The Open Team's Road to Pau

England has a considerable number of fine bridge players but can we produce a great team? Apart from The English Ladies Team, who have had a number of excellent results in recent years our successes in the Open and Senior events have been limited. Perhaps the forthcoming European Championships in Pau, France will help answer this question.

England will be represented in the Open Championship by Paul Hackett and Tony Waterlow, John Armstrong and John Holland and Jason and Justin Hackett. Opposition is likely to be very strong recognising the quality of teams such as Italy, Norway, Ireland, Netherlands, France, Sweden, Poland, Russia and other Eastern European countries. The Team are used to playing together and without exception the players have excellent temperaments, a factor of considerable importance in a series lasting two weeks and I believe they should do very well indeed.

What represents success? Our first objective is to qualify for The World Championship and after that a medal would, in my opinion, represent a fantastic achievement but with a following wind who knows!- The Irish Team have shown us what can be done with commitment, hard work and above all ability.

We need your support- any one in France who can spend a day or two in Pau, between June 15th to 28th, please come along and make yourself known to us and you will be made most welcome. I will try to respond to any emails or letters and answer any questions. If any individual or Company would like to be directly involved by providing some sponsorship, however small, please contact The EBU or myself and we will be delighted to discuss it with you. I believe it to be of paramount importance that all bridge players in the country get behind and feel part of the team in the same way that we support our football, cricket and rugby teams.

In future articles we will look at the prospects of the Ladies and Senior Teams and provide more information on individual players and, during the course of The Championships we will keep you up to date with the progress of our teams. Keep reading these pages.

Stockdale and Brown win Under 28 Trials

The trials for the Under 28 team that will represent England in the 2008 World Mind Sport Games (formerly known as the Olympiad) in Beijing were concluded yesterday, and the outcome was a win for Susan Stockdale and Fiona Brown. The trials winners were guaranteed selection so their place in the team is assured.

The rest of the triallists will have to wait until the selectors meet to decide the remainder of the team; that meeting will take place on June 4th.

Final Results

Susan Stockdale and Fiona Brown	136
Andrew Murphy and Simon Cope	121
Ollie Burgess and Andrew Woodcock	121
Mike Bell and Michael Byrne	119
Ben Handley-Pritchard and Alex Hydes	102.5

Under 28 Trials for Beijing

The Trails for the Under 28 team that will represent England in the 2008 World Mind Sport Games (formerly known as the Olympiad) in Beijing will take place this weekend, 17th - 18th May.

It will be a pairs trial (scored by cross-imps), and there are six pairs entered:-
Ben Handley-Pritchard and Alex Hydes
Andrew Murphy and Simon Cope
Ollie Burgess and Andrew Woodcock
Mike Bell and Michael Byrne
Ben Green and Duncan Happer
Susan Stockdale and Fiona Brown

The format will be a double round robin of 10 x 10-board matches with 50 boards on each day starting at 11.00 and finishing at 20.15, the winners are guaranteed seelction for the World Mind Sport Games.

The trials will be shown on Bridgebase online. You can download Bridge Base Online from their website http://online.bridgebase.com or view it without downloading anything, from the BBOTV website http://www.bbotv.com/vugraph/

Spring foursomes - Semi-final & Final

Congratulations to Chris Jagger, Filip Kurbalija, Ian Pagan & Tim Rees , winners of the Schapiro Spring Foursomes.

They had a massive final set, to beat top seeds Alexander Allfrey, David Bakhshi, Peter Crouch, Tony Forrester, Glyn Liggins & Andrew Robson by 57 - 28 in the final. They were undefeated throughout the tournament. This was their second victory over the Allfrey team in the tournament, they had already beaten them in Round 6 in the match between the last two undefeated teams.

Earlier in the day, two very close Semi-finals were fought.

