U15s Tuesday morning

We started on Sunday against Sweden, who played soundly on a flattish set of boards and beat us by 13 IMPs.  Then we faced Hungary, winning by 22 IMPs with Oscar and Harry twice making vulnerable 3NT games not reached in the other room.  Our third match was against Poland, whom we'd guessed would be our strongest opponents, but they gave us a couple of presents and we won by 23.  Isaac and Liam defended one vulnerable 5♦ contract imperfectly, but it didn't much matter since the Poles were playing in Exclusion Blackwood in a 3-0 fit.  And Jack and Daniel bid and made two vulnerable games which Liam and Isaac defeated.

On Monday we started slowly again against France, losing by 29 IMPs, before bouncing back against Ireland, who are fielding an ineligible player and so are playing without standing.  Our third match was against Israel, another fancied team, whom we beat by 24.  The two double digit swings came on a hand where it was easier to judge the fit if you didn't open a strong NT — we play weak — and another where Harry's youthful 5♣ pre-empt allowed Oscar to push opponents to 6♠-1.

We finished both days in sixth place out of twelve, but we've already played four of the five teams above us.  We've got three pairs sharing playing time equally, so we're fresh, and cautiously optimistic about our prospects.

This morning we start against the Netherlands, the current leaders.  This would be a good day to get our first win in a morning match.  We've tried two of our possible line-ups for the morning matches so far, so my contribution is to select the third.

Junior European - Sunday Evening

Michael Byrne, NPC of the Under 20s

Today we played 3 matches and lost them all. This was not a good result.

In match one Sam made a fine play to chalk up 620 in 4H, it was written up in the bulletin by Brian Senior (apparently under my name) and was 12 imps to England.

Alas the rest of the set was tight and we lost by 10 imps.

The next set we played Sweden, and they were good players, but most of the points we lost were nerves and sloppy errors.

In the 3rd match we took an early lead (11-0) against Poland but after that we failed to score any imps and threw a lot away. Letting through 3 games, going 3 down on back to back part score hands, playing the wrong part-score and flooring a cold game.

At one point I even asked one of my team "did you really take A level maths?" after his counting skills led him to conceded an overtrick when he held the setting tricks in his hand.

Tomorrow we have an easy match against Hungary, then two more toughish ones against France and the Netherlands. We need to pull ourselves up and restore team morale.

Our short team talk consisted of good cop, (Coach Bryony Youngs) and bad cop (myself).

Good Cop: "We've had a hard day but the teams were tough and we will do better tomorrow"

Bad Cop: "You've all played s**t. Don't do it again"

Junior Europeans - Sunday Morning

Paul Barden, NPC of the Under 15s

We've been in Tromso for one day already, in which time we've settled into the hotel, sorted out glitches with the room assignments (the hotel has too many double rooms and not enough twins), registered the teams (dates of birth have to be checked), had a short practice match at the playing venue (the U15s played the Dutch), attended the opening ceremony (thank you to the officials for keeping their speeches short), taken team photos (some hungry juniors were reluctant to be separated from their dinners), and practised against each other in the hotel bar (soft drinks only).

The arctic summer may take longer to get used to - the next sunset will be on 27th July.  But the hotel rooms have very good curtains.

Play for all three of our teams starts at 10am tomorrow - the U15s start against Sweden.  We'll be playing three 16-board matches a day, while the U20s and U25s play 20-board matches.

This is the first time there's been an under-15 championship, and the EBU U15 squad has existed for only a few months.  Sarah O'Connor, the squad manager, has worked tirelessly with the players and their parents to get them ready to play.

The events are variously known as Juniors/U26/U25, Youngsters/U21/U20, and Kids/U16/U15.  There's also a "Girls" event, but we haven't got a team in it.  The rule is that "Kids" have to have been born in this millennium, with five-year steps for the other teams.

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Michael Byrne, NPC of the Under 20s

Team England survived the journey here, and all are raring to go. At the captains meeting various revelations were unleashed on the unsuspecting nations, amongst them that appeals committees have been scrapped and replaced by a "review procedure" whereby one person (top EBL director Eitan Levy) checks the directors rulings to see that no errors have been made. The penalty for a frivolous review is 100 Euros and a 2VP fine!  I am not convinced by the merits of this, but since I have no wish to start on a minus score I will avoid voicing my disgust.

This certainly wasn't the attitude of two of the more Mediterranean nations who spent most of the allotted time for questions complaining about the food, which as far as everyone on my team is concerned is fine. In fact Alex Roberts (a refugee from the U25 team) managed to get 4 desserts on one plate, meaning he only had to go back once for seconds.

(I always enjoy trying new dishes but I confess sprout lasagne does seem enterprising even for me)

The opening ceremony was the usual stand up sit down, clap another country, repeat to end, only this time an added wrinkle was that whilst the EBL president was giving his address there was (every so often) a pinging noise to indicate that the computer behind him was being used to log onto facebook. Since this was combined with his unbelievably cliched Inspector-Clouseu accent, by the time he got to "I now declarer the championships open" everyone was in hysterics.

By the time you read this we will be well into our 3 Sunday matches against Italy, Sweden and Poland and none of them will be easy.

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2015 Teltscher Trophy - I

The Senior Camrose (a name that should now only be used in a historical context) started in 2008. As with the Camrose and Lady Milne, a sixth team is added to bring the number of competitors up to an even number. From 2008 to 2014, this was a Patron's team, led by Bernard Teltscher. Bernard donated a trophy in 2013 and the event is now known as the Teltscher Trophy. Bernard has an excellent record in the event, coming first twice (the Patron's team is not allowed to 'win'). He was partnered by the late, great, Tony Priday and last year, with a combined age of over 180, they were second in the cross-IMP ranking. This year the Patron's team is from the host country, the Republic of Ireland.

