fund is now approximately US$450 million in size and has been given a rating of frAAA by Standard & Poor's Fund Research.There are only five other managers of offshore global equity funds with this top rating. Orbis has two offices. The primary office is located here in Bermuda. We have 22 employees here. They perform investment research, conduct the trading, administer the funds and manage the relationships with our investors. Our office in London has 21 staff.They are primarily concerned with investment research and the development of our information systems. Orbis applies a disciplined value oriented approach to investing.This means that we evaluate the attractiveness of a share by evaluating what we consider to be the true value of the company. Tomorrow we describe the most common types of assets that are invested in. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian Women's Team The Australian women's team line up like this: Beech & Bourke, Lusk & Tu l l y , Beale & Smart.Their NPC is Julia Hoffman, a pharmacologist from Canberra. She is no stranger to the job, having been in charge of the winning team in the 1995 Far East Championships, the 1995 Venice Cup and the 1996 Olympiad. Felicity Beale, from Melbourne, is a WBF World Master. She has represented Australia in three Venice Cups, three Olympiads and, maintaining the symmetry, has won three Far East Championships, in 1984, 1990 and 1995. Lidia Beech is another resident of Melbourne, where she practices as a Doctor. She first represented Australia in 1988, and has done so every year since 1993. Diana Smart, a research psychologist, completes the triumvirate from Melbourne, her achievements echoing those of her partner, Felicity Beale. Margaret Bourke is a finance manager for a government department in Canberra. Her first representative match was in 1979. After numerous appearances, she has played with Lidia every year since 1993. Her Far Eastern wins came in 1985 and 1995, so don't bet against her in 2005! Sue Lusk is a computer systems developer from Adelaide, who has been playing in National teams since 1982. She has recorded three wins in the Pacific Asia Championships, in 1985, 1990 and 1995, so Australia must be odds on for the event this year! Therese Tully is a trade spend manager in Brisbane. She has five appearances in the Pacific Asia Women's Championships and made her World Championship debut in 1997. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian Seniors Team Ashworth-Brockwell, Mottram-Moses, Evans-Westwood. JohnAshworth, is a retired public servant based in Perth who came second in the Great wall Cup in Beijing in 1984. John Brockwell, an agricultural scientist from Canberra. Bobby Evans is a retired Sydney businessman, who has won the far East Pairs and the Australian Mixed Pairs. Neville Moses, a lawyer practising in Sydney, has won the Australian Life Master Pairs, and the inaugral Senior's Pairs. John Mottram, a transport consultant from Sydney has represented two English Counties, Worcestershire and Hertfordshire. Bill Westwood, a retired actuary, completes the Sydney foursome. He has won the City of Sydney Teams twice, and represented Australia in tournaments in Hong Kong & Japan.