A bit of a trial

September approaches and that means the trials season in Scotland. I'm not involved in any official capacity but, together with Julian Pottage, I offered to run a number of practice matches on Bridge Base Online. Julian is a Wales selector and their trials are approaching too, so a joint approach allows pairs to face opponents that are not involved in their own trials but should be an appropriate standard.

The first two matches were played yesterday evening and resulted in a small aggregate win for the Welsh:

Scotland Blue 36:23 Wales Red
Scotland White 35:54 Wales Green

The following board was essentially flat in both matches but illustrated different approaches to the hand:

In the first match, Danny and Helen had the best auction. In particular, they showed a good understanding about what their two diamonds opening bid would deliver when Key-card Blackwood was used with a void! The odds for losing no more than one trump is 79%.

The Welsh auction was less convincing but reached a making slam:

Aside from holding the trump losers to one only 35% of the time, this slam needs even more and is lucky to make. However you could argue that they were more in tune with the hand than both pairs in the second match:

In both case it seems that North did not expect the hand that South held. Slams make a huge difference in the trials, since they are normally cross-imped, and both these pairs might consider doing some work in this area.

The fun and games continue on Monday 10 September with two more matches.

Problems, problems, problems

I had my second game of the year in the Russell Cup last night, playing with Arend for the first time. He moved to Edinburgh earlier this month but we've known each other for a few years. Not only did we met at a couple of Nationals but we both play on BBO and participate in the forums.

We did not impress, a couple of self-imposed disasters and matchpoint luck seemed to be against us. But there were some interesting hands, for both us and the opponents. All problems rotated so that South is the victim and all at matchpoints:

Your opening bid? (Your method after a two clubs opener is that two diamonds is waiting and two hearts is a double negative)

Your opening bid?

Do you rescue?

Your call?

Aside from reaching over the table and hitting partner, or CHO as he should definitely be called, what is your plan?

Your decision?

We have a winner

Thomas Gotard won my prediction competition for the Europeans Championships and, probably wisely, decided that the prizes were worth less than the entry fee. However he did mention that he would playing in the Transnational Mixed Teams in Lille so I asked Anne to buy him a drink.

Thomas with Anne
Photo courtesy of Michael Yuen

BAMpots

Alan Goodman, Brian Short, Iain Sime and John Matheson were the third-best team in the final of the Coupe de Ville BAM tournament yesterday, but qualifying in last position meant no carry-over and they were placed fifth.

A good end to a championship that was generally disappointing for Scottish viewers. Part of this was down to expectations, since the women did very well to finish second in their round-robin group but we hoped that they'd go deeper into the knock-out stages; and, after Dublin, we were hoping for more medals from the seniors.

Switching hats, the English Women won the gold medal. The team started very slowly and could easily have missed out on the knock-out stages, but proved very strong when it came to the head-to-head matches. A great performance by them all. I was particularly pleased to see that Suzie and Fiona are throwing off their 'third pair' mantel and playing a full part in the final proceedings. This can only help the team as they prepare for the Venice Cup in Bali next year.

The English Open and Seniors teams were even more disappointing than the Scots. With the Open team also off to Bali for the Bermuda Bowl, the EBU Selection Committee has a difficult time ahead deciding who should be in that team.

(bampot, n., Glaswegian word for a 'Headcase')

BAMing

Bridge in Lille continues apace but they are all in the final straight.

Poland are playing Sweden in the Open final. In the Women, England have been getting stronger since their defeat to Scotland in the first match of the round-robin eleven days ago and are playing Russia. In the Seniors, USA take on Hungary.

The mixed teams has also reached the final and Milner, having disposed of Memphis Mojo, is taking on Canada.

Finally, almost everyone else has reached the BAM. Board-a-match is not a popular format in the UK but, for some, just playing bridge is enough. Two days of BAM has left twelve to compete in the final tomorrow and I'm glad to report, thanks to a local source who decided to focus on fruit tarts and the zoo, that Scotland Seniors have made the final - congratulations and good luck for tomorrow to Brian, Alan, Iain and John.

