EBU Youth Blog

Young Pair of the Year Award - 2010

2011-11-24T14:32:00.003Z

The 2010 award for Young Pair of the Year goes to a young pair who have made great progress in a short period of time: Tommy Brass and Alex Roberts.

Despite only joined the squad in the autumn of 2009, 2010 has seen them achieve many good results, particularly at the European Youth Pairs where they narrowly missed out on a medal in the last few boards, and at the Channel Trophy where their slam bidding was responsible for many swings to England.

Their attitude is always positive, and even after a poor result the only thing you will see is laughter - and maybe a sheepish grin!

English Bridge, October 2011

Past winners

Young Player of the Year Award - 2010

2011-11-24T13:32:00.004Z

The 2010 Young Player of the Year award goes to Graeme Robertson, who has been a member of the Junior Squad for over five years, gaining in ability and talent throughout this time.

2010 was his highpoint as a player, as he represented England in not just one but two World Championships. In July he travelled to Taiwan as captain of the Cambridge University team in the World University Championships, having qualified by right by winning the Portland Bowl (the England universities championship). His team finished creditably considering their inexperience but Graeme's performance was first class: he played in every match and was awarded the Paul Magerman Trophy for the best defended hand, for his inspired defence to beat a 4 spade contract.

Last October he travelled to Philadelphia as part of the Under-21 team in the Junior World Championships. Graeme was part of the anchor pair that played every single board in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the event, and his performance was critical in the teams phenomenal recovery against the Netherlands.

His sense of humour and amusing story-telling provide light relief in even the darkest of times, and he is a credit to the squad.

Past winners

Young Player of the Year Award - 2009

2010-09-14T15:30:00.004+01:00

This year's Young Player of the year award is given to Ben Paske.

2009 was only one of many fantastic years that Ben has had since starting to play bridge, and in true fashion he achieves his goals with a quiet modesty that is hard to match.

Ben was Alice Kaye's and James Paul's team-mate in the Punchbowl final, and he also had a great victory at the Northern Summer Festival of Bridge held in Scarborough, where he won the Pairs trophy from a field of 170 pairs as well as the great success in leading his team of junior players to the A final in the Brighton teams (where they came 5th), an amazing achievement for a team of all youngsters.

Ben has had other good results including the Premier League, the Brighton pairs, and international events.

However it is Ben's attitude both at and away from the table that makes this award particularly special.Wherever Ben goes you can rest assured that he will be the responsible one, looking out for his friends, making sure people are ok and always putting others before himself. As the eldest child from a family of 8 you can see where he gets his responsible attitude from and why he takes his job as being a squad member so seriously.

Michael Byrne

Young Pair of the Year Award - 2009

2010-09-14T15:24:00.005+01:00

Alice Kaye collecting the award from Sally Bugden, Chairman, EBU

This year's young pair of the year award is awarded to Alice Kaye and James Paul.

In 2009 they cemented their university partnership with a string of successful results. In the April they were part of the team that won the Portland Bowl for Oxford University, the British University Championships that qualified their team to represent England in the European teams championship in Croatia in October.

Only a few weeks later they did tremendously well in reaching the final of the Punchbowl at the Spring Fours, coming back from a huge amount down at half time to close within only a few imps. Their opponents were a star studded team of internationals including Ralph Katz (only a few months before he won his first Bermuda Bowl). One of the current England European team commented how impressive it was that they were able to get back into the match using controlled agression in so few boards.

At the end of the Year Alice and James had their crowning achievement when they were part of the team to win the Under 25 Channel trophy for England for the first time in 14 years. Despite an unlucky start where they were actually lying 4th after a few matches they showed true English grit and won in the final set.

Michael Byrne

Can you help send our Under 21s to the World Championships in Philadelphia?

2010-08-14T15:33:00.000+01:00

The Under 21s have received a late invitation to attend the World Championships in Philadelphia. This invitation was a surprise and the Under 21s are doing all they can to raise funds to be able to attend the event taking place in October. We hope that they will be able to go one better than the Silver Medal they received in the Beijing World Mind Sports Games in 2008.

If you are interested in helping the team please contact Michael Byrne, Squad Manager at: abbot_hugo@hotmail.com.

European Youth Championships 2009

2009-07-07T15:00:00.000+01:00

Hands up all those who know anything about Poiana Brasov, apart from the fact that it is the venue for The European Bridge League’s 22nd European Youth Championships.

Well, reading from the EBL’s website I have gleaned some small pieces of information. It is a ski-resort close to Romania’s seventh largest city, Brasov, in the central region of the country known as Transylvania, better known perhaps for its links with the Dracula story than bridge. The town has a spectacular setting in a mountainous area. The scenery looks dramatic and no doubt there will be some drama at the bridge table.
There are three team competitions and England has a team participating in each category, Under 26, Under 21 and Under 26 Girls.

The largest competition is the Under 26 and when the tournament gets underway this week on Thursday there will be 23 teams including the England Squad. Twenty three rounds are squashed into nine days with just one rest day. Those of you who think that a congress is tough should try one of these Championships. Matches are of twenty boards. The rate of play is quite slow because with screens eight and a half minutes is allowed for each hand. That is two hours fifty minutes a match and on almost every day there are three matches. That makes for a long day starting at 10.30 am.

Chris Dixon is non-playing captain of the squad and he organised an exhibition match in the spectacular setting of Bath’s Pump Room as a warm-up for the team on the weekend of 4/5 July, before the flights out to Romania on Wednesday.

The U26 England team played three twenty board matches against our World Champion Women’s team from the Mindsport Games in 2008. The surroundings were somewhat unusual as tourists enjoying Bath’s wonderful attraction wandered past the bridge players. Music from a trio in the restaurant provided a unique atmosphere, but the players appeared completely unfazed as they concentrated on the match in hand.

Mike Bell and Ed Jones started the match against Catherine Draper and Ann Rosen

At the second table Fiona Brown and Alex Morris were up against Heather Dhondy and Nevena Senior, watched here by Ben Green the team coach.

