Grandslam #29

THE GRANDSLAM
SRC BRIDGE SECTION NEWSLETTER
JAN/FEB 05 ISSUE #29


1. Message from the Convenor – Shamim Moledina
Happy New Year! Another year gone and much water under the bridge, so to speak. The end of the year usually brings a flood of tournaments, but this year was exceptional. I am happy to note that some our members managed to attend several of those. It is important to keep the highest ethical and behavioral standards when playing at these matches as any lapses will reflect on SRC as well.
Our 5th Annual Pairs Event, as usual, had its share of surprises. After a run of 4 straight titles since 2000, we narrowly lost it this year to CSC. Nevertheless, I was satisfied with SRC’s runners up position through an impressive performance by BK and Leong. Not only that, but all 5 of our SRC pairs scored over 52% - a tribute to the depth of our players.
Once again, all the very best for the New Year.

2. SRC 5th Annual Open Pairs Tournament – 5th Dec
20 pairs competed in our premier pairs tournament of the year. A Howell 36-board movement was played with dinner in between.
Chinese Swimming Club won the Moledina Challenge Trophy through the efforts of TK Yap and Nick beating the newly formed partnership of BK Tham and Leong of SRC. PA was third through Ron Savage and Rahim with SRC’s Helen and Pat 4th. Tara/Dulari, Alan/Suan Lin, Shamim/Zain, Henry/Caio and Carl/Chris, David/Rana and Richard/Dot followed them.
Mr. Koh was the earliest to submit an all-correct answer to the Bridge Crossword Puzzle (see below), winning the pewter prize.
Special thanks go to Mr. Richard Yong for gracing the occasion and giving away the prizes and to Robin for a superb job as Director. Other contributors include Carl for the computer, souvenir programme, charts, Zain/Shamim for the prize, crossword puzzle, BK, Leong, Pamela, Sheryn, Victor and the staff of SRC for many organisational aspects of the tournament.

3. SICC Xmas Pairs – 16th Dec
The annual Xmas Pairs event at the Singapore Island CC once again attracted some of the best players Singapore had to offer. 34 Pairs competed in a mixed Mitchell movement.
The tournament was won by Poon Hua and CC Loo, followed by YS Chew/V Lim, Lam Ze Ying/Wong Choo Wai, Alan Sia/Kimiko Endo and Zain Moledina (SRC)/Ron Savage.
Note : V. Murli ( mvee@saniva.com.sg ) is the Convenor for Bridge at SICC and also a member of SRC Bridge Section. Please contact him for information on SICC Bridge.

4. SGCC Annual Pairs – 28th Nov
This tournament attracted 22 pairs. Barely 2% separated the top 5 places. The winner was Thong/Victor with Leo/Anne Sim second. Robin/Nick was third, Zain (SRC)/Rahim fourth and Peng Huat/Low fifth.

5. Peoples’ Association Annual Pairs – 20th Nov
This was held at the Freemason’s Masonic Hall – a place with a medieval atmosphere with cryptic and interesting displays depicting the rich and fascinating heritage of the society. Congratulations to Rahim Rahmat/Ron Savage of PA for winning with 70.8% followed by TK Yap and MK Kang (CSC) and Ron Oh/SH Koh (PA). The Siaks were 4th followed by Krishna/Zain (PA/SRC).

6. Siglap CC Bridge Friendly cum Karaoke – 27th Nov
16 pairs competed in this game. Congratulations to David & Adrian for winning. Second was Ron Savage/Henry and Ron Oh/Veronica third. Richard (SRC)/Michael were 4th and Carl (SRC)/Chris (SRC) were 5th. There were no losers in the Karaoke session that followed.

7. Changi Beach Club Revival – 9th Dec
After a dormant period of 3 years, CBC’s Bridge group is once again beginning to stir. For more information, please contact Veronica at may5nui@yahoo.com.sg or Eng Choo at eng_choo_tan@lta.gov.sg. The inaugural game was held on Dec 9th with the popping of champagne (non-alcoholic, of course) and a nostalgic reunion of bridge friends. The friendly game that followed had Susan/Dr. Wong of CBC sharing first place with Shamim/Zain (SRC) with Eng Choo/Rosilind (CBC) third.

