WWTBAM Bored

I’m spending this weekend at the San Diego Regional. Partner and I teamed up with a very strong player from my area and his up-and-coming daughter (she’ll be representing the U.S. in China later this year as part of our Under-21 Women’s team). We beat a good team (Ron Smith and Oren Kriegel at our table) in the first round and then more or less followed suit the second round as our opponents self-destructed. However, we lost the semifinal by 1 IMP and then lost the consolation match by 1 IMP, resulting in a fourth place finish good for 8.85 gold points.

We’re scheduled to play the traditional last-day Swiss tomorrow but we just received word that one of our teammates is ill and may not be up for the trip. If that turns out to be the case, then partner and I will play fast pairs and I’ll get home earlier than I’d planned. —Bob

It turns out that another pair also thought that they were booked to play with us in the Swiss, so from that perspective, my erstwhile teammate's sudden illness proved a blessing in disguise (at least for me). Unfortunately, we didn't do all that well, winning only 3 of our 7 matches and finishing barely over average in the event, for 1.32 red points and a tournament total of 10.17 points. --Bob