In their match the Jagger had won through to the final by beating Jon Cooke, Martin Garvey, Jeffrey Allerton, Frances Hinden & Graham Osborne (seeded 11) ,

Meanwhile the Allfrey team had won through to the final buy beating Simon Gillis, Boye Brogeland, Tom Hanlon, Espen Lindqvist, Hugh McGann, Odin Svendsen (seeded 2) 56 - 53.

Spring Foursomes - Quarter-Final

There were no big surpises in this afternoons Quarter-final matches.

Alexander Allfrey, David Bakhshi, Peter Crouch, Tony Forrester, Glyn Liggins, Andrew Robson & Tim Rees (seeded 1) beat Geoffrey Wolfarth, Gary Hyett, Vladi Isporski & Valio Kovachev (seeded 7) 96 - 52

Simon Gillis, Boye Brogeland, Tom Hanlon, Espen Lindqvist, Hugh McGann, Odin Svendsen (seeded 2) beat Neil Rosen, Martin Jones, Catherine Draper, Ben Green, Duncan Happer & Andrew Woodcock (seeded 3) 72 - 36

Jon Cooke, Martin Garvey, Jeffrey Allerton, Frances Hinden & Graham Osborne (seeded 11) beat Ian Lancaster, Dave Franklin, John Frosztega & Gerry Stanford (seeded 32) 87 - 38

the Undefeated team Chris Jagger, Filip Kurbalija, Ian Pagan & Tim Rees (seeded 10) had a bye this round. They also get to choose their semi-final opponents, and chose to play against Cooke.

The Semi-Final line up is :-
Jagger*(10) v Cooke (11)
Allfrey (1) v Gillis (2)

*If Jagger (the undefeated team) is in arrears after 32 boards, the match will be extended to 40 boards. If they are still in arrears after 40 boards it will be deemed that they have been twice defeated, and they will be eliminated from the competition.

The semi-final & final which take place tomorrow (Tuesday 6 May) will be shown on Bridge Base Online. You can download Bridge Base Online from their website http://online.bridgebase.com or view it without downloading anything, from the BBOTV website http://www.bbotv.com/vugraph/

Spring Foursomes - Round 6

The upset of round 6 came in the match between the last two undeafeted teams, with underdogs Chris Jagger, Filip Kurbalija, Ian Pagan & Tim Rees (seeded 10) overturning the top seeds Alexander Allfrey, David Bakhshi, Peter Crouch, Tony Forrester, Glyn Liggins, Andrew Robson & Tim Rees by a score of 88 - 56.

In the once defeated pool, no. 7 seed Geoffrey Wolfarth, Gary Hyett, Vladi Isporski & Valio Kovachev beat the no. 4 seed Janet de Botton, David Burn, Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, Artur Malinowski, Nick Sandqvist by just one imp, 56 - 55.

The other results in the once defeated pool were:-
Neil Rosen, Martin Jones, Catherine Draper, Ben Green, Duncan Happer & Andrew Woodcock (seeded 3) beat Sarah Dunn, David Ewart, David Gold, Gunnar Hallberg, Andrew McIntosh & Tom Townsend (seeded 13) 59 - 53

Ian Lancaster, Dave Franklin, John Frosztega & Gerry Stanford (seeded 32) beat Alex Gipson, Paul Gipson, Finlay Marshall & Harry Smith (seeded 22) 91 - 58

Jon Cooke, Martin Garvey, Jeffrey Allerton, Frances Hinden & Graham Osborne (seeded 11) beat Patrick Jourdain, Tony Ratcliff, John Salisbury, Mike Tedd & David Jones (seeded 23) 83 - 62

Simon Gillis, Boye Brogeland, Tom Hanlon, Espen Lindqvist, Hugh McGann, Odin Svendsen (seeded 2) beat Sandra Penfold, Nevena Senior, Rumen Trendafilov & Kalin Karalvanov (seeded 25) 79 - 51

and that the draw for the Quarter-Final is

Undefeated team - Jagger (10) - Bye
Allfrey (1) v Wolfarth (7)
Gillis (2) v Rosen (3)
Cooke (11) v Lancaster (32)

Spring Foursomes - Rounds 1 to 5 Highlights

Round 1
Two of the top eight seeds lost a life to unseeded teams in the first round.

