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
Somewhere between 1 and 3 a.m., I turn off the lights but I can’t turn off my whirring brain. Cards float before me, doubled contracts torment me and unbid slams haunt me. My antidote to this is Desert Island Discs. I always hope for someone who unexpectedly plays bridge or has a bridge story, Omar
Twenty-five years ago, Zia Mahmood offered a £1 million bet that no team of his choosing could ever be beaten by computers. A mere four years later, he withdrew the bet: robots were already exceeding expectations, and who knew how rapidly things would progress? In fact, computer bridge still hasn’t reached world-class levels (unlike computer
The youngest player on the great Allfrey team, Mike Bell, is forming a very strong partnership with David Gold. They have already represented England and had a hoard of good results. When playing at such a high level, not only do you have to be technically pitch-perfect, you also need to have the guts and
I’m writing this from Stuart Wheeler’s beautiful villa in Tangier, in the hills just above the bay, where for a week every September he hosts a high-stake rubber bridge game. There are sometimes one or two new faces, but usually it’s the lucky old regulars who return, like Patrick Lawrence, Alexander Allfrey, and none other
This summer was the longest I have gone without playing bridge since I began about 20 years ago. Not one single game, unless you count Bridge Baron, the computer programme that generates billions of deals to hone one’s skills and fend off withdrawal symptoms. Since my return I’ve hardly had time to unpack: both TGR’s
Aren’t the Irish supposed to be lucky? The Irish open team are having no luck at all at the moment. They’re such a funny and talented bunch, but they seem doomed to fall at the final hurdle. I recently saw them at the Spring Fours in Stratford-on-Avon — they reached the final, only to be
The 43rd World Bridge Championships held in Lyon has just ended after two intense weeks and hundreds of boards. The first week saw 22 teams from around the world play a complete round robin, the top eight qualifying for the play-off. The USA entered two teams, both of whom made the quarter-final, but only one
The ‘Lightner double’ is perfectly named: a bolt out of the blue which strikes fear into your heart. There you are, having bid confidently to slam, when suddenly one of your opponents pulls out the red card. Eek! It’s a Lightner double, which means they want their partner to make an unusual lead: either the
The first weekend of August saw two big pairs tournaments, one in Oslo and one in Eastbourne, with remarkable similarities: both attracted over 200 pairs, both were the same format, Swiss, which means that apart from a random first round you are competing against the pair with the nearest score to you whom you haven’t
The Andrew Robson Bridge Club in Parsons Green deserves its huge success. The standard may not be as high as at some other London clubs, but the atmosphere is always great. It is the place to learn bridge: the staff are friendly and fun; the rooms are large, airy and bright; the daily duplicates are
Thank heaven I am on holiday! For the past week I have been up until 4 a.m., glued to the BBO coverage of the Spingold Knockout Teams, the main event of the ACBL’s Summer Nationals, held this year in Toronto. In the very first round of 128 there were two major upsets: the Strul team,
This is a great time to be a bridge professional — not just for the world’s top players, who have their pick of super-rich sponsors, but also for those a good few notches below them. In London, there seems to be an ever-growing list of clients willing to spend £100 or more for a game
The first week of July is heaven for those of us who don’t normally hear the words ‘bridge’ and ‘holiday’ in the same sentence. Off we trot to Biarritz to walk on the beach, eat delicious food and, at around 4.30 p.m. every afternoon, take a stroll in the sun to the old Bellevue casino
Here’s one of my favourite hands from the European Open Championships — although it caused David Gold to spend the next hour kicking himself. David is a world-class player, but even Homer nods, and after days competing in a sweltering tent in the Tuscan countryside, he made a small error which led him to go
