Bridge | 28 December 2012

Up to Solihull again (I might as well move there) to play the Gold Cup finals. We sailed through the semis against Ken Ford’s team to meet Allfrey in the final. They had been 52 down with 16 boards to play in their semi-final match and had won! The writing was on the wall. The match was a rollercoaster and we went into the final set a few imps down. I sat out and put on my iPad to receive the following email from my old teacher, David Parry: ‘No one remembers who comes second.’ ‘Cheers, you garden gnome,’ I replied, and proceeded to come second — which is why I’m reminding you! Down 47 at one point, with four boards to play, we drew level with this effort by David Burn and Nick Sandqvist:

David was sitting South and had room to show all his assets after Nick’s game-forcing 2♣, but could he make it? Andrew Robson led a trump.