The teams were welcomed by the city of Bath and the Pump Room. The two team captains, Chris Dixon and Pat Davis, start the day in relaxed fashion.

Passers-by watch as the match proceeds.

The first match was a tough one for the U26s and the Women’s team showed their mettle, coming out on top by 52 IMPs and 25-5 VPs. There were lots of swings in this match and unfortunately for the U26 team far too many went to the experienced World Champions. Match Two was a much tighter affair, with less swings, but with a 28 IMP margin to the Women’s team, another loss was recorded by the Juniors, 11-19. Pride was very much at stake in the final match and it was close throughout. The Juniors were losing by just one swing at the halfway mark , but outscored their opponents 14-0 in the second half to achieve a fighting win by just four imps and a 16-14 margin.

There was some good bidding and play by both teams, but perhaps the Juniors were shown the level of concentration and determination required by their more experienced opponents. As a preparation for the forthcoming tournament, it was really worthwhile and the team have followed it up with more work with Chris Dixon and Ben Green.

Hopefully all this work will be reflected in a good performance in Brasov. Details about the tournament will increasingly appear at the official website, with results and bulletins. BBO will doubtless have some coverage and as we get to hear about it we will publish links here.

The Under 26 team is:

Alex Morris and Fiona Brown

Chris Owen and John Atthey

Ed Jones and Mike Bell

NPC Chris Dixon and coach Ben Green

Young Player of the Year Award

2009-04-28T11:12:00.000+01:00

The Young Player of the year award is also awarded annually to an individual that has proved their worth both in their ability, and more importantly in their attitude and manners, both at and away from the bridge table.

The recipient has been a member of the junior squad for many years, coming through as a precocious youngster until maturing into a helpful young man with a great future ahead of him.

In 2008 he too was on the Spring Fours team that knocked out the English open team in round 1, as well as being an instrumental part of the team for Beijing. Forming his Beijing partnership only in the previous April he put in the work and dedication necessary to be an integral part of the Silver medal wining team. Despite being less practiced than both the other partnerships he and his partner were ready and willing to be called upon whenever necessary and played a full and active role in the team's victory. In the semi-final against China he played both the last two sets, and keeping English hopes alive by bidding and making two grand slams.

After Beijing, with his partnership too old for under 20 bridge, he has now gone on to form a new partnership and made a great debut at the Channel trophy held in London last year.

More importantly he has grown up into a generous and caring individual who always make the time to contribute in any way he can.

It is therefore my great honour to announce that the award for Young player of the Year 2008 goes to Daniel McIntosh.

Daniel is 19 and originally from Birmingham, he now lives in Gloucestershire. He is studying his A Levels at 6th form college.

Young Pair of the Year Award

2009-04-28T11:04:00.000+01:00

The Young Pair of the year award is awarded annually to pairs that achieved a variety of good results at the bridge table, whilst also conducting themselves in a pleasant and friendly manner.

In just one year (2008) this up and coming pair went from being thought of as youngsters who were promising but had a long way to go, to being a pivotal and integral part of the Under 20 squad. They started the year by rising from below average to 3rd place in the Year End Congress Men's Pairs. By February they were the leading English pair at the Peggy Bayer trophy. In April they went on to score some tremendous results at the Spring Fours by reaching round 4 – indeed at the beginning they knocked out a team of four open internationals by over 30 imps.

In the Summer they were England’s best placed pair in the European youth pairs, finishing tantalisingly close to a medal.

As members of the under 20 squad they approached the challenges they faced at and away from the bridge table with enthusiasm and drive, and have always maintained a friendly and helpful attitude.

They finished playing together last Autumn and still play together on many teams – such as the 2009 Spring Fours!

It is my great joy to announce that the title of Young Pair of the Year 2008 is awarded to Graeme Robertson and James Paul.

James is 18 and from reading in Berkshire, he is in his first year reading Maths at Balliol College Oxford.
Graeme is 19 and from Bedford, he is in his second year studying Maths at Cambridge University.

Youth Bridge Challenge 2009

2009-04-03T11:07:00.001+01:00

Just under a hundred junior bridge players took part in the Youth Bridge Challenge on Saturday 28th March. Each team represented schools or Bridge Clubs, and in some cases just themselves. There were a number of veterans who have been coming for years (surely Rob Myers must be too old soon!) and some players who came to their first ever bridge event. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day and we are extremely grateful to Loughborough GS for their continued support and hospitality. Detailed results can be found here.

The Schools Cup has a long history and in recent years, Reading School have twice finished in second place. Unluckily (though they were the convincing winners in the qualifying round), they repeated this near-miss again when they lost a close final by just ten imps to the Grange School, Hertford.

The corresponding trophy for teams made up of bridge players from clubs or different schools is the Harry Scully trophy . The final was between Harrogate Bridge Club and a team from Nottingham. The result was perhaps a bit of a shock as the two teams had met earlier in the qualifying Swiss competition, and Harrogate Bridge Club had emerged with a small victory. Roles were reversed in the final with Nottingham winning by 35 to 9 imps

The Schools Plate was won by a team from Haberdashers School who finished first in the Swiss competition. They just pipped a team from Reading School who were given prizes as the next highest in the Swiss.

Minibridge players from Harrogate, Fionnuala, Harrison and Dominic had fun playing with Graham Jepson, an EBU Board member, who spent the day with us supporting the event and presented the prizes and trophies to some successful and also some less successful teams.

Dominic came out on top and was awarded the Minibridge trophy.

See all the photos from the event here.

Minibridge

2009-02-26T11:47:00.023Z

The English Bridge Union (EBU) has launched a funded scheme to bring Minibridge into the school classroom over the next three years. This has been made possible, since our Youth and Education charitable trust received a donation from the Milton Damerel Trust.

But what is Minibridge? Minibridge is a simplified version of the game of bridge and is the route into bridge recommended by the English Bridge Union. Minibridge was first developed in France and the Netherlands as an introduction to bridge for schoolchildren and was soon acknowledged as an excellent game in its own right.

