Beijing U21s. Part Seven

So, the competition is over and the medal has been won. Everyone would have liked a Gold one, but reaching the final of a World Championship and winning a Silver medal is a fantastic achievement and the whole team should be very proud.

The only thing that remains is to look at what went right and what we can learn for next time. The first thing is to never give up — after day one we had lost two matches and were on 48/75, not in a qualifying spot and not the start we had hoped for. But we stuck to our guns and won the next 11 to zoom into first place. The second thing is that plenty of preperation is essential — lots of practice with your partner, discussion of sequences, as well as making sure you arrive early for every match and start your campaign on the right foot.

The England team did all of this, and we return home heroes.

Thoughts of a Selector (5)

Well done to both our Open and Women’s teams who have both made the final of their events. Both are now guaranteed at least the Silver medal, but of course will be going for Gold.


Open team

The first half of the semi-final was very close and the match looked like to might go the wire. The coach in his posting, promised a step up in performance in the second half, and he was so right, as England won it resoundingly. Meanwhile Italy beat Norway by a similar margin in the other semi-final, so they will be England’s opponents in the final.

Looking at Italy’s form, they were comfortable winners of Group A, quite a tough group, and then in the knockouts have beaten India, Poland and Norway. They will undoubtedly be England’s toughest opponents, but you would expect that in a final. I’m sure England will be up to the challenge.


Women’s team

The England Women took the lead in the second set, and from that point on never looked in danger of losing their semi-final against Turkey. They won the match comfortably in the end. The other semi-final was a close battle between two strong teams and in the end it was China who emerged the victors, so they will be England’s opponents in the final.

China started slowly in the event. They struggled in the qualifying, only getting through in 4th place in their group. However they seem to have stepped up a gear when they reached the knockouts. First they beat Poland by a large margin, and they followed that with wins against two of the fancied teams, Germany & USA. The last time they played in a knockout match China were the winners, so England will be eager for the chance to reverse that result here.

Beijing Open. Part Five

Today witnessed the complete demolition of the Germany team by our England Open team. A terrific performance saw the Germans throw the towel in half way through the final set, not a common occurence to say the least. They were 143 IMPs down at the time.
We have been overwhelmed by wishes of congratulations and good luck for the final, so thank you all for them! Predictably we will face Italy in the final — (arguably, perhaps) the best team in the world. But our performances in this tournament give us hope of causing an upset, and we will certainly be giving it our all. Hope to post more in a couple of days!

Beijing Open. Part Four

Our quarter-final against Romania passed by relatively comfortably. The eventual winning margin was around 120 IMPs or so, and the whole team performed superbly to never give Romania as much as a sniff of a comeback. Our reward for the quarter-final victory is a semi-final tie against Germany, our group winners. The team is feeling in good nick and we are full of confidence.

The first day of our semi-final has been a difficult one to summarise. We are only 8 IMPs behind after 48 boards, and we feel we have not been at our best today. That leaves us extremely hopeful and confident that we can crack on tomorrow and forge a passage to the final. The team have had dinner, and will soon be in bed, getting hopefully a good night's sleep to prepare for tomorrow. Thanks to all the well-wishers, we will do our best for you all to emulate the fantastic England U21s and make the final. By the way, our women are in excellent shape, 73 IMPs up at the halfway point in their semi. Good luck to them too!

Thoughts of a Selector (4)

Congratulations to the England Under 21’s who have won Silver.

The Seniors lost their Quarter final match to Japan, but congratulations to them for getting to the last eight.

The Open and Women’s teams both won their Quarter-finals fairly comfortably and are now preparing for their Semi-final matches. If they win their Semi-final they will be guaranteed at least a Silver medal. If they lose they’ll take part in a 3th/4th place play-off for the Bronze medal.


Open team

The Open team will be playing Germany in the Semi-final. Germany were the winners of England’s group so this match will not be easy. However a 96 board head-to-head match is very different from a round robin, and the England team will raring to show the Germans who is boss. Tough a this is, it’s still preferable to taking on either of the other semi-finalists who are Norway, the 2007 World Champions and Italy the 2005 World Champions.


Women’s team

The Women’s team will be playing Turkey in the Semi-final. Turkey were 4th in their group and have got to the Semi-final by beating Finland and Russia in the knock-outs. England will be very happy with this draw, it’s preferable to taking on either of the other semi-finalists who are USA, many times world champions, and China, playing at home and one of the new forces in Women’s bridge.

Beijing Seniors. Part Six

Well, I suppose all good things have to come to an end. We finally met our match in the quarter final against Japan. The eventual margin was exaggerated by our attempts to get a lot of IMPs back in the 5th session, but there is no doubt we were beaten comprehensively. We could all have played better, but our opponents played very well and in luck, so this would have been a difficult match to win under any circumstances.

We can now devote our time to cheering on our Open and Womens squads both of whom have done fantastically well and made it through to the semi-finals.

Farewell from the Seniors in Beijing.

Thoughts of a Selector (3)

Hearty congratulations to all our teams for reaching the knockout stages of their events. They have surpassed expectations, a fantastic achievement. Well done from everyone back home to our players, captains and coaches, and good luck in the knockouts.

The importance of attaining a high finishing position in the group stages has become truly evident. Not only does it give the team a choice of opposition in the first knockout round, it also give the team a high seeding, which means if they reach the later stages, they will be kept apart from the stronger oppositions. This certainly appears to be the case for those of our teams that won or came 2nd in their groups.


Open team

The Open team finished 2nd in Group D are were drawn against Bulgaria in the Round of 16. They were quite happy with this draw, there were many more difficult teams they could have been pitched against. It wasn’t easy, no match is at this stage, but in the end they won by a fairly comfortable margin of 45 Imps. They won’t be unhappy with their next draw either, in the Quarter-final they meet Romania, with the prospect of Germany or Netherlands in the Semi-final if they win. Had they not finished 2nd they would have had a much tougher draw. USA, Poland, Italy, Brazil, China, Norway are all in the other half of the draw, I’m sure England will be pleased to have avoided them.


Women’s team

The Women’s team won their group with the 2nd highest VP score, only Germany scored more. They were able to choose their opponents in the round of 16 and were very happy to pick Singapore. It was not a walkover, but the final margin of 53 Imps was comfortable enough. They, like the Open team, won’t be unhappy with their next draw, in the Quarter-final they meet France, with the prospect of Russia or Finland in the Semi-final if they win. Germany, China, USA & the Netherlands are all in the other half of the draw, I’m sure England will be pleased to have avoided them.


Senior’s team

The Senior’s team finished 6th in their group and were picked by Poland in the round of 16. The match was a struggle for a long time but they emerged as winners in the by a comfortable margin of 50 Imps. In the Quarter-final they play Japan, and if they win that they will face Indonesia or the Netherlands in the semi-final.


Under 28’s

The Under 28’s finished 6th in the qualifying Swiss and were picked by France in the Quarter-final. France started the match with a carry-over of 12 Imps. They were unable to overturn this and eventually lost by 50 Imps. Well done to them nevertheless for getting this far, in a field of 74 teams this was no mean achievement. The players will now move into the pairs and the individual events where they have a further chance of glory.


Under 21’s

The Under 21’s won the qualifying group and as a result were allowed to pick their opponents for both the Quarter and Semi-final, a huge advantage. In the Quarter-final they chose the Netherlands. They started with a carry-over of 12 Imps and won the macth in comfort, ny a margin on 74 Imps. They have chosen China for their semi-final opponents who they beat comfortably in the group stages, and again start the match with a 12 Imp carry-over. The other Semi-final is between France & Bulgaria.

Beijing Open. Part Three

We completed the qualification stages on Friday, and courtesy of a game swing on the last board of our match against Serbia we managed to finish second in Group D. We discovered that our round of 16 opponents would be Bulgaria.

Saturday was our busiest day — with four sets of fourteen boards against a strong Bulgarian line up. The first segment saw us 19 IMPs to the good, but after the second we were only 8 up. The third segment was the one which decided the match, both pairs had superb cards and we galloped out to a 50 IMP lead. The last set gave us one nervous moment, when the Bulgarians who were obviously pushing bid a poor grand slam which made, but we came out comfortable winners by 45 IMPs.

The draw will see us line up against Romania today and tomorrow in the quarter final, and should we get through that we would face the winners of the Netherlands/Germany semi final. It is 1h30 until play starts here, so I must go and brief the pairs on the systems of the Romanian team. But, keep your fingers crossed for us!

Beijing Seniors. Part Five

We won our match against Poland today and are in the quarter-finals (along with the England Open and Womens Teams, and the Under-21s who are through to the semi-finals). It was quite nail-biting for a long time. We dropped 5 IMPs in the first set and another 1 IMP in the second, and it was not until well through the third set that we took the lead. The final margin of 50 seems comfortable, but the match was anything but. Poland are a tough and experienced team and the IMP total in the match was lower than any other round-of-16 match not only in Seniors but also in Open and Womens.

Tomorrow we start the two-day quarter-final against Japan who beat Germany today. We lost 13-17 to Japan in the round-robin over 16 boards and are looking to put that right over 96.

Beijing U21s. Part Six

And now we're into the Semi-final!

Our match against The Netherlands went pretty much to form, we won 20 in the first set, then 15 then 7 to win by 54 IMPs. Every pair played two sets so the team is feeling fresh and confident.

Our match against the Chinese is a bit of an unknown quantity — we played them in the round robin and beat them by 45 IMPs, thanks in part to a 3 doubled up one that our lads rolled home for 13 IMPs. We have to start sensibly and keep the pressure on, and make sure we cut out the errors — matches are lost not won.

