New Initiatives, University Clubs and Online Bridge

After all the excitement of the Olympiad last week with the Under 21 Silver medals early in the week being equalled by the Open team and then surpassed in that nail-biting last few boards of the Women’s event, I want to talk today about how England’s Bridge in the future can build and go forward.



This lot should peak in about 2028 so we need to look to the future.

Middlewich in Cheshire could very much be thought of as grass roots. Wikipedia describes it as a market town of 13,000 inhabitants. "Wich" betrays an origin related to salt production and springs and Middlewich has three canals and a long history. Almost bang in the middle of Cheshire it is set in peaceful and beautiful countryside. It has an active but small Bridge Club and next week they are making a big effort to inform and involve the community. Pauline Smyth is one of the keenest members and working in the town’s modern and attractive library she is in a good position to make an impact on the local poulation.

So next week, October 27th to 31st, as part of the Family Activities programme for half-term, we are running Taste Bridge sessions on four afternoons and two evenings. Invitations have been sent to primary and secondary schools and to local clubs and groups. Members of the Bridge Club have volunteered to come along and help. Paul Hackett hopes to drop in and we shall be glad of support from other bridge-players in the area. The aim is to show how bridge can be fun, how the basics of minibridge can be learned in less than an hour and and also how it can develop into a modern and competitive MindSport. We are particularly hoping to attract teachers, because The Minibridge Initiative of the Youth and Education Trust allows us to offer funded inset teaching for groups of teachers.

The place is Middlewich Library, Lewin Street, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 9AS.



Further information can be found on their poster.

I’ll post some photographs and a report next week. Let’s hope a pair of twins aged 9-10 drop in who can become gold medal winners in 2032!



Young Brigeplayers enjoying themselves at the Youth Challenge earlier in the year.

Another area that concerns me is our university bridge. Some colleges and universities have thriving clubs, bridge is popular in Durham and Oxford has a number of keen players, but in other places the bridge club has almost disappeared. Amy Stout has been working hard to get Leeds University Bridge Club up and running again after a shaky period. Nadia Stelmashenko has been trying to get something going at Wolfson College in Cambridge. The EBU can offer help, maybe fund or organise some beginner’s lessons, so I’d love to hear from anyone who would like to get something started up. I’d like to see some iniatitives from local clubs in University towns and cities. Most bridge Clubs must have someone who works or has contact with the local Uni. Get in there and get something started.

Finally an opportunity for Junior Bridge Players to join in a fun activity on Bridge Base Online. Each Wednesday between 4pm and 5pm there is a session in which international players make themselves available to play with Juniors. There are usually a couple of hundred kibitzers and if you register with BBOJunior online half an hour or so before the start you can even play a couple of hands. The players are truly World Class, Michael Rosenberg and Jan Jansma have taken part in the last two weeks. I’m usually online so chat to me if you are there, my BBO nickname is very originally mamos. If you haven’t tried BBO or need help, drop me an email and I’ll help you set it up. It’s easy and painless, even your Grandma could do it!

Watching the Final, Five

The excitement is over. I expect most of you know that the England team won the Silver medal. The feelings are amazingly mixed. The team themselves must know how close they came to winning the whole championships and a gold medal and these opportunities don’t come along too often. On the other hand to be the second best team in the world surpassed English ambitions and expectations, so everyone involved with the team should be amazingly proud. Our young players are as good as any in the world and that’s great credit to those involved in training them who give up so much time and passion to the players. Michael Byrne and Alan Shillitoe have done a fantastic job, not just in the last ten days in Beijing, but over an extended period of more than two years. We and the team owe them many thanks.

Here’s what I wrote yesterday afternoon as the match went on. All the hands and scoreboards are to be found on the web or at BBO. Email me if you cannot find them. Scroll down for my final comments.

