After surviving the 90-minute opening ceremony, which as far as I could tell dedicated the whole of the middle section to giving praise for the many uses of string (I kid you not), our team started with a modest 11-19 loss to France, before crushing Ecuador 24-6. A slightly tired match aginst the USA saw us go the whole match without conceding a single game swing — our worst board was 7 IMPs out — so it was somewhat disappointing when this resulted in a 12-18 loss.
Today, however, has seen us return to form. A rather embarassing 100 IMP win over Botswana gave us 25-0. Then we faced Norway. Despite bidding a reasonable slam that went off we won 25-4, just as we did in the Europeans. The European silver medallists, Bulgaria, awaited us and we emerged victorious 16-14 in a tight match. This leaves us in 3rd place, approximately one third of the way through the round robin.
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Beijing Seniors. Part One
An unexpected start to the Senior Team's campaign. Andrew Thompson did not show up at the airport and we were unable to contact him for over 24 hours. When we eventually did, we discovered he had been taken ill in London and had been taken to hospital without his phone or address book so could not contact us. We think he will be OK but not up to travelling to Beijing, so we have drafted Peter Czerniewski as a playing (as opposed to non-playing) captain, to play with Ross Harper.
Afer one day (3 of 15 round-robin matches) we have made a reasonably good start beating Sweden 24-6 and Wales 18-12 before losing 18-12 to a good US team — but it would have been 19-11 the other way if their 2% grand slam had been going down!
It is interesting to see which teams are doing well. Japan and South Africa are above us in the standings and Taipei (who we play tomorrow morning) are on the same score as us. As opposed to that, the teams you would expect (France, Italy, etc) are not doing so well. Still — it is very early days.
Afer one day (3 of 15 round-robin matches) we have made a reasonably good start beating Sweden 24-6 and Wales 18-12 before losing 18-12 to a good US team — but it would have been 19-11 the other way if their 2% grand slam had been going down!
It is interesting to see which teams are doing well. Japan and South Africa are above us in the standings and Taipei (who we play tomorrow morning) are on the same score as us. As opposed to that, the teams you would expect (France, Italy, etc) are not doing so well. Still — it is very early days.
Beijing U28s. Part One
Scrappy first match against Croatia where no-one played particularly badly and the result could easily have been reversed. Ended up in a 12-18 loss. We then got a lucky draw against Zimbabwe and made the most of it by scoring a blitz; in fact the margin was 101 IMPs. Same pairs then took on better opposition in the form of Estonia. We dropped 2VPs on the last board but still managed a 23-7 win. The margin was mainly through an excellent lead against a slam where game was played at the other table and a fortunate positional slam bid at both tables but putting our defender on lead with the singleton.
So we are occupying the last qualifying spot and the team are instructed to hold onto it for all they are worth. Portugal next, who had two maximums but went off the boil in the third match.
So we are occupying the last qualifying spot and the team are instructed to hold onto it for all they are worth. Portugal next, who had two maximums but went off the boil in the third match.
(Concise) Thoughts from a Beijing NPC: Phil King (Open)
We asked Phil King what he thought his team's prospects were and he replied:
Thanks Phil!
It looks like a decent draw.
We have a pretty good record in this event, so knockout stages and then hope for a bit of luck with the choices available.
Thanks Phil!
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Beijing U21s. Part One
The team survived the 12-hour flight ok, though were overcome with disappointment that there was no film on the plane. (Tom Paske in particular was hoping to catch the recent "Sex and the City" movie.)
We were picked up at the airport by our Chinese hosts and transported with a minimum of fuss to our accommodation, which is very comfortable.
Now — just the jet lag to overcome!
We were picked up at the airport by our Chinese hosts and transported with a minimum of fuss to our accommodation, which is very comfortable.
Now — just the jet lag to overcome!
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.
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.
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.
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 1 | Sat | 04 | Oct | 04:00 | Australia |
| Round 2 | Sat | 04 | Oct | 07:20 | Lithuania |
| Round 3 | Sat | 04 | Oct | 10:10 | Lebanon |
| Round 4 | Sun | 05 | Oct | 04:00 | Thailand |
| Round 5 | Sun | 05 | Oct | 07:20 | USA |
| Round 6 | Sun | 05 | Oct | 10:10 | Jordan |
| Round 7 | Mon | 06 | Oct | 04:00 | Philippines |
| Round 8 | Mon | 06 | Oct | 07:20 | Botswana |
| Round 9 | Mon | 06 | Oct | 10:20 | Turkey |
| Round 10 | Tue | 07 | Oct | 04:00 | Indonesia |
| Round 11 | Tue | 07 | Oct | 07:20 | Reunion |
| Round 12 | Tue | 07 | Oct | 10:10 | Greece |
| Round 13 | Wed | 08 | Oct | 04:00 | Switzerland |
| Round 14 | Wed | 08 | Oct | 07:20 | Venezuela |
| Round 15 | Fri | 10 | Oct | 04:00 | Belarus |
| Round 16 | Fri | 10 | Oct | 07:20 | Germany |
| Round 17 | Fri | 10 | Oct | 10:10 | Serbia |
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 1 | Sat | 04 | Oct | 04:00 | Norway |
| Round 2 | Sat | 04 | Oct | 07:20 | Reunion |
| Round 3 | Sat | 04 | Oct | 10:10 | Egypt |
| Round 4 | Sun | 05 | Oct | 04:00 | China Hong Kong |
| Round 5 | Sun | 05 | Oct | 07:20 | Trinidad |
| Round 6 | Sun | 05 | Oct | 10:10 | Belarus |
| Round 7 | Mon | 06 | Oct | 04:00 | Guadeloupe |
| Round 8 | Mon | 06 | Oct | 07:20 | Portugal |
| Round 9 | Mon | 06 | Oct | 10:20 | Thailand |
| Round 10 | Tue | 07 | Oct | 04:00 | Japan |
| Round 11 | Tue | 07 | Oct | 07:20 | India |
| Round 12 | Tue | 07 | Oct | 10:10 | Italy |
| Round 13 | Wed | 08 | Oct | 04:00 | Palestine |
| Round 14 | Wed | 08 | Oct | 07:20 | Poland |
| Round 15 | Fri | 10 | Oct | 04:00 | USA |
| Round 16 | Fri | 10 | Oct | 07:20 | Brazil |
| Round 17 | Fri | 10 | Oct | 10:10 | Lithuania |
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