Now, time for a game of Mario Kart I think — Rob Myers has thoughtfully brought his laptop and if I can only figure out how to use the keypad I might be able to win the Mushroom Cup...

P.S. Having just read the Seniors blog I can only apologise for my erroneous statement implying that the seniors team did not make it all the way up the Great Wall of China. That was based on speculation and assumption, and I should not have in anyway suggested that they are all a load of decrepit old people — they are a bunch of athletic tigers, waiting to take down the enemy as Poland found out to their cost today!

Beijing U21s. Part Five

A day off blogging for the esteemed Captain, so it's up to the Coach to fill in.

Another sterling effort from the lads who followed up a solid win against Argentina by bringing home the Ashes in style by taking a maximum from the Aussies. This put us 2VPs ahead of the French at the top of the table and we were keen to hold on to this advantage as it would give us preferential choices for the knock-outs. This was accomplished by means of a resounding tonking of Singapore, whose hopes of qualifying were simultaneously left in tatters. This in addition to the very surprising demise of the the Poles — who won the U20 Euros by the proverbial country mile.

So, given choice of finishers 5-8, we elected to lock horns again with the Dutch and then choose the winner of China vs Norway as our possible Semi opponent. Not only that, but in both matches we would start with the maximum possible carry over of 12 IMPs.

So, all that remained was the obligatory game of celebration night-time frisbee — something of a ritual in these parts, it's all about the long game you know.

Must fly. Got to tuck them up tight in bed for an early night and read them a story.

Beijing Seniors. Part Four

Well, we qualified for the round of 16, albeit with a quiet finish, losing narrowly to Brazil and Japan. We ended 6th in our qualifying group and will play Poland in the round of 16. They chose us (when they could have chosen Hungary) so our task is to show them they made the wrong decision! We start playing earlier than usual tomorrow — at 10 o’clock — and it is the longest day of the whole event because we have to play 56 boards. If we get through that, later rounds will be 96 boards spread over two days.

In a sense, the main tournament starts tomorrow, and we are certainly treating the match as the first in a new event. The weakest teams have dropped out so the bridge will now be less random and we will have to play well. We are looking forward to the challenge.

Yesterday’s rest day was welcome (although it would have been better after the end of the round-robin) and, despite what you may have heard elsewhere, some of the Senior Team (David and Peter) did visit the Great Wall, including a walk to the highest watch tower!

Beijing U28s. Part Four

We went to the wall today. No — don't worry — it was the Great Wall of China, not in the bridge sense.

Tuesday involved some scrappy bridge but we emerged with a respectable number of VPs upon which we consolidated with two decent wins on Wednesday. We're now lying third and failure to qualify would be a gross misfortune. Dare we think about finishing high enough to choose our opponents in the knock-out?

The team is in good spirits and confident but sensible. The captain and coach are nervous wrecks and checking their travel insurance to see if tranquilisers are reclaimable.

Keep your fingers crossed, our blog reading people!

Beijing U21s. Part Four

The matches on Wednesday went reasonably enough. We chalked up 23-7 against the Netherlands, the crazy pair having a very tough time of it when faced with my top pair. Against Poland we lost by 4 IMPs, but had the better of the big hands. They had a few lucky partscores to creep ahead though.

More importantly today saw all the England teams join together and go on a team outing. Jason Hackett did everyone a favour by hiring a coach and guide and organising a trip out, first to the Forbidden City and then to the Great Wall of China. Of the 20 players (U21s, U28s, Open and Ladies — sadly there were no members of the senior team since they don't really have the stamina to make it up the Great Wall!) that went off, only 5 climbed all the way to the top. Adam Hickman and I went first and on the way down we passed Ben Paske, Susan Stockdale and Martin Jones who also reached the pinnacle. The rest made it up a few steps before discretion took over and they took refuge in the cafe.

Tomorrow the final 3 matches await us, then the tricky decision of whom to choose!

Thoughts of a Selector (2)

We’ve reached the rest day and there is one day to go in the qualifying stage so time to reflect of the progress of all our teams, and sum up the position of the main opposition.

It’s still all going very well, all of our teams are still occupying their respective qualifying positions, and three of them, the Women, the Seniors and the Under 21’s are virtually assured of qualification to the knockout stages. Let’s look at the series one by one.


Open team

The Open team are still going well in Group D, and are still lying 3rd in their group. It’s panning out very much as I predicted in my last report, with five teams in contention for the four qualifying slots. Every match is important but there will be three matches on the final day that will have a large bearing on the final outcome of the group. They are Germany (1st) against Turkey (4th) in round 15, England (3rd) against Germany (1st) in round 16, and USA (2nd) against Indonesia (5th) in round 17. Germany have a sizeable lead but it is not yet an unassailable one, they can still be caught. The most important thing for England is to qualify, but if they can qualify in 1st or 2nd position that would allow them to have some choice of opposition in the first knockout round, and avoid the top seeds (listed below).

What about the other groups? There always seems to be one group that gets labeled the group of death, but in this case I think there are two groups that could qualify for that label.

First take a look at group A. Italy look safe, but behind them Denmark, Canada, France, Brazil, South Africa, Ireland, Pakistan & Japan are all teams that would fancy their chances of qualifying, but at least four of them are not going to make it. Even worse, from their point of view, is the fact that Estonia are occupying one of the qualifying slots at the moment, which mean five may not qualify. Also don’t rule out Romania and Finland who are also in there with a chance.

Now look at group B. Israel lead by a large amount and look safe, and main contenders for the other slots are Netherlands, China, Hungary & India. Again there could be a few casualties in this group, Austria, Sweden, Argentina & Russia, all fancied teams, are all quite a bit off the pace.

There are no big surprises in group C. Norway & Poland are neck & neck at the top, with just half a VP separating them, both look safe. Behind them the main contenders are Bulgaria, Spain, New Zealand and Belgium.

Who will be the top seeds? Well it can still change quite a bit in the last three matches but if the seeding were to be done on the currents scores the top eight would be 1. Germany 2. Israel 3. Italy 4. Norway 5. Poland 6. USA 7. Netherlands 8. Estonia, quite a formidable bunch.


Women’s team

The England Women’s team have continued their terrific form in Group E, winning thirteen of their fourteen matches so far, and have collected the maximum 25 victory points from six of them. They lead their group by 15 VPs from second placed USA and are a massive 50 VPs ahead of third placed Italy. They are certain to qualify for the knockouts, and the only question now is whether they can hold onto their lead and win the group. The match that will probably decide the group comes in round 15 when they play the USA, if they get a decent result from that match they should take the group. It will be very advantageous to win the group, as it will give the team a better choice of opposition on the first knockout round, and also get them a higher seeding for the latter stages which is very important. USA, who are currently second in the group look safe too. The other qualifying slots are currently occupied by Italy, Poland & Japan, with Brazil leading the chasing group.

Women’s Group F is very tight. Hosts China lead the group, but they are far from safe. The other qualifying slots are currently occupied by Finland, France, Denmark & Russia, with Spain and Scotland not far behind. China have a really tough finish, they still have to play Finland, France and Denmark, and France and Denmark also have to meet each other, so there will be opportunities for the chasing group, which means Scotland have a good chance of qualifying.

Women’s Group G has been completely dominated by Germany. They’ve won 12 and drawn one of their fourteen matches, and have just had a run of seven successive maximum 25VP wins. They are virtually certain to win their group, and Netherlands, who lie 2nd, look fairly safe too. There will be a mad scramble for the other qualifying places, it’s impossible to predict who the other qualifiers might be.

Who will be the top seeds? Well it can still change quite a bit in the last three matches but if the seeding were to be done on the currents scores the top eight would be 1. Germany 2. England 3. China 4. USA 5. Netherlands 6. Finland 7. France. 8. Italy.

The England women will be hoping this order doesn’t change, since at things stand they would not be due to meet any of the strongest teams, Germany, China, USA & Netherlands, until the semi-final.


Senior’s team

The Senior’s team are currently lying joint 3rd in group K, and they now a comfortable 36 VPs ahead of the last qualifying slot, so with only two matches they are certain to qualify. Their aim now is to finish as high as they can since if they finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the group, this will allow them to have some choice of opposition in the first knockout round. USA who lead, and Japan who are second have built up quite a large lead over the rest, and may be too far ahead to catch, so the realistic target for the England team to aim for is 3rd in the group. France (joint 3rd) and Chinese Taipei (5th) also look safe.

A similar situation exists in Group L where Indonesia who lead and Australia who are second have built up a big lead over the rest. Poland (3rd) Canada (4th) and Egypt (5th) look fairly safe too.

The top seeds, as things stand, would be 1. USA 2. Indonesia 3. Australia 4. Japan 5. Poland 6. France 7. Canada 8. England, but both groups are so close that this order is likely to change quite a bit by the finish.


Under 28’s

The Under 28’s continued their fine form, and although they are not yet guaranteed to qualify, they are certainly in a very good position. They are currently lying 3rd with an 18 VP lead over the last qualifying slot. All the teams at the top have already played each other, so the teams that are making a late surge will find it difficult, as they will probably have to play the teams at the top in each of their last three matches, so it won't be easy for them to dislodge any of the leading teams. Ideally the England team would like to finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the group, as this will allow them to have some choice of opposition in the first knockout round. They are only 12vps behind leaders Poland, so it’s still possible that they could finish in first place. The leading 5 teams, who have been at the top most of the time, are Poland, Israel, England, Belgium & China, and I’ll be surprised if any of these five don’t qualify.


