Junior Europeans Diary 4

So both teams find themselves in a similar position. With both having not played as well as they would have hoped, they find themselves needing a massive performance step up AND a bit of a rub of the green if they are to qualify for their respective world championships. The U20s have Poland, Russia, Turkey and a bye to finish. Poland are currently top of the U20 standings, so getting the necessary big win is a tough ask. But stranger things have happened. The U25s also have Poland to play in their run in and they will also present an extremely tough match. It doesn't look good, but all the players can do now is to try. Maybe something amazing will happen...

Junior Europeans Diary 3

Another very up and down day here in Wroclaw. More up for the U25s who have given themselves an outside chance of getting a qualifying spot if they can summon up a big finish. The highlight of the day was their comfortable win over title contenders Denmark, despite shipping out a 20 IMP swing on one board by playing in the wrong grand slam.

For the U20s it began with a nerve shredding win over the Israelis, but then they couldn't replicate the efforts of their elder compatriots and nose dived to a heavy loss to the Danes. They did finish the day by extracting an all-but-maximum from the bottom of the Austrians to lift themselves to within a couple of VPs of the all-important top six. A difficult day awaits though - the solid French followed by the table-topping Swedes who were in imperious form today.

For those of you who think we have an easy job as captain and coach. You know, fly off to lovely locations and sit around drinking tea and coffee and putting our feet up while letting the kids get on with the hard work - THINK AGAIN. Here is a link to a daily bulletin article written by Michael Byrne.

On page 22 he describes one of the typical kind of junior misadventures that we have to watch while peeking through our fingers, 20 times per match, 3 matches per day. Now tell me you could survive a week of this without needing a long holiday to recover. Or very strong medication. Or both!

Junior Europeans Diary 2

The sun came out yesterday and so did the flies - we are right next to the Oder river. But they weren't the only things to bite us. The U20s had a tough day with three defeats, two of them with big swings out in the last few boards. Under the new VP scoring scale, these seem to be even more costly than before. Fortunately there were plenty of shock results flying around so despite dropping down the table, we are still in touch. A momentum shift is required. Israel first up today would be an excellent place to start.

Junior Europeans Diary 1

Greetings from Wroclaw, venue for the 24th Junior European Championship. The weather here has been a little cooler than the UK, but made up for by the warmth of our Polish hosts - although we are due to get some more sunshine from Wednesday onwards.

Things have started OK for the U20s and we lie 3rd after 6/18 matches. After squeaking a win against the Scots in the first match and then comfortably beating an inexperienced Irish side, we had our only defeat (so far) at the hands of our close rivals from the Netherlands. Today saw three victories - a topsy-turvy battle against the Slovaks followed by big wins against Hungary and Norway.

The nature of the competition is such that pretty much any team can turn over anyone else. There have already been a number of 'surprise' results and we expect plenty more. Consistency will be the name of the game.

Things have not gone so well for the U25s who endured a couple of rough days. Every error seemed to be magnified when the scores were being counted. However, a good day today has lifted spirits and if they can maintain that form, then they have a chance of getting back into contention. They can't afford any more slip ups from here though.

2013 Teltscher Trophy - after the event

The England Seniors failed to hold on to their overnight lead on the last day of Teltscher Trophy in Cardiff. A heavy defeat against Northern Ireland brought us back into the pack and, although we still had a chance with one match to go, we needed a big win and for other results to go our way. It was not to be - Scotland surged past Northern Ireland to win the event, leaving England in third place.

At the final dinner it was announced that the event will henceforth be known only as the Teltscher Trophy and it should not be referred to as the Senior Camrose. It is now an established event in its own right, very popular with the players and (fiercely) played in a great spirit.

2013 Teltscher Trophy - Sunday morning

The first complete round-robin has been played, and the first match of the second round robin, so six matches down and four to go. So far England have won three, drawn one and lost two, and we find ourselves in the lead with 102 VPs, ahead of three teams on 88 and one on 87.

The deals have been exciting - the same team playing in 2D in both rooms, trumps seemingly breaking 5-0 more often than 3-2, a bidding sequence of 2D - 7D (bid and made against England) and so on. Maybe we will have nice boring part score deals today so that we can stay ahead of the chasing pack.

Many thanks to Roger O'Shea and Pharon Independent Financial Advisers, who are sponsoring the England Senior team.

Tune in and watch us on BBO this afternoon ... much more exciting than the football and, if you are interested in cricket, you can have Test Match Special on in the background.

2013 Teltscher Trophy

The Senior Home Internationals for the Teltscher Trophy (sometimes referred to as the Senior Camrose) was first held in 2008. The competition for the trophy is between the four home nations and the Republic of Ireland. The event has been generously sponsored since its inception by Bernard Teltscher, who leads the Great Britain team that brings the number of teams up to six. The Patron’s team can come first, but it cannot win the trophy.

The event is played over a single weekend with a double round robin of 14-board matches. England has won the trophy twice, in 2008 in Oxford and in 2012 in Ayr. Wales has won once and Scotland has won twice, cannily finishing second in the two years that the Great Britain came first.

