Janet de Botton

Three enormous cheers for Thomas Charlsen, Norwegian International and great friend and teammate, for setting up and working day and night to organise the World Bridge Tour ‘hybrid’ invitational, which last week saw the first live tournament held in Sopot, Poland’s Brighton-on-sea. Twelve teams competed at the wonderful Grand Hotel where we stayed and played.  Waseem Naqvi and Lee Rosenthal, both living in London, formed a team with a strong Polish pair, previously unknown to them, and they did very well indeed. Today’s hand shows their most spectacular result (See diagram). Lee and Waseem are not a regular partnership but they both have the same ethos and don’t mind an overbid – or two! Was (South) opened a quiet diamond and West’s 2NT showed hearts and clubs.

In the real world many more contracts are made because the defence slipped up than because declarer did something brilliant. It is of course important to learn to communicate in defence, but we also need to learn to take charge and lead the way when the right path is clearly shown to us. When spotting a way to defeat a contract, don’t always assume that your partner has the same view of the land and will eagerly follow your plan. This hand came up in an early round of the Spring Fours, in a match between two teams that were not among the favourites! E/W elected not to take the sacrifice in 5◆, which in theory was a good decision. West led the King of Spades and another to East’s Queen, and on the Ace of Spades he discarded the two of Diamonds.

‘The more I practise the luckier I get.’ This is the mantra used against those of us who are dumbfounded by the awfulness of picking up endless Yarboroughs at rubber bridge and playing against the only pair in the room to bid a slam in duplicate matches. But what about the other end of the spectrum? This hand was shown to me by Nick Sandqvist and must be a contender for the luckiest hand ever played. It occurred in the last round of the Easter Guardian team’s event, but he was adamant that it made no difference to the end result. They had won the tournament already! What a waste! N/S had the kind of system accident that happens even in practised partnerships.

I have played the Easter Guardian in one event or another for the past 20 years. It is the perfect Easter tournament and everybody has fun, particularly in the mixed pairs. I wasn’t interested in finding a slightly more exotic alternative; the Royal National Hotel in Russell Square was where I most wanted to be. This year was different. I went on a mini-break to Italy (no card playing of any sort) but I kept a sharp eye on the EBU’s results page, and felt a pang of envy. After all how can sun, sea and food compete? The Swiss Teams was won by team ‘SUSHI’ (Shashou – Sandqvist, Bucknell – Kennedy). Charlie Bucknell played this hand brilliantly to bring in a nice swing for his team: A lot of bidding by everyone, but what’s new?

Imagine playing a tennis match against Nadal – and winning a game. Impossible, you would say (unless you happen to be Djokovic); but not very talented amateur bridge players can score big results against world champions – which is one of the things that makes it so special. I found out there was a smallish bridge tournament in Marbella and decided to go, as much for the weather as anything. We did well despite the monster bottom below.

Maybe I’m wrong but I can’t think of another sport, Mind or otherwise, where you can play against world champions as soon as you have learned the basics. The American Nationals are probably the best events for superstar watching and there are always a few players in the bar happy to chat and encourage newbies. My first National was in New Orleans. We played the Reisinger, made the final, didn’t come last and generally felt rather pleased with ourselves. I remember asking one of America’s best what he thought was the hardest thing for most keen players. He thought about it and said: ‘It’s very difficult to switch trump suit after you have found a fit.

The Camrose Trophy is the championship between the five home countries, held over two weekends, with the host country fielding a second team to ‘make up the numbers’. My team qualified to represent England for one of those weekends – Andrew Black’s strong squad played the other – and between us we won! And yes – before you ask, I did play! One of England’s brightest ever stars (and one of the nicest) was Tony Priday who died, aged 92, a few years ago. He played in the Camrose almost continuously from 1956 to 1986 and came out of retirement to play one more in the mid-1990s – which ofc his team won. Tony had two of the most essential qualities a great bridge player needs: technical ability and experience. Here he demonstrates he had a double dose of both (see diagram).

