Two Irish teams have advanced to the fourth round (last 16) of Great Britain’s gold cup tournament. Tommy Garvey, John Carroll, Mark Moran, Adam Mesbur, Nick FitzGibbon with Frederick Volcker (France), the number six seeds for the competition, defeated a team from Cambridge by 74 points, while Peter Pigot, Ciaran Coyne, Gay Keaveney, Enda Glynn, David Walsh and Donal MacAonghusa beat a team from Kent by 40 points. Garvey’s next opponent will be Jeremy Dhondy’s side from London; Pigot will meet Tony McNiff from Yorkshire.
The Les Etincelles cup at the European winter games in the ski resort of Tignes-Le Lac, France, was won by a team of British and Scandinavian players: Peter Crouch, Epsen Erichsen, Richard Plackett, Erik Berg, Mikael and Ola Rimstedt who, in the final, beat the French team that had knocked out Ireland’s challengers in the last qualifying match. The GKC tournament for non-qualifiers was won by a team led by Charles Wigoder, a relative of Lionel Wigoder, who presented the cup named after him to the newly formed Contract Bridge Association of Ireland in 1932. A trophy of the same name is contested annually in Dublin on New Year’s Day. Ireland’s team, led by Moran, finished fourth in the B final.
Simultaneously with the World open, women’s, senior and mixed championships for national teams in Marrakesh, Morocco, from August 20th to September 2nd, the World open, transnational, Swiss teams and board-a-match championships will be decided from Monday, August 28th to Saturday, September 2nd. These events are open to all players affiliated to their national bridge associations. For details and how to enter, contact bridge headquarters on 01-4929666 or at info@cbai.ie. Ireland has qualified for the open championship (Bermuda Bowl) and is first reserve for the women’s event (Venice cup).
The national pairs and team championships confined to players holding 40 or fewer national master points for the Lambert and Cooper cups respectively will be contested at Templeogue, Dublin next Saturday (pairs) and Sunday (teams). The novice pairs championship (JJ Murphy cup) will take place on Saturday at the same venue. Entries via cbai.ie.
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Diarmuid Reddan’s weekly masters’ online team competition has developed into a virtual international clash between leading Irish and British players. Last week an English-Welsh quartet, Jeff Smith, Rhona Goldenfield, Adrian Thomas and Chris Dixon, won by a single point from Ireland’s Joan Kenny, Peter Goodman, Enda Glynn and Paul Barrett.