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Home , Andrew Robson, Bermuda Bowl, Boris Schapiro, Brian Senior, Fritzi Gordon, Gold Cup (bridge)

Expects Y R O T

S by Michael Byrne I H

English players’ successes at World Championship level

IN this anniversary year, it is only fair that stood as the record for the largest penalty position. West had suggested a six-card club we look back through the last 75 years at ever conceded in a World Cham pion ship. suit by overcalling vulnerable, and it looked the great achievements in world cham - (This record was broken in the 2005 like spades could well be 4-1. Was it too pion ships where our players have fought Bowl where there were two 3400 much to hope that West had one heart and together to win as a country. penalties!) two diamonds? In that case declarer could In the final GB didn’t quite manage to cash the ace of trumps and then three The overcome the USA, although this was a diamonds throwing his club. Then a heart high spot: to the nine and he would lose only one The most prestigious of the World Cham - heart and two spades – the nine and eight pionships is the Bermuda Bowl for Open being good cards to force out the jack and teams. Origi nating in 1950, it was at first a Game All. Dealer East. ten. Things didn’t quite go to plan as under challenge match between , North ´ 8 7 5 4 the ace of trumps the king fell, and declarer America and Great Britain, but it meta - ™ 5 4 crossed to dummy to draw trumps and morphosed into a huge competition with t A K Q J 7 6 then run the diamonds; that was thirteen qualifiers coming from all of the zones. ® K tricks and +710, 14 IMP s to Great Britain. England competed (until 1999) as Great ´ Q J 10 2 ´ K It is rare that one table makes thirteen Britain, and won it in 1955, when the great ™ K N ™ 10 7 6 3 tricks and the other only seven, especially W E , , Ken neth t 8 4 S t 5 3 2 when they are in the same contract! Konstam, , Adam ‘Plum’ ® A J 10 9 6 3 ® 8 7 5 4 2 Sadly three of our players who were on Meredith and Jordanis Pavlides beat the ´ A 9 6 3 that team have since left us: John Arm - USA by a substantial margin. ™ A Q J 9 8 2 strong, and . Since they have changed the format it t 10 9 The other members of the team are still has been very difficult for England to ® Q among our top players today: Graham qualify, as the European Championships is Kirby, , and Robert Sheehan an incredibly tough competition, and (who came out of retirement long enough a bridge nation has to finish in the top six Both sides bid to 4 ™ after South opened the to win the last year) along with to make the Bermuda Bowl. In 1987 bidding (Jeremy Flint for GB with 1 ™ and NPC . England finished 2nd in the European Bobby Wolf for the USA with a canapé 1 ´) We have subsequently played in the Champion ships to , and qualified which gave them a chance to make game – Bermuda Bowl twice more, in 1991 for the Bermuda Bowl being held in Ocho 4´ has no chance on the actual lie given (Forrester, , Kirby, Arm - Rios, a beautiful town on the North Coast that the trumps break badly. Sitting West strong, Roman Smolski, Tony Sowter, with of . for us was the late Raymond Brock, who David Burn as coach and Sandra In the initial round robin there were made a good start of leading the ace of NPC), where we lost a tight quarter-final eight teams and team GB finished second clubs and switching to a diamond, attack - match to , and in 2005 where we to Chinese ; holders USA and Euro - ing declarer’s com mu nication. Declarer didn’t make the knock out stages. pean champions Sweden were exempt to then finessed in hearts and Brock played the semi-final. The conditions of contest another diamond cutting declarer off from The Cup stated that the two European teams would the table completely. He had no chance have to meet. Great Britain took an early now and attempted to draw trumps, losing The women’s equivalent is called the lead which they never relinquished and three spades and another heart for three ‘’ and started in 1974, the first won by 47 IMPs. Almost half of this margin down. tournament being held in Venice. England came from one deal where Sweden had a In the other room the American West led has had some success in this event, misunderstanding about a redouble and the queen of spades overtaken by the king winning in 1981 and 1985, beating strong conceded a penalty of 2800 – which long and Jeremy Flint looked deeper into the American teams both times in the final.