 The format is slightly different to that of the Lady Milne and Camrose, in that it is a double round robin, rather then a single round robin. I don't know why. Also the segments are 14 boards each, not 16 boards. Again, I don't know why - I hope it isn't in deference to the age of the competitors; if so, they find it a bit patronising.

England, who won the event in 2008 and 2010, are represented by a team of five. Tony Forrester and David Kendrick have both won the Junior Camrose (Tony once, David twice) and the Camrose (Tony numerous, David once) and so both could complete the set this weekend (Tony at his first attempt, David at his second). Brian Senior is playing in his second Teltscher Trophy and Norman Selway in his first. Nick Irens is playing in his first international of any description, so this is a very special weekend for him. I am the veteran of senior events, having being the (unsuccessful) England NPC at the Teltscher Trophy for the last two years. If we win this year I will be (a) very happy and (b) applying for the job of coach to the England cricket team.

I am pleased to report that the England team have all arrived safely and are busy preparing for the off - discussing systems, greeting old friends and adversaries, and getting some fresh air. We hope to do you proud.

The EBU team at the 2015 Lady Milne

The EBU team was made up of the pairs who came second, third and fourth in the trials in January. Of the six players, only Anne Rosen had any full international experience. As far as I could tell, no other team had more than one debutante, and many of the opposition players had more than five previous Lady Milne appearances, not to mention European Championships and so on. Given that daunting environment, the EBU team performed very creditably, winning three of the five matches, including beating England in the first match – that alone was worth the trip!  At one point in the last stanza against Ireland it looked as though we (alright, they) could snatch second place, but the Irish rallied over the last few boards.

The Welsh last won the event in 1988. {‘What’s 1988?’ asked one of the EBU team, who hadn’t been born then.}  The Welsh celebrated in style with some fine singing (no surprise there).  I wonder what Team EBU would have sung if we had won.  Does the EBU have an anthem?  If not, why not?

The event was very well organised by Darren Evetts and Dawn Mertens, and very well directed by Mike and Sarah Amos.

Moving from the real to the slightly surreal …

We live in the age of Super Heroes, where seemingly ordinary people have extra-ordinary powers and rather un-ordinary names.  Such is their dedication to the cause that the Super Heroines of the EBU team played under assumed names, each of which has the letters E B U at its heart.

Let me introduce them to you:

       ~ Olympic Champion Anne Rosen was Rosebud

       ~ Hannah Cornfield, playing in her first international, was Debutante

       ~ Marietta Andree’s nom-de-jeu was Nebula

       ~ Janet Cahm played under the name Trebuchet

       ~ Sarah O’Connor’s alter-ego was Doodlebug

       ~ Kath Stynes played as Cheeseburger, our very own quarter-pounder.

By day I am a mild-mannered reporter for a great national magazine; by night I am Captain Ebullient. My thanks, and the team’s, to our unofficial coach, Mike Bell, who made the trip as Beelzebub.

The players were too busy reading my training paper, A dozen things to do with Gerber, to pose for a team photo before the event, but I managed to round up some stunt doubles at the Hurlingham Bridge Club. The photo is available here

Final match - part 2

5 to go: lead is 0.1 over Dutch, 4 ahead of Italy in 4th

Final match as it happened

Start:  3rd place, 4 VPs behind Italy
1board:  moved into second with a 9-IMP swing
 2 boards: more IMPs and England moves into the lead.
 3 boards: another swing in, England ahead of Netherlands by 4 VPs
 5 boards: 2.5 VPs ahead, 7 ahead of fourth...
7 boards:  3 ahead of Netherlands and Italy, 5 ahead of France

8 boards: 1ahead of 2nd and 3rd, 4 ahead of Italy
 7 left... 2.5 VPs ahead.. 4 ahead of Italy
 6: lead by 0.3 over the Dutch, 4.1 over 4th

One Match Shoot Out to Decide the Championships

The top four countries are separated by a mere 7 VPs. Fourth-placed France play the bottom team whilst England, in third and 4 VPs off the lead, face mid-table Norway.

 We suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Italy this morning turnng the last few days into a roller-coaster ride of the sort that makes Alton Towers seem like an amusement park.

Hoping for the best!

It's Going Down to the Wire

The final day's play has arrived and each team has two matches to play.  England maintains the narrowest of leads with four teams all entertaining thoughts of winning.  Overnight, the top of the leaderboard looks like this (20 VPs available per match):

England.                 278.74
Netherlands.          278.45
Italy.                       266.54
France.                   261.27 

Having enjoyed an advantage of 10 VPs at the start of the day (following an excellent win against the Netherlands) losses against Germany and Poland allowed the Dutch to take the lead.  A nerve-jangling vicory against Spain, however, proved to be sufficient to regain the ascendency overnight by the slenderest of margins.

The Dutch might feel that they are favourites at this point in that they have matches against lowly-ranked teams, whereas we have to play Italy (medal contenders) and then Norway.

The pressure on the players will be intense and this factor could play into our hands having been there so many times before.  In the cauldron of the playing arena, a cool head can be worth several VPs and we are confident of maintaining our composure as the pressure intensifies.

 The match against Italy will be on BBO, beginning at 9:30 a.m. BST.  I hope that, like me, you will be watching the drama unfold - right down to the wire!