Bridge | 14 June 2018

I’ve just come back from Ostend, where I spent four perfect days. No, not sun, sea and sand — eight hours of intensive bridge, followed by non-stop hand analysis over supper. I was there for the European women’s pairs, partnering the wonderful Marusa Basa (soon to become Mrs David Gold). After qualifying for the A final, we finished a disappointing 16th. But I’m still on a high from the sheer adrenaline of it — especially as the European open teams championships were taking place at same time and venue (indeed they’re still going on), so we could check on England’s progress. This slam, played by Andrew Robson, caused a fair amount of discussion, with some commentators daring to suggest that Andrew had taken an inferior line!
 
England was playing Estonia, who also reached 6NT and got the same ♦2 lead. Olavi Oja (West) won with dummy’s ♦K, played a spade to the ♠K and a heart to the ♥Q .