Under 21’s

The Under 21’s are 2nd in their group, they have qualified in comfort and are now setting their sights on finishing as high as they can in the group. France lead the group and Bulgaria are in 3rd place. Ideally the team would like to finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the round robin, as this will allow them to have some choice of opposition in the first knockout round, and as things stand it looks very likely they will achieve this.


Under 26’s

We’re not represented in this event, as our team did not qualify from the Europeans. Poland are leading this event, and are followed by Netherlands and Australia.

Other Home Nations
A very brief round up of the other home nations:-

Open
Ireland are 9th in Group A, 10.5vps behind the last qualifying position and still have a chance of qualifying, Scotland are 14th in Group B, Wales did not enter a team.

Women
Scotland are 7th in Group F, 7vps behind the last qualifying position and still have a chance of qualifying Ireland are 13th in Group G, Wales did not enter a team.

Seniors
Ireland are 11th in Group L, Wales are 15th in Group K, Scotland did not enter a team.

Under 28's
Ireland are 42nd, Scotland are 48th, Wales are 51st.

Beijing Open. Part Two

Tuesday morning started with a match against the high flying Indonesians. The match was extremely low scoring, and was decided by a slam deal which went in their favour, so we emerged with a 13-17 loss. Then we played La Reunion, and we duly achieved the maximum 25 VPs we were looking for. The last match of the day was against the Greeks. We were winning comfortably, but in the last couple of boards the Greeks bid a roughly 50% slam which made, narrowing our winning margin to 17-13. We lay in 4th overnight, with everything being very tight.

Wednesday saw us kick off with a solid 20-10 win against Switzerland, and the second match of the day saw a 23-7 win againt Venezuela, who played solidly despite their lowly league position. The good news from our point of view was that Greece beat Indonesia, so we sit 3rd in the group, a couple of VPs clear of Turkey and more importantly 10 clear of Indonesia. Hopefully we can take advantage of that result and go on to secure our qualification on Friday.

Thursday is a rest day; some of our team are relaxing at the hotel, having a swim or using the gym, whilst some have gone on a trip to the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. We are in the final straights of the group stages, and on Friday we play Belarus, Germany and finish off with Serbia. Fingers crossed I will be able to post again when we have secured our qualification for the last 16!

Beijing Seniors. Part Three

Since my last report we have played 5 matches. Yesterday we scored 25, 17, and 12 against Hong Kong, Pakistan and South Africa, and today (Wednesday) we got 23 and 16 against Denmark and Estonia.

With two matches to go we are third equal in our group and almost certain of qualifying, but we have very little chance of catching either USA in first place or Japan in second. We are in a battle for third place with France (equal third with us) and Taipei (3 VPs behind in 5th). Third place is important because we would still have some choice, albeit limited, of knock-out opponents.

A feature of our matches seems to have been to fall behind early on and recover in the last few boards. That was certainly the case in our matches against Pakistan and Estonia, which we won 17-13 and 16-14 respectively after trailing a long way behind after the first 10 boards. Our team's slam bidding seems to have improved since Pau. David and Colin picked up two big swings to overtake Pakistan in the last 4 boards by bidding a good small slam and a good grand slam, both missed by Pakistan.

Tomorrow is a rest day. David and I are visiting the Great Wall, and the other team members all have plans of their own. It will be the first day that we do not have dinner together as a team.

We have our last two matches on Friday — the last day of the round robins. Our opponents are Brazil and Japan.

Beijing U21s. Part Three

Having completed 12 of the 17 matches we are virtually assured of qualification and have set our sights on winning the group.

The team is doing so well (having won the last 9 matches — most of them heavily) that it has got to the stage where they're disappointed simply by failing to get a maximum win!

Yesterday we scored a great 70 out of 75 VPs. Glowing with pride I rushed up to the first person I saw to have a gloat — it was Pony Nehmart of Germany. After spending a quick ten minutes assuring her that we did actually know each other and yes, we had indeed met (about 20 times) I brought the topic of conversation round to the scores. She didn't bat an eyelid at my grand announcement of 70 VPs, instead she was explaining that her team were desperate to find out who it was that had cost them the 1 VP they had dropped all day — they had chalked up 25, 25, 24! Ah well.

Tomorrow we have our friends the Dutch, who normally do crazy things like drop singleton Kings offside and finesse missing the Queen of trumps in nine card fits, and then Poland who are having a rough time of it so far.

Thoughts of a Selector

We’ve passed the half-way point of all the qualifying stages so this is a good time to reflect of the progress of all our teams.
We couldn’t really hope for a much better start, all of our teams are occupying their respective qualifying positions, and two of them, the Women and the Under 28’s are currently leading their events. Lets look at the teams one by one.

Open team
The Open team have had a great start, and are currently lying 3rd in their group. They had a reasonably good draw, not too many strong teams in their group, but with only four teams qualifying nothing can be taken for granted, the team will have to keep performing well to get through to the knockout stages. Who are the main threats? Well USA, many times world champions are one, they must be favourites to win the group. The other obvious strong teams must be Germany, who are currently leading the group, Indonesia & Turkey. These four teams, plus England, are currently occupying the top five spots, and I’d say it’s likely that the qualifiers will come from these five teams. Of the other four teams mentioned, England have lost 8 - 22 to USA but have beaten Turkey 24 – 6, witnessed on BBO by many of you this morning. They still have to play Germany and Indonesia. If the team can get good results against these two, and a few big wins against some of the weaker teams, they will be well placed to qualify. Ideally they would like to finish 1st or 2nd in the group, as this will allow them to have some choice of opposition in the first knockout round.

Women’s team
The Women’s team have had a fantastic start, they lead their group by 21vps. They’ve had a good draw and have capitalised on it with eight wins out of nine, most of them by large margins. The main threats in their group would appear to be USA and Italy, currently lying 2nd & 3rd in the group. They still have to play these two teams, so these two matches will clearly be key. The team is very well placed to qualify, but would ideally like to hold onto the top spot, as this as this would allow them to have some choice of opposition in the first knockout round.

Senior’s team
The Senior’s team are currently lying 4th in their group, with eight qualifying for the knockout stages, so they too are well place to make it through. The’ve been handicapped by the loss of one of their players, through illness, but have shown much resilience to remain in contention despite this setback. They’ve already played the team who most would reckon are the group favourites, USA, and has already been stated were particularly unlucky to lose that match when a 2% grand slam bid by the opposition very fortunately made. Ideally the team would like to finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the group, as this will allow them to have some choice of opposition in the first knockout round.

Under 28’s
The Under 28’s couldn’t really hope for much more at this stage, after 9 of their 17 rounds they lead their field of 74 teams in the Swiss. Poland have been leading for most of the way, and the England team beat them in round 7, they then beat hosts China (currently lying 3rd) in round 8 and took over top spot from Poland in round 9 by getting a maximum win against India. There are still some good teams working their way up through the field, as is likely to happen in a Swiss event, but with wins against all the top teams they have played so far, the team will be able to take on these other teams with confidence. Also, since this is a Swiss and there are no rematches, it is comforting for the team to know they won’t have to play Poland or China in any of the later rounds. Ideally the team would like to finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the group, as this will allow them to have some choice of opposition in the first knockout round.

Under 21’s
The Under 21’s are currently lying 2nd in their group, and with eight team qualifying look very well placed to make it through to the knockout stage. It’s not at all clear who the major threats are, but clearly one if them is France, the current leaders, and England have already played them. Ideally the team would like to finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the round robin, as this will allow them to have some choice of opposition in the first knockout round.

Other Home Nations
A very brief round up of the other home nations:-

Open
Ireland are 7th in Group A, Scotland are 13th in Group B, Wales did not enter a team.

Women
Scotland are 10th in Group F, Ireland are 14th in Group G, Wales did not enter a team.

Seniors
Wales are 10th in Group K, Ireland are 13th in Group L, Scotland did not enter a team.

Under 28's
Wales are 46th, Scotland are 49th, Ireland are 61st.

Beijing Open. Part One

So, after a good start on day one when we achieved 57 out of a possible 75 VPs, we had a tough second day, including a middle match against the powerful U.S.A. team. We only managed to obtain 47 out of the available VPs.

We woke up today knowing that we needed to get three good results, and all three pairs contributed to a fine day. In the first match, we were 23 IMPs down against the Philippines with 6 boards to go, but at the final whistle a 28 IMP win, 22-8 in VPs, was recorded — a fine comeback. In match 2 we played Botswana, and comfortably managed to rack up our second maximum of the tournament. The last match today saw us play a strong Turkey team, who had won 7 and drawn 1 of their opening 8 matches including a victory over the U.S.A. An extremely solid team performance, broadcast live on BBO, saw us win comfortably, by 40 IMPs, which secured a 24-6 win in VPs. So with 71 VPs out of a possible 75, we are lying in third place in our group overnight, with four qualifying.

Tomorrow we play Indonesia in the first match (they are currently 5 VPs behind us in 4th place in the group), Reunion and Greece. With more solid performances, and a bit of luck, we should remain on course for qualification for the round of 16.

