Janet de Botton

To paraphrase E.L. Wisty, the late, great Peter Cook’s alter ego, ‘Some people are born lazy, some become lazy and some have laziness thrust upon them.’ If you are any of these, there are going to be some contracts that you could make but don’t. I speak from years of experience! The more we play, the better we become at recognising patterns and we instinctively know how to play many hands. But even for the best players, hands do come along where the only way to find the right line is to play it through in your head, all the way to the end. This hand stumped an international player, when he didn’t put enough work in. Would you have done any better?

The bridge world is coming back to life with a bang. The World Championships were held (live) in March, the Europeans in June, the Rosenblum Cup (transnational teams) is coming up in Poland mid-August, and tucked in between, the ACBL’s Summer National Spingold Teams, won by Pierre Zimmermann’s brand-new, unstained, all-singing, all-dancing, glittering team, who beat the Street team by one IMP! I highly recommend kibitzing on BBO. I watched the Spingold as much as I could and I like to think I learned a bit. There was much chat from the commentators about good players showing great technique in the card play – they take a ruff here and unblock a middle card there – but for most of us it’s hard to understand exactly why they do it.

The return to pre-Covid normality has been slow and a bit dispiriting. Attendance at the popular English tournaments has been worryingly low with some events being cancelled (or moved online) because so few pairs had entered. Going anywhere abroad has been tinged with terror because what if you tested positive and had to isolate for… ever! Well, enough snowflakery. I want to play live and find out if my table presence is still the best part of my game. It’s off to the most luxurious bridge festival of them all – Biarritz! Sun, sand, sea, one long session of bridge starting at 4 p.m., followed by a delicious dinner. Perfect! And jam-packed.

Rubber bridge is a game that happens to suit me very well: you can come and go as you please and you don’t need a partner. You just wait for those magic words ‘Table up’ and you reply ‘One in’! Ofc I quite understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea: there are so many different personalities – some you like and some you can’t stand. And most of them, good, bad or indifferent, want to tell you what you did wrong at the end of a hand – which is fine if it’s said pleasantly and not shaking their head and muttering some profanity. It also helps if they are right! No matter how basic, advice can be helpful. This is something David Herman, who sadly died last year, told me early on in my rubber bridge days.

When lockdown struck, high-standard online bridge tournaments sprang up and with them a multitude of cheats, world champions among them, crawled out of the woodwork. The World Bridge Tour came about when Norwegian stars Boye Brogeland and Thomas Charlsen, who had done so much to uncover the 2015 cheating scandal, analysed hands played by suspect players, and effectively barred them from entering. A couple of weeks ago, they moved offline to hold their first F2F event in Lillehammer, Norway. The British presence was impressive, with four top English teams taking part. My friend Simon Gillis eventually won the final against a strong Norwegian/Scottish team, and again the winning team contained one of the hottest pairs around – the twins Ola and Mikael Rimstedt.

In honour of Her Majesty the Queen’s awe-inspiring Platinum Jubilee, I have not one but two hands, illustrating the power of pre-empts – even when they are psyches! Did I mention we got knocked out of the Schapiro Spring Foursomes by one IMP? Playing the last eight boards of 32 we went in 36 IMPs ahead and emerged having lost 37! Richard Plackett, playing with Espen Erichsen for team Orca, picked up the following hand on the very last board: ♠x/♥Q 10 9 x/◆ xxx/♣Q J 10 9 5 and opened… 3♣! David Bakhshi, with his flat 20 count and double stopper in Clubs, overcalled game in NTs which, very sadly, went 2 off. At the other table they passed the Plackett hand, leaving the next player to open 2NT, which got passed out and went one down.

It was time to celebrate! The Schapiro Spring Foursomes was back again after the enforced Covid break, and the EBU’s best tournament (IMHO), with its double elimination format, was down in numbers but not in quality. My team was knocked out in the quarter-final by 1VP by the team that eventually won: Team Hinden, a highly successful and effective foursome, who had added Tony Forrester (no less) to their squad. Today’s hand shows Tony’s excellent technique succeeding where many of us would have failed, taking the easy route. West led a Spade, and Declarer tried the Queen, but East won and shifted to a Club.