All over for us, but not everyone

Ups and downs in Brighton. We failed to make either of the finals but we did finish sixth in the tertiary event (Brighton Bowl), just beating our performance the last time we played with Micky.

We did not deserve to be in a final, all of us making too many mistakes. Two fairly flat matches in the middle of Saturday also made our life difficult, so we journeyed through and were 10 VPs above average most of the time. A big win in our final match on Saturday evening would have done the job and, although there was a big win, it was not in our favour.

I find it difficult to play on the Sunday afternoon but we got three big wins from four matches to move up the field. There were some positives from the weekend. Alex and I had changed quite a bit of our system and we did not have forgets or mistakes. Just need to fix the judgement now. We defended reasonably well and did well in the slam zone, even if they did not all make at least they were good contracts.

Scottish performances:

• Mike Ash, Irving Gordon, Christopher Chambers*, Peter Gemmell*  were 5th in the A final.
• Jenny Cooper, with Tim Rees* and two others finished 5th in the B final
• Brian Spears, Paul Barton, Helen and Danny Kane finished 8th in the B final
• Anna St Clair, Dee Harley, Anthony Bates, Robert Clow were 15th in the Brighton Bowl
• Jim Forsyth, Cathy Ferguson, Paul Maiolani, Bob McKinnon were also 15th 
• Fiona Greenwood, with three others, was 32nd 
• Tim McKay, Keith Youngs,  Antony Whiteway,  Andrew Symons were 33rd
• Nigel Guthrie, with three others, was 61st
• Rob Dixon, with three others, was 70th
• Martin Craven, with three others, was 106th

Meanwhile, over in Lille, the Scots have been playing mixed teams. None of them were able to make the top eight and the knock-out stages and, looking at the final table after fifteen rounds of Swiss, seemed to be converging on a similar score. However, it has to be said that the teams were not necessarily approaching these scores from the same direction!

You might think that bridge is now over for them, but apparently there is three days of BAM available although I'm not sure how many will avail themselves of this 'opportunity'.

Meanwhile Memphis Mojo is still going strong in the Transnational Mixed Teams and, as I type, his team (Spring) is 5 imps behind in the quarter-final with 13 boards to go.

Update: unfortunately for Dave the set slipped away from the Sprung team and they lost by just twelve imps over 48 boards.

Ready for the weekend

I'm off to Brighton today for the weekend's Swiss Teams. It's been seven years since we played with Mike and we'll be hoping to do a little better this time, having narrowly failed to make a final in 2005.

This will make it difficult to continue reporting from Lille, but with all the Scots now playing in the Swiss Teams I'll be back with an update on Sunday night on their progress to qualification for the knock-out stages.

The popularity of mid-week competitions continues to grow and some of the Scots have played well, including:

Nigel Guthrie & Jim Forsyth - 4th in the Seniors Congress Pairs Final

Mike Ash, Maureen Hiron*, Irving Gordon, David Dickson* - 5th in the Seniors Congress Swiss Teams

Helen McEwing & Ivan Bruce - 17th in the Seniors Congress Pairs B Final
Mike Ash & Maureen Hiron* - 14th in the Tuesday Championship Pairs
Nigel Guthrie, Jenny Cooper, Fiona Greenwood, Anne Perkins - 5th in the Mixed Pivot Teams
Anthony Bates & Robert Clow  - 10th in Play with the Experts
Paul Maiolani & Bob McKinnon - winners of the Open Pairs on Wednesday afternoon
Anna St Clair & Dee Harley - 5th in the Open Pairs on Wednesday afternoon
Fiona Greenwood, Anne Perkins - 10th in the Open Pairs on Wednesday afternoon

Watching the day in Lille

An exciting day in prospect as the round-of-sixteen matches finish. Will Scotland come back against the French? Can Canada really beat Monaco in the Open? Will the Bermuda Bowl holders go out? Only time will tell.