Minibridge has proven suitable for classroom use, allowing children the opportunity to improve their logical and lateral thinking skills within the framework of play, which offers dynamic brain training. See Minibridge and children. Our new initiative will help to introduce Minibridge to primary schools, so we can help the children with their maths.

In this blog I would like to introduce David Adelman. David is the EBU’s Manchester Youth Officer and an experienced Bridge teacher. He is currently working with the English Bridge Union on their Minibridge initiative and provides the training.

On a recent visit to Fairway Primary School in Offerton, Stockport, I had the chance to talk to David and watch him in action.

Mike: Tell us more about this project?

David: It’s about a vision in bringing a fun activity into the classroom. Minibridge is a game which can be taught to staff in minutes and by the same staff to their pupils in a few lessons. I see Minibridge as a route into bridge and the skills children are learning are bridge problem-solving. I have been using the same teaching style with adults and I think the results speak for themselves, a new generation of competitive players is being developed and this is what the game needs.

We are in an age when there is as much pressure to raise standards in maths and social skills.

Mike: Do you think it’s realistic to expect non-card playing teaching staff to able to do this?

David: Yes certainly, and this is what we are doing here at Fairway School with Year Four children. The class teacher is a not a bridge player, but she has already commented on the interest and enthusiasm of the class. Additionally, Boris Ewart and I have spent a lot of time developing a new interactive CD, which will allow children to learn card-playing skills.

Mike: How does it work?

David: The children can learn by actually playing. The CD has a series of graded problems with targets. The teacher can click on the cards on the interactive display while the pupils play with cards four to a table.

Card playing skills are at the heart of what we are trying to achieve. Children sometimes ask “Why am I doing this? Why can’t I just play?” I explain that trick awareness is like ball control skills for a football player. You don’t just go out and play, because first you must develop the skills!

Mike: Yes, I can see that very clearly in this class. I know this is their second class on Minibridge, and they are already playing with thirteen cards very well.

How does your approach to Minibridge differ from the more traditional approach illustrated in the EBU’s current literature and manuals?

David: Essentially it’s less complex. We only use No Trumps at this stage and targets simply determined by the number of points held by the partnership. Scoring is very simple; either you meet your target or you don’t. No need for scorecards or computer programs to decide the winners. If several schools in one area participate then they can compete, initially locally and in time regionally or even nationally.

Mike: I notice you don’t use much bridge jargon. Is that deliberate?

David: Of course! The underlying ethos is that bridge is a language and uses a language that only bridge players understand. Teaching people, especially young ones from scratch, you have to avoid bridge-talk at all costs. Today we played with

AK2 opposite Q3 and 3

They learn from playing. If they start with AK they see the death of the Queen and can start to draw their own conclusions. Experience can create a language of explanation, jointly with the student, which they in turn can understand. I regard this student-centred approach as pragmatic and sensitive.

Mike: What’s the next step?

David: Well the Initiative is only in its first months. We have developed lots of contacts in the North-West / Manchester and in Sheffield and I know that others are being found else where. We have also set up our Minibridge section on the EBU website, so people can let us know if they’re interested. Have a look here.

Mike: Is there anything interested bridge players can do?

David: It’s all about word-of-mouth and building up contacts. Bridge players could talk to teachers whom they know or even better to Maths Advisors and the like.

Mike: Thank you, David

How can you be involved?
We will be showcasing the project in Manchester on 24 April 2009. Primary School teachers welcome. Please let us know if you would like to attend and for more details view here.

Please do contact either Matt Betts or myself, if you are a primary school teacher and would be interested in our initiative. Or simply fill in our form, which can be found on the Minibridge section of the website.

New Initiatives, University Clubs and Online Bridge

2008-10-23T11:45:00.001+01:00

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

2008-10-14T09:00:00.000+01:00

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

2008-10-13T11:10:00.000+01:00

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

2008-10-13T10:00:00.000+01:00

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

2008-10-13T08:00:00.000+01:00

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

2008-10-13T05:30:00.000+01:00

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.

Junior Successes at Brighton

2008-08-27T14:45:00.003+01:00

Lots of young players took part in the Brighton Congress and there was no better advert for the skill and expertise of our young players than the win of John Atthey and Simon Cope in the largest event of the the whole congress, the Swiss Pairs. John, who is 23, is an important part of the U25 Squad, and although Simon is now too old to be a junior, he is much involved in coaching and encouragement of our junior teams. Simon and John led for much of the competition, except for a sequence on Saturday evening, but they came back strongly on Sunday to win comfortably in the end.
This was a great performance; a look at the top thirty places shows that the entries included a large number of players and pairs with international experience. Both players will be playing in the newly formed Premier League, starting next month, albeit in different teams.

Other young players in the top twenty pairs included Mike Bell, playing with the U20 Squad Manager Mike Byrne, who finished 11th; Andrew Woodcock and Ollie Burgess, who will represent England in the U28 team at the Mind Sports Olympiad in Beijing were 13th; and Dan McIntosh, with Chris Cooper, was 19th. Dan is in the U20 team for the same event. The huge strength in depth of the field at Brighton provides a great opportunity for serious squad practice and the junior players all welcome the opportunity they are given to take part.

We are currently discussing how more suitable midweek competitions could be organised for our young players to enter alongside the two big weekend events. The midweek teams was a strong event, bolstered by the entry of a Dutch junior team and, with 28 teams competing, the largest event for years. The competition is KO, played each afternoon and was a triumph for the junior group. Mike Byrne and Simon Cope joined up with Mike Bell, the Paske brothers and Ed (Ken) Jones. They coasted through the week and although the final was a close affair they were worthy winners.

Most of the other mid-week events are relatively light-hearted, and the juniors seemed to enjoy swapping partners and joining in. (Indeed when I took part in the Speedball Pairs one night I seemed to be the oldest player in the room — it was great fun. If you've never tried Speedball you really should give it a go — three minutes a board and a Bridgemate to cope with as well!)

