Lady Milne Trials

The Lady Milne trials are being held at Richmond Bridge Club on January 24-26. 

21 pairs have entered and they will play a complete round-robin of five-board matches (with one sit-out). The top three pairs will be invited to represent England in the Lady Milne in Ireland on April 11-13. As with the Camrose, the home nation will have two teams. England are the defending champions.

The Lady Milne started in in 1934 as the Ladies Championship of the National Bridge Association. (Lady Milne was assistant secretary to the NBA.)  It became the trophy for the Ladies Home Internationals in 1950. So far England have won 48 times (including one tie with Scotland in 2011), Scotland 12 times (including one tie), Wales three times and Northern Ireland twice. The Republic of Ireland rejoined the event in 1998. 

Two of our multiple world champions, Sally Brock and Heather Dhondy, are taking part. Sally is partnering Susanna Gross, with whom she has qualified three times, winning the Lady Milne on each occasion. Heather is playing in a new partnership with Sarah Dunn. Last year’s three winning pairs are all playing again: Gillian Fawcett & Jane Moore, Lizzie Godfrey & Pauline Cohen, as well as Brock & Gross. Former German international Barbara Hackett, wife of Justin Hackett, is playing in the trials for the first time, partnering 2011 Lady Milne winner Dinah Caplan.

Heather Dhondy holds the record for Lady Milne wins - 13, ahead of Nicola Smith (not playing this year) with 12. Of those who are playing in the trials, Sally Brock has seven wins and Sarah Teshome and Gillian Fawcett have six each.

At the other end of the scale there are some Trial debutantes, who will be playing with screens for the first time. We wish them, and all the competitors, good luck.

2014 Camrose - First weekend

January is a busy month for International Bridge, starting with the trials for the Senior team for the European Championships, which took place last weekend, and ending with the Women’s Lady Milne trials at the end of the month.

In between the focus switches to the Open team and the 2014 Camrose.  The first weekend is being played in deepest mid-Wales, in Llandrindod Wells, the scene of Wales’ only Camrose victory, in 2011.  England will be hosting the second weekend in easily-accessible Manchester in March.

The two English teams each includes a married couple playing together as a partnership, a comparative rarity.  England has Nevena and Brian Senior, the EBU team has Catherine Curtis and Paul Fegarty.  John Holland played two Camrose matches with Michelle Brunner after they were married (and two before).  Before that you have to go back (I think) to Jane and Tony Priday in the ‘70s.  Frances Hinden and Jeffrey Allerton have played together for England in the recent past, but not as a pair.  They are both playing for the EBU team this year, but not on the same weekend.

The two English teams play each other on Friday night (and I do mean night - the match is scheduled to finish at 23:35).  You can follow that match impartially on BBO, and after that you can support both teams independently and vociferously for the rest of the weekend.

Bali 16: It's the end of the world as we know it

We had an excellent first set on the final day but a poor second one where the lead disappeared so we started the final set 7 behind and although there were several chances up as far as Board 94 we couldn't quite do it. Silver is nothing to be other than proud of and its the first medal for 28 years in this event for our team.

At the medal ceremony Fiona & Susan were congratulated on joining the rest of the team as World Grand Masters.

England's final position also means they qualify for the Sport Accord games in Beijing just before Xmas.

Later today we start the trek home from the most hospitable of islands. Next time in 2015 the venue is likely to be Goa.

Bali 15: Day of destiny

We've reached the last day. 48 boards between us and a third successive Gold medal. At the half way stage we are 4.7imps behind. Yesterday featured some big swings and some big hands. In the last set a lightner double beat 7H when the opening leader for the USA had a choice of two five card minors. She got it right. In the other room Fiona has bid so there was no guess and the opposition viewed to retreat to 7NT to gain 2! The last board of set 2 earned us 16 when a take out double was interpreted as penalties and in set 3 it was worth 14 when the opponents bid 6C against Heather & Nevena which went 3 down whilst a penalty of 800 was extracted at the other table.

In case you were wondering Miss World is over and it was won by Miss Philippines. Although I missed the ceremony the end was marked by a first class traffic jam which would be the envy of many a large city. The preparation now turns to the visit of Mr Obama and curiously female statues, all of which are very respectable, have been covered with sarongs.

Bali 14: At last a medal

England completed a demolition job against China yesterday. As in the quarter final we built a good lead on the first day and were very solid on day 2. So this win guarantees at least a silver medal and our first Venice Cup medal of any colour since 1985. Nicola and and Sally were on that team also. We play USA2 in the final. They have good players but not very experienced partnerships so I am hopeful the next two days will bring the right result.

