Little did I know, when I was railing at how Britain comes to a standstill at the first flurry of the white stuff, how marvellously it would turn out for my team. The second Camrose (home countries championship) weekend was cancelled and a substitute announced. Unfortunately, the winners of the Premier League last year (Allfrey)
I’ve never forgotten a conversation I had some years ago with the talented, blunt-talking Norwegian player Espen Erichsen. We were discussing the dangers of getting demoralised at the bridge table. You make a couple of idiotic mistakes, your confidence takes a knock, your judgment grows cloudy, and soon you’re playing worse than ever. We’ve all
No February blues for me. The past couple of weeks have been the most exciting and interesting (bridge-wise) I could ever imagine. Super sponsor Pierre Zimmermann hosted the second Winter Games in Monaco, which he has made better than a European Championship. Seventy-eight teams competed over seven days for the title. Then we rushed back
It’s nice being part of a community. That’s how bridge is: over the years, you get to know, or recognise, pretty much everyone on the tournament scene. Even when you play abroad, you see the same faces again and again. I’m think I’m on friendly, or nodding, terms with at least one player from every
August 2015 will be remembered as a landmark for World Bridge. There had long been talk among bridge players about certain pairs ethics, and enough evidence was found by experts sifting through filmed vu-graph documentation to accuse four World Champion pairs of cheating, Italians Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes among them. The American Bridge League
The England ladies trials, two weekends ago, were as exciting as ever, but also rather heartbreaking for me and my partner Marusa Basa. We took an early lead and kept it up until Sunday morning, when our match against Heather Dhondy and Abbey Smith (the eventual winners) turned into a car crash, setting us back
I have just returned from the annual pilgrimage to Reykjavik, home of one of the best tournaments of the year. Iceland has produced some very fine bridge players —none finer (or nicer) than Jon Baldursson, who was on the team that won the World Championships in Yokohama in 1991. One of the most interesting side
As Janet said last week, the recent European Open trials made for compulsive viewing. Ten pairs took part; first and second place would join Andrew Robson and Tony Forrester (the only pre-selected pair) to represent England in the European championships in June. At the end of four gruelling days, the winners were Jeffrey Allerton/Chris
The first home tournament of 2018 was last week’s four-day European Open Trials. Ten selected pairs played 216 boards at IMPs scoring, competing for the chance to play in this year’s European Championships. The top two will join Andrew Robson and Tony Forrester (who were preselected) to form the team representing England. My regular partner
My friend Neil Mendoza and I had a great finish to 2017 when we won the Portland Club’s annual Auction Pairs (which is always a highlight of my year). I can’t pretend we had any real expectation of winning, but a combination of good luck, good play and flawless bidding by Neil meant we scooped
Well, I had a very merry Christmas thank you — and I hope you did too — but as usual I have torn myself away from the festivities, rushing back to play the EBU’s Year End teams’ tournament. I don’t know why I enjoy this tournament so much — it’s certainly not the very unglam
Know thy opponents — experts make a point of it. When you’re at the bridge table, it’s just as important as knowing your partner, or indeed yourself. Strong players, after all, are far more likely to duck tricks, or play false-cards; weak players are altogether more predictable. An interesting declarer problem came up during
The year is drawing to a close and this is my last column before Christmas. May I wish you all a very merry one? TGR’s autumn Superleague finished last week and was won by my friend Jonathan Harris and his merry men. For once that evil old mantra ‘When a friend succeeds a part
Being on lead against a grand slam is bad for your blood pressure. So much is at stake (not least, having to face the self-satisfaction of your opponents). Luckily, there is a rule of thumb which obviates the need to stress too much: always lead a trump. This is sensible advice: it’s normally the best
When I first started playing tournament bridge there were relatively few European sponsors. The US was buzzing with sponsored teams — many of whom were selected to represent their country and a few of whom became world champions. There is no greater education for the ‘inexpert’ than discussing the boards with great professionals and letting
I spent last weekend glued to Bridge Base Online, watching the 16th European Champions Cup taking place in Latvia, and waving my little St George’s flag. England’s Allfrey team produced some spellbinding bridge, and after 11 rounds they topped the round-robin. Unfortunately, they went on to lose the semi-final to Norway, and ended up coming
The third and final weekend of England’s Premier League took place in Solihull and was a very jolly affair. All three divisions played at the same venue, which meant lots of bridge chat between sessions and lots of speculation about who was likely to get promoted or relegated. In division one, the eight teams were
Call me middle-aged, but the days when I enjoyed playing bridge all night are long gone — which is why I opted out of last weekend’s 24-hour marathon at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club. Thankfully, 27 brave pairs did play, starting at midday on Saturday, and ending at midday on Sunday (without a break). By
When I started playing bridge in earnest, the first tournament I entered was the EBU’s Autumn Congress, which back then was held in Bournemouth. Two days of pairs and one of teams. I had never had so much fun. Ofc I came nowhere in either event but the joy of playing all day and then
Bridge is a partnership game — but haven’t you sometimes wished you could file for a quick divorce mid-rubber? The problem is that however maddening your partner, if you try to give him a taste of his own medicine — by overbidding wildly, for instance, or ignoring his suit-preference signals — it would be like