The second weekend of teams saw less Junior success. Ollie Burgess and Mike Bell, in different teams, made the 'B' Final, which put them in the top 16 of the 193 that entered. The highest placed all junior team were our Camrose team from this year: Fiona Brown, Susan Stockdale, Dave Cropper and Steve Raine who finished 53rd, just outside the top quarter. The first named pair will also be in Beijing with the U28s.

Off to Loughborough this weekend for the Junior Teach-in. It will be great to see all the young keen bridge players hoping to learn and set off on their first lessons. There is still room for extra participants, email me at mamos@ebu.co.uk or John Pain at john@ebu.co.uk.

Brighton

2008-08-07T09:24:00.002+01:00

It’s that time in August when most of the EBU seems to decamp to Brighton for the Summer Congress. I love Brighton, a little seedy but lively and cosmopolitan, lots of places to eat and for the second week in August bridge-players everywhere with those sacred pieces of paper with hands on engaged in that holy ritual “What happened to you on Board 32?”

There’ll be lots of juniors of course. Big Swiss events are great for young and upcoming players because, a couple of good matches and you get the chance to play against the leading stars of our game. In eight board matches anything can happen. It’s pairs this weekend and though I won’t be in Brighton until Sunday, I’ll be following the results carefully to see how all of the Juniors are doing.

It’s an important time especially for the Under 21 Team selected to go to Beijing to play in the Mind Sports Games. They have been preparing assiduously, brushing up systems and making sure their agreements are all tidied up. Look out to see how they get on this weekend. I predict good things for our three pairs:
Ed Jones and Tom Paske
Rob Myers and Ben Paske
Adam Hickman and Dan Macintosh

James Paul and Graeme Robertson are not going to Beijing because of university commitments, but they did well in the European Youth Pairs in Poland recently (finishing 6th) so we can expect them to finish high up as well.

A team of young Dutch players are also preparing for Beijing by coming to Brighton and will play a midweek challenge against our team which is sure to be fun as well as competitive.

Junior Bridge is not just about internationals and high level competition. I’m getting lots of enquiries at the moment about bridge in schools and how the EBU can help. We have good teaching materials and Minibridge is a great way to start even for those as young as seven or eight. If you are involved in a school in any way and think you might be able to start a little group, get in touch and we may be able to get some more young people involved.

The Junior Teach-In in Loughborough is only a few weeks away, but as always there are still some places. Click here for details. Young bridge players are just like their seniors, entries are always left until the last moment. Individuals or groups are welcome and it’s a great opportunity to come along and meet others and enjoy some expert bridge tuition. All standards are catered for from complete beginners to experienced Junior internationals.

I’ve been busy preparing hands for the Autumn Simultaneous Pairs which will be played as minibridge, and as bridge in competitions in Schools and Universities. It’s another chance to get involved so look out for details of that on the EBU website.

Finally are there any university students out there who would like to form a Bridge Club at their university next term or perhaps need some help reviving a club that needs a boost? Let me know and we may be able to help with tuition and advice:- mamos@ebu.co.uk

I’m pretty busy next week at Brighton with TD training during the week and helping with the Swiss Teams at the weekend, but do come and talk to me. I’m free all day Friday so if you’d like a chat drop me an email or leave me a message at EBU reception and we’ll fix a time.

England Juniors in Poland

2008-07-17T08:48:00.000+01:00

Our England Junior representatives are currently in Wroclaw, Poland today to take part in the 9th European Youth Pairs. If you know very little about this city or the Silesian region, there is some interesting information on the European Bridge League site to be found by clicking here

Our pairs are taking part in three categories and are lead by Michael Byrne who is acting as the EBU’s representative and NPC. For several pairs, this is an important part of the preparations for the Mind Sports Olympiad in Beijing in October.

In the Girl’s U25 category we will be hoping for an excellent performance from Fiona Brown and Susan Stockdale. After victories in the Channel trophy and the Junior Camrose, the partnership won the Under 28 trials for Beijing.

The relatively young pairing of Ed Jones and Tom Paske may find the going tough in the U26 Pairs, but both are determined characters and will be desperately trying to do well.

Our largest contingent will be playing in the U21 Pairs. This will be a new experience for most of the pairs, but lots of training and serious practice has been taking place and we hope that some of our pairs will reach the prestigious A final.

We wish them all the very best of luck.

Bulletins and results will be found on the EBU web-site and I will keep you informed of the results.

Fortunes are bound to be mixed as the opposition will be stiff and competition severe. Whatever the results the outcome will be that our players will have benefited from the extended experience of competing against the best of Europe’s young players.

European Youth Pairs

2008-06-12T11:44:00.005+01:00

The 9th European Youth Pairs takes place in Wroclaw, Poland, from 15th to 18th July. The following pairs have been nominated to take part in these championships:

Under 21
Liam Jones & David Faria
James Thrower & Shivam Shah
Robert Myers & Ben Paske
James Paul & Graeme Robertson
Thomas Rainforth & Philip Railing

Under 26
Ed Jones & Tom Paske
Ian Angus & Joe Clacey

Girls
Susan Stockdale & Fiona Brown
Sinead Bird & Jennifer Marvin

This represents a considerable increase in English participation in this tournament and we are extremely grateful to the Educational Trust for British Bridge who have helped seven of these pairs, two from Wales and one from Scotland with considerable financial support. Good luck to all our pairs. Updates on their progress as the tournament progresses.

A weekend in Yorkshire

2008-05-19T11:30:00.003+01:00

I recently spent a very interesting weekend in Yorkshire. As a devout Southerner I used to think that the North began at Watford Gap if not Watford, but I am more educated these days and went off to see some Junior Bridge in one of the centres that seems to have been successful in encouraging young players to take up the game. Bright and early we set off from the Welsh Borders to travel to Harrogate to visit Harrogate Bridge Club and Cedric Cockcroft.