Beijing Seniors. Part Two

In the Senior Teams, the field is sorting itself out after 3 days and 8 of the 15 round-robin matches. Our own team has not been very consistent — in our last 5 matches we scored 15, 25, 5, 4, and 25 respectively against Taipei, Kenya, Hungary, France, and New Zealand. We are lying 4th equal with 128 (average 120) — OK for qualification but we would like to be first or second so we can choose round-of-16 opponent. We are a long way behind second place at the moment so we have some work to do! The draw has been changed from that originally published and our remaining matches in order are: Hong Kong, Pakistan, South Africa, Denmark, Estonia, Brazil and
Japan. The first of these, on Tuesday morning, is particularly important since Hong Kong is tied with us for 4th place.

We have a lot to live up to, since the England Junior, Open, and particularly Women’s teams are all doing well.

One good thing is that we have found a couple of very decent Chinese restaurants 10 minutes' walk away and costing about one tenth of the prices they charge in the hotel. Apart from breakfast (which is included in the room rate) I don’t think we will eat in the hotel restaurants again (or drink in the bars!).

Beijing U28s. Part Three

Yesterday's rain cleared away the smog and gave us a wonderful springtype morning. Oh and the Bridge? We faced the much feared Poland on vugraph first match and the only bad aspects were the misanalyses by the commentator. I had a hard battle with a line of Polish supporters in the front row but won on points 97 to 96. The players had an easier task, although a promising lead slipped away to a narrow win. Still, good bridge by all against a world class team.

Next came our hosts and a similar victory, being one IMP short of an extra victory point. Excellent Bridge all round.

Last match was against a high-flying India team. Our people severely clipped their wings but left them with the VPs they started with. I have tried not to personalise things, but feel compelled to mention Ollie and Andrew who I watched for this match. Their defence against a number of speculative Indian contracts, which could well have slipped through, was excellent.

The latter point brings me to the reason for our success so far. Sure, mistakes have been made by the team (well maybe not their captain!) but we have not let a single error by the opponents go unpunished.

Over half way now in the Swiss and hopeful of greater things...

Beijing U28s. Part Two

A disappointing start to what ended a very satisfactory day. Portugal played well and IMPs were very hard to come by so the 12-18 loss was acceptable. However, it resulted in a next round draw against the much feared USA in the next round. Philosophically I thought better that we meet them early than have a crunch match towards the end in a struggle to qualify. Well, as things turned out, it was more than a propitious time to meet the favourites. The team played well and collected everything that the USA kindly passed our way and we won 22-8!

The same team carried on the momentum against Turkey and once again gave very little away whilst gladly accepting the occasional gift. When the smoke cleared we had 24 and I suppose Turkey had the balance; I didnt bother to look. Now lying third and 10 VPs clear of the non-qualifying area.

Next stop is Poland who are carrying all before them. However, we are also the team in form and I hope that these words are not served up for lunch.

Beijing U21s. Part Two

After surviving the 90-minute opening ceremony, which as far as I could tell dedicated the whole of the middle section to giving praise for the many uses of string (I kid you not), our team started with a modest 11-19 loss to France, before crushing Ecuador 24-6. A slightly tired match aginst the USA saw us go the whole match without conceding a single game swing — our worst board was 7 IMPs out — so it was somewhat disappointing when this resulted in a 12-18 loss.

Today, however, has seen us return to form. A rather embarassing 100 IMP win over Botswana gave us 25-0. Then we faced Norway. Despite bidding a reasonable slam that went off we won 25-4, just as we did in the Europeans. The European silver medallists, Bulgaria, awaited us and we emerged victorious 16-14 in a tight match. This leaves us in 3rd place, approximately one third of the way through the round robin.

Beijing Seniors. Part One

An unexpected start to the Senior Team's campaign. Andrew Thompson did not show up at the airport and we were unable to contact him for over 24 hours. When we eventually did, we discovered he had been taken ill in London and had been taken to hospital without his phone or address book so could not contact us. We think he will be OK but not up to travelling to Beijing, so we have drafted Peter Czerniewski as a playing (as opposed to non-playing) captain, to play with Ross Harper.

Afer one day (3 of 15 round-robin matches) we have made a reasonably good start beating Sweden 24-6 and Wales 18-12 before losing 18-12 to a good US team — but it would have been 19-11 the other way if their 2% grand slam had been going down!

It is interesting to see which teams are doing well. Japan and South Africa are above us in the standings and Taipei (who we play tomorrow morning) are on the same score as us. As opposed to that, the teams you would expect (France, Italy, etc) are not doing so well. Still — it is very early days.

Beijing U28s. Part One

Scrappy first match against Croatia where no-one played particularly badly and the result could easily have been reversed. Ended up in a 12-18 loss. We then got a lucky draw against Zimbabwe and made the most of it by scoring a blitz; in fact the margin was 101 IMPs. Same pairs then took on better opposition in the form of Estonia. We dropped 2VPs on the last board but still managed a 23-7 win. The margin was mainly through an excellent lead against a slam where game was played at the other table and a fortunate positional slam bid at both tables but putting our defender on lead with the singleton.

So we are occupying the last qualifying spot and the team are instructed to hold onto it for all they are worth. Portugal next, who had two maximums but went off the boil in the third match.

(Concise) Thoughts from a Beijing NPC: Phil King (Open)

We asked Phil King what he thought his team's prospects were and he replied:

It looks like a decent draw.

We have a pretty good record in this event, so knockout stages and then hope for a bit of luck with the choices available.

Thanks Phil!

Beijing U21s. Part One

The team survived the 12-hour flight ok, though were overcome with disappointment that there was no film on the plane. (Tom Paske in particular was hoping to catch the recent "Sex and the City" movie.)

We were picked up at the airport by our Chinese hosts and transported with a minimum of fuss to our accommodation, which is very comfortable.

Now — just the jet lag to overcome!

Thoughts from a Beijing NPC: Peter Czerniewski (Seniors)

In the Seniors, we are fielding the same team that played in the European Championships in June: David Price - Colin Simpson, Chris Dixon - Victor Silverstone, Ross Harper - Andrew Thompson with Peter Czerniewski NPC.

All three pairs have worked hard since then and we have also held a couple of training days including playing, slam biding (which let us down a bit in Pau), and coaching from David Burn. Our objective is to win a medal in Beijing.

Our first task is to get through the round robin by occupying one of the first 8 places (out of 17). We are confident we should be able to do that, but there is a significant advantage in finishing in the top 3 because you get a choice of round-of-16 opponents, so we will be gearing our efforts to that. We think our main rivals in our qualifying group are likely to be USA, Sweden, France, and Denmark, but there are some other teams we don't know so well (such as Brazil, Hungary, New Zealand) who could also turn out to be strong. We play USA (probably our strongest opponents) in the third match of the first day.

From the round of 16 we will be playing long knock-out matches. We obviously don't know who we will be playing, but we would expect to see teams such as Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Indonesia, and China in the knock-out rounds.

Thoughts from a Beijing NPC: Michael Byrne (U21s)

There are 18 teams in the U21's and England will start amongst the favourites.

The teams play a complete round robin, and the key is to score consistently well — plenty of 19's and 20's, rather than 25-4 wins interspersed with 7-23 losses. Of course you have to get maximums against the weak teams as well, but a healthy winning record does a lot for confidence and team morale, especially if you have to play a team in the knock outs you have already beaten in the round robin.

Once we reach the knock out stages it is only a short sprint to the final, and the team must aim to keep their nerve, especially if lucks goes against them or they have a few unlucky boards.

England have a talented and able team, and they have put tremendous amounts of work in over the two years I have been in charge. Let's hope it finally pays off.

Thoughts from a Beijing NPC: David Greenwood (U28s)

There are 73 teams in the Swiss playing 17 matches with the top 8 qualifying
for the knock-out.

As ever, there will be a certain amount of luck in the round-by-round draws
and this will be particularly relevant for those in contention towards the
latter rounds. No doubt there will be a mad scramble for the last few
positions with every VP vital.

Our aim must be to optimise our result when we get a 'lucky' draw and do our
best to hold onto as many VPs as possible against the stronger teams. As
ever, team morale will be of utmost importance in this high pressure
atmosphere.

From an initial analysis, there are 4 teams of Open class and another 5 or
so very capable teams. I believe our team is well within these categories
and we will be very disappointed not to qualify. I imagine the higher you
are placed in the final rank the easier the opponents you can choose so I
won't postulate beyond the qualification stage.

I'll be posting more of my thoughts during the event so stay tuned.

