Hirokai Miura and Keiko Miwa of Tokyo won the 0–10,000 Fast Pairs on Friday after leading every session of the two-day event. They finished a board and a half ahead of Josh Donn of Las Vegas and Peter Gelfand of Corralitos CA, who earlier in the week finished second in the 0–10,000 IMP Pairs.
Miura and Miwa started out the day with a four-board carryover that was a board ahead of second place because they had been so strong in Thursday’s qualifying sessions. In the final they scored 53% and 60.5%.
It’s Miwa’s first time playing in an NABC. She has just 400 masterpoints in Japan, so it’s her first national title in any country. Miura, her teacher, won the Nail Life Master Pairs in 2010.
“She did very well,” Miura said.
The event was grueling for Miwa. “I’m so tired,” she said, “but very happy to experience this opportunity.”