Cedric at last year's JTI

Cedric has a great history in developing bridge players and nearly all our recent Junior competitions have involved players like the Dessain brothers and Rob Myers that started playing with Cedric. Each week Cedric visits five schools to run lunch-time and after school clubs, mostly with Primary School age children. I cannot begin to calculate the hours he has spent in the last ten years or so, not just teaching bridge but preparing hands and teaching aids. Cedric is very modest about his work, but the deep affection of his protégées speaks volumes. Students who have left the town to go to University or employment elsewhere often come to the club on Saturday morning when they are visiting to lend a hand and join in.

Trying to solve one of Cedric's tricky problems

The central cog in this work is the Saturday morning club in Harrogate Bridge Club. For two hours every week, young players can drop in, play a few hands, receive some teaching and advice and tackle some of the fiendish bidding or playing challenges that Cedric has prepared. The Saturday morning we arrived numbers were somewhat depleted because of other events going on, but two tables were already underway. Sarah and I joined in with some trepidation; it’s always easy to look stupid in these situations. Cedric receives lots of support and he told me that if he ever needs help he can always find volunteers. Yorkshire CBA supports Cedric's work financially paying for refreshments on Saturday mornings and helping with petrol money. Almost any Bridge Club could do something along these lines.

Saturday morning in Harrogate

As the morning comes to the close, more young players arrive from all over the country. Harrogate BC is acting as the host for a training weekend for the U20 Squad. Entry to the squad is open to any youngster who wants to come and the squad is run extremely effectively by the Squad Manager, Michael Byrne. Every six or eight weeks, depending on other events, up to thirty or so young players turn up and undergo a weekend of vigorous training, tuition and card play. The level of commitment is high. This time the Harrogate players can have a lie-in, because the weekend is based in their home town. Others have travelled from the South, from Manchester and even Edinburgh. Michael tends to arrange the weekends where the majority of players live so that accommodation is no problem. Players turn up with sleeping bags expecting to sleep on the floor at the home of one of the other squad members. It's a glamorous life being a junior international player or a wannabe.

There's lots of noise and laughter, even argument sometimes, but it's all very serious. There's quite a lot of variation in the experience and skill of the squad from relatively new players to seasoned internationals. At the moment there is a big prize at stake. The U20 team came fourth in the European Championships in 2007 and as a result have been invited to the Mind Sports Olympiad in Beijing in October. University commitments will mean that not all the leading contenders can play and junior partnerships tend to change on what sometimes seems to be a three monthly cycle so the team is by no means settled yet and Michael and his assistants, Alan Shillitoe and Duncan Happer are assiduously grooming and assessing the young hopefuls.

John Armstrong

This weekend the extremely experienced international player, John Armstrong has agreed to come along and lead the training. Everyone knows that John is one of the nicest people in bridge. (As a TD I must have been present at hundreds of events where John has played and the only time he ever called me, except to ask for a board to play, was because he had made a poor claim) John had prepared hands he himself had played over the last few months, mostly on the theme of competitive bidding, although there were sure to be some tricky play and defensive problems as well.

Ben Paske and Rob Myers take on James Paul and Graeme Robertson

The six tables play eight boards — I wouldn’t say in anything approaching silence, but there is a definite air of concentration, punctuated by the occasional outburst of hysteria. After 50 minutes or so (most juniors don’t hang about), the serious work begins. Each table in turn is asked to reveal the outcome of the board and explain the thought- (or lack of thought-) processes that lead to the contract and tricks won or lost. This is a very daunting procedure, we all know as bridge players how absurdly badly we can play at times, so having to confess all to your peers and friends is not easy. John is a wizard at explaining how he dealt with problems at the table and especially how he tries to understand the way that opponents are thinking and playing. A masterclass in every sense of the word. I especially liked this hand.

Perhaps we should think of it as a declarer problem first.

A 9 7 6

K Q J 10 9 7

—

A J 4

J 10 5 4

A 8 4 2

10 6

K 8 7

You are West. There are plenty of different auctions but say South opens 3NT — showing solid(ish) minor. You bid 4. North joins in with 4NT and partner, East, bids 5. This "floats" (Junior Bridgespeak for everyone passes) and you are left to play at a slightly uncomfortable level. The trickiest lead is probably a trump. What's your plan?

How good are you at finessing? You've got to do better than that as North has all three of the missing Black cards and all three finesses will lose. How unlucky is that? Junior Bridge players will tell you that three losing finesses only happens 12.5% of the time, but here that's not right. South's 3NT told you that he only had high cards in a minor suit so it's 100% certain that North will hold the cards he does. The general idea on this sort of hand is that we need to get rid of the non-crucial suits (elimination) and force North to do our dirty work for us and make him lead the crucial suits (end-play). There are several ways of achieving this on this hand but the simplest is something like this. Win the trump lead in dummy, with the Ace, trump a diamond high and draw the last trump with the eight in dummy (note that important part of the plan — you need the 8 to get to dummy, so you cannot now ruff the second diamond). Now North's safe diamond exits are eliminated and if he ever plays that suit we can ruff in one hand and discard our Club loser in the other. Nothing can save North now. Take the spade finesse, North wins and has to lead a black suit. A club or diamond concedes defeat immediately so a spade comes back. Now declarer can win a cheap trick and play the Ace and exit with the fourth spade. North is cooked now and has to concede defeat as he only has the minor suits to lead.

The full hand was:-

K Q 3 2

J 5 3 2

Q 9 6 3

A 9 7 6

K Q J 10 9 7

—

A J 4

J 10 5 4

A 8 4 2

10 6

K 8 4

5 3

A K Q 9 8 7 4

10 5 2

If you got this hand right perhaps you should think of joining the U20 Squad (if that is that you were born after 1988). I only just miss out by forty years.

