This year’s Schapiro Spring Foursomes, England’s best tournament by a mile, wasn’t held in the usual Stratford-upon-Avon venue but in the rather grim Warwick Hilton. Adding energy and enthusiasm were four or five junior teams. Don’t imagine they are treated with kid gloves, though. A well-known figure on the circuit was playing against the Under
Playing rubber bridge the other afternoon for higher stakes than usual (£20 per hundred), I had a memorably miserable time. I just couldn’t pick up any points, and began losing money at such an alarming rate that I told myself I’d play one more rubber, then quit if my cards didn’t improve. What was
England had a narrow lead going into the second weekend of the Camrose, with the Irish National team and the Irish Bridge Union team (the host country gets to field two) in hot pursuit. The highly effective partnership of Espen Erichsen and Glyn Liggins (England) defended today’s hand against Wales while the two Irish teams
If I had to name my favourite bridge player… actually, I can’t, there are too many. But the young Danish superstar Dennis Bilde is certainly a contender. I’ve always been struck by his charm, his lack of arrogance, and his limitless energy — especially for fun. Even during major tournaments he’s been known to stay
I’m not saying that I want ‘She played bridge for England’ on my tombstone — but then again… Last weekend, due to the freakish weather at the beginning of March, my team was selected to play the second weekend of the Camrose Trophy in Dublin, as the Allfrey team, who won the place to represent
It was about 20 years ago that I first became friends with Janet de Botton, and urged her to take up bridge. Although I knew she’d love it, I didn’t hold out much hope that she’d get beyond ‘social’ bridge; the club scene was (and still is) pretty weird and intimidating. But Janet amazed me:
Have you ever picked up your hand, opened a weak 2 on a proper six-card suit (all right, if you’re being honest, maybe a bit underweight point-wise but you’re not vulnerable) and watched with mounting alarm as it goes pass, pass, DOUBLE, all pass? Have you then sat there while they take the first seven
Colin Simpson, who has died after a long illness at the age of 69, was a star both at the bridge table and away from it. I vividly remember first meeting him when I started playing rubber bridge at TGRs about 20 years ago. He was tall, with a commanding presence, and despite playing for
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