Board 17
A flat Board to start with. Both Norths with an eight carder headed by AK go on to 5 after West has sacrificed in 4. With three Spade tricks to lose that’s one off. Still -15

Board 18
More Heart and Spade competition. Rob has made 4+1, but the French have bid the same and a second flat board looks inevitable. Only ten. One IMP. -14

Board 19
Rob two off in a pretty hopeless 3NT, but after a better start the French declarer went two off as well. No change

Board 20 has some swing chances. Rob has made 12 tricks in 4, but Spade lead would defeat 6 or 6NT. French up to 4NT and thinking. This might be a swing for either side. In 6 now all depends on the lead from Ed in North. He has Kxx, but has lead a safe club. Oh dear! Not so safe -13 where it might have been reversed. -27 now and we do need some good boards.

Board 21
Another -11 after a series of unlucky guesses by our East. -38

Board 22
Flat 2 making a very lucky ten tricks.

Board 23
A bit better on a fairly horrid sort of hand the French end in 3NT going three down, while Ed and Tom play 4. A cross-ruff develops and nine tricks are made for 5 IMP pick up. -33

Board 24
England drop an imp in 4, -34, although there still seems some confusion about the score for Board 21. It’s possible Ben did not go down but with eight boards left, time is running out and nothing seems to be going England’s way

And so it turned out to be. Just a few imps changed hands in the last eight boards, except on Board 29 when an excellent slam, well bid by Ben and Rob gained 11 IMPs to give us a glimmer of hope with just three boards left, but there just wasn’t the ammunition to get those last final swings. The French clinched the gold medal by 25 IMPs. (Well 24.7 if you want it exactly!)

Final thoughts

Congratulations to the French team. They played well and in the end had the steadier nerve in the crunch zone. We must not lose sight of this best performance ever by a U20 or U21 team and must look to the future. At the international level, the future looks bright. Some of this team are about to move up to U25 level and with all their skill and talent should be able to make an impact. There is also a strong nucleus remaining, which will form the basis of the U20 team of the future. The cycle is already underway, because the European Championships, with the opportunity of qualifying for the next World Championships in 2010, is only 9 months away.

It is only human to be disappointed, but the reality is different. Well done to the team. All three pairs played an equal part in the success and that’s real progress because in the past, the team has had to rely on two pairs.
The real work now is to try and use this success to publicise the game and persuade more schools and teachers to encourage youngsters to play, to try and set up more university bridge clubs and get more young players to start playing. We all know that it is great fun and Beijing demonstrates that we can actually all do well on the international stage.

The attention now turns to the two major Championships of the Olympiad where both our Open team and Women’s Team have reached the semi-finals of their events. The Open team play Germany, which will be a very tough match over two days and the Women must be slight favourites against their Turkish opponents. How great it will be if in a few days time we are celebrating an even more spectacular performance than that of Dan and Adam, Ben and Rob, and Ed and Tom. Well done, lads.

Watching the Final, Four

Boards 33-48 of the final of the U21 World Championship were not dull! 88 IMPs were exchanged and unfortunately France had the better of things coming out with 57-31. But oh dear, it could have been so different. At the time the match really seemed to be slipping away, but at the end the French lead was just 15 with absolutely everything to play for in the final 16 boards starting shortly before noon today.
The match was broadcast on BBO so in a day or two you’ll probably be able to find the files in the BBO archive. I’m afraid some of it wasn’t pretty, but it’s incredible to think how tense the lads must be as they play for the World Championship. IMPs seemed to fly out of the window — a poor slam was bid and a good slam was missed by the same pair. Later the same pair bid and made 6 for +1430 only to lose 7 IMPs. The explanation was that the French pair had been bounced in the other room by excellent English pre-emption. As a result the French pair had bid 7, which was doomed to fail because the English North held the A. Convinced that the French must have a Spade void, North bid on to 7. This was doubled and went six off for a penalty of 1700. This would have been ok if 7 was making, but of course it was not. That one board alone would have reversed the lead in the match. There was plenty of good stuff and well bid games won back IMPs. The deficit can be made up in just one board and the French have shown that they in turn will make plenty of mistakes. A cool and calm approach will win the day.

Good luck to all our team.

Watching the Final, Three

Restart at 6am our time. Must be mad here. England start with a lead of 21 IMPs.