My teammate Thor Erik Hoftaniska is having a bit of a moment. He won last year’s (online) Gold Cup (on my team), hoovered up the Champion’s Cup playing for Norway in Slovakia, won the main pairs event in the Easter Guardian, and has just taken the gold medal for winning the Norwegian Premier League. Not bad for six months’ work. Last week we played a rescheduled Super League match against Martin Lerner’s team. Waiting to score up, T E’s partner Tom Townsend said: ‘Hoffa made a great play. He ducked the ♠Q.’ Doesn’t sound that great, I thought, but sure enough we picked up 12 IMPs. Before you could say mine’s a dry white wine, Martin came in and said: ‘Who ducked the ♠Q?’ Here is the hand.

It seems ironic that while many bridge players are fighting to ‘Keep Bridge Alive’, raising money to encourage and teach the next generation of potential enthusiasts, the English Bridge Union seems to be doing the exact opposite. They have just cut the funding for sending Juniors to championships – crucial to the development of their game – and not because lockdown has left them decimated. They have relocated the funds to further support our Ladies and Senior teams – many of whom are professionals or sponsors – while most of the Juniors are still in education. Go figure. Here is 17-year-old Sam Anoyrkatis playing and winning for England in the recent Junior Camrose. West led his Spade and Sam won the Ace and called for the Jack of trumps.

The England U26 juniors have been flying high lately. A couple of weeks ago they won the Junior Camrose, and last weekend they went to Belgium and brought back the Channel Trophy as well. One of the most talented players, Ewa Wieczorek, has already qualified for the English women’s team in partnership with Ewa Kater. An astutely gifted card player, this is how young Wieczorek capped off the Channel weekend. West led a top Club and switched to a trump, which went to the Jack, Queen and Ace. If trumps break, Declarer can make five of those plus a ruff in dummy. Three plain tricks make nine, but where’s the tenth? Perhaps Diamonds will break 3-3 or West will come under pressure. Ewa played a Diamond to the 9 and East’s Jack.

The Lederer Memorial Trophy was carried off this year by my lovely friend Jonathan Harris, albeit with a little help from his friends. Jonathan played with Steve Root but to sharpen his team, he shipped over Sweden’s new young World Champions Mikael and Ola Rimstedt. The boys are twins and I for one have never known which was which – but all you really need to know is that they are both terrific bridge players. The auction was identical at both tables, and so was the opening lead: a top Heart. At our table Mikael (or was it Ola?) was sitting South and West switched to a middle Club. M/O won in dummy and ran the Jack of Spades and, when that held, played another Spade. East took his Ace and forced dummy to ruff a Heart.

My friend Nick Sandqvist says that coaching the England juniors is a joy; so great when someone enthusiastic and creative is found to train the next generation. Shame the same can’t be said about the choice of Convention Card monitor, a gentleman who seems to think that a meticulously filled out CC is the most important thing for the survival of bridge. Today’s hand is from the recent OCBL Swiss on BBO. Two Junior teams played each other: At the first table, South played in 2NT. He had won the Heart lead and played a Club to the Jack and Queen. East shifted to a small Spade and a simple defence led to one down. At our featured table, the stakes were higher. West led the ♥J and East showed out.

You may not have heard of Sue Johnson but she could be the fairy godmother bridge needs right now. Not only does she go into primary schools to introduce young pupils to mini-bridge, she’s also the producer of the New Tricks videos which can be seen on YouTube, giving bridge much needed exposure in the virtual world. ‘Battle of the Partners’ pits world-class players against their own regular partners with some fascinating results. I urge you to watch. Today’s hand is one where the partnership could not have taken more divergent paths. While his esteemed partner passed the hand out, our Declarer not only opened the bidding but also jumped on his second go. He then had to swap seats with his robot partner and try his hand at 4 Hearts on a trump lead.