On Sunday we went to the Railway Museum in York. If you haven't ever been there it's a great place, like a giant's toy railway set, wonderful ancient engines like tamed beasts surrounded by all sorts of railway ephemera and bits of railway station signals, royal coaches and the like. The idea was to promote bridge and mini-bridge to visitors to the museum as part of a mind-sports awareness day. The visit was arranged by Matt Betts the EBU's Communications Officer and supported by EBU staff and volunteers from Yorkshire Bridge. Over 100 people young and old sat at a bridge table and had their first "Taste-Bridge" session. We all thought it was a great day. The England Junior Squad took part in an Exhibition match with players from York Bridge Club. Thanks to all of them too. Lots of photographs which really seem to have captured the occasion can be found here.

One interesting feature of the day was that many of the chess-players were quite young, probably as young as six or seven. This led me to think about the best age to teach young people to play bridge. There are very different opinions and I'd be very pleased to hear from you with your opinions either as a player or as a teacher. Email me at mamos@ebu.co.uk.

I had a very interesting conversation recently with Chris Dixon, another extremely experienced international player and the Junior Team NPC, who has been recently appointed as County Youth Officer by Wiltshire. Chris believes strongly that we should target older children around sixteen or so and has ambitious plans for a Summer School in Bath where he aims to teach bridge from scratch in one day. I asked Chris what he thought the differences between bridge and chess were that lead to child prodigies in chess much more commonly than in bridge. Chris said that he thought chess was a purer game, at most levels it is just the player and the board that are involved. Bridge is much more psychological. We need to learn to handle partners and opponents. Chris intends to demonstrate that bridge is a challenging and absorbing competitive activity for young people. Looking back on that Saturday afternoon in Harrogate, I think he may have a point. He's promised to send me details so I’ll let you know how he gets on and how his days go.

Junior Championships Report

2008-04-07T23:30:00.000+01:00

The EBU U25 and U19 Championships were held as part of the Easter Festival of Bridge in London. The Dessain brothers Tom and Mark with their respective partners, Dominic Maloney and Liam Jones pulled off a remarkable double by winning their respective categories.

Tom Dessain Writes

With a double victory for the Dessain brothers looking possible I was delighted to see my brother Mark, and his partner Liam, being presented with the U19s trophy as we proceeded to play the last round of the U25 Championships.

At the end of day 1, Dom and I were just over 50 IMPs clear of second place and with our biggest loss on a single board being 5 IMPs we were quietly confident, but not complacent. We hadn’t played the pair who was lying second and a defeat there might have made things tighter at the top.

The following board came up on the second day which was our only double figure imp loss of the event.

Q 9 7 6 5

K J 10 9

10 4 3

K 10 8 3 2

J 10 9 6

5 3

8 2

—

Q 8 7 3 2

8 4 2

Q 9 7 6 5

A J 4

K 5 4

A Q 7 6

A K J

The auction proceeded:

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	Pass	2
Pass	2	Pass	2NT
Pass	3	Pass	3
Pass	3NT	Pass	4
Pass	4NT	Pass	5
Pass	6	Pass	Pass
X	AP

Initially 2 was a three-way multi being either weak in a major, strong in a minor or 20-22 balanced, the later of which was shown by the 2NT rebid. I continued by showing my spade suit and once 3NT was converted to 4 I thought I was worth a look at slam and consequently drove to 6 after hearing the required three keycards. This was doubled by West and was passed back round to Dom who had the difficult decision of deciding whether to pass or pull to 6NT. It all depended on what West had doubled on. If he had doubled on spade length it might be best to play in 6NT, if he had doubled on the spade King and an additional feature it’s probably best to stand the double. Dom decided that due to his lack of shape and that the only source of tricks he could envisage was in the spade suit passed. Unfortunately the contract failed by one trick on the 5-0 trump break with 6NT making due to the club Queen lying in a favourable position. This represented 11 imps out as no other pair had bid past game.

Mike Amos comments:
Tom has written about a hand where he and his partner scored badly, but is too modest to comment that in fact they have bid well to a contract which we would all like to be in. Any 3-2 Spade break leads to 12 tricks and declarer can cope with some 4-1 breaks as well. The hand also demonstrates the folly of doubling slams when you know trumps are breaking badly — just sit back and take the plus. Especially at teams or IMP scoring all you stand to gain is a couple of IMPs, but you stand to lose a bucket if the opponents take fright and have a better contract available as here.

I think everyone would agree that Tom and Dom really deserved their win — they took the lead after a few matches and never looked like losing it, playing much more steadily than any of the other pairs.

Mark and Liam are to be congratulated on their win also, achieved in a very different fashion with a storming performance in the second half. At half time Shivam Shah and Tom Rainforth looked to have a decisive lead having scored over 70.24% against Mark and Liam’s 63.89%. In contrast in the second half the ultimate winners topped the 70% mark and when Shivam and Tom could only score in the low fifties the brothers had won their double.

Mike's Update 3

2008-03-14T15:00:00.002Z

There seems to be lots to report and look forward to.

The Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer tournaments were a great success. These are the Home Internationals competed for annually by England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Junior Camrose is Under 25 and the Peggy Bayer is Under 20. It’s a gruelling contest as both groups play two matches of 12 boards against the other 4 countries. That’s 96 boards in two days and for teams of four that means a very demanding schedule. Many of the teams have six players and so can rotate and enjoy some rest time. There is of course intense rivalry especially between the Scots and the English who have traditionally supplied the strongest teams. It’s a great opportunity to experience international bridge and all the teams acquitted themselves well. After England’s great performance in the Channel Trophy in December, there was a great deal of confidence that a clean sweep could be achieved.

The Scots had other thoughts and the first round of matches left them ahead in both competitions. In the Junior Camrose the Scots narrowly beat England 19-11, and Northern Ireland showed they were no pushover with a battling draw. Perhaps even more of a surprise was the Peggy Bayer, England’s strong and experienced team had been held to a draw by Scotland, while better performance’s against the other teams left Scotland with a small but significant lead. Could England reverse this in the second round of matches? Well in the Peggy Bayer they could not. The crucial head to head match was a repeat of the first round draw and again the pattern was exactly the same — the Scots scored a mighty 73/75 against the other nations and that was enough to ensure that the Peggy Bayer Trophy went north of the border.

