European Youth Team Championships - Day 0

I'm the non-playing captain of the Scotland U26 bridge team, and my main responsibility has been getting the team to the championship in Veldhoven, near Eindhoven, in the Netherlands. That mission has been largely successful, as five out of the six have made it. That might sound bad but for a while we had only three players (a very bad number for a bridge team) and I only just made it here myself, arriving after the registration desk had closed (apparently there's a stroop-wafel in the goody-bag).

Schiphol airport was not the problem, rather trains across Holland. But the important thing is we have a team, and I have submitted the line-up for tomorrow morning' match ahead of schedule. Choosing the four to play was made easier by the fact that one of our team who lives in Amsterdam had to return there after getting stuck in Rotterdam for many hours. She will try again tomorrow morning. It's a small country and I think between us we covered it all today.

Donald has promised that next time he is going to hire a van and drive everyone all the way from Scotland.

Our full line up is

Michael Kennedy & Donald MacKillop	Weak NT, four card majors
Tamsin Munro & Jamie Day	Weak NT, four card majors
Jack Shearer & Lydia Foale	Strong NT, five card majors

While everyone else was registering and enjoying their stroop-wafels I attended the captain's meeting. Lots of questions about the new tablets that are being used for bidding, alongside real cards. After that the Opening Ceremony - there are 28 nations here in events from U16 to U31. Plus a magic show. A woman got into a box and her top half was slid sideways, to the sound of Crazy in Love. My favourite bit among the many card tricks (know your audience) was when someone threw playing cards quite far into the audience. 

It is very hot here, even at night. We just played a few practice hands in sweltering bar but I'm assured the playing area is cooler. Hopefully the heatwave won't affect the Northern European teams unduly. But we are not here to win it. Scotland has a very inexperienced team and we will be learning rapidly as the event progresses. With no Northern Ireland team we are the minnows. But, I wonder, can the minnows become winnows? Probably not tomorrow morning as our first match is against Sweden, who start as favourites alongside Poland.

Slightly confusing event website here

 

 

Scottish Schools 2022

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 match between S2 and S3 this board produced some big scores. On one table Claire & Parveen made 5H as North-South for +650. On the other table the North-South pair of Niamh & Rachel also got to 5H, this time doubled by East. This also made 11 tricks for +850 and a victory for the S3 team.

In the other match the pre-tournament favourites faltered as North-South in 5S-2. Were they in trouble this year?

Not for long. Kevin & Michael were the only pair to reach 4S here. As Kevin said afterwards "it just needs a lot of guesses." He got them right for +420 against +140 on the other table. 

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. 

Finally this board produced a range of results. 3NT is there for East-West, but it's a complicated hand. Well done Imogen & Isla S for bidding and making it.

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. 

As North I tried a Club, hoping to hit my partner's long suit (which I suppose I did). Declarer (Alex) was merciless. She took three Clubs, two Diamonds, three Hearts and two Spades for ten tricks, and an unusual 1NTx + 3.

  

Overall I think the pupils had a good day out. The packed lunch I'd prepared was generally well received, particularly the entire tray of brownies (I didn't get one) and the pretzels (no chance).

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. 

Buchanan Pairs

After a long hiatus, and the birth of his first child Xander, I reunited with John Faben for a pair's evening at the Buchanan. This was run simultaneously with the Buchanan's online pairs.

Our most talked about board was the first one:

John		Danny
W	N	E	S
3♦	-	-	3NT
-	4♥	-	-
-

John opened the bidding with 3♦, passed round to South who promptly bid 3NT. North corrected to 4♥. I cannot fault the ethics of our opponents as South didn't dither about the 3NT, so North's decision to remove to 4♥ can't be said to be influenced by any uncertainty from his partner.

North has hit the jackpot here though - as parnter has good Heart support and only a single Diamond stop. 3NT was tried at a few tables, and went four off.

Against 4♥ I led my King of Diamonds which declarer took with the Ace, curiously dropping the ♦8 from hand. When he started on trumps I snapped up the Ace, and crossed to my partner's Ace of Clubs. John then underled his ♦QJT9 across to my high ♦7, and I gave him a Club ruff for one off.

At least, it would have been nice if that's what really happened.

Declarer did really drop the ♦8 at trick one, so this defence was possible, but when in with my trump Ace I cashed my winning Diamond before playing Clubs. I knew this was matchpoints and was worried declarer had something like ♣Ax and was going to discard a Diamond. When I then played a Club to partner's Ace that was the end for the defence. I do believe John would have underled his Diamonds if I had of put him in with a Club earlier though (partly because he thought it was IMPs scoring).

Conceding 4♥= got us just 19%, so I suppose I shouldn't have worried about holding declarer to ten tricks.

After this missed opportunity for glory we did fairly well. I overbid a little but they mostly came home and we finished on 63%.