Lockdown has opened up a new venue for bridge players all over the world: HOME! Last Sunday the Helgeland Junior Bridge Club organised an auction pairs online to raise money for their Juniors to play in the prestigious Marit Sveaas pairs tournament at the end of May. They opened the bidding online at the end of January, which gave everyone a chance to bid for the star of their choice, from near and far, raising more than £13,000. I was lucky enough to ‘buy’ young Danish superstar Dennis Bilde. Sadly, I was muppet of the match! On the very first board the visuals on the RealBridge website made me think Dennis had overcalled 1♠, so with my two Aces I bid a no-trump which immediately got doubled.

The Reykjavik Bridge Festival is one of my favourites – two days pairs and two days teams. Brilliantly organised, friendly and a very high standard – what’s not to love? I played with Artur Mali, and Thor Erik Hoffa found himself a new partner, 15-year-old Nicolai Heiberg-Evenstad, a Norwegian Junior of limitless talent, who lives, breathes and dreams bridge. Today’s hand was played by me for 1 off. I should have heeded that old adage: when you have made a plan look for a better one. My 2♠ was weak. 3NT would have been a breeze but, understandably, 4♠ was the contract in both rooms. West led a high Heart. I won and ruffed a Heart in hand, drew two rounds of trumps and ruffed the last Heart.

Susanna and I are very pleased to announce we have a Fan! His name is Tony Graham and he edits the newsletter for the Oban Bridge Club. In his email he says: ‘Of all the bridge columns I read weekly [insert all the top names], yours are the ones I enjoy the most and find most useful.’ As Susanna said: ‘Who is this marvellous man??’ Thank you, Tony. I hope you like today’s hand played by England International Ben Norton in TGR’s Superleague, which has just begun its new season: North’s 5♠ was a good, practical slam invitation, and Ben had an easy raise with both a control in the opponents’ suit and a rich 17 count. West opted for a Club lead, won in dummy.

Being caught with your hand in the cookie jar must be embarrassing enough, but almost worse is being suspected/accused of cheating when you’re not! These days everyone (particularly online) is on their guard, and if you make a good play you can suddenly become the focus of attention for the wrong reason. My good friend Nick Sandqvist was playing a regular cut-in game on BBO with his favourite partner, when the following hand turned up (See diagram). South’s hand is playable in three suits, so Nick elected to start the bidding on the 1-level, but when partner had enough to make a negative double (showing hearts) he was off to the races. West led the ♣K.

This is (unbelievably) my last column of 2022 and I thought I’d give you my team’s highs and lows for the year. Highs would be winning England’s Premier League, closely followed by coming second in the World Bridge Tour’s final in Copenhagen; and you don’t get much lower than being beaten in the first round of the Gold Cup when you are the holders and seeded number one. Or being 36 up with eight to play and losing by one IMP. Here’s how it’s done: West led the ◆King, covered in dummy and ruffed by East, who cashed a top Club and switched to a Heart. I needed to dispose of the two losing Diamonds and maybe that would be possible if I could organise to throw East in.

Many bids and plays have been named after former great players. They may not have invented the bid as such, but they have coined it and made it famous. Names like Samuel Stayman and Easley Blackwood will live on for as long as the game is played. In 1929, Theodore Lightner gave his name to the ‘Lightner double’, used to request an unusual lead – often against a slam – when we hope to score a ruff or need dummy’s first bid suit led. This is well-known. What is rather less well-known is the ‘reverse’ Lightner double, occurring when you are on lead but want to alert partner that something unusual is needed to beat the contract.