I have been writing the Lille posts in real-time rather than waiting for the end of the day - one reason why they are published shortly after the final card was played. Hopefully it works even though you only read them at the end!

With Anne and Sheila at the other table, Liz and Sam had a slow start when the French talked them out of a non-vulnerable game on the first board. While imps trickled in on the other boards the French then bid a game missed at most tables to get another game swing, followed by aggressive actions from both Liz and Sam leading to a three notrump that makes on a very good day - unfortunately this was the three down day (as it probably would be six days of the week, to be fair!). Then Anne and Sheila let a game through and suddenly there was significant daylight between the two teams as France extended their lead to fifty-two imps. Not an insurmountable lead with thirty-two boards to play, but imps urgently needed in the next set.

Meanwhile, in the Open, Canada played in Exclusion Key-card Blackwood whilst conceding the lead back to Monaco and the Dutch had a massive first set, turning a 39 imps deficit into a 27 imps lead against France. The Scottish women need some Dutch courage!

For the second set Maida and Sheila came in for Sam and Liz. It had the desired effect when the French bid a slam missing two aces and an immediate game swing. Sheila (and Anne) then went down in a tricky game to give the points back but better play at both tables earned eight imps when 2NT made and 3NT went down a couple. Then four game swings in five boards, three to Scotland, to confirm that this was the wildest set of the match. Looking around at other matches, they were also averaging a turnover of seven imps per board, just what the Scots were looking for. Then the French got a little lucky, deciding to double a non-vulnerable Sheila in four clubs when they were vulnerable with two eight-card major fits so fourteen imps went back. But another game swing on the final hand meant that the Scots won the set 74-43 imps and go into the final sixteen boards with just a 23 imps deficit.

(Meanwhile, in the Open, Canada go into the last set with an 18 imps lead over Monaco and even their own supporters saying that they've used eight of their nine lives so far. The French continued their capitulation to the Dutch)

Liz and Sam came in for Anne and Sheila in the final set. France started by bidding a very thin game, its only virtue being that it made and extended their lead to thirty imps. Five more when our thin game failed (of course, the other way around for these two and the match might be even). Some tricking imps came in but then a game swing out on the eleventh board was effectively the end of the contest. In truth there was just not enough in the final set unless you were lucky.

A very good run for the team but I know they'll be desperately disappointed. This was not the top French team that won the silver medal at the Europeans and they knew it was an opportunity to go deeper into the event. It's two years until the next major international event but I'm sure all of this team will be working hard towards that - hopefully the SBU will support them.

(Monaco scored 44 imps in the first six boards to extinguish Canadian hopes).

Tomorrow the Transnational Mixed Teams starts. Liz McGowan and Heather Dhondy, with some Icelandic men, won the inaugural event in 1996 in Rhodes by winning the 36-board final. It has developed into a fully-fledged competition now with full-day quarter- and semifinals and an 80-board final. There are currently three teams with Scottish players entered (although they will be joined by some of the women and old people) - Scotland, with the Outreds and Gerrards; Celtic Collection, Jim, Jun with the Irish women; and Badger, Paula Leslie joining forces again with Frances Hinden (and two hangers-on). Badger has medalled at least twice in recent history and are certainly my favourites to make the knock-out stages.

The boys watch the girls ...

Focus is on the women as they play their 96-board round-of-16 match against France in the World Bridge Games.

This is the second time that Scotland Women have reached this stage of the competition, repeating their performance at the 2000 Olympiad in Maastricht. The team then was Jill Arthur, Suzanne Cohen, Paula Leslie, Sheila MacDonald, Liz McGowan and Fiona McQuaker who only lost by seven imps to USA, the eventual winners.