Beijing - Open Team Draw

There are 71 teams entered in the Open Series of the World Minds Sports Bridge Championships in Beijing, China, divided into four groups of 17 or 18 teams. Each group will play a complete round robin. At the conclusion of the round robin, the top four teams in each group will advance to the knockout stage, in which the leading teams will have a choice of opponents in the round of 16. The draw is out, and England are in group D which consists of 18 teams. Their order of play (UK time, 7 hours behind Beijing) is as follows:

Round 1	Sat	04	Oct	04:00	Australia
Round 2	Sat	04	Oct	07:20	Lithuania
Round 3	Sat	04	Oct	10:10	Lebanon
Round 4	Sun	05	Oct	04:00	Thailand
Round 5	Sun	05	Oct	07:20	USA
Round 6	Sun	05	Oct	10:10	Jordan
Round 7	Mon	06	Oct	04:00	Philippines
Round 8	Mon	06	Oct	07:20	Botswana
Round 9	Mon	06	Oct	10:20	Turkey
Round 10	Tue	07	Oct	04:00	Indonesia
Round 11	Tue	07	Oct	07:20	Reunion
Round 12	Tue	07	Oct	10:10	Greece
Round 13	Wed	08	Oct	04:00	Switzerland
Round 14	Wed	08	Oct	07:20	Venezuela
Round 15	Fri	10	Oct	04:00	Belarus
Round 16	Fri	10	Oct	07:20	Germany
Round 17	Fri	10	Oct	10:10	Serbia

Beijing - Womens Team Draw

There are 54 teams entered in the Womens Series of the World Minds Sports Bridge Championships in Beijing, China, divided into three groups of 18 teams. Each group will play a complete round robin. At the conclusion of the round robin, the top five teams in each group plus the best sixth team will advance to the knockout stage, in which the leading teams will have a choice of opponents in the round of 16. The draw is out, and England are in group E. Their order of play (UK time, 7 hours behind Beijing) is as follows:

Round 1	Sat	04	Oct	04:00	Norway
Round 2	Sat	04	Oct	07:20	Reunion
Round 3	Sat	04	Oct	10:10	Egypt
Round 4	Sun	05	Oct	04:00	China Hong Kong
Round 5	Sun	05	Oct	07:20	Trinidad
Round 6	Sun	05	Oct	10:10	Belarus
Round 7	Mon	06	Oct	04:00	Guadeloupe
Round 8	Mon	06	Oct	07:20	Portugal
Round 9	Mon	06	Oct	10:20	Thailand
Round 10	Tue	07	Oct	04:00	Japan
Round 11	Tue	07	Oct	07:20	India
Round 12	Tue	07	Oct	10:10	Italy
Round 13	Wed	08	Oct	04:00	Palestine
Round 14	Wed	08	Oct	07:20	Poland
Round 15	Fri	10	Oct	04:00	USA
Round 16	Fri	10	Oct	07:20	Brazil
Round 17	Fri	10	Oct	10:10	Lithuania

Beijing - Seniors Team Draw

There are 33 teams entered in the Seniors Series of the World Minds Sports Bridge Championships in Beijing, China, divided into two groups of 16 or 17 teams. Each group will play a complete round robin. At the conclusion of the round robin, the top eight teams in each group will advance to the knockout stage, in which the leading teams will have a choice of opponents in the round of 16. The draw is out, and England are in group K. Their order of play (UK time, 7 hours behind Beijing) is as follows:

Round 1	Sat	04	Oct	04:00	China Hong Kong
Round 2	Sat	04	Oct	07:20	Japan
Round 3	Sat	04	Oct	10:10	USA
Round 4	Sun	05	Oct	04:00	Hungary
Round 5	Sun	05	Oct	07:20	Chinese Taipei
Round 6	Sun	05	Oct	10:10	Brazil
Round 7	Mon	06	Oct	04:00	Bye
Round 8	Mon	06	Oct	07:20	France
Round 9	Mon	06	Oct	10:20	New Zealand
Round 10	Tue	07	Oct	04:00	South Africa
Round 11	Tue	07	Oct	07:20	Pakistan
Round 12	Tue	07	Oct	10:10	Thailand
Round 13	Wed	08	Oct	04:00	Wales
Round 14	Wed	08	Oct	07:20	Denmark
Round 15	Fri	10	Oct	04:00	Estonia
Round 16	Fri	10	Oct	07:20	Kenya
Round 17	Fri	10	Oct	10:10	Sweden

Beijing - Under 21's World Championship Draw

There are 18 teams qualified for the Under 21's World Championships in Beijing, China. The teams will play a complete round robin. At the conclusion of the round robin, the top eight teams will advance to the knockout stage, on which the leading teams will have a choice of opponents in the Quarter-Final. The draw is out. The order of play (UK time, 7 hours behind Beijing) is as follows:

Round 1	Sat	04	Oct	04:00	France
Round 2	Sat	04	Oct	07:20	Ecuador
Round 3	Sat	04	Oct	10:10	USA
Round 4	Sun	05	Oct	04:00	Botswana
Round 5	Sun	05	Oct	07:20	Norway
Round 6	Sun	05	Oct	10:10	Bulgaria
Round 7	Mon	06	Oct	04:00	Pakistan
Round 8	Mon	06	Oct	07:20	Indonesia
Round 9	Mon	06	Oct	10:20	China
Round 10	Tue	07	Oct	04:00	Uruguay
Round 11	Tue	07	Oct	07:20	Chinese Taipei
Round 12	Tue	07	Oct	10:10	Canada
Round 13	Wed	08	Oct	04:00	Netherlands
Round 14	Wed	08	Oct	07:20	Poland
Round 15	Fri	10	Oct	04:00	Argentina
Round 16	Fri	10	Oct	07:20	Australia
Round 17	Fri	10	Oct	10:10	Singapore

Beijing - Under 28's Schedule of play

There is no draw for Under 28 teams as the event is being run on a Swiss basis. There will be 17 rounds of Swiss teams, at the end of which the leading 8 teams will advance to the knockout stage, in which the leading teams will have a choice of opponents in the Quarter-final. The playing schedule follows that of the other events, in other words (UK time, 7 hours behind Beijing):

Round 1	Sat	04	Oct	04:00
Round 2	Sat	04	Oct	07:20
Round 3	Sat	04	ct	10:10
Round 4	Sun	05	Oct	04:00
Round 5	Sun	05	Oct	07:20
Round 6	Sun	05	Oct	10:10
Round 7	Mon	06	Oct	04:00
Round 8	Mon	06	Oct	07:20
Round 9	Mon	06	Oct	10:20
Round 10	Tue	07	Oct	04:00
Round 11	Tue	07	Oct	07:20
Round 12	Tue	07	Oct	10:10
Round 13	Wed	08	Oct	04:00
Round 14	Wed	08	Oct	07:20
Round 15	Fri	10	Oct	04:00
Round 16	Fri	10	Oct	07:20
Round 17	Fri	10	Oct	10:10

The teams for Beijing

With the Olympic games approaching their closing ceremony, we can look forward to World Mind Sports Games (formerly known as the World Teams Olympiad) which are also being held at the Olympic Complex in Beijing.
The Open team was announced last week, following a four day Trial at the Brighton Congress. That completes the selection process. All five teams that are going have now been announced. They are:-

Open Team
Nick Sandqvist & Artur Malinowski
Jason Hackett & Justin Hackett
David Gold & Tom Townsend
Captain : Phil King
Coach: Simon Cope

Womens Team
Heather Dhondy & Nevena Senior
Catherine Draper & Anne Rosen
Nicola Smith & Sally Brock
Captain: Martin Jones
Coach: Sandra Penfold

Seniors Team
Chris Dixon & Victor Silverstone
Colin Simpson & David Price
Ross Harper & Andrew Thompson
Captain: Peter Czerniewski

Under-28s
Fiona Brown & Susan Stockdale
Ollie Burgess & Andrew Woodcock
Ben Green & Duncan Happer
Reserves: Mike Bell & Michael Byrne
Captain: David Greenwood
Coach: Diane Greenwood

Under-21s (playing in the Under 21's World Championship)
Adam Hickman & Daniel McIntosh
Ed Jones & Tom Paske
Ben Paske & Rob Myers
Captain: Michael Byrne
Coach: Alan Shillitoe

Sandqvist hold a big lead

After 60 boards of the 100 board final trial to pick the England team to go to the World Mind Sports in Beijing, the Sandqvist team lead the Townsend team by 178 imps to 71 imps. The final 40 boards will be played today. At the end the winning team will automatically be picked for Beijing, and a third pair will be picked by the Selection Committee from amongst all the remaining pairs that competed. Full scores here.
The Final is being 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/

It's Townsend v Sandqvist in the Final of World Minds Sports trial

At the end of the round robin stage of the four team trial to pick the England team to go to the World Mind Sports in Beijing, the Townsend team were first with 51 Vps, and the Sandqvist team were second with 46 Vps. These two teams therefore qualify for the final stage which begins today. They will play a 100 board match. At the end of it the winning team will automatically be picked for Beijing, and a third pair will be picked by the Selection Committee from amongst all the remaining pairs that competed. Full scores here.
The Final 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/

Open team Trials for Beijing

The Trails for the Open team that will represent England in the 2008 World Mind Sport Games (formerly known as the Olympiad) begin today.

Four teams will play a double round robin of 20 board matches On Mon 11 and Tue 12 Aug. At the end of that the top two teams will play a 100 board final on Wed 13 and Thu 14 Aug. The winning team will be selected, along with a third pair which will be chosen by the Selection Committee.

The Four teams are
HACKETT: Paul Hackett, John Holland, Tony Waterlow, Ian Panto
TOWNSEND: Tom Townsend, David Gold, Andrew McIntosh, Gunnar Hallberg
SANDQVIST: Nick Sandqvist, Artur Malinowski, Justin Hackett, Jason Hackett
LIGGINS: Glyn Liggins, Peter Crouch, Neil Rosen, Martin Jones

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/

Top six finishes for two english pairs in European Youth Pairs Finals

Sadly no medals, by two of the english pairs competing in the European Youth Championships managed to finish in the top 6 of their series.

Susan Stockdale & Fiona Brown were competing in the Under 26 Girls series. They were never out if the top 10, eventually they finished 5th in their series.

Likewise James Paul & Graeme Robertson. who were in the Under 21 series. They too were never out of the top 10, and eventually they finished 6th in their series.

James Thrower & Shivam Shah were also in the final of the Under 21 series., they finished 14th.

<Ed Jones & Tom Paske finished 27th in the final of the Under 26's.

Five other pairs took part.

There is a considerable increase in English participation in this tournament and we are extremely grateful to the Educational Trust for British Bridge (donations always welcome) who have helped seven of these pairs, two from Wales and one from Scotland with considerable financial support. Well done everyone.

