2014 Compassmate Simultaneous Barometer Pairs - Jan Spaans' Report

The annual Live Barometer Pairs event, where this year five clubs battled it out to host the winning pair, never really took off in full flight.

The preparations at the host club Cambridge were excellent, almost all 28 participating players assembled early to enjoy a delicious curry which was flushed away with some Dutch courage.

After round One was completed at the Cambridge, the scoring across could begin to post the overall result over the five participating clubs. Somehow only three from the five sections were “visible” to score, Hamilton and Tauranga were nowhere to be seen, yet I could find their updated files in Dropbox.

Unfortunately a solution could not be found at short notice, so the decision was made to carry on scoring across the three clubs, post these results on the web to still have some “live” element to the event. Hamilton and Tauranga would be added at the end of the session, so in effect, the event had changed from a live barometer pairs into an X-club type situation.

The ladder we could follow in Cambridge saw newcomer Invercargill with two strong pairs in the top 5, with Moss Wyllie and Lindsay Glover on top after 26 boards.

It transpired that Hamilton Grandmasters Barry Jones and Jenny Millington had pipped Moss and Lindsey to the post by just 4 MPs. So like last year, the Hamilton Club is the winner of the Bridgemate. Congratulations.

I’d like to say a big thank you to all the players who turned up tonight and tried their best to win a Bridgemate for their club. I’d like to specially thank the Cambridge Club for allowing me to use them as the host club and being “the hub” this year.

After a little doctoring by Bob Fearn in Seattle, the full results can now be found on both the Cambridge and X-Clubs websites. To view the whole width of the page, hover over the Results tab on the Cambridge site and choose Wide View from the list box that will appear. There is a Wide View tab at the top of the Home page in X-Clubs.

Perhaps next year ....

Jan Spaans
Bridgemate NZ

Postscript (from an innocent bystander)

It must have been so gut-wrenching for Jan, after all the successful testing and practicing he did, to have this happen. Our hearts go out to him. All he is wants to do is provide an innovative and fun event as a form of saying thanks to his clients, the users of Bridgemates. He funds the prize, a Bridgemate, unit from his own pocket and gives up his time to run this session for everyone. I hope we can all can see beyond any disappointment and continue to support him next year should he wish to put himself to all this trouble again. He has the most noble of intentions: to give and give and give pleasure to all.

The most profound thanks must go out to Bob Fearn as well, for once again providing a ground-breaking tool for Bridge. His work truly is amazing.