Canadian Team Trials

I was reading Stacy Jacob’s Blog Slow and Steady Wins The Race and read that only 8 teams had entered the US Team Trials with nominations almost closed and apparently only 8 teams have registered to enter the European Championships this summer.  Well I am happy to report that with registration closed 10 teams have entered to compete in the Canadian Women’s Team trials.  If you are interested in all the details about the Canadian Team Trials check out this link: http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/index.html.

The CWTC this year is quite interesting in that the ten teams start with a nine match round robin with 20 boards each round.  It seems very interesting to have fairly long matches.  Four teams qualify for a one day semifinal and then two go on to the one day final.  I think it might be better to make the final longer and this has been suggested before.  I suppose the majority of the teams said that preferred it this way.

The Championships are going to be held in Penticton a beautiful town in Central British Columbia.  After the championships Ray and I am planning to visit my daughter and her family in Mission British Columbia.  I am very excited about the visit since it has been a long time since I have seen them in person.  Skype just isn’t enough.

It seems to me that the teams are a bit more even this year than most years and several teams could win.  While anything could happen I think the favorites for the final four (in numerical order) are

Team 33 Ina Demme, Hazel Wolpert, Lesley Thomson, Linda Wynston, Karen Turner, Karen Billet

Team 35 Pamela Nisbet, Karen Cumpstone, Joan Eaton, Barbara Clinton, Kismet Fung, Susan Culham

Team 37 Francine Cimon, Julie Fajgelzon, Samantha Nystrom, Rhonda Foster, Linda Lee, Sylvia Caley

Team 39 Julie Smith, Susan Peters, June Pocock, Kathy Adachi

Beyond that I am just to biased to comment but this time I don’t think my team is going in as the favorite.  Overall I am proud that we have such a strong turnout. 

The entry for the open team includes an amazing 24 teams.  The CNTC is playing a 23 match round robin with 10 boards apiece from which 8 teams will qualify to a quarter final.  Do I dare pick my guess for the top 8?  Nope.  From past history I know I simply can’t do it.  There are just too many teams that are pretty evenly matched and there are always surprises.  But I will say that I expect that these two teams to be there:

Team 1. John Carruthers, Joseph Silver, David Turner, Roy Hughes, Nader Hanna, Jim Green
Team 2. Nicolas L’Ecuyer, Kamel Fergani, Darren Wolpert, Jurek Czyzowicz, David Grainger, Daniel Korbel

There are a lot of other teams that I think are terrific too with many past winners and I have great hopes for Team 3. Paul Thurston, Jeff Smith, Keith Balcombe, Ross Taylor, John Duquette, Hérve Chatagnier since I have helped them out a lot by losing to several of them in practice.  Is it a concidence that these teams are numbers 1-3?