Board 17 of the final (-2)

A not unreasonable sacrifice by NS costs 500 against the 420 for 4 by E/W. Even though it’s IMPs out it shows the boys are keeping the pressure on their opponents. Meanwhile in the Open and Women’s series, both teams in the quarter-finals have healthy (60 IMPs or so) leads after 4/6 sessions. I don’t think anyone would have dared predict so much success for the team. The Senior team are sadly a similar margin behind Japan in their round of eight, which nonetheless is an excellent performance following on their tied sixth place in the recent European Championships.

Board 18 flat in 4 a pretty straightforward hand. More coffee. I cannot see the score for Board 19 yet, but I know England have gained 13 IMPs!

Board 19 was flat — West making eleven tricks in 4 so the swing must be on Board 20, which I know is a potential slam for N/S.

Board 20 Got it now. Ben and Rob are playing N/S and have made 6 for +13. The slam depends on a finesse, which for once wins so the lead is extended to 32 IMPs. Let’s hope the Bridge Gods continue to smile on the team. If the East and West hands had been swapped, the lead would have been down to single figures. Phew.

Board 21 Flat in a rather odd way. Ed and Tom (E/W) went one off doubled in a rather ambitious 3NT for -100 but Ben and Rob defeated 3 by two to save any IMPs.

Board 22 I cannot see the hand yet, but France seem to have gained 13 IMPs. It’s a long time before the fat lady will sing (or indeed cry). Tom has gone off in a 4 contract made at the other table. Ah now I see the hand it appears that nine tricks is the normal result so on the surface it looks like the swing came from some defensive lapse by Ben and Tom.

(Now an hour or so later I know this is wrong — a board was misscored – this one I think and not -13 but flat — so all the later margins are wrong — England are 13 IMPs better off than I feared)

Board 23 is flat. A slam for E/W. Well done Ed and Tom. (Truthfully, not so hard, but a test of nerve at this stage).

Board 24 Our boys are in part-score contracts at both tables failing by a single trick, but that’s 4 IMPs away. It’s one of those hands where the contract and outcome seems to be different at every table. There are some penalty doubles and -500s flying around so perhaps it’s not so bad. Starting to get nervous again.

Board 25 I can see that Ed has failed to make 4 and after five minutes or so I get the even worse news that 4 has made at the other table. Mmm. 4 looks cold for one off so more defensive problems. As dawn breaks (07.10) on the English-Welsh border, the lead is down to just three IMPs. I cannot see the hand for this board yet, but I know that on 26 and 27, Tom has declared 4, making one and going one off on the second.

Board 26 4= at both tables

Still worse, no score for 27 yet, but France have gained 10 imps to take the lead. Looks like a passive spade, a trump lead from Ben, solved declarer’s problem of finding J. An unlucky way to lose ten imps, the 4 contract looks normal, but failing more often than making. Lots of games have made at Tom and Ed’s tables in the next few boards, two at each table, but Ben and Rob’s scores are slower coming through so we shall have to wait to see if they are flat.

Phew ten imps back on 28. Tom succeeded in 4, while his French counterpart failed. We’d settle for our 3 IMP lead in 36 boards time though if finishes that close we’ll have lost about a half our hair (not much to lose there) and about three pounds (plenty to go there)

Board 29 flat in 3NT=. Seems like a normal result. Three boards to go in this stanza

Board 30 flat — ten tricks to England in 4 and the same number to France in 3NT. The latter looks somewhat eccentric with South holding a 6-1-1-5 shape, but you cannot argue with success. Still 3 ahead.

Board 31 flat too, eleven tricks for West in 4. A pretty dull hand to be truthful. Tom and Ed have gone three down in 4 on the final board but it’s impossible to tell if that’s good or bad until we see the hands.
Bad I’m afraid – 5 IMPs away, 3NT only goes one off at the other table. Not a good set, England led by 32 IMPs at one stage, but ending up losing 23 and surrendering the lead by 2 IMPs at the halfway stage in the match.

Correction: So the real margin was -10, not -23. Not great but England still lead by 11 IMPs. I’ve been talking to Sheepy — Rob Myers on BBO. Team in good heart and looking forward to the fray.

