I contested the pairs event in shooting at my first Commonwealth Games. In that event my partner was having a poor day. The format meant all competitors shot their match at the same time, with the scores for the pair added together. I was a quick shooter so finished ahead of most, and was thus able to watch my partner complete the event. Despite struggling for form, she focussed on every shot and never gave up, even though internally she must have been feeling ‘down’ knowing she was scoring below expectations. It was because of her attitude and perseverance right to the end of the match, that we ended up winning the gold medal on a countback. Our success was very much due to her determination to fight to the end, since her last series was the best of the match.
In bridge events we often face days like my shooting partner’s, where things aren’t going as well as we would like. Finding a way to remain focussed, forgetting about the last ‘bad’ board or how far behind we are is an important skill to acquire.
Recently I competed in the Gold Coast Congress, which starts with a Matchpoint Pairs event named after well-known international, the late Bobby Richman. This year there were 228 pairs playing the first day of qualifying, after which the field is stratified into groups of 28 pairs (slightly fewer in the bottom two sections). They then play a three-session final over 1.5 days, consisting of 3 board rounds against each pair. My partner and I narrowly missed qualifying for the ‘Championship’ section and consequently played in the second group – ‘The Plate’.
With the placings displayed prominently after each round, players know how they are faring. Towards the end of the first day and with two rounds to go, we held a strong lead over the field. My partner said to me: “We want to aim for flat boards to finish the day”. Our next opponents were a well-established pair who were looking for an opportunity to create a score swing.
At favourable vulnerability in second seat, our opponents tried to do just that on the first board of the round: