This weekend should have been the Schapiro Spring Foursomes, sponsored by Helen S., widow of the legendary Boris. Held in Stratford-upon-Avon, it is my favourite EBU event of the year, with its double-knockout format attracting very good teams from far and wide This is just one of many worldwide tournaments to have been cancelled —
The Alt Invitational is the online tournament that is attracting some of the best players on earth. When the whole world is on lockdown, nothing can take the place of the American nationals or the World Bridge Games, but Paul Street (Canadian sponsor) had an idea: invite eight strong teams to compete over five days,
I think it was Warren Buffett who said: ‘Bridge is such a sensational game that I wouldn’t mind being in jail if I had three cellmates who were decent players.’ It is so endlessly fascinating and surprising that you are rarely bored and never alone. Since the shock of all the bridge clubs closing overnight,
It was impossible to imagine, when I filed my column a fortnight ago, that I would be writing this one in a new and totally unrecognisable world. All places of social activity have been closed, which of course includes bridge clubs, and all games, leagues and tournaments have been postponed ‘until further notice’. The last
Just back from Monaco, the tiny principality famously dubbed ‘a sunny place for shady people’ by Somerset Maugham. Pierre Zimmermann, the biggest sponsor of all time, holds his highly prestigious European Winter Games and Cavendish Trophy there on alternate years. This year it was the turn of the Winter Games, a wonderful feast of bridge.
Bridge experts are a lovely lot. They give their time freely and generously to encourage and teach students and bring bridge to a wider, young audience. Prof Sam(antha) Punch organised a terrific pro/am event last week for 76 pairs and raised more than £50k for her Keep Bridge Alive charity. The Young Chelsea BC
The annual Icelandic bridge tournament, held in Reykjavik at the end of January, is one of the best on the international circuit. Two days Pairs and two days Teams, it attracts players from all over the world, including the US. This year the most interesting ‘new pair’ was the Grossack brothers, Adam and Zach. In
Have I mentioned that I played for England in the Camrose? And not for the first time either. Sadly this year we had to substitute Espen Erichsen, who was in Australia, and that sub was man of the moment, Alex Hydes. Now I am not going to list Alex’s many recent successes because, as my
2019 was a big year for Alex Hydes. HUGE in fact. He won, almost consecutively, three major international titles and several lesser ones. On top of that he and Ben Handley-Pritchard have just qualified to play for England in the Europeans in June. No wonder he’s in such demand. I have just returned from Edinburgh
For Christmas this year I am giving you a double-dummy problem. Too generous, I hear you cry — but better than another pair of socks. DD problems are usually found in books: specially constructed deals where you get to see all the cards, and then have to work out how to make your contract against
As 2019 draws to a close, it is time to review the year’s achievements and disappointments. My team’s highest achievement was winning the English Premier League, and the less said about the disappointments the better! Looking at the National Grading Scheme (the ranking for British players), I was slightly surprised to see that Mike Bell
Well, it has taken 12 years, two relegations, one second place and endless ‘nowheres’ playing the Premier League and we have finally won. After three weekends, a triple round robin and 336 boards, the result was decided on the last board, when my partner Artur Mali was put to the test in a delicate 3NT
Erikas Vainikonis and his father Vytas are terrific bridge players and have supported the game very generously. Their brilliant new website, BridgeScanner, gives us all a fuss-free location to get the information we need on tournaments around the world, including live running scores. Their other gift is a five-day mini festival, starting with the Grand
A couple of weeks ago two of the most prestigious events in the bridge nutter’s diary took place on the same weekend. The first was the mini-festival in Vilnius, impeccably and generously sponsored and organised by Erikas Vainikonis and his father, Vytas, in which my team played; the second was the Gold Cup semi-final and
After all the excitement of England making the playoffs in all four events at the World Championships in China, only the Seniors reached the final. They played against Denmark and lost but came home silver medallists. Congratulations to David Kenrick and Trevor Ward, John Holland and Alan Mould and David Muller and Malcolm Pryor. Well
The World Championships, held in Wuhan, China, came to the end of a gruelling eight days of qualification (eight teams out of 24 go through to the knockout stage) and England made it in all four events: Open, Seniors, Women and Mixed. The Open team was not clear until the very last match when a
Not many male bridge players over a certain age (ten) would call themselves feminists. I won’t repeat what the partner of one female European gold medallist said of her (and all women bridge players) at the table, but it wasn’t pretty. At a recent mixed pairs tournament a married couple — let’s call them
When did ‘literally’ become, literally, the most annoying word in the English language? Fairly recently I would guess, because ‘like’ as in ‘I was like… seriously?’ or ‘that’s like, so unfair’ was easily winning the title for many years. ‘Like’ has become a filler, taking the place of um and er, and generally making the
TGR’s Bridge Club in Paddington is the daily home to those of us who want to play bridge but cannot always adhere to the times of local duplicates. There is a game every afternoon and from time to time there is also an evening Goulash game; any contract at the one level (or passed out)
I have always thought the term ‘bridge holiday’ was an oxymoron. When I travel with my team to various events, we play highly competitively for about eight hours every day — a holiday it ain’t. Concentrating all the time is exhausting and (for me) impossible. Then there is the inevitable insomnia and the resulting ridiculous
