Day 1 — off and running

I’m beginning to wonder whether anyone is reading this — Linda’s getting all kinds of comments posted on hers, and no-one seems to want to add anything to what I put up there.  Sigh.  Ah well, blog on regardless…

A somwhat checkered day for our VC group.  A hard-fought 21-9 loss to USA2 was no surprise to start with, and no great tragedy either.  On this VP scale, where it’s hard to catch up if you slip behind too much, the name of the game is not to get blitzed.  You want to get 10 or so VPs out of your losses, beat up the tailenders badly, and (you hope) beat the 2-3 teams that are competing closely with you for a playoff spot.  This was followed by a good win over the Phillippines in Round 2.  This match was memorable as Linda and Pamela’s first ever session together at the bridge table, and they produced a very solid game — the pair that might well have been very much our weakest link has started well.  The evening was not so good — a loss to Denmark, whom I regard as one of the 3-4 teams we need to beat out for a playoff spot.  But still 10 VPs, so 41 on the day, only just below average.  We have a similar schedule tomorrow — a strong team, a weak team, and a competitor, so I’m again looking for average or a bit better.  Day 3 will be moving day for us, as we have three relatively weak opponents.

At this level, though, you should never discount anybody.  Our Open entry got off to a roaring start, then fell afoul of Egypt and Pakistan, both teams I suspect they were expecting to do well against.  As I told my team yesterday, this is a marathon, not a sprint, and 1 match above average is usually enough to Q.  Plenty of time yet before anyone starts panicking.

Aside from a few system downages, the computerized line-up system is working quite well.. The same cannot be said of the recording system — no-one has yet seen any play by play records.  The best place to see what is happening is still Swan Games — you can follow the play as the results come in board by board.  You can look at how a particular team is doing, or you can look at a particular board and see how everyone in the field did on it.  For hand records and more detailed play by play, go to the 3 BBO feeds.

For me the evening concluded with a ‘welcome banquet’.. This involved team captains (66 in theory, but due to the fact that the whole thing happene din the middle of the 3rd match, only about 30 showedO), WBF officials (seemed like about 150), Chinese Bridge Association officials (about anotehr 150).  The meal as far as I saw it (I had to leave part way through for our compare) was fascinating.  All Chinese food, of course.  Hors d’oeuvres of various kinds were on the table when we sat down, and while we helped ourselves to those, waitresses kept our glasses full of Chinese red win e(about which the less said the better) and Tsingtao beer (now you’re talking!).  The menu listed 10 or so courses, of which I stayed for maybe half.  It included chicken with chestnuts, garlic shrimp, a puff pastry filled with turnip, and a cheesey seafood dish that and Newfoundlander would recognize as ‘cod au gratin’.  Bet you didn’t know that had a Chinese origin!  The whole affair took place in a magnificent round hall, with huge picture windows overlooking the river, and looking across to the neon advertising signs and skyscrapers of Shanghai downtown.

So now my team has headed across to the Super Mall to pick a spot for dinner, while I retire to the room to blog, try to find the Women’s world cup final on TV, and look at the hand records.  A captain’s work is never done.