Huge congratulations to Richard and Wendy Gray, who last Saturday won the two-session Mixed Pairs Championship at the Bermuda Bridge Club.

They put together two solid sessions and ended up winning by the slender margin of two match points from Rachael Gosling and John Glynn in second, and John Burville and Molly Taussig in third. In fourth place, with an excellent performance for a new pair, were Erika Jones and Tim Mardon.

This is just a huge win for Richard and Wendy on many levels – personal, bridge, and in relation to the club they have served so tirelessly for three decades.

First to the bridge details: the first session on Saturday morning threw up a real surprise – not only did Erika and Tim sit atop the leaderboard with an excellent 62 per cent game, but all the top six pairs were B and C pairs with the three A pairs in 7th, 8th and 9th!

At the halfway point Erika and Ben were on 61.81 per cent, Richard and Wendy on 56.94 per cent, Peter Donnellan and Judy Bussell on 53.47 per cent, and John Burville and Molly Taussig on 51.39 per cent with a bunched field behind.

The second session saw the A pairs put up a fight but there were no fireworks, and when the smoke had cleared the leaderboard looked like this:

1, Richard and Wendy Gray 80.5 match points

2, Rachael Gosling/John Glynn 78.5

3, John Burville/Molly Taussig 78

4, Erika Jones/Tim Mardon 77

Well done to all these pairs for a close finish! This was a good field and a tight game throughout.

This represents a first championship win for the Grays and not only is it well deserved, as they are really solid bridge players, but will also be a hugely popular win, given who they are and what they have brought to the club. They are a quality pairing, respectful of each other during the game and always gracious with the opponents.

What makes this win doubly special is what Richard and Wendy have contributed to the club, and bridge in Bermuda, at so many levels and over such a long period of time – they have always been at the head of a core group who, through hard work and the willingness to take on a variety of tasks, have sustained the club through some very difficult times.

They are both past presidents of the club (Richard 2011-2013 and Wendy 2020-2023) and Richard took on the thankless task of club treasurer (and de facto club manager)  for aeons, mainly because his are tough shoes to fill.

Tracey Pitt now has the treasurer’s job while Richard stays on the committee as membership secretary, still looking after stuff at the club.

I also only recently became aware that Wendy and Richard, for the last couple of decades, have organised the only other formal game on the island – at the Granaway Club, which used to meet on the last Wednesday of every month at the Dinghy Club, except in the summer. It seems the club is now in limbo and looking for a home each month – somewhere that provides good, reasonably priced food and can accommodate eight tables of bridge!

Contact me at the e-mail below if you have any suggestions.

So I’m delighted, and it is so fitting, that Richard and Wendy will finally have their names up on the Championship Board at the club given their immense contribution to Bermuda bridge over the years.

And another big shout for the fourth-place finish for Erika and Tim who hung tough in the second session against some very good pairs!

This hand (see Figure 1) from the morning session, Board 13, saw Wendy and Richard combine to create a great result against one of the contending pairs.

Defending against the popular contract of four hearts, Wendy, sitting West, has an unenviable opening lead problem – a black suit lead was not attractive and the diamond spots were awful, so she chose to lead a trump, which is 100 per cent what I would have done with that hand.

Declarer played low from dummy and Richard now craftily played the Queen, sowing seeds of doubt in declarer’s mind as to the location of the Jack, as one usually players the lower of two touching honours in defence.

Declarer won with the Ace and decided to play West for the Jack – he led a low trump to the ten, which was gobbled up by Richard’s Jack.

Richard now led the club Queen to the King and Ace, and Wendy made the patient return of a trump and left it to declarer to play the diamonds. Declarer, who was already distracted by losing the trump trick, now mis-guessed the diamonds and went one down – a great score for East/West.

A few things about this hand …. I am a fan of trump leads when opponents have a fit, but only if another lead does not appeal … on the hand above if Wendy’s diamonds were QJ10x that would be my lead.

Now to the declarer play … … I sympathise with the heart play, given the cards played at trick one, but on the balance may have asked myself if West would lead away from Jxx on opening lead – not at all easy though, as playing for QJ doubleton looks like a stretch.

And then the diamond play – again it looks 50-50, but the trump lead slightly suggests that West was avoiding giving a trick away at trick one and rates to have the Queen. Again, not conclusive, but a negative inference which is often useful in what looks like a 50-50 decision.

All that said, well done to Wendy and Richard for their defence. I have written time and time again about staying patient in defence and just letting declarer earn every trick – they did just that, which led to success not only on this hand but also led straight to the winner’s circle!

• David Ezekiel can be reached on davidezekiel999@gmail.com

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, May 16

1, Sancia Garrison/Charles Hall

2, Margaret Way/Jane Smith

3, Gertrude Barker/Martha Ferguson

Saturday, May 17

Mixed Pairs Club Championship

1, Richard Gray/Wendy Gray

2, Rachael Gosling/John F. W. Glynn

3, John Burville/Molly Taussig

Monday, May 19

1, Margaret Way/Rachael Gosling

2, Gertrude Barker/Linda Pollett

3, Geoff Bell/Kathleen Bell

Tuesday, May 20

North/South

1, Carol Eastham/Veronica Boyce

2, Desiree Woods/Felicity Lunn

3, Tim McKittrick/Keri McKittrick

East/West

1, Maximillian Santiago/Gareth Cooper

2, Edward Ferrari-Willis/Jacques Bonneau

3, Anna White/Colin James

Wednesday, May 21

1, Caroline Svensen/Sancia Garrison

2, Richard Evans/Sushma Evans

3, Gertrude Barker/Rachael Gosling