While it is difficult not to be partisan and it was a shame to all of us that the English team of Tom Rainforth, James Thrower, Jennie Marvin, Liz Roberts, James Paul and Graeme Robertson pictured here with NPC Mike Byrne and resident guru Alan Shillitoe could not catch the Flying Scots, it was hard not to be impressed by the fantastic poise and almost flawless performance of the Scots team. Philip and Frazer were the best pair of the weekend in the Peggy Bayer, but they were closely followed by brother and sister, Yvonne and Ralph. Remember that this was a team of four so the team played all 96 boards — and yes Ralph is twelve. I thought they were fantastic. Well done indeed.

The winners of the Peggy Bayer Trophy — Yvonne Wiseman and Ralph Wiseman, Philip Morrison and Frazer Morgan with NPC David McCrossan

The Junior Camrose was a different story. Northern Ireland showed that it was not just a two-horse race in the second round robin by scaring England before losing by a handful of imps and beating the Scots. They’d left themselves too much to do after the first half of the competition and everyone knew that the England Scotland match might well be decisive. For England Steve Raine and Dave Cropper faced Alex Wilkinson and Andrew Sinclair in the Open Room. Over the weekend Steve and Dave were England’s most high-scoring pair. Alex and Andrew are highly experienced and probably the Scots best pair. In the Closed Room English hopes rested with Fiona Brown and Susan Stockdale against the Ellisons, Myles and Gyles. It was all very tense. 100 or so spectators watched in the vugraph theatre and a thousand or so on the internet. The crucial match was broadcast as 8/10 on BBO. If you want to view the boards but don’t know how to, contact me and I’ll explain how to replay the twelve boards that won the Junior Camrose for England. Board 1 was a bit lucky. England bid to an uncomfortably high 5H but made 11 tricks as Scotland led 1-0. There followed some mixed chances for both sides, but England gained imps steadily and at 20-1 were sitting pretty. Board 20 was perhaps the decider. It was one of those distributional nightmares, where everyone bids a lot and no one knows who can make what. Fiona and Susan should have defended 5 doubled but bid on to 6. When this was doubled and went one off they had a bad score. Could Alex and Andrew do better to rescue the match for the Scots? Alex had:

— A K 9 7 5 A K 8 7 5 3 6 5

and after a couple of rounds of bidding, he knew of a Heart fit and values opposite but his opponents had bid 4. Alex choose to bid 5, which he intended as Exclusion Blackwood, a convention which asked his partner about Aces but ignoring Spades. Steve Raine added pressure by bidding 6 and Andrew doubled after a considerable pause. This was the crucial moment of the 2008 Junior Camrose. Alex knew that his agreement was that this double showed the A, but was also aware that his partner’s hesitation suggested that he might well forgotten this. Ethically we must not profit from information that we gain from hesitations or speed and the like and Alex in what the English team regarded as a highly ethical bid chose to bid 7. When this was doubled and two down his team had lost 7 imps rather than gain a possible 14 and realistically had lost the Junior Camrose Trophy. It wasn’t all over and after a tense match with Northern Ireland, England started their last match against Wales just 3 Vps ahead knowing they had to score well to guarantee the trophy. They managed a maximum win and 25 VPs to finish on top. It had been an exhausting weekend for all concerned.

Alex at the prize-giving being awarded a prize for his ethical approach to the game by Steve Eginton, England’s NPC.

The England Junior Camrose team in happy mood, just before the start of their final match. Alex Morris, Mike Bell, Susan Stockdale, Fiona Brown, Steve Raine and Dave Cropper.

The early date for Easter has meant that lots of events have been crammed into a few weeks and fixture congestion has made it difficult for everyone to get time off school, uni and work. An U25 and an U20 team have been playing in a major junior tournament in Amsterdam this week, and details of their scores can be found here.

The Junior Bridge Challenge is going on at Loughborough this weekend also and results and photos will be on the website next week.

There is still time to enter the U25 pairs in London over the Easter weekend. Entry forms can be found here.

The entry fee is only a fiver for a two day Butler Pairs Tournament and brings with it free entry for Sunday’s Swiss Teams. There is a great atmosphere and stiff competition. Do contact me if you want more details: mamos@ebu.co.uk

Mike's Update 2

2007-11-13T16:00:00.000Z

There seems to be quite a lot going on in Junior Bridge at the EBU all of a sudden.

I suppose the biggest news — exciting this one — is that a new Youth Committee has been set up. "Wow!" you say, but then you add "What good will that do?" I’d better try and explain.

The EBU has lots of individuals, staff, officers and members who are working hard to try to encourage young people to take up bridge and to encourage and support those who already play. It’s not so easy for them all to link up and find out what’s going on in other places. It’s not so easy to find out which initiatives work and how to run successful recruiting or training. Everyone wants to help. So we have to co-ordinate and communicate. It may not sound very exciting, but I really think it’s going to work. Click here for a list of the Youth Committee.

It’s easy to focus on the superstars of Junior Bridge who get to play international tournaments, but first I’d like to start with what I think is a fantastic example of a success story. The North East Bridge Association held a Congress on 9th-11th November and some schools events took place alongside the main Congress on Saturday. Seven teams of four played bridge and six more played minibridge. That’s over 50 young players! The winning school for the bridge was Yarm School and for minibridge, Polham Hall Junior School. More details and photographs can be found on the NEBA’s excellent website by clicking here. Lots of girls as well as lads played which is great to see and Polham Hall was an all-girl team. Well done to all those who took part, especially the winners.

A heat of the U19 Pairs took place in London at the Young Chelsea Club in Earls Court last weekend as well. The winners — who finished with an incredible 70.24% — were Robert Sassoon and Philip Railing. Eight pairs took part and five qualified to play in the final which will be in London, as part of the EBU’s Easter Festival. Full results can be found by clicking here.