8. SRC New Year Bridge Party – 31st Dec
The party had food, funny hats, poppers, music, and lots of noise from the other parties. It was a miracle if anyone could concentrate on the game. Then again, no one actually took the game seriously. Those that somehow managed to keep some degree of sanity in the chaos were:
1st Lawrence/Zain 2nd Rana/Shamim 3rd Dulari/Tara

9. SRC Tuesday Bridge Results – 2nd Nov to Dec 28th
DATE Pairs FIRST SECOND THIRD
2 Nov 10 Maureen/B.K. Shamim/Murli Molly/Jane
9 Nov 8 Dulari/Shamim Sri/Siva Khrisna/Zain=Molly/RonOh
11 Nov* 11 Yu/Ping Dot/Richard Ron S/Zain
16 Nov 8 PengHuat/Alan Khrisna/Caio Dulari/Zain
23 Nov 11 Dulari/Zain PengHuat/Alan Rana/Jenny
30 Nov 15 PengHuat/RonOh Zain/Dulari **Nancy/Alan
7 Dec 6 RonS/Zain Rana/Ciao Molly/RonOh
14 Dec 7 Dulari/Shamim Yu/Rana Pat/Leong
21 Dec 9 Jenny/Shamim=BK/Helen=Jane/Nancy**
28 Dec 10 Murli/Shamim Zain/Joli **ChiaKimSer/Jenny
*Deepavali Game **Well Done Nancy & Chia! Keep it up!

10. 18th Singapore Inter-Club Bridge League 2004
This event was from April to November. Although SRC did not submit a team, several members participated under other banners to gain experience. The teams were PA (A), PA (B), CHLRXY and Siglap CC.
Team Results as follows :-
Div 1: 1st Bridge Bears 168pts 2nd Friends of Sheep 167pts
3rd Bell 160 4th NTU Staff 145pts
Div 2: 1st NUSS (Red) 203pts 2nd Bozzetto (Rosso) 151pts
3rd NUSS (Blue) 137pts 4th NUS Students A 131pts
Div 3: 1st SICC Blue 211pts 2nd Japan Club 208pts
3rd People’s Assn B 197pts 4th CHLRXY 192pts

11. Hot Iceland
Did you know that Iceland’s tiny population of 300,000 produced the world Championship-winning Bridge team in 1991? This volcanic island in the middle of the Atlantic shocked the world by beating the mighty USA and Italy. Is Singapore pumping money into the wrong sports?

12. Bridge - Still Competing After All These Years
Like most people, I played many sports in my younger days.
Unlike most people, I also learnt Bridge.
When age slowly crept up, I had to accept the reality of physical sports. Greater experience was no longer able to offset increasing age. At country or even club level competition, most soccer and tennis players are well past their prime at 40 and even golfers and bowlers have to move away from “open” matches by 50.
This is where intellectual games like chess and bridge have a clear edge. While others are headed down, the bridge player peaks! As long as his brain does not let him down, he can be at the top of his game well past 65. Long after those in the physical sports have become social players or couch potatoes, the bridge player is still out there in the thick of open competition, playing eye to eye with people who are his grandchildren’s age. No handicap taken and no handicap given. What a game!

13. Quotes From Classic Literature – “Double”

They Doubly redoubled strikes upon the for
– Macbeth, William Shakespeare

So double was his pain, so double be his praise
– The Faerie Queen, Edmund Spenser

Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pay.
-- The Deserted Village, Oliver Goldsmith

They took me from my wife, and to save trouble
I wed again, and made the error double.
-- The Exile, John Clare

14. Bridge Crossword Puzzle- developed by Zain Moledina

This easy Crossword was created for use at the 5th Annual SRC Pairs Tournament on 5th December 2004. Target completion time: 10 Minutes.


