Co-ordinator: Jean-Paul Meyer - Chief Editor: Mark Horton - Editors: Jos Jacobs, Barry Rigal, Jordi Sabaté, Issue: 9 Peter Ventura, - Layout Editor: George Georgopoulos - Photographer: Ron Tacchi 26 JUNE 2005 SHOCKS GALORE IN THE OPEN It was a day of surprises in the European Lesniewski, Pszczola, Chemla, & Mari. Add to Open Teams Championship as an exceptional them such stars as Helness, Forrester, Lind- Contents number of fancied teams were eliminated and kvist, Fredin, Sadek, Ahmadi, Cronier and so Message from the Appeals Committee 2 will have to seek a place in the knock out on and you will readily understand our head- Message to All Women Players 3 Open Teams: Özdil v Pont 4 stages via the Swiss repechage.The big names line. Clasificatorio Equipos 5 to fall include a host of World Champions, in- The Women's and Senior events still have Open Team Rosters 6 cluding the likes of Meckstroth & Rodwell, two days to go before the qualification Women/Senior Team Rosters 7 Perron & Lebel, Fischer, Schifko, Townsend, process is complete. Open/Women/Senior Team Results 8 Schedule of Play 10.30 Open Teams (2nd Qualifying Rounds in Swiss) 10.30 Women & Senior Teams Qualifying Round Robin Francis Wolf,Yves Aubry, Maurice Panis & Jean-Claude Thuiller, proud to present France's bid to host Press Room the 2008 European Championships. Opening Hours today: 11.00 until 20.00 The Team Events Normal Hours OPEN TEAMS 09.30 until 20.00 Today we will play the Swiss A with 44 teams of which 27 qualify for the K.O. 32. The other 39 teams play the Swiss B of which the five highest teams qualify for the K.O. 32 and get the ranks 28 to 32. For the pairing in the first round we use the ranking based on the carry-overs given and choose randomly within the groups with the same VP's. The Case of the In both Swisses there are 6 rounds of 8 boards, with starting times 10.30; 12.00; 14.15; Missing Spades 15.45; 17.15 and 18.45. There will be a captains meeting in Los Espejos to decide the first matches in the K.O Now you see them, now you don't! as soon as possible after finishing play at 20.00. The more observant among you may The matches will be decided by choice.Team 1 in Swiss A chooses a team ranked 9 to have noticed that some of the diagrams 32, then team 2 does the same for the remaining teams etc. If a team ranked 9 to 13 were minus the symbol for spades, in- chooses a team ranked 28 up to 32 it keeps its place in the brackets If a team ranked 28 stead having a double dose of hearts. to 32 is chosen by a team ranked lower than 13 its place in the brackets will be the high- The final proofs we checked were im- est free place among the positions 9 to 13 pushing other teams to a lower place. maculate so what could have gone wrong? After a detailed investigation, we The other teams in the Swiss B play another Swiss of 5 rounds of 8 boards tomorrow. were forced to fall back on the classic Swiss A in Los Espejos, Swiss B in Tenerife. 'When you have eliminated the impossi- WOMEN and SENIORS ble, whatever remains, however improb- These teams continue their respective round robins today and finishing tomorrow. The able, must be the truth.' first four in each group qualify for the quarter finals to be held Tuesday. (Sherlock Holmes - The Sign of Four.) It Seniors in Royale (10.30; 14.00; 17.00);Women group A in Imperial (starting times 10.00; was a simple fingerfehler. The good news is that the Internet 12.30; 15.30and 18.00) Women group B in Minerva (10.30; 14.00; 17.00). version has now been corrected. Ton Kooijman 2 2nd EUROPEAN OPEN BRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIPS Message from With Open Championship Diary the Appeal Cards In a major Championship fatigue can Many thanks to Olivier Beauvillain for strike at any moment, to players and staff alike. Committee supplying us with this little problem. Ron Tacchi, having spent several days The players are reminded of regula- [ A J 2 taking pictures in the Mixed Teams went ] tion 10.2.4 of the Conditions of Con- to take some of the Mixed Pairs. He { 4 3 2 asked the director 'Which is the Open test (amending Law 73D): } room - which is the Closed?' If attention is first drawn to a player's [Q 9 8N [ When they were making the draw for breach of tempo by his screenmate, the Di- ]A K Q ] the knock out stages of the Mixed W E rector may rule that up to that time the { { A K Q