Rowan/Buchanan vs Stirling

Anna and I didn't really get the cards in this match, but we still did plenty of bidding. We played more than our fair share of contracts, mostly with me declarer, giving Anna time to eat her dinner and do some yoga. Overbidding nonvulnerable was generally a winning strategy, although I did get a bit tired of trumps breaking 5-1.

On the very last board I faced a classic dilemma of deciding whether to accept partner's 3NT suggestion or insist on my major. My general rule is to always play the major if you know you have at least an eight card fit. But I didn't do that here.

West opened a heavy 3♣ and when it came round to Anna she doubled. I responded 3♥ and Anna bid 3NT, which I left in.

In 3NT you only have three Spades, two Clubs, and two Diamonds, so it's clear you're going to need some Heart tricks. The only way this is going to happen is if Hearts are 2-2 (else you can never get to dummy), and if Hearts are 2-2 you might as well be in 4♥ (barring the Spade ruff).

Here the Hearts did behave, but as West had a surprisingly good hand he got back in twice and 3NT lost lots of Club tricks. If that wasn't the case then 3NT might still have made - and it's also not totally clear when East wins his Heart trick that he must return a Diamond and not a Spade. However, on both the tables that tried 3NT East found the Diamond switch and the result was 3NT-4. The tables that bid 4♥ both made it.

I'm not sure if Anna's decision to double first affected my choice to leave in 3NT, as I wasn't sure what her bidding meant. She thought bidding this way showed a stronger hand, I thought it showed at least one four card major (in this case four Spades). I was mainly put off bidding 4♥ as I thought trumps might split badly or they might get a ruff (and I secretly hoped Anna had a running Diamond suit).

What should it mean to double then bid 3NT here?

Overall honours were about even on our table but we lost to a strong Stirling side 14-2.

Rowan/Buchanan vs Metropole

In the first match of the Glasgow Summer League Anna and I were part of a team of eight playing aggregate. A 7 o'clock start is always pushing it for us to get the kids to bed, and this time I had the extra excitement of directing a match for my Juniors that started at 630. So at any lulls in our match on Bridge Base I looked over to Real Bridge to see how the pupils were doing.

It didn't prove too distracting and I think Anna and I concentrated well. What helped our concentration was that the opponents gave us the occasional gift, which is always welcome. Although we didn't get many good cards (and lost our table by 1450 points) I think we had the better of it, and the other North-Souths were all behind by around 3000 points.

This was the most interesting board:

East opened a top-notch weak 3♠ passed round to me. I'd much rather play 4♣ than defend 3♠, so I bid it. However, my reasoning is faulty, as any time partner has any sort of hand that gives 4♣ play I'm going to get raised, as happened here. Anna bid 4♥, which is a good bid and much better than 5♣. If I have the strength I've promised for a four-level overcall and a decent fragment in Hearts 4♥ rates to be OK. However, I have neither, and 4♥ was something of a struggle. After the defence found their cross-ruff Anna lost the first eight tricks, but recovered well for 4♥-5.

West said she didn't double as we would likely run somewhere else, probably 5♣x-2, and maybe I should bid 5♣ the first time. I just felt like keeping it as low as possible once I'd overbid once.

Five-off non-vulnerable for a score of -250 wasn't too bad (this was aggregate scoring), especially as they looked to be making +140 for 3♠=. But in fact our team-mates Anna and Neil saved us, as Neil opened the East hand 4♠ and made it. The defence ought to have two Hearts, one Diamond and a trump, but it's not easy for South to cash both top Hearts, and in fact on Neil's table one Heart loser went on the ♣A and when South got back in with his trump he played a Diamond, giving the contract.

In the other match East played 3♠-1 and 4♠-1.

In my other featured board Anna and I defended well to beat a strong NT:

Declarer has six tricks on top so we have to be very careful not to give it away. Anna led the ♦A, and I discouraged with the ♦8. She switched to a Club, and later when I got in with Spades I led a Diamond through, for one off (declarer can make by leading a Spade up directly up to the King, but had already cashed all the Hearts by then and was stuck in hand).

On the other table playing a Strong NT East was allowed to make 1NT from a low Diamond lead. The pairs playing a weak NT opened 1♥ and played 2♥= or 3♥-1.

Overall Team Rowan/Buchanan won the match by 2210 for a 12-4 win.

Ukraine Sim Pairs at Bawburgh

On Wednesday afternoon Anna and I returned to Bawburgh for a special event - the Ukraine Sim Pairs. After playing very little (and not at all face-to-face) this was our third session of the holiday, and we were well prepared. Anna even brought her own decaff tea bags.