9th European Youth Pairs is under way

The 9th European Youth Pairs has begun with the qualifying round.

The following pairs, representing England, have qualified for their respective semi-finals:-

Robert Myers & Ben Paske (Under 21, in 2nd place)
James Thrower & Shivam Shah (Under 21, in 4th place)
James Paul & Graeme Robertson (under 21, in 11th place)
Susan Stockdale & Fiona Brown (Under 26 Girls, in 6th place)

The remaining pairs will go into a repecharge in their respective events, so still have a chance of reaching their respective final. They are
Liam Jones & David Faria (Under 21)
Thomas Rainforth & Philip Railing (Under 21)
Ed Jones & Tom Paske (Under 26)
Ian Angus & Joe Clacey (Under 26)
Sinead Bird & Jennifer Marvin (Under 26 Girls)

There is a considerable increase in English participation in this tournament and we are extremely grateful to the Educational Trust for British Bridge (donations always welcome) who have helped seven of these pairs, two from Wales and one from Scotland with considerable financial support. Good luck to all our pairs. There will be further updates on their progress as the tournament progresses.

Under 21's team for Beijing announced

In all, England will represented by five teams in the World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, China, which takes place on 3rd - 18th October.
Four of the teams are playing in events open to all nations, they are the Open, Womens, Seniors & Under 28's teams.
There are two other teams championships taking place in Beijing, They are the World Championships for Under 26's & Under 21's. Only the teams that qualified through their Zonal championships get invited to this. The England Under 21's team finished 4th in the European Under 21's in Jesolo, Italy last year, which was good enough to qualify them for the World Championship.

The second of these teams, the England team for the Under 21's World Championship has been announced by the EBU Youth Committee. The team is

Adam Hickman & Daniel McIntosh
Ed Jones & Tom Paske
Ben Paske & Rob Myers
NPC: Michael Byrne
Coach: Alan Shillitoe

Pau - England Open Team finish 12th

The Open team finished their campaign, and ended in 12th position. Match 14 was against Latvia, and they lost 7 - 23. In match 15 they played Sweden and won 17 - 13. Match 16 was againsr Iceland and they won that 24 - 6. Their final match, on Saturday morning was against Poland, and the England team won 17 - 13. They finished in 12th position. Norway took the Gold medal with 299, Russia the Silver with 287, and Gemany the Bronze with 286. The other World Championship qualifiers were Bulgaria, Italy and the Netherlands.
You can view all the results on the European Bridge League website.

Thoughts of an NPC IX

This is Bill with the "last rites from Pau". We came, we tried we failed. We are now lying in twelfth position and short of a miracle this morning we will not meet our second objective of finishing in the top ten (European Champions Cup qualification).

Yesterday epitomises our championship- in the first match against lowly Latvia we were well beaten 23-7 then in the two difficult matches against Sweden and Iceland we won 17-13 and 24-6. Finishing on a very positive note I would make two points.
- the team performed well against the top teams.
-the two Johns', after an indifferent qualifying series, played brilliantly in the final round robin and at the time of writing this report are lying second overall in the " Butler rankings".

Pau - England Women finish 8th

Womens team in Pau.


.................Click on picture to enlarge. Left to Right: Rob Cliffe (Coach), Heather Dhondy, Catherine Draper, Anne Rosen, Catherine Jagger, Sarah Teshome, Nevena Senior, Alan Mould (Captain)

The England Women's team finished their campaign in 8th place, missing out on qualifying for the World Championship for which they needed a top six finish. A total of 52 VP's from the three matches yesterday would have been enough, sadly that could only manage 43 VPs. Their final three results were 15 - 15 against Finland, 20 - 10 against Greece and 12 - 18 against Italy.

Pau - Seniors miss out by a whisker

The England Seniors team missed out on qualification for the Seniors World Championship by the narrowest of margins, a split tie. At the end of their campaign they were tied for 6th place with Italy. The qualification rules state that if two teams are tied on VPs, then the winner of the match between the two teams is the qualifier, and sadly that was Italy. Their final three results were 18 - 12 against Austria, 15 - 15 against Scotland, and 13 - 17 against Finland.

Pau - England Women bounce back

The England women's team had a fantastic day yesterday and have bounced back into contention for a World Championship place and even a medal. The began in match 20 with a crucial 20 - 10 win over Norway, crucial because Norway are also contenders for the leading positions. In match 21 they beat Austria 24 - 6 and in match 22 they beat Wales 21 - 9. They now lie 7th, only 3 vps behind 6th place which would mean world championship qualification, and 17 behind the medal positions. With three matches still to go, one on them against 3rd placed Italy, a medal is still possible. Scores France 396, Germany 393, Italy 390, Sweden 383, Spain 382, Denmark 376, England 373.
Todays final three matches

Round 23	09:30	England v Finland
Round 24	13:15	England v Greece
Round 25	16:35	England v Italy

Pau - England Seniors in contention for medals

A decent set of results yestrday means that the Seniors team are very much in contention for the world championshio qualifications and have a realistic chance of clibming into one of the medal positions. The began yeaterday with a narro 14 - 16 loss to Belgium, then they won 21 - 9 agianst Israel and they finished with a 17 - 13 win against Germany. Scores Belgium 289, Turkey 287 Sweden 275, Netherlands 272, England 267, Italy 266, France 262.
Todays final three matches

Round 17	09:30	England v Austria
Round 18	13:15	England v Scotland
Round 19	16:35	England v Finland

Pau - England Open Team out of contention

One more heavy defeat yesterday means that the England Open team are now out of contention for a World Championship place. Mathematically it is still possible but they would nead near maximum wins in their four remaining matches and some favourable results from other teams, in practice this is highly unlikely to happen. Their three results yesterday, lost 6 - 24 to Russia, lost 14 - 16 to Bulgaria & won 23 - 7 against Czech replublic.
They have three matches today and their final match is tomorrow
Today

Round 14	09:30	England v Latvia
Round 15	13:15	England v Sweden
Round 16	16:35	England v Iceland

Tomorrow

Round 17

09:30

England v Poland

Thoughts of an NPC VIII

Since my last report following our disastrous match against Denmark our results have been, to say the least, disappointing.

Round 6 on Tuesday morning we were up against the strong Norwegian side-Jason, Justin and the two Johns' were playing and both pairs put in solid performances to secure a very satisfactory 19-11 win- we were back in business but unfortunately the next match against France saw us throw away an early 16 imp lead to lose 46-26 (19-11 victory points to France)-this was Tony and Paul's first bad match and I think I should have continued with the twins/Johns' who were flying high following their victory against Norway.

Yesterday was not a good day-we lost heavily to Netherlands 22-81 (4-25 victory points) However, the match against Italy saw some really good bridge. The two Johns' were again teamed up with Justin/Jason and the match was tied with one board to go but unfortunately the twins played in 3NT,from the right side making all thirteen tricks-

I thought we were going to win when, due to a system bid, it looked as if Italy were going to play 5S or 6S or 6NT from the wrong side but an inspired 6D right sided the contract and a three/two diamond break saw the slam home (19-11 to Italy). In the evening match we lost narrowly to Israel but it was a match we should have won convincingly.

Pau - England Open team slip further

Day four of the Open team final and the England team have dropped into the bottom half of the table. They lost all three matches, 4 - 25 to the Netherlands, 11 - 19 to Italy and 14 - 16 to Israel. There are seven matches to go, still time for the team to fight their way back into a world Championship qualifying position.

England have three matches today

Round 11	09:30	England v Russia
Round 12	13:15	England v Bulgaria
Round 13	16:35	England v Czech Republic

You can follow the results round by round on the European Bridge League website. You can even get the running scores of matches currenly in play, click in the box at the top of the page.

Pau - England Women remain 9th

Day 7 of the Womens championship was a fairly quiet day for the women, in the first match they lost 14 - 16 to Croatoa they had a bye in the middle match and they finished in a high with a 16 - 14 win against leaders Germany. They remain 9th but still very much in touch with the leaders.
They have three matches today

Round 20	09:30	England v Norway
Round 21	13:15	England v Austria
Round 22	16:35	England v Wales

The First match match, against Norway will be shown on Bridge Base Online. and BBOTV.

Pau - England Seniors have mixed fortunes

Day 5 was an up and down day for the seniors. The started with a big win, 23 - 7 against the Netherlands, then they beat Italy 18 - 12, but the final match was a disappointing 5 - 25 loss to Estonia. At the tnd of the day they are in 5th place, still in a qualifying place in for the World Championship, and within sight of the medal positions.
England Seniors have three matches today

Round 14	09:30	England v Belgium
Round 15	13:15	England v Israel
Round 16	16:35	England v Germany

Pau - Open team slip to mid-table

Day three of the Open team final and the England team have slipped to a mid-table position. Match 6 was against Norway and they won it 17 - 13. Match 7 was against France and they lost it 11 - 19. England now lie 10th on 105 Vps. The leaders are Germany 129, Norway 127, Sweden 127, Russia 115. The top 6 teams will qualify for the world Championship in Sao Paulo next year.
England have three matches today

Round 8	09:30	England v Netherlands
Round 9	13:15	England v Italy
Round 10	16:35	England v Israel

The second match, against Italy will be shown on Bridge Base Online. and BBOTV.




You can follow the results round by round on the European Bridge League website. You can even get the running scores of matches currenly in play, click in the box at the top of the page.