Teams and they read out the names of }S } A K Q players on the other side of the screen the Erichsen team Alfredo Versace said, [ K 10 4 3 ' Three married couples - they won't were not conscious of such breach. ] last a day.' Players should not call the Director { This is an old story,but one worth re- to draw attention to hesitations on }3 2 peating. Some years ago six British play- their own side of the screen. Only South to play, needing five tricks with ers were going to Ostend for the Euro- when a hesitation is noticed on the spades as trumps. pean Championships and five of them, Alan and Maureen Hiron, Boris and other side of the screen, can it be con- See the solution on page 7 Helen Schapiro and Rixi Markus were sidered Unauthorized Information. The already sitting in the carriage of the Directors consider that the word boat train.There were only a few min- "may" in the Conditions of Contest be utes to go before the train was due to interpreted as "will". depart and Rixi was getting increasingly Third FISU agitated at the absence of her partner, Fritzi Gordon. Championships Spotting a porter she asked him, 'Have you seen my partner?' Tianjin 2006 The bemused official asked what she looked like. From 21th till 27th of October 'She's a vivacious blonde.' Rixi replied. 2006, FISU (International University He looked up and down the platform Sport Federation) will organise the and shook his head. third World University Bridge Champi- Boris Schapiro put his head out of the onships in Tianjin,.Tianjin is a city of 10 carriage and said 'Don't be ridiculous million habitants and 120 km away she's got a face like the back end of a from Beijing, the capital of China.These horse.' (Or, as our regular readers will Championships are a competition be- realise, words to that effect.) tween national countries: any country 'Ah' said the Porter, 'Here she comes may enter maximum 2 national teams. now.' Countries have to register via their The American Film Institute has an- nounced the results of the contest to National University Sport Federation find the top 100 film quotes.The winner (NUSF). Several FISU-forms have to be could easily appear in a bridge context, signed and entered by the NUSF.Most especially in a Mixed event. 'What hap- of the NUSF will only send a team if a pens if I lead a heart instead?' 'Frankly National University Bridge Champi- my dear I don't give a damn.' (Gone onship has been organized. Please con- with the Wind) tact your NUSF to enter for these Our favourite at 53 was 'One morn- Championships. ing I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. You can ask for the patronage of How he got in my pyjamas I don't FISU of your National University know.' (Animal Crackers) Bridge Championship by sending an When I asked Sabine Auken to guess email to Mister L. Briel, Director FISU the winner she said 'Beam me up, Scot- World Championships at ty' but like Humphrey Bogart's 'Play it [email protected] . This will surely help again, Sam' in Casablanca, it was never actually said. your NUSF to send a team to these On Friday's IBPA outing Tacchi no- nice FISU Championships. ticed Maureen Hiron looking pensive. To obtain the cheapest flight tickets, 'Lost anything?' he enquired. 'The will to Contact Information the best is to book them at least 6 Festival chairman live' she replied. months in advance. David Birman While looking for news about the The hosting is in very nice rooms 50 Pinkas St. Iberia strike at www.skynews.com I no- each with internet connection! Tel-Aviv 62261, Israel ticed a headline on the main page - 10 Pictures of the hosting and all latest Tips for Cunning Card Players. Wow! Tel:972- 3- 6058355 However, when I followed the link it Fax: 972- 3- 5223566 information about this event will be turned out to about credit cards. E mail: [email protected] made available at www.unibridge.org! TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN • 18 JUNE - 2 JULY 2005 3 Under Starter's Message to all the Women Players Orders The first board of any major championship Anna Maria Torlontano is always an exciting moment and I'm sure Chairman of the EBL Women's Commit- most players are hoping not to be put on the tee spot.This was what fate had in store for the players in the Open series when play got Dear Friends, under way on Friday evening: I have some very good news for you! Board 1.