38 English Bridge June 2011 www.ebu.co.uk This deal from the 1985 final showed declarer having to work hard for her game:

E/W Game. Dealer West. ´ A J 6 3 ™ A J 4 t A J 10 5 ® K 6 ´ 10 7 4 2 ´ K Q ™ 10 8 3 N ™ Q 7 5 2 W E t 8 3 S t K Q 9 6 ® Q 9 7 3 ® 8 5 2 ´ 9 8 5 ™ K 9 6 i h

t 7 4 2 c c a T

® A J 10 4 n o R

: o t o h P For Great Britain, the declarer was as South, playing in 3NT on the The England team, winners of the Women’s Series at the 2008 Beijing . lead of a low club. She took the natural line From the left: Martin Jones (NPC), Heather Dhondy, , Catherine Draper, of taking a diamond , and then won , Sandra Penfold (Coach), Anne Rosen and Nevena Senior. the club return on the table. If declarer now plays a heart to hand and takes another declarer an eighth trick, and Brunner who are still going strong today. Sally Brock diamond finesse she will go down, as with cashed three hearts ending in her hand. At and were on the team both the dia monds lying badly she has only seven this point West was squeezed: she had to times, along with Nicola Smith and Pat tricks. Instead, Brunner played a low spade guard the spades and the queen of clubs. Davies who retired when the home nations off the dummy, seeking further chances. When she let go a spade, declarer had a devolved in 1999. The team was completed East won and played a third club, and she complete count, and played a spade to the in 1981 by Maureen Dennison and Diana was back in her hand to take a diamond ace dropping the king as if by magic. This is Williams, and in 1985 by Michelle Brunner finesse. East could win and exit with the known as a ‘show-up squeeze’ as West’s and Gill Scott-Jones. nine of dia monds pinning declarer’s seven, spades weren’t tech nically winners, but they but she won and played a diamond back ‘showed up’ her partner’s bare K-Q. The Bridge Teams Olympiads giving the lead to East once more. East Unlike the Open team, our gold-winning elected to get off lead with a heart, giving women’s teams feature many of the stars The other world champion ships where English players have done well are the World Teams Olympiads, which have taken ENGLISH WOMEN’S SUCCESSES AT THE WORLD TEAMS OLYMPIADS place every four years since 1960. The event changed its name to World Bridge YEAR VENUE POS. TEAM Games (and, slightly, its format) in 2008, 1964 New York 1st , , Dorothy Shanahan, when it became part of the World Mind Dimmie Fleming, Jane Juan, Mary Moss, Sports Games. NPC Harold Franklin In the Open series England won a silver 1976 Monte Carlo 2nd Fritzi Gordon, Rixi Markus, Nicola Gardener (Smith), in 1960 (Terence Reese, Boris Schapiro, Sandra Landy, Charlie Esterson, Rita Oldroyd, , Albert Rose, Jeremy Flint, NPC Graham Cooke Ralph Swimer, NPC Louis Tarlo), and 1980 Valkenburg 3rd Sally Sowter (Brock), Sandra Landy, Pat Davies, bronze in 1964 (Terence Reese, Boris Nicola Gardener (Smith), Rita Oldroyd, Michelle Brunner, Schapiro, Joel Tarlo, Jeremy Flint, Kenneth NPC Raymond Brock Konstam, Maurice Harrison-Gray, NPC 1984 Seattle 2nd Sally Horton (Brock), Sandra Landy, Pat Davies, Louis Tarlo) and 1976 (Tony Priday, Claude Nicola Smith, Gillian Scott-Jones, Sarah Scarborough, NPC , Coach Gus Calderwood Rodrigue, Willie Coyle, Robert Sheehan, Jeremy Flint, Irving Rose, NPC Terence 1988 Venice 2nd Michelle Brunner, Sandra Landy, Pat Davies, Reese), before a magnificent run in 2008 Nicola Smith, Liz McGowan (), Sandra Penfold, NPC Graham Endicott, Coach Richard Fleet where they proved that they were still one of the strongest nations in the world. 1992 Salsomaggiore 2nd Pat Davies, Nicola Smith, Michele Handley (Barker), Sandra Landy, Liz McGowan (Scotland), Sandra Penfold, England reached the final, beating tough NPC , Coach and in the early knock- out rounds before shredding Ger many in 2004 Istanbul 3rd Sally Brock, Kitty Teltscher, Heather Dhondy, Nicola Smith, the semi-final despite being down over - Michelle Brunner, Rhona Goldenfield, NPC Alan Mould, Coach Christine Duckworth night. In the final they just fell short, losing to Italy, whose players have won plenty of