England is represented by the very experienced team that won the trials last December. Paul Hackett, who has won the trophy twice in four appearances, is partnering David Mossop, playing in the event for first time, having returned to England after a number of years playing in and for Switzerland.

Gunnar Hallberg and John Holland are playing together in a Teltscher Trophy team for the fourth time; three times for England (two wins) and once for Great Britain (a win but no trophy).

David Price and Colin Simpson have also played together for England (once) and for Great Britain (twice, one win). David and Colin were part of the England team that won the Camrose earlier in 2013 and they hope (tempting fate, this bit) to become the first pair to win the Camrose and Teltscher Trophy in the same year.

I have the honour of NPCing the England team and I have supplied each of them with a diet sheet, a fitness programme, and a detailed guide (with examples) of how to tell when a 4♣ bid is Gerber. You can do your bit by watching the match on BBO with your fingers crossed; with your help England can do the Camrose - Lady Milne - Teltscher Trophy treble in 2013.

2013 Lady Milne

The Lady Milne started in 1934 as the Ladies Team championship of the NBA (National Bridge Association), which was run by Hubert Phillips. Lady Milne was assistant secretary to the NBA. In 1950 the Lady Milne became the trophy for the Ladies Home Internationals, and was won by Scotland.

The event is played over a single weekend for women’s teams from England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (who rejoined the event in 1998). A sixth team was introduced in 2009, in Limerick, to balance the numbers; the host country providing two teams. The EBU team (the pairs who came 4^th, 5^th and 6^th in the trials) won the event in Manchester in 2010.

In the 62 series so far, England/EBU has won outright on 46 occasions. Scotland have won 11 times, Wales three times and Northern Ireland twice. In addition England and Scotland tied for first place in 2011 (and the regulations have been changed so that it won’t happen again).

The teams will play 32 boards (two sets of 16) against each other team. Scotland, going for three wins in a row and with the home-crowd urging them on, are probably the team to beat. Their team includes the ever-green Liz McGowan (seven times a Lady Milne winner, first in 1986). England start against Northern Ireland on Friday evening and play Scotland on Sunday morning.

England are represented by five past winners and one debutante. Sally Brock has won the Lady Milne six times, her first win coming in 1976. Her latest two wins, in 2010 and 2011, were in partnership with Susanna Gross. Gillian Fawcett is a five-time winner (1989 to 2003), and is playing with Jane Moore, who has won three times (1993 to 2000). Lizzie Godfrey has also won three times (1997 to 2011). Her partner is Pauline Cohen, who is winning her first cap. The Lady Milne team is being NPCed by Simon Cope for the third time. He led the England team to victory in 2010 and 2011, and he was also NPC of the Camrose team that won the event in March. Let us hope that these are good omens!

Invitation Events

One of the Selection Committee's responsibilities is selecting and supporting teams for invitation events.

From time to time an overseas bridge organisation will invite us to send a representative team to one of their events. These events are an important source of practice for our international players when preparing for World and European championships, and an opportunity for aspiring players to gain experience and to demonstrate that they can perform at the highest levels.

Sometimes the organisers will provide a subsidy in the form of free entry, accommodation or a contribution to expenses. The Selection Committee may also provide some funding, depending on the event and on the team selected.

When selecting teams for these events, we have to balance the objectives of the organisers, the needs of our representative teams for practice, and the benefits of providing international experience to other players.

Recently we received two such invitations: for the German Bridge Team Trophy, and the Chairman's Cup in Sweden. In the first instance these were offered to the Open and Ladies Teams who will be representing us at the World Championships in Bali later this year. Subsequently we invited applications from recent participants in the top division of the Premier League and from the current Junior Team.

The German Bridge Team Trophy (which evolved from the Bonn Nations Cup) takes place in May. Thanks to the generosity of the German Bridge League we have been able to send a junior team consisting of Dan MacIntosh, Sarah O'Connor, Tom Paske and Ed Jones to test themselves against some very strong competition.

The team for the Chairman's Cup, subsidised by the Swedish Bridge Federation, will be announced in the next few weeks.

Both of these events are open to other entrants, so any pairs who miss out on selection may wish to consider playing under their own steam. More details are below.

German Bridge Team Trophy: Bonn; 8th-10th May, followed by the Bonn Cup pairs on 11th May. More details from www.german-bridge-trophy.de.

Chairman's Cup: Orebro, Sweden, 27th July - 1st August, followed by the Gold Mine pairs on 3rd-4th August. More details from www.svenskbridge.se/festival.

Camrose Update

The team have now completed two of their five matches for the weekend. Firstly we played Northern Ireland, and we lost by four imps, resulting in a 14-16 VP loss. Whilst a disappointing result, we still maintained a decent lead over the other competitors.
This morning we played Wales. The match featured some incredible boards, with three good grand slams coming up, and all three being bid at both tables. We suffered a little misfortune, when we bid a good game which went down on a 5-1 trump break, but emerged victorious by 21 IMPs for an 18-12 win in VPs. This leaves us reasonably well placed, especially as Northern Ireland lost heavily to the CBAI, and Ireland and Scotland played out a hard fought draw.
We play Scotland this afternoon, then Ireland on Sunday morning and CBAI on Sunday afternoon. All the action can be followed on BBO.