Report

The National Champs got underway in Christchurch on Saturday 4 June with 89 competitors representing 19 clubs, 4 Independents and 2 players from Australia.

Day 1

In the A Grade Jeff Grant won his first 4 games and in the fifth lost by only 1 point to Rogelio Talosig 464-465. He won the next two games and finished the day on 6 wins. Howard Warner also finished on 6 wins and was in the lead on spread. Strong starts were made by Peter Sinton, Jack Dymond and Steven Brown who all collected 5 wins.

In B Grade Gerald Warner topped the field, achieving 6 wins while needing only 4.7 to maintain his rating. Joanne Craig, Julie Atkinson and Murray Rogers finished the day on 5 wins.

In C Grade Karyn McDougall won all her games to take the top spot. Following close behind on 6 wins were Hazel Purdie and Rosalind Phillips.

An early lead in D Grade was taken by Colleen Cook on 6 wins, with Su Walker and Margaret Flaws on 5 wins in 2nd and 3rd places.

In E Grade Marian Ross was ahead of the field on 6 wins, with Ella Rushton, Jean Wacker and Gabrielle Bolt following close behind on 5 wins apiece.

In F Grade Tony Charlton and Jean Craib held the top two places on 6 wins each. Betty Sutherland was in third spot on 5 wins.

Day 2

By lunch time on day two the A Grade was sorting itself out. Howard and Jeff were top of the field on 9 wins, but Peter and Jack were also in contention on 8 wins.

Going into the final game there were only 2 players in contention to take the title—Howard was in the lead on 12 wins. Jack was on 11 wins and would take the title if he won the last game and Howard lost. Jeff was also on 11 wins but was too far behind on spread to have a crack at the title. The final game saw Howard facing top seed David Lloyd and Jack playing Patrick Carter.

In the final game Jack beat Patrick by a large margin, so it all came down to whether Howard would win his game. Howard beat David 465-412 to emerge as the Nationals Champion for 2005. Jeff took 3rd spot on 12 wins.

In Grade B Joanne was in an unassailable position on 12 wins, 2 ahead of her nearest rival Murray. She won the last to finish in top spot. Murray lost his last game and Ann Hough moved up to 2nd place on 10 wins.

In Grade C Rosalind and Karyn were tied on 12 wins, with Rosalind well ahead on spread. Rosalind won her game comfortably to retain top spot. Karyn lost her game but managed to hold on to 2nd spot ahead of Hazel.

Colleen retained a comfortable lead in Grade D and held the win despite losing her last game.

Marian was one game ahead of Yvonne MacKenzie, in Grade E but had a large spread advantage and was never in danger of losing her number one position.

In Grade F Jean and Betty were clear of the field on 11 wins, with Jean in front on spread. Betty won her last game to retain top spot.

Prize-giving

The prize-giving dinner was held at the Richmond Workingmens club. An excellent buffet meal was followed by presentation of prizes. The Team Trophy was taken by Christchurch Club—Joanne, Rosalind and Colleen . The Georgie Award was presented to Olivia En (DUN) in recognition of her achievement at her first Nationals, including the bonus word prize for her grade.

The high game of the tournament was Gerald's 583 points.

Photo Gallery

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Playing Room

Annual General Meeting

Dinner

Prize-Giving