Janet de Botton

Bridge | 15 September 2016

issue 17 September 2016

The 15th World Bridge Games (formerly known as the Olympiad) began on 3 September in Wroclaw, and is providing more thrills than Captain Poldark’s ever-disappearing shirt, which I fear is in danger of being written out altogether. In the Open section, three groups of 17 teams played a full round robin within their group, the top five in each qualifying for the playoffs.

Today’s hand features the marginally less ripped (but shirts intact) bridge giants Poland’s Michal Klukowski, the youngest ever Open world champion, and Geir Helgemo for Monaco, widely considered the best player in the world, pitted against each other in an extremely delicate 3NT. Surprisingly, they both made errors despite taking an unusually long time in the play.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in