The first set was relatively quiet in most of the matches and there were just two big swings as France established a 26-23 imps lead. On the second board, Liz and Sam bid game in their 4-4 fit but it was a poor suit and three notrump played better this time, losing 12 imps. Board thirteen was lucky for some as Liz and Sam defeated a two spades contract, while Sheila was making it and she was doubled to boot, for 13 imps in the plus column. These two boards provided most of the imps exchanged in all the matches!

Then Maida and Sheila came in for Anne and Sheila for the second set. They quickly conceded a game when a heavy overcall was passed but soon recovered to bid an excellent grand slam. The rest of the boards proved uninteresting but a few imps trickled away as France extended their lead to 62-30 imps.

In the final set Anne and Sheila rejoined Liz and Sam at the tables. Liz went down in a game that Bocchi made but Fantoni didn't - no disgrace there - but then, somehow, she beat a notrump game that seems to have ten top tricks. Possibly a future column there. Then they changed the score and it seems that the French bid had actually bid to a no-play slam, but perhaps still a column! Imps trickled in this time as Scotland reduced the deficit to 60-82 imps.

One reason for the number of small swings in this match is the systems in use. With two 4-card major, weak notrump, pairs in the Scottish team, auctions, contracts and leads are often going to be different in the two rooms.

Whatever the actual score is (as there may be corrections) the match is close at the end of the first day. Everything to play for tomorrow!

The Seniors ended a disappointing tournament with the smallest possible win against Egypt. I expect all three pairs are feeling a little dispirited after the success of Dublin, particularly the newcomers Alan and Brian. Watching from afar they have done no better or worse than anyone else on the team,  but I wonder if the lack of an NPC was a factor. We all know that Harry is irreplaceable, but teams can function without an NPC when things are going well. But, when things are going poorly, a playing captain just increases the pressure on all the pairs. On the other hand, self-funding NPCs do not grow on trees.

But at least they can now watch the girls.


"The boys watch the girls while the girls watch the boys who watch the girls go by, ..." - Andy Williams

Scotland Women

The team physio has sent me this team photograph, clearly inspired by the French Impressionism movement.

Sam, Maida, Alex, Sheila, Liz, Anne and Sheila

Lille Day 5

Three wins on the trot for the Open as they took a tight opening match against Slovakia by 16-14 VP. With only one double-imp swing in the match it was probably their quietest set so far. This good run clearly gave the team some confidence as they tore into Argentina, a team that was sitting third in the group. Only two late sacrifices (one good, one bad) that the Argentines got right enabled them to beat the Scots by seven imps, meaning a 14-16 VP loss. This result pushed Argentina out of the qualifying spots, no consolation for Scotland but it shows that they can compete occasionally if not consistently. In the final match the second-placed Russian team proved too strong and the team lost 9-21 VP.

The end of the competition for the Open team and they finished in twelfth place out of fifteen. I had hoped that they could finish a couple of places higher but expectations were never high for this team that was the only one that wanted to represent Scotland at this event.

As I said after the Europeans in June, "we are among the weakest open teams in Europe. Does the SBU, and its members, want to do anything about it?". Unfortunately it seems that the answer is no. The Selection Committee is keeping the same trials process, the concept of a premier league has been watered down to meaningless by compromise to the masses and funding looks set to continue to fund trial participation rather than team improvement. Disappointing.

I presume that the open pairs are staying on for the Transnational Mixed Teams. Apparently Jim has refused to wear a dress this time and so I believe he and Jun will be playing with some Irish women on Friday.  Two days off first and then we'll see them in action, but this could be the time to charge for vugraph!

I was concerned that the position of the Women's team was more precarious than it seemed. Third place looked okay, but they were playing the fourth-placed team and the other teams in the top seven had easy looking matches. But, to be fair to myself, I was never sufficiently concerned to have checked how the 'best' sixth place in a group was actually decided.

But I need not have worried as they exploded to a 32-0 imps lead after four boards and continued powering away to a 25-4 VP win. A great performance for the team.

