European Youth Bridge Championship - Tromsø 2015

This is a spectator's report from kibitzing at the European Youth Bridge Championship in Norway this summer.

Two weeks ago I was watching this tournament on BBO, then one week ago I was on holiday travelling from Oslo to the Northern Cape. On the way I stopped off in Tromsø and watched some of the final round of the U26 and U21 teams.

In the morning I sat with England coaches Bryony Youngs and Alan Shillitoe, who lamented their teams problems in coping with extremely aggressive opposition.

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Then I caught up with Scotland coach Liz McGowan. The U16 Scottish team had already finished their games, but the U21 team were in action. They recorded a good result in the first match of the day with a narrow loss to Denmark. I met Ronan Valentine & Liam O'Brien, who were not playing that match, then in came the rest of the team: Jun Nakamaru-Pinder & Stewart Pinkerton along with Suzanna Nesom & Olivia Bailey. We tried to work out how Olivia had managed to make a very tricky 3NT. Then we watched a video with Ronan and Liz being interviewed by the organisers (available here and surprisingly non-embarrassing, they are both pros in front of a camera).

Despite not doing too well in the event the team were in good spirits and seemed to be enjoying the trip. Jun told me the cheapest place for a pint in Tromsø, a steal at just 65 Kroner (£5)!

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In the afternoon I watched a live match of Scotland against Italy. I sat behind Ronan Valentine, and it was tense. For all of the first three boards he had big hands, and big pressure.

This was the biggest board of the match:

Love All W deal ♠ A T 7 2 ♥ Q 5 ♦ A K 8 7 3 ♣ A 4 ♠ J 6 3 ♥ T 7 6 3 ♦ 9 2 ♣ T 6 5 2 17 1 6 16 ♠ Q 9 8 5 4 ♥ J ♦ Q 6 5 ♣ J 9 8 7 ♠ K ♥ A K 9 8 4 2 ♦ J T 4 ♣ K Q 3

Ronan Liam W N E S - 1♥ - 2♦* - 2♥ - 3♥ - 3NT* - 4♠* - 5♦* - 5♠* - 6♦* - 7♥* - - -

The 2♦ response was 2/1, game forcing. Then 2♥ apparently showed six, as North was able to raise with a doubleton. 3NT was a slam try, and 4♠ was asking for keycards in Hearts (they play kickback, where the suit one above trumps is Blackwood). 5♦ showed two keycards without the ♥Q. 5♠ was a follow up ask for Kings, and the 6♦ reply showed either the ♦K or the other two Kings. Here, North knew that South was showing the other two Kings, ♠K and ♣K, so he confidently bid 7♥.

The auction was swiftly done and they were right in sync. The Italian West was a very quick player and as soon as he sensed they were getting to a grand slam he shuffled a Heart to the front of his hand, then instantly lead it. As you can see, with Hearts 4-1 there is an inevitable trump loser and the contract had to go one off. It was a tough break on the Scots, when the other table was only in a small slam.

Overall about one third of the tables were in a grand slam, which I think is good bidding. 7NT is the best contract, but still goes down as the Diamond finesse also fails.

The Scots went on to lose the match, and did not do well in the overall rankings. In fact it's fair to say it was not a classic tournament for Scotland.

In the U21 category this was the final table, with the top six qualifying for the next World Championship (in Italy).

U21
1	Netherlands	218.22
2	Sweden	205.23
3	Israel	189.18
4	Italy	171.98
5	Germany	169.71
6	Latvia	169.32
...
13	England	118.40
...
16	Scotland	49.22

The U16s featured a very young Scotland team:

U16
1	Poland	153.05
2	France	148.92
3	Sweden	148.48
4	England	144.41
5	Netherlands	142.75
6	Israel	134.78
...
11	Scotland	31.09

In the U26 these was no Scottish team, but note that England qualify in 4th:

U26
1	Poland	241.80
2	Sweden	241.54
3	Norway	229.41
4	England	210.64
5	Netherlands	209.15
6	France	204.31

If you want to pick over the full results, they are here.