Pau - England Womens Team slip to 9th

The womens team's bad run has continued. On day six of their event they played two matches. Match 15 was against Sweden and they lost it 7 - 23. In match 16 they played the Netherlands and drew 15 - 15. They have now slipped to 9th place. Scores: 1. Germany 291, 2. Italy 281, 3. France 274, 4. Netherlands and Spain 269 9. England 260. The top 6 teams will qualify for the world Championship in Sao Paulo next year.
There are three rounds today, England have a bye in the middle match.

Round 17	09:30	England v Croatia
Round 18	13:15	England have a bye
Round 19	16:35	England v Germany

Pau - England Seniors drop out of medal positions

The seniors had a bad day on day 4 of their event and have droppen out of the medal positions. In match 9 they played Seweden and lost 9 - 23. Match 10 was agains Italy, and that was a loss too, 11 - 19. Italy now lead with 188, and they are followed by Belgium 182, Netherlands 171, England & Turkey 169. The top 6 teams will qualify for the World Championship in Sao Paulo next year.
England have three matches today

Round 11	09:30	England v Netherlands
Round 12	13:15	England v Ireland
Round 13	16:35	England v Estonia

Thoughts of an NPC VII

Yesterday the weather was very humid, the mosquitoes were biting and unfortunately it was a poor day for our bridge.

After an indifferent start against Portugal the team came back well to win 18-12.In the afternoon match we were on Rama against Germany- the match was level after 8 boards but on the ninth the Germans had a bidding misunderstanding and reached 7S missing a cashable ace. The rest of the room were in 4S+1. We failed to find the lead and two finesses later Germany recorded +2210, minus 17 imps instead of plus 13! After that the Germans played well and finished up winning 23-7.

Playing against Denmark in the evening match we could do nothing right-opening leads cost a slam and a game, we went off in a game we could have made (made at the other table) and failed to bid two other games. We lost 24-6, not our day but we are still in the top six and tomorrow (Norway and France) is another day.

Pau - bad day for England Open team

Day two of the Final went badly for Englands Open team. Having started so well they were hoping to continue where they left off on day two, but it as not to be. Match 3 went OK, it was against Portugal and England won it 18 - 12. Match 4 was the first reversal, England played Gerlamy and lost 7 - 23. It continued in match 5, against Denmark, England losing that too, 6 - 24, and they have dropped to 6th position. Leading scores are now Germany 103, Norway 95, Sweden 94, Iceland 89, Denmark 82, England 77, Netherlands 77. The top 6 teams qualify for the World Championships in Sao Paulo next year, so despite this setback England are still very much in the race for one of the qualifying places.
They have just two matches today

Round 6	09:30	England v Norway
Round 7	13:15	England v France

The second match, against France will be shown on Bridge Base Online. and BBOTV.

Also, you can follow the results round by round on the European Bridge League website. You can even get the running scores of matches currenly in play, click in the box at the top of the page.

Pau - England Women slip out of medal positions

Day 5 was a medioche day for the England Womens team, and at the end of it they had slipped down to 4th place. round 12 was against Turkey, and the result was a loss, 12 - 18. Round 13 was a narrow loss to Poland 14 - 16, and in Round 15 they lost again, 10 - 20. They are now loying in 4th Position. Leading scores Italy 153, Germany 248, France 240, England 238, Norway 238, Netherlands 237. The top six teams qualify for the World Championships in Sao Paulo, so despite the last two day's results the team is still on course for qualificaion.

They have just two matches today

Round 15	09:30	England v Sweden
Round 16	13:15	England v Netherlands

The second match, against Netherlands will be shown on Bridge Base Online. and BBOTV.

Pau - Seniors slip to second

It was a mixed day for the seniors team on day three of their event. In match 6 they played Turkey and lost 11 - 19. Match 7 was against Poland, and thast was also and 11 -19 loss. However they recovered in the last match, and collected a maximum, 25 - 3 against Norway. At the end of the day they have slipped a place, but still occupy the Silver medal position. Leaders Italy 115, England & Belgium 114, Netherlands 113, Denmark 102, France 99.
They have just two matches today

Round 9	09:30	England v Sweden
Round 10	13:15	England v Italy

Thoughts of an NPC VI

Yesterday the weather was hot and humid but, for the first time our Open Team hit top form. At one stage yesterday we were leading in all three events and at the end of the day we were first in the Open and Senior series and second in the ladies!

Against Estonia, I was watching Paul and Tony and after a quiet start Paul found a good lead and defence against 6H (the Johns played the contract from the right side) and we gained 1600 on the next board when Paul and Tony defeated 7Hx and the Johns' took 1100 from 6Sx. John Armstrong made 3NT on a nice end play on the last board of the match and Paul and Tony defeated the same contract by 6 tricks on an accurate defence.

We got off to an excellent start against Turkey and we consolidated to run out comfortable winners 21-9 The team played well all day but it was great to see the Johns' "on fire".

Can we keep it up? Fingers crossed.

Pau - England take early lead in Open final

At the end of the first days play in the Open Final, England have taken an early lead. They had a massive struggle to qualify for the Final, but having got there, they have started in the best possible way, with tow big wins, one of them a maximum. In match one they played Estonia, and beat them 25-4. Their second match was against Turkey, ant that resulted in a 21-9 win. Thet lead with a score of 46 Vps, and are followed by Sweden 45, Bulgaria 41 & Norway 41.
They have three matches today

Round 3	09:30	England v Portugal
Round 4	13:15	England v Germany
Round 5	16:35	England v Denmark

The first match, against Portugal will be shown on Bridge Base Online. and BBOTV.

Also, you can follow the results round by round on the European Bridge League website. You can even get the running scores of matches currenly in play, click in the box at the top of the page.

Pau - England Women have tough day

Day 4 was definitely the toughest day for the England Women. They had three hard matches, all of the against conteders for the World Championship. They finally lost their undefeated record in Round 9, when they lost 7 - 23 to Israel. They recovered their composure after that setback to get a 15 - 15 draw with Denmark and finished the day with a narrow 14 -16 loss to hosts France. They have lost the lead but have only dropped one place to 2nd. Italy are the new leader. They have 207 Vps England are second with 202, then Norway 199, Germany 196.
They have three matches today

Round 12	09:30	England v Turkey
Round 13	13:15	England v Poland
Round 14	16:35	England v Spain

Pau - England's Seniors take the lead

At the end of the day 2 of their event the England's Senior Team have taken the lead in their event after getting three big wins on day 2. They bagan the day with a maximum, 25 - 2 against Spain in match 3. Match 4 was against Wales and they got anothe big win 24 - 6. They finish up with a match against Denmark, and won that won too, 21 - 9. They now lead the Seniors series with 103 Vps, and are followed by Belgium on 95, Italy 94 and Netherlands 91.
They have three matches today

Round 6	09:30	England v Turkey
Round 7	13:15	England v Poland
Round 8	16:35	England v Norway

.

STOP PRESS - England lead in all three series !!

No, this is not a joke. After two matches on Sunday, the England teams are all first, or joint first in ther respective events. The Women and Seniors have one more match today, but the Open team have finished for the day.
Having qualified for the final by the skin of their teeth, the Open team got off to a cracking start, winning their two matches 25-4 and 21-9 and lead after two matches with 46 VPs. The Women lost their first match 7-23 and drew the second 15-15, but thanks to their big overnight lead they are still in front, tied for first with Italy on 188Vps. The Seniors have had two big wins today, 25-2 & 24-6 and they too now lead their series. They have 82 Vps, one more than Belgium.

Pau - The Open Final begins

Today the Final Round robin of the Open Series begins, and the important thing, as far as the England supporters are concerned, is that the England team qualified (which is more than can be said for our football team!). Whether teams qualified in first place or ninth is now irrelevant, the scoreboard is wiped and all the teams are starting level again. The final will be a complete round robin of 17 matches, so England will play the eight other qualifiers from group A for a second time, as well as meeting the nine qualifiers from group B.
THere are just two matches on day 1 of the Final.

Round 1	09:30	England v Estonia
Round 2	13:15	England v Turkey

You can follow the results round by round on the European Bridge League website. You can even get the running scores of matches currenly in play, click in the box at the top of the page.

Pau - England Women move further ahead

The England Women's team had another good day on day 3, getting two more wins, and so keeping their 100% winning record. Match 7 was against Scotland, and they won that one 22 - 8. Match 8 was against Czech Republic and they got their second maximum win, 25 - 3. They are now 15 ahead of second. Leading scores England 166, Italy 151, Germany 146, Sweden 145.
Today's matches are (BST)

Round 9	09:30	England v Israel
Round 10	13:15	England v Denmark
Round 11	16:35	England v France

The final match, against France will be shown on Bridge Base Online. and BBOTV.

Also, you can follow the results round by round on the European Bridge League website. You can even get the running scores of matches currenly in play, click in the box at the top of the page.

Pau - England Seniors begin with two wins

The England Seniors started their campaign with two wins, allbeit small ones. In match 1 they played France and won that 17 - 13, and in match 2 they beat Switzerland 16 - 14 They are in 7th place with a score of 33, The leading scores are Denmark 47, Belgium 41, Netherlands 38, Italy 36.
Today's matches are (BST)

Round 3	09:30	England v Spain
Round 4	13:15	England v Wales
Round 5	16:35	England v Denmark

Thoughts of an NPC V

This is Bill reporting from Pau. We are still here but only just- this morning we drew with Switzerland 15-15 and Iceland beat Finland 19-11 thus we qualified on a split tie. I have said in previous reports that we have been unlucky in some of our matches but I would be less than honest if I did not admit we were fortunate to scrape through.