They have finished their round-robin group in a clear second place and will play France in their round of sixteen knock-out match tomorrow. This will be played over two days, 96 boards.

The team has played well and have qualified with greater ease than I expected. Congratulations to them all, and to Alex their NPC, but this is not the time to think that the work is done. Time to get stuck into the French. Good luck to them all.

Again, after the Europeans I asked why where the women more successful than the open. The lower standard was one reason combined with the fact that the women are (probably) stronger than our open team, but I forgot to add that the women do invest a lot of their own time and money seeking experience outside of Scotland: I know that they have played in tournaments around the USA, England and Poland over the past year, playing top Open players. Experience like this is invaluable (but expensive), it's just a shame I do not see many of the Scotland open pairs doing this

While the women were charging, unfortunately the Seniors were retreating. The South Africans failed to play like a bottom-placed team and, when they scored 37 imps in the last four boards, delivered a huge defeat to the team. I think this 6-24 VP put the final nail in the qualification coffin.

However the team showed resilience by coming back and getting a maximum 25-5 VP win over Morocco and then gaining a winning draw over Australia

Final match in the round-robin tomorrow for the Seniors as they play Egypt.

It can be so unfair

The Scotland Seniors are struggling in the World Bridge Games but sometimes this game of ours can just kick you in the teeth when you are already lying on the ground.

The tournament is not going well but you are playing the bottom team in your group, so you have expectations of a good win. The first twelve boards have gone reasonably well, with a possible game swing in on a quiet set of hands, when you find yourself with the following hand on board 13:

It is game all. What do you open?

Obviously one (strong) notrump is a consideration. The alternative is to open one club, planning to rebid one spade over a red suit response and hoping that you can get your additional values over. This may lead to an uncomfortable auction, since you will feel obliged to raise partner if he bids one notrump. And if partner responds one notrump initially, then a raise may get you too high.

And if you play transfer responses to one notrump, then there is more reason to open one notrump as a one spade response (whether it shows diamonds or is a wide-range transfer to one notrump) is uncomfortable.

So I think it is unclear what is best.

Have you decided yet?

Well, opening one club is the successful action this time, as your partner is broke and your LHO is going to overcall in spades. It is unlikely that your opponents will find a making spot and you will go positive.

Open one notrump and you may find that your partner tries a Stayman rescue (with 3451 distribution) to uncover your 4-3 spade fit. However RHO, in the balancing seat, finds a double that is left in and you lose -1100 in your best fit.

If your tournament is going badly, guess what actually happens?

So now we have a pair with -1100 on their card and probably -15 imps for the team. Is this just unlucky? When you come to analyse the performance of the team and this pair in particular, do we say that only the numbers count or do we write this off in the 'unlucky' column. You don't get many gifts in world championships so it takes a lot to recover from this when it is engrained in the Butler, just one board reducing your score by -0.1.

Of course the answer is that it depends why you are analysing performance. Is it for objective selection (just use numbers), blame (use the numbers you like) or to seek improvement by identifying weaknesses?

Lille Day 4

Despite Scotland getting on the right side of the notorious board 22, Sweden proved too strong as they cruised to a 23-7 VP win over the Open team. I would say that the team seems to play better against the stronger teams even though the results do not necessarily reflect this. This thought was reinforced when they eked out a three imp win (16-14 VP) against Romania, denting this team's hopes of qualification. Then they finished their best day with a 18-12 VP win against tenth-placed Morocco. Time for a small beer and focus on moving further up the table tomorrow.

Slovakia, Argentina and Russia will provide a stern test in the final day for the Open team.

Unfortunately the Women lost nineteen imps on board 22 in their encounter with Argentina without doing anything too extreme, but just choosing the wrong time for some action. They were not the only ones but hard to come back from this in a short match and they fell to a disappointing 12-18 VP defeat ("a mental set, I have to go and lie down!", was one comment). They recovered in the second match consistently putting on imps to beat Kenya by 23-7 VP.