1 2 3 4 5
6
7
8

9 10
11
12 13
14
15

16

Across Clues
1. Bridge partners sit _______ (8) each other.
7. The Bridge Section of the Singapore __________ (10) Club organized this tournament.
9, 10. Bridge is a ____ (4) that requires memory, planning, communication and many other ______ (6).
12. Often the declarer has to ______ (6) play for a finesse or a drop.
13. There are twelve ________ (4) cards in a pack.
15. 8NT is an _______ ___ (7,3).
16. In certain tournaments, a computer ________ (8) the hands.

Down Clues
2. Opening bids at the three level are usually ________ (10).
3. Most players ____ (4) their cards by suit and rank.
4. A courteous declarer always ______ (6) his partner when he puts down his cards as dummy.
5. When holding an Ace and Queen, a declarer often _____ (9) the Right-Hand opponent for the King.
6. A declarer sometimes plays a higher card than necessary. By __________ (10) the opponents, he occasionally gains an advantage. 
8. A Splinter bid indicates that partner is _______ (8) with the trump suit, has a singleton and is interested in slam.
11. The person who bids first is the _____ (6).
14. A bridge player must be somewhat familiar with probabilities so that he has an ____ (4) on how the suits will break.


L I g h t e r S I d e O f B r I d g e
15, Lying Lion Bully Bull

Bridge seems to be a game where everybody thinks that they are qualified to dish out advice. Before doing so, remember the story of the Lion and the Bull.
After eating an entire bull, the lion felt so proud and great that he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him.
The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

16. Spontaneous Love
Al’s marriage was going downhill and asked his friend, Bill’s advice. After some discussion, it was clear to Bill that the passion had gone out of Al’s marriage. He suggested to Al that he had to show his wife spontaneous love and passion and he had to do it immediately as soon as he went home.
Al agreed.
A few days later, Bill met Al again and asked him how it went.
“Well” said Al, “my wife was quite surprised, but unfortunately 2 ladies in her bridge group fainted.”

17. Entrance Criteria-by Zain

A lady vet who worked at the SPCA had the unenviable task to put down unwanted stray dogs, mostly the female bitches. When she died, she saw St. Peter blocking the gates of heaven.
“What was your job?” asked St. Peter
The vet put her head down shamefully and replied softly, “I am a bitch slayer”
“WHAT! What did you say?” shouted St. Peter angrily.
The vet replied meekly “I am sorry, but I am a bitch slayer.”
“Oh, I misheard you. Come on in. I thought you said ‘bridge player’”

18. Friendly Foe
“My bridge partner hasn’t an enemy in the world. It is just that all his friends hate him.”

19. Trade-off
3 Bridge Convenors were discussing bridge section membership of their respective clubs.
The first one said “We got 2 new members last month”
The second one said “We did better, We got 3 new members last month”
The third one said, “ We did even better. We got rid of our 5 most quarrelsome members last month.”
20. Ideal Partner?
A person who will support me even if I am wrong.

21. Majority Opinion
“Just because someone agrees with my partner doesn't make him right. It just means there's someone else out there as stupid as him.”

22. Limits of Error
Sam: OK, so what if I have made a mistake. There are worse things than making a bridge mistake”
Joe: Yes, lunacy and death

23. Winners Take More
It's not enough to win the tricks that belong to you. Try also for some that belong to the opponents.
Alfred Sheinwold

24. Painful Bridge
If you have the slightest touch of masochism you'll love this game.

25. Daffy-nit-shuns – Jack Denies Queen
Jack Denies Queen — headlines about Marilyn Monroe’s relationship with J.F.K.

26. Saving the Best for Last
Since the average person's small supply of politeness must last him all his life, he can't afford to waste it on bridge partners.
Alfred Sheinwold

27. Bridge Crossword Puzzle – Answers
Across : 1. OPPOSITE 7. RECREATION 9. GAME
10. SKILLS 12. EITHER 13. FACE
15. INVALID BID16.ARRANGES
Down : 2. PREEMPTIVE 3. SORT 4. THANKS
5. FINESSES 6. MISLEADING 8. AGREEING
11. DEALER 14. IDEA

28. End Play
Bridge players never die. They just “pass” away.

Zain Moledina
Editor
zaris@pacific.net.sg
January 1 2005