This year's tournament was very kindly hosted by the Buchanan Bridge Club. I travelled there with some pupils by train, and the rest drove. This is the final year the current S6 are eligible to play, and our strongest team were expected to retain the trophy they won in 2019, the last time the event took place.
The pupils were duly impressed with the magnificent setting of the Club, and I think it led to a seriousness and focus rarely seen at our lunch time club, held in my classroom at The High School of Glasgow. I had also allowed pupils 'cheat sheets' to look at to help with the bidding, which I think helped them reach sensible contracts much of the time.
The pace of play was noticeably faster than usual, so that we even had time for a bonus round at the end where team-mates could play each other. At this point there was something of a relaxation of formalities, and one longstanding Buchanan member told me that although Bridge was normally played in a hushed silence it was nice to hear all the young people enjoying themselves.
Given the restrictions of lockdown all of the teams were from the same school, so we were guaranteed success. Here are the final results:
| 1st | +14 IMPs | S6 A | Kevin & Michael, Al & Harry |
| 2nd | -1 IMPs | S6 B | Louis & Xavi, John & Jonny |
| 3rd | -13 IMPs | S3 | Rachel & Niamh, Isla J & Caroline |
| 4th | -33 IMPs | S2 | Parveen & Claire, Imogen & Isla S |
The reason the IMPs column doesn't add up is that there was a 5th team, who actually got the top score. However, they contained a rolling cast of adult substitutes including myself (thank you Bobby, Susan, Neil, and John). Apart from us all being considerably overage some of us had played the hands before on Monday night. I'm pleased to say on several boards the pupils did better than John and I.
The two pupils in the 5th team, Landi & Alex did very well and I think they knew it. On being told they'd finished top but were ruled out they claimed that they'd won the event but had been disqualified, though I think they actually knew all along they weren't eligible.
Here are a few of the boards we played:
This board produced remarkably solid bidding and play throughout. Three East-West pairs bid and made 3C. Winning the board for their team were the occasional overbidders John & Jonny, who got this one right and played 3H as North-South, making exactly.
I confess when I played that hand on Monday using artificial methods, we did not cope well. I missed the Club fit and played 2D-1 as East, so a victory for the pupils.
In the other match the pre-tournament favourites faltered as North-South in 5S-2. Were they in trouble this year?
With a five-table teams match the results weren't clear until the end. However, Xavi & Louis must have known they had a good score here. North-South bid and made 5D=. With the Diamond finesse working and the Hearts and Clubs behaving well there are always 11 tricks, but it's not a comfortable contract.
On my table West miscounted and opened a weak NT. This went round to South who doubled for penalties. East (Landi) made a good decision to leave it in, and so 1NTx became the final contract.
The quality of bridge was generally very good, which is encouraging for the younger pupils (who next year will be the older ones). The only team who played poorly were the outgoing S6A team, who should have won by more, but still scraped by. Spokesman Michael said he was "happy with the result but not the performance."
I hope next year there'll be more schools competing, though if not we'll still have a fun day out.
Thanks again to the Buchanan Bridge Club for providing the venue, the catering, the boards, the bridge players and all the support.
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