During lockdown I had a bit of a tidy-up and came across a Post-it note with the following statement written on it from a member of my team: ‘I WILL NEVER DISCUSS BRIDGE THEORY WITH JdB AGAIN. IF I DO SO I WILL JUMP OUT OF THE WINDOW.’ Bit much, I thought at the time. I only said I didn’t agree. Last week the mixed trials for June’s European Championships took place at Young Chelsea. No serious bust-ups but a sliver of temperament: South led the ♥Q. On the first Spade from dummy (West), North won the King and switched to his singleton Diamond. East covered with the ten and South, after a moment’s pause, covered with the Jack.

Why is defence so difficult? Why do I have to suffer partner’s incredulous face when I play the wrong card in a two-card ending? Again. My New Year resolution is to slow right down and try to work out Declarer’s shape before playing a card. Some hope. I was watching a YouTube video from a World Championship match a few years ago and two hands in a row turned up where the defence had ‘an easy four tricks’ against game but failed to take them. This was the second one: Marty Fleisher, one of the most gifted American sponsors, was sitting South, playing for the USA. His 4♥ bid on four small at adverse vulnerability is not for snowflakes.

Bridge is not too enticing if your parents had card evenings when you were a child, which often ended in one of them storming out after a dodgy bid went septic. I’m sure that is the reason I learned to play so late, depriving myself of the thrill of being a Junior. Today’s Juniors practise with and get trained by some of the best players in the country and there is some serious talent emerging. The future of British bridge looks good. Today’s hand (presented as a problem for both Declarer and Defence) came up at a recent training session for the under-26s — most of whom are teenagers. Everything was going well. All the South players opened 1NT and got raised to 3NT, and all West players led a Spade — so far so good.

The 2020 European Championships were an early casualty of lockdown but hopefully 2022 will rectify the count! It’s going to be a busy year for bridge players with the Bermuda Bowl (World Championships) taking place in spring, the Euros probably in early summer, as well as all the old favourites that we have missed over the past couple of years. The EBU has just held two four-day trials to select the top three pairs who will make up the England squad — and a very young and energetic squad it is. The oldest (at 50) is my teammate and fellow bridge columnist Tom Townsend, who played with Ben Handley-Pritchard and won the qualification, Ben Green and Stefano Tommasini who came second with Mike Bell and Ben Norton third — average age around 30.

The Champion’s Cup is an annual competition for the national champions from 12 European countries. As my team won the Premier League in 2019, two years later we found ourselves on the way to Pezinok in Slovakia to take on 11 other strong teams. My regular team mates Thor Erik Hoftaniska and Thomas Charlsen, playing for Norway, won the event on the last board and we missed the play-offs by 1VP! Typical! Italy fielded a squad without any of the big names, but the killer instinct is in their DNA, which makes them very dangerous. Just look at what they did against the favourites from Switzerland: Tiziano Di Febo for Italy, in the South seat, might very well have considered passing out 3♥X with everyone vulnerable, but then it wouldn’t have been much of a story.

There isn’t much Nick Sandqvist (my first bridge partner, teacher and great friend) doesn’t know about bridge. He has been playing virtually every day for nigh on 40 years and doesn’t often make mistakes. He was playing Pairs at the newly reopened Acol Club when a situation came up that he had never spotted before and he went wrong. At this point I must come clean: I think I’ve got it, but I can’t be sure. I am quite certain that if this position came up tomorrow I would do the wrong thing, but if anyone out there does benefit, Nick will be thrilled. This was the hand. Nick was sitting West and started with the Queen of Diamonds, won in dummy. Declarer, the clever Norwegian Ingar Hansen, played a Club from dummy to his Queen.

YAY! We won the Gold Cup! We played Tim Leslie’s strong team in the 64-board final and beat them on the last eight board set. We were awesome — and I can say that because unfortunately I couldn’t play a single board in the semi-final or final. Result! Pushing hard to thin games (if you can play) has always been the way to put pressure on the opponents and IMPs on the score card. This was only the second hand of the final, but already there was no holding back (see diagram). At the other table, West made a T/O of 1◆, and North/South stopped in 3◆, going one down. At our featured table, stakes were a little bit higher, as Artur Malinowski (playing with David Bakhshi) had converted 3◆ to 3NT.