In the match against group leaders Russia the women started badly and were 21 imps down after two boards. The match was fairly flat after this but the 9-21 VP loss sees them fall to third in the table.

The final qualifying match for the Women is against Australia tomorrow morning. The Aussies currently lie fourth in the table and, with Scotland only 13 VP clear of sixth place, a solid performance is required to guarantee qualification.

The Seniors finally turned up to play and got a superb maximum win against Turkey, changing the complexion of qualification for both teams. Even the lack of a big swing on board 22 left them undaunted. Unfortunately, in an important match against another team seeking qualification, three major adverse swings resulted in a 9-21 VP loss to Germany. Things did not improve against Singapore, where the score card only really shows game swings on both sides but resulted in a 13-17 VP defeat.

With five matches to play they remain 24 VPs from a qualifying place. Tomorrow is a huge day as they play the two bottom countries,  South Africa and Morocco, before facing high-flying Australia.

Lille Day 3

Commentating from afar it is impossible to know how the team feel that they are doing, but I expect that the Open team was disappointed that three (apparent) misjudgements were ruthlessly exploited by the South Africans as the Scots lost 8-22 VP in their first match. But, as the team discovered yesterday, the top teams tend to do this. The final match against the Thais was a ding-dong affair with imps flying all over the place (including 37 imps on the last three boards) - when the dust settled it was a 11-19 VP defeat.

Lots of familiar names in the Sweden that the Open team face first tomorrow, but their remaining matches against Romania and Morocco look easier.

The Open team have played eight of fifteen matches and lie in the bottom third of the table. Unsurprisingly they are not going to qualify for the knock-out stages but a top ten finish in the group is not beyond them.

A very solid performance against Jordon provided a maximum win for the Women in their first match. Despite missing a simple grand slam, they continued with a comfortable 23-7 VP win against Guadaloupe. The final match was tight against a good Polish team and it was decided when a poor Polish slam made, leading to a 12-18 VP defeat.

The Women will not know what to expect when they play Argentina and Kenya in their first two matches tomorrow. But they know that Russia will be very tough, even though they did not compete in the Europeans, not least because they are leading by a match!

The Women team have played nine of thirteen matches and currently lie second, 20 VP ahead of the sixth placed team. There still have two top teams to play but have an excellent opportunity to make the knock-out stages and a good knock-out draw as the top five qualify automatically (and the sixth has a chance).

Two four spades contracts proved costly for the Seniors as they lost 12-18 VP to France, and then there was more trauma as they lost the second match 8-22 VP to bottom-placed Brazil. Missing a simple grand slam was costly and two games went down on more effective opening leads - once again highlighting the fact that the difference between winning and losing can be small. It was a much quieter final match but a wild last board broke the deadlock and, unfortunately for Scotland, resulted in a 13-17 VP defeat.

Another tough day looms for the Seniors as they face Turkey, Germany and Singapore. Although they finished above the Turks and Germans in the Europeans, they narrowly lost both individual matches. I don't know the Singapore team.

The Seniors have played nine of sixteen matches and currently lie fourteenth, currently 26 VP behind a knock-out qualifying spot. As they have played most of the top teams they will hope to progress up the table and I certainly expect them to qualify for the knock-outs, but they will have to play well from now on.

Time for ice cream

The Swiss Pairs has finished. Pride of place for the Scots goes to Brian and Paul for finishing sixth, a new partnership that we'll see in the Camrose trials next month.