 

In the first round we had a sit-out, and were then immediately faced with a strong pair playing a strong Club system. I was about to remind Anna of our defence to the Strong Club (which I was certain she'd forgotten) when I realised I'd already looked at my cards, so said nothing. 

Throughout the afternoon we were sharp, with only a few little blunders. On the one below the opponents bid aggressively to a borderline game, and I made a very poor lead to help them make it:

	Danny		Anna
W	N	E	S
			1NT
2♥	2♠	3♥	3♠
4♥	-	-	-
-	-

Anna opened 1NT and West was right in with 2♥. Anna and I have discussed what to do when they interfere with our 1NT and my 2♠ just shows a weak hand has Spades. When East competed Anna went on to 3♠, but West had no problem bidding the game.

With me having 6 points and Anna 12-14, and the opponents inching to game, it was obvious they didn't have a lot to spare. That calls for a safe lead. However, I went for something different. Looking at the North hand, what do you think is the worst possible opening lead?

I carefully selected the KC. I hoped this would give me a good chance of a ruff if Anna had the Ace, or at least would be safe if Anna had the Queen.

Declarer (Brian Bedwell) won in hand and immediately tackled trumps, leading from his hand. This gave up the chance of finessing, but was surely the right play expecting my lead to be a singleton, and knowing that he could make 4♥ this way. 

Not surprisingly no one else found that lead, but around the room 4H still made on Diamond and Spade leads. In fact game is still pretty safe on a Spade lead (for example), as South will probably play low. To beat the game South needs to win the Ace of Spades and return a Club, declarer finesses and loses, North returns a Club, and then when in with the Ace of Hearts South gives partner a Club ruff. I'm not sure we would have managed that (and in fact declarer can still prevail by refusing the Club finesse).

That was our worst board scoring 25%. Everything else was average or better.

Another blip was one near the end where I played 2♥ incredibly slowly and made +1, but actually I should be making +2 (I played two suits in the wrong order, costing two tricks, then recovered one with an endplay. Anna said it was agony watching, and felt like apologising to the opposition).

With good play and lots of luck we finished on 74%. 

Since this was a Sim Pairs our scores were compared with those in many other bridge clubs (including in Switzerland and South Africa) and moderated down to 71.68%. This was slightly annoying as the top pair (out of 600+) was on 71.80%. If I'd have just made 2H+2 we'd have been top.

Walberswick Bridge Club

Last Tuesday afternoon Anna and I returned to Walberswick Bridge Club. It only runs every other Tuesday, and we only play every other year, but we were still recognised by a few of the locals. It's my favourite local club to play at. This time we decided to walk there from Southwold. We thought we were going to be late but found that Google Maps doesn't know about the path alongside the harbour, and we were actually there with time to spare.

Anna and I did pretty well, though I messed up the defence in one hand. We had set up some winning Diamonds, but I forgot they were winning, and rather than cash them played a Club. The look of surprise on Anna's face told me I might have done something foolish, and declarer duly took the rest. Apart from this we had a couple of minor issues, such as the bidding on this tricky one below:

Love All E deal ♠ x ♥ J T x x ♦ Q J x x x x ♣ x x ♠ J ♥ A K x x ♦ T x ♣ A K Q x x x

Danny Anna W N E S 1♠ x 2♠ 3♦ - 4♣ - - -

You can see that we both have Hearts, but didn't bid them. After East opened Anna was too strong to overcall so doubled. West bid a (very light) 2♠, and I decided that I was worth a bid. I thought with six of them I ought to bid my Diamonds. Anna now bid her Clubs, and was left to play there. With the Clubs splitting and the ♥Q doubleton 4♣ was no problem, but 4♥ would have been better.

As this was the first round we didn't have any scores to compare with, but it seems that lots of North-South pairs found this one hard to bid. And with 11 Spades between them actually East-West often won the contract, with 3♠= a common score for East-West.

On the other board that I remember (there were no hand records) Anna and I were both a bit too aggressive in the bidding:

Game all E deal ♠ A K x x ♥ K x x ♦ x ♣ J T 8 x x ♠ x ♥ Q T x x x ♦ x x x ♣ K Q x x

Danny Anna W N E S 1♦ - 3♦ x - 4♥ - - -

The auction started with opponents bidding 1♦-3♦. With the North hand I risked a double, even though I'm rather light and only have three Hearts. Anna decided she was worth a 4♥ response. This confused me as she couldn't muster up a 1♥ overcall, but you can see that even opposite my light double 4♥ has play (with only 18 point between the hands). However, it was not to be as the defence was accurate and took the Ace of Diamonds then Ace of Clubs and a ruff. Even though the ♥J was in the right place four losers meant one off.

Although -100 felt like a bad score, especially as we might have been allowed to play it in 3♥ it was about average as East-West were comfortably making nine or ten tricks in Diamonds.

Overall we were the top pair with 68%.