Whatever, we now start with a "blank sheet of paper" and tomorrow the Championship starts in earnest. Up to now we have performed better against the stronger teams and I am hoping that our form will continue to improve and that we will meet our next objective- top eight for the team to qualify for The Olympiad (mind sports) and top sixth to make The World Championship.

Pau - England qualify for Open Final

England have qualified for the final by the narrowest of margins, a split tie.

In the final match England drew with Switzerland 15 - 15 which gives them a final total of 301 Vps. Finland lost to Iceland 11 - 19 and so also have a final total of 301 Vps. England and Finland finished in joint 9th position. If two teams finish level the team that won the head-to-head match advances and England beat Finland 17 - 13 when they met, so England qualify for the final, and Finland unluckily lose out.

Thoughts of an NPC IV

This is Bill reporting from Pau on the morning of the seventh day of the Open Teams Championship. It's nine oclock in the morning, there is not a cloud in the sky but a dark cloud hangs over our prospects of progressing into the final round robin.

Day six saw us loose 20-10 to the old enemy (Scotland).I think we were unlucky in that Scotland played in 3NT without investigating a 5-3 major fit for 9 tricks whilst we were one off in 4H-perhaps they judged better, they made 4S by playing small to the king holding K109xx opposite xxx for two losers whilst John Holland entered dummy twice (some slight risk of a club ruff) and finessed the nine and ten-technically correct but very close when you take into account the possibility of the ruff. John lost to QJ doubleton and my sympathies are with him. Finally what do you lead holding SK10xxx Hxxxx Dxx CAx when partner opens 3D first in hand and right hand opponent bids 3NT.Jason led a diamond and that was 12imp out when the spade lead beats the contract. Scotland found the spade lead as there was no pre-empt. (I understand they only pre-empt holding 2 of the top three honours)

We drew 15-15 with Denmark and beat Croatia 20-10 -we are now lying 10th with one match to go. Denmark beat Italy 25-4!

I'm now going to watch the final match against Switzerland- we need a good result and for Iceland to beat Finland.

Pau - Down to the wire

Open group A will go down to the wire. There are nine qualifying places up for grabs, and only two teams, Netherlands and Italy, have secured their places. There are eight teams battling today for the seven remaining places. Today will not be about bridge, it will be about which teams can play best under pressure. After a poor day yesterday, England start in tenth place. They need a good result, and they need one of the teams above them to faulter. Ironically it was our old rivals Scotland that caused England the most problems yesterday. They always save their best form for when they play England, and so it proved yesterday, Scotland beat England 20 - 10 in match 16. Match 17 was against qualifying rivals Denmark and it ended with honours even, a 15 - 15 draw. England recovered a bit from the Scotland defeat in match 18, with a 19 - 11 win over Croatia. Leading Scores: 1. Netherlands 331, 2. Italy 319, 3. Latvia 309, 4. Iceland 304, 5. Denmark 299, 6. Czech Republic 296, 7. Israel 294, 8. Turkey 291, 9. Finland 290, 10 England 286. Group B is alot clearer, Sweden, Norway, Rusia, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Portugal & Poland have all secured their places in the final. Estonia are 9th and Ireland are 10th, 15.3 Vps behind them. So Ireland need a big win and they need Estonia to lose heavily, otherwise Estionia will be the 9th qualifier from Group B.
England's final group match, against Switzerland, will be broadcast on Bridge Base Online . I trust you all will be watching and supporting!.

Round 19

09:30

England v Switzerland

You can download Bridge Base Online or view it without downloading anything, from the BBOTV website.

Also, you can follow the results round by round on the European Bridge League website. You can even get the running scores of matches currenly in play, click in the box at the top of the page.

Pau - England's Women riding high

The England Women's team continued on day 2 as they began on day 1 with three more good wins, making the it six out of six. In Round 4 for they played Lebanon and scored a maximum 25 vps. In round 5 they played a the strong Russian team and beat them 20 - 10 , and they finished the day with a 16 - 14 win over Iceland. They lead with a score of 119, ahead of Germany 113, Italy 112 and Norway 109.
Today they just have two matches:-

Round 7	13:15	England v Scotland
Round 8	16:35	England v Czech Republic

Pau - Seniors begin

The Seniors championship gets under way today. The England team is
Our team consists of
David Price and Colin Simpson, Chris Dixon and Victor Silverstone and Ross Harper and Andrew Thompson.
Today they just have two matches:-

Round 1	13:15	England v France
Round 2	16:35	England v Switzerland

England's opening first match, against France, will be broadcast on Bridge Base Online.

Thoughts of an NPC III

This is Bill reporting from the Open Team at the end of day five. Weather is warm and sunny and the view to the mountains is stunning.

Day five -matches against Netherlands, Czech Rep. and Iceland who were lying 2nd, 1st and 4th in Group A respectively were going to be crucial to our survival. The team responded magnificently with wins of 20-10, 20-10 and 16-14. We are now lying 9th with four matches to go but our first two matches in day 6 are against Scotland and Denmark- Scotland are having a rough time but they tend to play well against England and Denmark are competing with us for one of the remaining qualifying places so it will be far from an easy ride. We need to play well as we have now reached the stage where there is no second chance. The team is "coming good" so I am quietly optimistic but I will let you know tomorrow if we made it.

Pau - Ladies Day!

It's Ladies day at Royal Ascot. What colour hat will the queen be wearing?

It's also Ladies day in Pau. The Women's championship gets under way today. The England team is Heather Dhondy - Nevena Senior, Catherine Jagger - Sarah Teshome, Catherine Draper - Anne Rosen.
Heather Dhondy is playing in her seventh European. So far she has won three gold medals and two bronze medals in her six outings, quite a record! She has a new partner this time, Nevena Senior. Nevena is playing her fifth European. The first three were for her native country, Bulgaria. In the fourth which was her first outing for England, she won a bronze medal, her partner then was Sandra Penfold.
Catherine Jagger & Sarah Teshome made their debut appearance at the last European in Warsaw 2006, and were bronze medalists there. They were also in the England team that won the Lady Milne ( Home International Championship) earlier this year.
Catherine Draper & Anne Rosen are making their debut in the European Championship this year. They were winners of the Womens trials, and were also in the England team that won the Lady Milne this year.
The England Womens team will play a complete round robin of twenty-five matches. Their first three are today and are (BST)

Round 1	09:30	England v Ireland
Round 2	13:15	England v Hungary
Round 3	16:35	England v Portugal

Day 4 was a frustrating day for the Open team. They won two matches but they were not playing the top teams so were hoping for better. Match 10 was against Lithuania, and they won that 20 -10. Match 11 they lost to Turkey 11 - 19, and they finished the day with a 18 - 12 win over Luxembourg. England are still in 11th position, their score is now with 185 Vps, just 5 Vps behind 9th position. Netherlands have now taken the lead and have 224. They are followed by Czech Rep 223, Finland 214 & Italy 210. England need to finish in the top 9 out of the 19 teams in their group to qualify for the second stage. Ther is also a new leader in group B, it's Sweden with 242 Vps. They are followed by Rusia 225, Germany 220 & Norway 206.3.

The England Open team have three tough matches today, and will have to play well to maintain their position. All three of their matches are being shown on Bridge Base Online. The matches are (BST)

Round 13	09:30	England v Netherlands
Round 14	13:15	England v Czeck Rep.
Round 15	16:35	England v Iceland

You can download Bridge Base Online or view it without downloading anything, from the BBOTV website.

Also, you can follow the results round by round on the European Bridge League website. You can even get the running scores of matches currenly in play, click in the box at the top of the page.

Thoughts of an NPC II

This is Bill reporting from Pau at the end of Day 3.The weather is overcast with some rain and tensions are still high as we are now placed eleventh in our group.- remember nine teams qualify for the second and all important round robin.

Since my last report we have beaten Finland 17-13, lost to Spain 14-16, beat Greece 19-11 and Serbia 17-13. In most of our matches we seem to start badly and come good at the end. None of this is at all good for my nerves.

Against Spain I was watching the two Johns' and was concerned that a big defeat looked possible until they managed to defeat a very makeable slam on the penultimate board - which gave me some hope. Thankfully Paul and Tony produced a good card and the 14- 16 defeat felt like a victory.

In general we have lost heavily on slams and to quote Jason "mostly of our own making"

Today we need to pick up points as on Thursday we play Netherlands, Iceland and Czech Rep- three tough matches and which I believe will be key to our qualification.

Next report soon.

Pau - England moving up slowly

On Day 3 of the Championship the England Open team continued their fightback and are slowly working their towards qualification for the final stage. Match 7 was a narrow defeat, 14 - 16 to Spain. In Match 8 they beat Serbia 17 - 13 and they finished the day with a 19 - 11 win over Greece in Match 9. At the end of day 3 England are in 11th position with 136 Vps, just 3 Vps behind 9th position. Italy still lead group A with 164, followed by Netherlands 163, Czech Rep 161 & Finland 157. England need to finish in the top 9 out of the 19 teams in their group to qualify for the second stage. Germany head Group B with 186, followed by Sweden 183, Russia 154 and Norway Poland 152.3.

England have three more matches today, but none of these matches are being broadcast on Bridgebase Online. The matches are (BST)

Round 10	09:30	England v Lithuania
Round 11	13:15	England v Turkey
Round 12	16:35	England v Luxembourg

You can download Bridge Base Online or view it without downloading anything, from the BBOTV website.

Also, you can follow the results round by round on the European Bridge League website. You can even get the running scores of matches currenly in play, click in the box at the top of the page.