Blair & Liz Fisher
At just on 7 feet tall, and with a voice like a megaphone Blair Fisher is hard to miss when he is in a room! Just in case his physical presence isn’t enough, his intellectual prowess at the bridge table is enough to make anyone quiver!
Blair started playing bridge at the tender age of 14 after seeing an ad in the local Te Awamutu paper. He was brought up playing five hundred with his grandparents and he excelled at maths at school – a great combination for bridge. He quickly stated his ambitions to be a Grand Master and represent NZ at the Bermuda Bowl (the biennial world championship tournament for national teams). He didn’t bother with being an Intermediate grade player. In 2004, as a junior he earned an astonishing 32 A points and 83 B points to go straight to Open and the following year he joined Hamilton and also represented NZ in the World Youth Champs in Australia (he went to Turkey with the Youth Team in 2009 too). By 2006 was a Master (having earned 100 A points) and in 2010 he earned his 1000thA point, becoming one of the youngest ever people to gain the rank of Grand Master. In 2014 he was chosen to represent New Zealand at the Asia Cup, in which he performed with great distinction. Blair was happy to be half-way towards realising his representative goal, and the Club was very proud to have its first NZ Rep for some time. A number of initiatives to help him fund-raise to get to China were set up and I had the pleasure of writing an article about him for the Te Awamutu Courier (Published 13 May 2014 if you want to look it up online).
The team comprising of himself and partner Rod Dravitzki, Gary Chen and Richard Solomon,and Dong Huang and Jeter Liu, were right in the hunt up until the final day, but missed out on a semi-final spot. However Blair and Rod performed exceptionally well in the Pairs top finish 3rd and win a bronze medal, a result of which Blair is immensely proud. He topped off a great year by finishing second in the Baden Wilson Competition for men behind perennial winner Michael Ware. At the Tauranga mini-Congress over Anniversary Weekend 2015 he earned the final few points he needed to attain the rank of Silver Grand Master and he has Gold Grand Master in his sights (and based on recent form he may well achieve this in 4 more years).
As well as these recent achievements Blair and Rod finished 3rd in the New Zealand Pairs at Congress in 2012 and 4th the following year. His team has qualified for the final stage of the New Zealand teams for the last five years with their best result being second last year. With his life and bridge partner Liz, he has won multiple club events and a large number of tournaments all around the country, including the New Zealand Wide Pairs.
Blair’s main goal is still to represent NZ at the Bermuda Bowl and no doubt winning the NZ Pairs and Teams at Congress is a matter of when, not if. He and his partner Rod have played together since 2009 (after a suggestion from Liz) but have decided to part ways as a partnership and he is currently trying to establish a new partnership to work towards these goals.
Liz Fisher is the quiet half of the pair (at least at the bridge table). Like many successful bridge players she had played a variety of card and other games as a youngster. In 1998 her partner at the time was a bridge player and as she could never understand what he was talking about, she decided to learn. She did the lessons at Hamilton and has been at the Club since.
She and Blair met through bridge, playing together for the first time in 2004 and scoring 77.18% ( a score they have yet to beat, although scores of 73%+ at club nights are not uncommon for them). She has represented Waikato/Bays in the Inter-Provincials twice and in 2011 won the Baden Wilson Competition for ladies. Liz is currently a Grand Master, a rank she achieved in 2012. At the time of writing she has 1134 A points and 579 B points. Her next rank goal is Silver Grand Master, which she is likely to achieve in the next 3 to 4 years. Her biggest successes have come with Blair, but she has also had tournament success with other players and she has been part of the aforementioned successful team at the NZ Pairs.
As well as their achievements at the bridge table, Blair and Liz have contributed to the Club with Liz previously the Club Secretary and Committee member, and Blair taking the lessons in 2013 (see the profile on Jol and Catherine Glyde to read about two of his most successful students).
Blair and Liz are another example of a pair that have managed to be successful as both bridge and life partners. They admit to having had many disagreements over the years but this, they say, keeps things exciting! They have a lot of fun playing bridge together and plan to continue to do so.
Blair and Liz are regulars at the Club’s Wednesday sessions and also play some Mondays. Their bidding is something to learn from and you can hear the cogs turning in Blair’s brain especially as he calculates the exact best line of play or defence. How he seems to know where every card in the deck is after a couple of rounds of play is a mystery to us mere bridge mortals and I personally will never forget or forgive his successful 7 Club sacrifice against my 6 Spade contract. If you get a good board off them, enjoy it because you will probably have worked very hard to get it!
Ed Roggeveen