Nick Doe, Simon Husband, Stuart Nelson & Alan Shillitoe beat the No. 5 seed Rob Helle, Steven Green, Egbert Henstra, Ed Hoogenkamp & Simon de Wijs.

Steve Johnston, David Owen, Stephen Peterkin & Samantha Punch neat the No. 8 seed David Mossop, Gojko Zivkovic, John Carroll, Tommy Garvey, David Price & Colin Simpson.

However the result of the round was achieved by a team of Under 20's Juniors. James Paul, Graeme Robertson, Adam Hickman & Daniel McIntosh who are the England Under 20's B team beat the No. 13 seeds Sarah Dunn, David Ewart, David Gold, Gunnar Hallberg, Andrew McIntosh & Tom Townsend the latter four being the team that were runners-up in the trials for the European Open team only two months ago. Very well done to James, Paul, Graeme & Adam.

Round 2
Just one upset this round, again it was achieved by a team of Juniors (well almost). I say well almost, Michael Byrne is no longer a Junior, but only just, he still qualifies for our Under 28 team, and is Squad Trainer & Captain for our Under 20's team so that counts, surely? Anyway, his team consisting of Michael Byrne, Ed Jones, Rob Myers, Ben Paske, Tom Paske beat the no 7
Geoffrey Wolfarth, Gary Hyett, Vladi Isporski & Valio Kovachev, so another great result achieved by a Junior team. Well done!

Round 3
The result of the round was achieved by Sandra Penfold, Nevena Senior, Rumen Trendafilov & Kalin Karalvanov seeded 25, who comfortably beat the No. 9 seed Espen Erichsen, Glenn Groetheim, Nick Irens, Norman Selway & Ulf Tundal in the undefeated pool.

Meanwhile in the once defeated pool No. 21 seed Sarah Teshome,Tony McNiff, Bill Townsend & Richard Winter inflicted the second defeat over the No. 5 Seeded Rob Helle, Steven Green, Egbert Henstra, Ed Hoogenkamp & Simon de Wijs, causing them to become the first of the top eight seeds to exit the tournament.

Round 4
This is the round that will reduce the Udefeated Pool from 8 teams down to four. Three of the top four seeds survived, the only on that didn't make it through this round was No 2. Seed Simon Gillis, Boye Brogeland, Tom Hanlon, Espen Lindqvist, Hugh McGann & Odin Svendsen who lost their first life to No. 10 seed Chris Jagger, Filip Kurbalija, Ian Pagan & Tim Rees

Meanwhile in the once defeated pool the Under 20's team of James Paul, Graeme Robertson, Adam Hickman & Daniel McIntosh collexted another scalp, this time beating 21 seed Sarah Teshome,Tony McNiff, Bill Townsend & Richard Winter.

Round 5
We were now down to the last four Undefeated teams. No 1. Seed Alexander Allfrey, David Bakhshi, Peter Crouch, Tony Forrester, Glyn Liggins, Andrew Robson beat No. 4 seed Janet de Botton, David Burn, Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, Artur Malinowski & Nick Sandqvist while No. 10 seed Chris Jagger, Filip Kurbalija, Ian Pagan & Tim Rees beat No 3. Neil Rosen, Martin Jones, Ben Green, Duncan Happer, Catherine Draper & Andrew Woodcock.

In the once defeated pool one more of the top eight seeds was destined to go out, as two were drawn against each other. The outcome was that the no 7. seed Geoffrey Wolfarth, Gary Hyett, Vladi Isporski & Valio Kovachev survived, at the expense of John Armstrong, Paul Hackett, John Holland & Tony Waterlow.

The run of the Under 20's team finally come to an end when they lost to No. 11 seeds Jon Cooke, Martin Garvey, Frances Hinden, Graham Osborne, Jeffrey Allerton but they can be proud of their achievement, surviving as far as round 5 in such a tough tournament is no mean feat.