Thursday was a Seniors only day. While the Open and Women's teams were recharging their batteries, the remaining 25 Senior teams (defending champions France failed to qualify for the final and withdrew) played on. All five tables were on VuGraph and/or BBO for all three matches.
The final ten-team Round Robin did not start well. Our first match, against Ireland, was dominated by board 2. The Irish bid to 6C and made all thirteen tricks. In the other room John Holland and Gunnar Hallberg bid to the cold 7C - Ireland sacrificed in 7D - England bid on to 7S - Ireland doubled (a Lightner Double) - the opening club lead was ruffed - 17 IMPs away instead of 13 IMPs in. 7S would have made if the opening leader hadn't held all three missing clubs. The Irish played well and we lost 22-52 (3.27 VPs), dropping to 9th place.
Next up were the favourites, Poland. We lost a game swing on the first board and were lying 10th and last. But not for long. The England team rallied and recovered to win 23-20 (10.91) and move us up to 8th.
The third match was against fourth-placed Hungary and a fine 51-18 win (17.17 VPs) saw us move back up to 6th, and back into a qualifying position for the World Championships.
Today we have Denmark (whom we didn't play in the Swiss), second-placed Austria (whom we beat in the Swiss) and Belgium (to whom we lost in the Swiss).
On a personal note, I was consulted by a director who seeking opinions on a bid, before giving a ruling. I told him I was a mere NPC, and didn't want my non-expert opinion to be used in determining a ruling that might affect the outcome of a match. It was flattering to be asked ... he actually took me for a bridge player!
I'm amazed you didn't take your one and only opportunity at these championships to give an opinion on a bid! With a team containing Gunnar, John, Colin, and David I can fully understand keeping quiet when they express an opinion, but to a director??
ReplyDeleteHe must have read all of your fascinating articles in the bulletin and concluded you knew what you were talking about. Or alternatively he wanted to know what a 70%
ReplyDeleteaction was for someone of the standard of the Slovenian team, who were lying bottom, and you were the only one of your team bad enough to be able to help him. Either way I'd take it as a compliment.
I believe that the English Seniors are uncatchable with a match to go. Well done to all the team, the coach and the captain. A nice fillip for England supporters after the World Cup debacle.
ReplyDelete