Both teams know how close the match is and what is at stake — a gold medal in a world championships. There is little between them and I’m sure that there will be plenty of swings in the decisive 32 boards still to be played. Good luck to our team and their coach and NPC, wish I was there with them, but not sure I could cope with the agony and ecstasy.

Two more sets to go, playing again at 08.50 and 11.40. You can see running scores here or here and maybe some BBO coverage of the same hands from the U28 event

Watching the Final, Two

06.00 I cannot believe that I’m sitting here waiting to see some more scores from halfway round the world an hour before dawn. There are three sets to go and roughly six hours of Bridge left. Let’s hope it’s very boring and England build up a big lead.

I’ve found some scores from the first set of 16 boards. While I’m sure that being in Beijing with all that’s going on in the World Mind Sports Games is fantastic, many supporters of Youth Bridge are disappointed that access to information is swamped by everything else that’s going on in the six different Bridge championships. I’ve found some scores from the U21 match, but unfortunately the hand records that go with them are not available yet so it’s hard to tell exactly what’s been going on, but England made a fantstic start to the final scoring 32 unanswered IMPs on Boards 1-3.

On Board 1 Ben Paske, playing with Rob Myers made 3NT, while Adam and Dan defeated 4. +10. On Board 2 Ben lost 150, going 3 off in 4, but Adam succeeded in 4X for +790 in the other room. The French playing against Rob and Ben then seem to have imploded on Board 3 when they conceeded 1070 in 4X+2, while Adam and Dan made no such mistake and lost a more normal 620 against 4. Apart from that there appears to have been a game swing and a part-score swing each way, but the rest of the boards were flat or just one or two IMPs either way.

I’ve also been able to find some information about the Round Robin and the Butler scores. In major competitions, Butler scores for each pair provide a guide to who has played well. All three of our pairs has Butler scores of greater than +1 IMP, which means that they scored an IMP a board better than the field. It may not seem much, but it’s a fantastic performance and reflects a consistency and superiority which is very marked. They were all in the top six, which means that it was a real team performance with all three pairs involved in the tournament and playing a big part in the team success.

It’s 1pm in Beijing and Session 2 is about to start. Watching Bridge scores on the internet is a bit like watching cricket on Teletext. Every now and then the score changes, hopefully in the desired direction. I can see the hands and the contracts too so hopefully I’ll be able to make some sense of the team’s progress.

Watching the Final, One

Great excitement that our U21 team has reached the FINAL of the World Championships at the World Mind Sports Games. With the England teams in the Open, Women’s and Senior’s teams all still fighting in the quarter-finals of their events and so much going on in Beijing, it’s hard to get information, but when I woke at 4.05 this morning, I rushed to my computer to look at the running scores. The U21s are playing France in the final, the team we lost the bronze medal to in the European Championships by 1 VP. I’m not sure what we expected of the team this time. U21 Bridge is not exactly predictable, but Mike Byrne and Alan Shillitoe have worked so hard with the squad and I guess “nervous optimism” summed up the supporters’ general viewpoint. They finished second in the round-robin behind... yep France, so the final looked a close but realistic ambition. Good wins in the quarter-final against Netherlands and a nail-biter against the hosts, China in the semis saw the team into the final with a 5.7 IMP deficit because of the round-robin defeat in the first round. The only way of following progress in the final is by watching a feed of the running scores on an experimental webpage.

When I start at 4.10, we’ve scored 28 IMPs after ten boards and lead by 22. Go boys go! It’s not easy to master technology at this time of the morning. The computer is slow. I try to send a text message to Michael Byrne the NPC of the team with words of encouragement and support. After two failed attempts (sending messages to my brother-in-law!!) I succeed. What’s the score now? Where’s the coffee?

It’s 5.10, 16 boards played. There has been very little more scoring and the lead has remained fairly constant. +21. 48 boards to go. The next set starts at 6.00 am our time. Can they do it? Let’s hope so.

There’s no information on the team line-up at this stage but the six players are:

Tom Paske and Ed Jones
Ben Paske and Rob Myers
Adam Hickman and Dan McIntosh

Updates throughout the day. It is a 64 board match with three more segments of sixteen baords to play. It’s going to be a long morning.