Final standings (average=140 VP):

• 6  Brian Spears & Paul Barton - 187 VP
• 32=  Lynton Stock* & Victor Silverstone - 168 VP 
• 34=  Anne Rosen* & Neil Rosen* - 164 VP
• 57=  Tim Rees* & Jenny Cooper - 159 VP
• 63=  Tim McKay & Andrew Symons - 157 VP
• 79=  Anna St Clair & Dee Harley - 153 VP
• 129=  Sarah Dunn* & David Ewart* - 143 VP
• 140=  Laura Porro & Luca Marietti*  - 140 VP
• 146=  Robert Clow & Anthony Bates - 139 VP
• 168=  Janet Barnes & Nigel Guthrie  - 135 VP
• 206=  Fiona Greenwood & Anne Perkins  - 126 VP
• 210=  James McMahon & Jim Forsyth - 125 VP
• 228=  Helen McEwing & Ivan Bruce - 122 VP
• 273= Martin Craven* & Damien Byron - 106 VP

All to play for by the sea

Four matches and 80 VP up for grabs this afternoon. Good luck to everyone in Brighton.

Overnight standings (average=100 VP)

• 14  Brian Spears & Paul Barton - 135 VP
• 31=  Tim Rees* & Jenny Cooper - 123 VP
• 45=  106 Lynton Stock* & Victor Silverstone - 120 VP
• 45=  Anna St Clair & Dee Harley - 120 VP
• 81=  Sarah Dunn* & David Ewart* - 111 VP
• 81=  Laura Porro & Luca Marietti*  - 111 VP
• 119=  Anne Rosen* & Neil Rosen* - 103 VP
• 142=  Robert Clow & Anthony Bates - 99 VP
• 153=  James McMahon & Jim Forsyth - 97 VP
• 161=  Tim McKay & Andrew Symons - 96 VP
• 216=  Fiona Greenwood & Anne Perkins  - 87 VP
• 216=  Janet Barnes & Nigel Guthrie  - 87 VP
• 232=  Helen McEwing & Ivan Bruce - 83 VP
• 278 Martin Craven* & Damien Byron - 69 VP

*not currently eligible to play for Scotland

Results are available on the EBU website.

Lille Day 2

A relatively quiet set of boards but the loss of a double game swing on the third board was decisive as the Open team slipped to a 13-17 VP defeat by Trinidad and Tobago. I commentated on the second match against Italy and I thought the team played fairly solidly on another quiet set of hands: but the Italians made a thin game against a bad trump break and played a 5-3 fit in 3NT to defeat us by 6-24 VP, an unfortunate result. In the final match the team started well but a couple of late reverses held them to a 16-14 VP win over Bermuda.

The Open team start tomorrow with South Africa, current leaders of the group. Then they have their bye before facing mid-table Thailand.

A relatively quiet set of boards but the loss gain of a double game swing on the third board was decisive as the Open Women team slipped eased to a 17-13 VP win over Spain. Then, like the Italian Open team, playing in 3NT rather than the 5-3 major fit gave most of the winning imps in a 19-11 VP win over Canada.

In their final match against Chinese Taipei three game swings to two was worth a 20-10 VP win.

The Women start with two easier (on paper) matches against Jordon and Guadeloupe. The final match is against Poland, fourth in the Europeans where they beat us 19-11 VP. Another opportunity for revenge!

A relatively quiet set of boards against Israel but the opponents had the better of the part-scores as the Seniors fell to a 10-20 VP defeat. Then, on the second quiet set, they made a good comeback in the final four boards to draw with Canada. In the final match against India they established a sizeable lead only to find India fighting back as Scotland emerged with a 17-13 VP win. The team is moving in the right direction.

The Seniors play France, Brazil and Belgium tomorrow. I expected Brazil to be one of the strongest teams in the competition but they are bottom of the group. France, winners of the gold medal in the Europeans, have started slowly but lie fourth but Belgium, who beat us in Lille but finished three places lower, appear to be struggling. So it looked a very tough day when I saw the draw, but perhaps more of an opportunity than I realised.

Who is playing the game?

I'm not in Brighton so am not playing in the Swiss Pairs this weekend, but I am following the progress of some the aliens down on the south coast.