The EBU’s Premier League (eight teams in Division 1 – seven 16-board matches each weekend) took place over three weekends, and after the second we were leading. Only one problem – I didn’t play the second weekend, which meant that to qualify I had to play five of the remaining seven matches which, naturally enough, gave my teammates a collective panic attack. Playing with my regular partner Artur Mali, we guzzled down 64 boards on Saturday and 16 on Sunday, won them all, and left the four professionals to finish the final two matches. I’ll skip lightly over match six but after match seven we had won… with a bit to spare!

Control freaks are deeply annoying and even more deeply uncool. Nobody wants to be thought of as a control freak when they think they are being organised and helpful. But at the bridge table control is everything. As declarer you are in the driving seat and understanding the concept of keeping control is vital. Often it means giving the opps what they are due as soon as possible while developing our side suits. The following hand is a simple but instructive example, and by recognising and applying this technique whenever needed, you will greatly improve your declarer play.  West leads the ♣J and things don’t look too bad. Barring any disastrous breaks, we should be able to ruff out the Spades and just lose two trumps and a Diamond.

High-level online bridge tournaments started almost as soon as lockdown began. It was going to take more than a worldwide pandemic to stop bridge players playing the game they love. All the tournaments were good and attracted strong teams from all over the world, but the one that stood out for me was the World Bridge Tour, a very good mix of online and live, and organised magnificently by Norway’s Thomas Charlsen. Keeping the dangerous hand out of play is not always possible, but we can sometimes make it too expensive for him to get in. The following very instructive hand cropped up in our live semi-final in Copenhagen, and was handled very nicely by my teammate David Bakhshi. West led the ♠4, David beating East’s Queen with his Ace.

The bridge world is experiencing an explosion of junior talent and enthusiasm. One of the very best is Sweden’s Sanna Clementsson, who may be only 21 but has already won two world titles in the Venice Cup (the Women’s World Championships), was the youngest female to become a World Grand Master, and was part of the Mixed Team who took silver in the WSB in Wroclaw, partnering Swedish International Fredrik Nystrom. This hand attracted attention when it was played, and deservedly so. Here is Sanna declaring 4 ♥. The contract was 4 ♥ at both tables and both Wests led a top Spade. In the first room, play took just a few seconds; South won, drew trumps and finessed in Clubs. East won and played the obvious ♦J, and the defence had four tricks.

Wroclaw, in Poland, played host to the Open World Championships in August this year. The Open Teams, the first event to be played and arguably the most prestigious (and the most fun), is known as the Rosenblum Cup. Eighty teams entered and played for a week before two emerged as the finalists. They were an all-American squad of superstars, captained by Nick Nickell, and the Argentinian/Swedish team captained by Juan Carlos Ventin. Ninety-six boards were played over two days, which made riveting viewing on BBO for anyone who was interested. Today’s hand shows Sweden’s Frederic Wrang, playing with Antonio Palma for Ventin, finding an unusual and interesting defence against 4♠ (see diagram).

When was the last time you made a doubled slam – a slam that could and should have been defeated – and lost IMPs on it? Today’s hand comes from the qualifying rounds of the Mixed Teams at the World Bridge Series in Wroclaw. The North hand was shared all over social media, but it’s not a play problem or a defence problem. It’s a judgment call and it’s probably happened to many of us, but as South said modestly at the end of the hand: ‘I know I’m a terrific player, pard, but even I can’t know you have an Ace in your hand when I doubled!’ Here it is – what would you (as North) have led?

Do we need complicated bidding systems to reach the best contracts? The Portland Club (men only) operates a no conventions at all policy, which most of its members don’t stick to if they are playing outside tournaments. Some however treat ‘natural’ bidding with a fervour bordering on the messianic. One such was the ghastly Demetri Marchessini. The first time I played Biarritz, some 20 years ago, he had hired a super professional team; he partnered French world champion Paul Chemla and their teammates were Tony Forrester and Tom Townsend. Natural methods only obvs. On the second day Tony and Tom bid and made 4♠ after a 1NT opening. DM questioned how they got to the winning game and was told they had used Stayman. The whole team was fired on the spot!