www.ebu.co.uk June 2011 English Bridge 39 world championships on past and recent occasions. The team was Jason and Justin Hackett, the mainstay of the Open team over the last decade, and Tom Town send, and Artur Mali nowski and Nick Sandqvist, with Phil King as NPC and Simon Cope as Coach. In the Women’s series, England have dominated, with medals in nearly every championship – starting with a gold medal in 1964, continuing with silver in 1976, bronze in 1980, silver in 1984, 1988 and

1992, and bronze in 2004 (see table on n n a previous page). 2008 again proved to be w S

n a J

England’s glory year as the Women’s team : o t o

prevailed in a hard-fought final against h home nation China at the World Bridge P Games. Some of the names on the team Left to right: John Holland, David Price, Peter Baxter (NPC), Colin Simpson, were old hands, with Nicola Smith (playing Paul Hackett, Gunnar Hallberg and Ross Harper, 2009 World Seniors Champions. an amazing ninth consecutive Olympiad) partne ring her perennial team-mate Sally Philadelphia, Paul, John and Gunnar won The team was nearly handicapped Brock, and Heather Dhondy (who also again, this time playing with Americans severe ly when Andrew Robson, no doubt holds a gold medal from the 1996 World and Gary Hayden. lost in a world of finessing and Mixed Teams) part nering Nevena Senior. coups, cycled into a parked truck en route Anne Rosen and Catherine Draper com - The Juniors to the championships in Notting ham. pleted the team, together with Martin Jones Fortu na tely a pile of woodcuttings broke as NPC and Sandra Penfold as Coach. In the Junior game England has had two his fall, and he emerged with only notable successes in the 1980s and 1990s scratches and bruises. The Seniors when Raymond Brock ran the youth Six years later, in 1995, it was a different squad and was the non-playing captain. team that was representing us: Justin and A world competition for Senior teams was The first English players to win the World Jason Hackett, along with Tom Townsend first introduced in 2001, and England have Junior Teams Champion ship for the and Jeffrey Allerton, and Danny Davies recently come to the party by winning two Ortiz-Patino Trophy, in 1989, were John partnering Phil Souter. Again Raymond back-to-back World Championships. In Hobson, Derek Patter son, Andrew Robson, Brock was NPC, with Phil King as Coach. the Seniors Bowl in S ão Paulo in 2009 Paul John Pottage, and twin brothers Gerald A recurring theme throughout my Hackett, Ross Harper, David Price, Colin and Stuart Tredinnick. John Hobson and research was to discover that many of the Simpson, John Holland, Gunnar Hallberg John Pottage have retired completely players in one category would become came back from a huge margin down to from bridge, but the other four have gone administrators in another, so captains for beat Poland in the final, and the following on to make their mark on the national one event were players for another. All of year, in the World Series championships in and inter national scene . them give their time for free and it’s good to think that they are giving back as captains what they received as players.

Youth Bridge

Finally, the World Championships for the Under 21s only started in 2006, but England have already chalked up two silver medals – in 2008 at the World Bridge Games in Beijing (Ben Paske, Ed Jones, Tom Paske, Adam Hickman, Daniel McIntosh, Robert Myers, Coach Alan Shillitoe, NPC Michael Byrne), and at the World Series in 2010 in Philadelphia (Tom Paske, Graeme Robertson, James Paul, Daniel McIntosh, Shivam Shah, Tom Rainforth, Coach and Captain as above). Will we be seeing these rising stars featuring in World Championships in the The British 1989 Junior World Champions team. From the left: Sandra Landy (Coach), future? Only time will tell – and I hope John Pottage, Gerald Tredinnick, Andrew Robson, Raymond Brock (NPC), that you will all be supporting them Derek Patterson, Stuart Tredinnick and John Hobson. through it. r

40 English Bridge June 2011 www.ebu.co.uk