Tuesday 30 September 2008

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.

Saturday 27 September 2008

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 1Sat04Oct04:00Australia
Round 2Sat04Oct07:20Lithuania
Round 3Sat04Oct10:10
Lebanon
Round 4Sun05Oct04:00Thailand
Round 5Sun05Oct07:20USA
Round 6Sun05Oct10:10Jordan
Round 7Mon06Oct04:00Philippines
Round 8Mon06Oct07:20Botswana
Round 9Mon06Oct10:20Turkey
Round 10Tue07Oct04:00Indonesia
Round 11Tue07Oct07:20Reunion
Round 12Tue07Oct10:10Greece
Round 13Wed08Oct04:00
Switzerland
Round 14Wed08Oct07:20
Venezuela
Round 15Fri10Oct04:00Belarus
Round 16Fri10Oct07:20Germany
Round 17Fri10Oct10:10Serbia

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 1Sat04Oct04:00Norway
Round 2Sat04Oct07:20Reunion
Round 3Sat04Oct10:10
Egypt
Round 4Sun05Oct04:00China Hong Kong
Round 5Sun05Oct07:20Trinidad
Round 6Sun05Oct10:10Belarus
Round 7Mon 06Oct04:00Guadeloupe
Round 8Mon06Oct07:20Portugal
Round 9Mon06Oct10:20Thailand
Round 10Tue07Oct04:00Japan
Round 11Tue07Oct07:20India
Round 12Tue07Oct10:10Italy
Round 13Wed08Oct04:00
Palestine
Round 14Wed08Oct07:20
Poland
Round 15Fri10Oct04:00USA
Round 16Fri10Oct07:20Brazil
Round 17Fri10Oct10:10Lithuania

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 1Sat04Oct04:00China Hong Kong
Round 2Sat04Oct07:20Japan
Round 3Sat04Oct10:10
USA
Round 4Sun05Oct04:00Hungary
Round 5Sun 05Oct07:20Chinese Taipei
Round 6Sun05Oct10:10Brazil
Round 7Mon06Oct04:00Bye
Round 8Mon06Oct07:20France
Round 9Mon06Oct10:20New Zealand
Round 10Tue07Oct04:00South Africa
Round 11Tue07Oct07:20Pakistan
Round 12Tue07Oct10:10Thailand
Round 13Wed08Oct04:00
Wales
Round 14Wed08Oct07:20
Denmark
Round 15Fri10Oct04:00Estonia
Round 16Fri10Oct07:20Kenya
Round 17Fri10Oct 10:10Sweden

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 1Sat04Oct04:00France
Round 2Sat04Oct07:20Ecuador
Round 3Sat04Oct10:10
USA
Round 4Sun05Oct04:00Botswana
Round 5Sun05Oct07:20Norway
Round 6Sun05Oct10:10Bulgaria
Round 7Mon06Oct04:00Pakistan
Round 8Mon06Oct07:20Indonesia
Round 9Mon06Oct10:20China
Round 10Tue07Oct04:00Uruguay
Round 11Tue07Oct07:20Chinese Taipei
Round 12Tue07Oct10:10Canada
Round 13Wed08Oct04:00
Netherlands
Round 14Wed08Oct07:20
Poland
Round 15Fri10Oct04:00Argentina
Round 16Fri10Oct07:20Australia
Round 17Fri10Oct 10:10Singapore

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 1Sat04Oct04:00
Round 2Sat04Oct07:20
Round 3Sat04 ct10:10
Round 4Sun05Oct04:00
Round 5Sun05Oct07:20
Round 6Sun05Oct10:10
Round 7Mon06Oct04:00
Round 8Mon06Oct07:20
Round 9Mon06Oct10:20
Round 10Tue07Oct04:00
Round 11Tue07Oct07:20
Round 12Tue07Oct10:10
Round 13Wed08Oct04:00
Round 14Wed08Oct07:20
Round 15Fri10Oct04:00
Round 16Fri10Oct07:20
Round 17Fri10Oct10:10