Three teams have been picked to play in an international tournament in Utrecht at the headquarters of the Dutch equivalent of the EBU. This will be held just before Christmas on December 21st to 23rd and is known as the Channel Trophy, a fourway competition involving the Netherlands, France, Belgium and ourselves. There will be three competitions — Under-25 and Under-20 and for the first time a U25 Women’s competition.

The first two teams are very much changed from the teams that represented us in the European Championships in the summer.

For the U25s Alex Morris and Mike Bell are a very experienced pair who won the trials held in October. Alex is the son of EBU Board member, Jeff Morris and has played bridge since he was twelve. He is a former Young Player of the year and has already reached the final of the Gold Cup. Mike is a system "nut" always searching for the perfect transfer or relay sequence. They are both sure to feature in future Junior and maybe Open Teams. Ed Jones and Ben Paske were members of the U20 team in the European Championships in Jesolo, who only failed by 1VP and on the very last board to secure the bronze medal. Playing now in a new partnership, they impressed all who watched them in the trials and led the competition until the final stages. The third pair John Atthey and Chris Owen have both been very much involved in University and starting professional careers of late, so to some extent bridge has taken a bit of a back seat, but after John’s success last month in the Great Northern Swiss Pairs, Chris has shown that he is in good form as he was the winner of both the major events at the NEBA Congress mentioned above. All three of these pairs are available for this season and next and are central in the selectors’ plans for the next European Championships.

In the U20s team there are also new faces as well as a couple of old ones. Rob Myers has renewed his partnership with Dan McIntosh. This is another pair with lots of transfers and relays. If Dan sits still long enough to play a hand it will be a miracle, but they are a promising pair for the future. Tom Paske has moved on from terrorising his big brother Ben, to a new partner in Adam Hickman. Graeme Robertson and James Paul are the third pair from Bedford School and Reading School respectively. All three of these pairs are taking part in a training weekend at the Welsh Bridge Union’s Congress in Llangollen this weekend so look out for their results.

I’m not sure how politically correct it is, but inevitably the U25 Women’s Team gets called the "Girls’ Team". This is the first time that there has been a "girls’" event at the Channel Trophy and everyone is very excited about it. The Netherlands may well be able to field a strong team, but nothing is known about our Belgian or French opponents who did not take part in the European event in July. We are fortunate to be able to select five of the six players from those Championships. Fiona Brown is playing with Susan Stockdale instead of Nicola Macdougall. Susan is easily the most experienced Junior U25 Woman, she has already played for England’s Ladies’ Team and was part of the U25 squad in Jesolo. She and Fiona have been selected for the Junior Camrose and are intending to play in the England Women’s Trials. Fiona is living in Harrogate, but is Australian and has played in bridge tournaments all over the world. She finished fourth in the World Mixed Pairs in Verona in 2006 with her Irish international partner Hugh McGann.

The other two pairs, Laura Macdougall and Alice Kaye and Jenny Marvin and Elizabeth Roberts both played in Jesolo, so we hope the experience they gained there will stand them in good stead in this new event. Some of this event will be broadcast on BBO.

But as I said at the start Youth Bridge is not just about internationals and the best players. I heard some more good pieces of news this week.

The first concerns work that Dave Muller and Ron Adams have been doing. They are County Youth Officers for London and Middlesex respectively. Dave got in contact with a project called Trans-Age. The idea is to increase contact between different generations and through the project, minibridge is being taught in three schools. Let’s hope that one of those learning will be a future Junior and maybe Open International. For more details contact me or Dave.

The second piece of good news was that Reading School have received funding from the Youth Opportunities Fund. This has enabled them to purchase a duplimate machine which will help to teach and improve the skills of their players. There are lots of ways that Bridge Clubs and players can support Junior Bridge.

Finally advance notice — the EBU is hosting the Junior Camrose event in Manchester on 16th-17th February. Teams will be coming from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We are hoping to make a big splash of this with maximum publicity for bridge and its juniors and I will be working with Matt Betts on this. We plan an exhibition of minibridge and hope for lots of visitors. There will be a vugraph presentation where the bridge will be displayed on a large screen with commentary. Why not plan a visit from your Bridge Club to encourage our young players? Further details can be obtained from me or Matt.

Please let me know of your events and competitions so I can mention them here.

Mike's Update 1

2007-10-10T16:00:00.000+01:00

These are busy times in Junior Bridge...

The Under 25 Trials will take place in Loughborough this weekend, October 13th and 14th. Junior Bridge in Europe runs on a two yearly cycle which recently came to an end with the European Youth Teams in Jesolo, Italy in July. Our U25 team which took part in that event are mostly too old for the next projected championships in 2009, so it is a time for new hopefuls and old wannabees to come forward and stake their claims. There are places up for grabs in the Channel Trophy — an annual four nation tournament between England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands in December and in the Junior Camrose Trophy (the Home International Weekend) in February.

Three of last year’s team, Ben Green, Duncan Happer and Simon Cope have moved on from Junior Bridge, whereas the other three members of the 2007 team, Susan Stockdale, Dave Cropper and Stuart Haring are taking part with new partners. Two of the most exciting and talented players from last year's Under 20s squad, Ed Jones and Ben Paske are playing and expected to give their older rivals a run for their money. Rob Myers and Dan McIntosh are another younger partnership that hopes to make an impact. There are at least three other partnerships with players of considerable experience, John Atthey and Chris Owen, Joe Mela and Tom Dessain, and Mike Bell and Alex Morris. The results are sure to be close.

Several Junior players took place in the Great Northern Swiss Pairs in Warrington last weekend. Pride of place must go to John Atthey (How can he still be a Junior??, he seems to have been a better player than me for about ten years already). John playing with Clive Owen (Chris’s dad) won the event ahead of a strong field with U20 squad manager Mike Byrne and Andrew Woodcock, both under thirty in 2nd place. Mike Bell was 3rd and Joe Mela and Tom Dessain 7th. Two other U20 pairs, Dan MacIntosh and Rob Myers and Tom Paske and Adam Hickman were in the top 30 (out of almost 100 pairs).