The conference centre here is big and our event is not the only one going on. Yesterday the candidates for Miss World 2013 arrived. The majority of them were wearing World Rhino Day tee shirts presumably to show their environmental credentials. To save you checking Google it was on Sep 22. The final is tomorrow and their area has now been roped of which stops the players going to ogle and the audience for Miss World seeking to filch our free coffee.

Bali 13: The final beckons

England had a good day yesterday and built up a useful but not decisive lead to take into the second half of the semi final. The winners play off for the gold medal over 96 boards and the losers have an 80 board play off for a bronze medal. England played in this in Veldhoven in 2011 and are very keen not to have to do it again.

At all world championships people can and do watch on BBO although Our Game also is broadcasting to China. Today's bulletin tells of an offer made by Our Game, a Chinese Internet Company to pay for exclusive rights to broadcast in future. No decision has yet been made by the WBF but the many keen BBO viewers will be looking on with some concern with the knowledge that BBO have provided an excellent free service for more than a decade.

Bali 12: End of the road for some

The quarter finals ended with mixed news for the English teams.

The women played three steady sets and never looked like relinquishing the lead they had built up on the first day. They now play China in the semi final. A win guarantees at least a silver medal. If you get up early to watch note that play starts at 3 a.m. on Friday.

The open team started the last set 65 behind and quickly moved 27-0 ahead but they could not maintain this and although they won the set lost by 52 overall. They did well to qualify and Monaco are tough opponents.

The Scots ran out of steam and conceded with one set to go. They are now in the transnational event.

At the end of the quarter final there was a second round of drug testing. The seniors don't get tested. The other two series do have tests and one of our players was selected.  50 pages out of 125 in the regulations are devoted to this topic and as there is one list of prohibited substances it means bridge players are subject to the same restrictions as greco-roman wrestlers!

Outside the venue they are preparing for next week's visitors and as that will include Presidents Obama and Putin a lot of street sweeping and minor repair is going on.

Bali 11: Who will be knocked out?

After 21 short matches the 96 board versions have started.

In the women's event England started with a good set and consolidated with two more positive sets to lead by 84 at the half way stage. The final set when the two strongest US pairs were playing and we won 38-9 was especially impressive.

In the open event England fell 40 behind but hit back hard on set 2 to take the lead. Monaco then won the last set to lead by 37. Still all to play for.

The Scottish seniors are facing a mountain to come back from 93 down.

The IBPA is the International Bridge Association and it has just made its annual awards. One of the open team, Andrew Robson, was a winner of the Personality of the Year in the year when he was also made an OBE. You can read more at www.worldbridge.org/ibpa-awards.aspx

Bali 10: End of the round robin

A good day for the home countries as both English teams and the Scots qualified for the quarter finals. Normally the winners can choose any of the 5th to 8th teams in the ko but to complicate things a new rule allowed 4th, 3rd and 2nd to decare themselves available for selection by a higher ranked team. This was billed as being fairer. I thought it wasted enough time to delay my evening glass of something fortifying. Predictably 0 teams availed themselves of this unmissable opportunity and it did not take Nostradamus to predict this would be so.

The English women play USA1. They start eight behind as a result of losing the qualifying match. USA1 have a sponsor and expect her to appear early in the match and not at the end.

The open team have been getting stronger and finished the round robin well, making the early struggle to stay near a qualifying position just a bad memory. They now play Monaco and start 4.33 ahead but this will be a tough match.

The Scottish Seniors did well to qualify and play the USA in the quarter final.

The women's hotel had a surprise for one of the team at 4.30 this morning when water started dripping through a light fitting. This was a follow up to what seemed to be an earth tremor in the early hours. Ideal preparation for a big knock out match!

Bali 9: Final day nerves

Today is the last day of qualifying and the nerves will be jangling. The women start in 5th place but have two difficult matches to end with against Japan who are in 9th with a chance of qualifying and France who are almost certain qualifiers. Yesterday as a welcome maximum (our 3rd) against South Africa but in the final match of the day lost heavily in the last 3 boards to go from a winning to losing position against China meaning we have work to do today.

In the open partnerships returned to normal. We had an excellent day with three wins (against China, Monaco and Poland to leave us 6th. We now have a good chance of qualifying but still have two tough matches to come out of three.

In the Seniors the Scots still have a good chance with an important first match against fellow contenders Australia.

The walk home from the centre to hotel has been given an extra excitement by the upgrading of the pavement. The new version comprises small pink stones coupled with large square shields which mask drains. Where these are not yet fitted there is a large deep hole with no guard around it. The captains duty last night extended to helping Nicola avoid these obstacles so that we had a full team today.