The format of the weekend seems fairly rare and I've not seen it in my travels. Peculiarly British perhaps? It is a matchpointed competition over fourteen matches of eight boards. Your percentage in each match is scored across your section and converted to victory points on the 20-0 scale, so 50% will be a 10-10 VP draw and I think you need about 70% for 20-0 VP. After each round you are drawn against opponents who are on a similar VP score.

Even though I don't play matchpoints often, it's not the Swiss format that I prefer. In a long competition I don't see why you are devaluing scores over 70% and overvaluing scores under 30%.  I prefer the format where every board counts and the Swiss element is retaining by playing pairs who have a similar matchpoint score.

Anyhow, everyone has played three matches and I can find the following aliens in the standings (and apologies to anyone I've missed):

• 29=  Sarah Dunn* & David Ewart* - 45 VP
• 29=  Anne Rosen* & Neil Rosen* - 45 VP
• 40=  Brian Spears & Paul Barton - 42 VP
• 66=  Robert Clow & Anthony Bates - 38 VP
• 74=  Tim Rees* & Jenny Cooper - 37 VP
• 74=  106 Lynton Stock* & Victor Silverstone - 37 VP
• 115=  Tim McKay & Andrew Symons - 33 VP
• 154=  James McMahon & Jim Forsyth - 29 VP
• 154=  Anna St Clair & Dee Harley - 29 VP
• 162=  Laura Porro & Luca Marietti*  - 28 VP
• 199=  Fiona Greenwood & Anne Perkins  - 24 VP
• 208=  Janet Barnes & Nigel Guthrie  - 23 VP
• 226=  Helen McEwing & Ivan Bruce - 21 VP

*not currently eligible to play for Scotland

I notice a number of international and Premier League players well below all the Scots at the moment, so there is plenty of time for everyone to stride up the table.

Last year there were 358 pairs (a rise of six on 2010). This year there are 290 pairs. There are a number of valid reasons for the fall. The World Bridge Games in Lille has taken a number of players, both British and foreign, and the final weekend of the Olympics will have kept some away. The economy is not in great shakes but probably no worse than this time last year, but I'm sure the EBU will be disappointed with the numbers and hoping for more to turn up next weekend.

Results are available on the EBU website.

Lille Day 1

As I feared Canada proved too strong in the first match as the Open team slipped to a 6-24 VP defeat. You always worry when a team loses a lot of imps in the last few boards so we'll keep an eye on this. Scotland started well against Kenya but gave back twenty imps in the last five boards to hold their win to 18-12 VP; but on the board!

In the final match the young Singapore team did prove very strong (as I did express concern about to Shen) although it seems one of the Scottish pairs did have one of those nightmare sets where nothing went right. A 2-25 VP defeat will probably mean a quiet dinner but it is very early days in the event.

The Open team will face Trinidad and Tobago in their first match - an encounter they'll go into with confidence but sometimes the Caribbean countries have the odd wringer and there are few easy matches in international tournaments these days. However this match will probably be easier that their second when they face the might of Italy: even though it is not the strongest possible Italian team, it is one that expects to top the group. Finally, some sunshine as they play Bermuda in the last match.

The women started with an excellent 20-10 VP win against England. Aggressive bidding at both tables earned a double game swing midway through the match and these sixteen imps were most of the difference between the teams. The strong Turkish team a part-score swing on the final board made the 13-17 VP loss look worse than it probably was - tough match against a good team.

In the last match a 21-9 VP win propelled them above their Egyptian opponents in the table and they lie fifth overnight. A good first day but a long way to go.

The women play Spain, Canada and Taiwan tomorrow. They drew with Spain in the Europeans and will face a Canadian team that proved itself in a much tougher trial than our girls, although they have started slowly. Again the Asian team is unknown to me.

Losing three game swings in the last five boards held the Seniors to a 18-12 VP win against Hong Kong. The final boards did have scope for swings but disappointing to see both Open and Seniors teams on the wrong sides of them i this first match. Against Indonesia the match was fairly level until the last five boards but a game swing on the final hand only reduced the deficit in a 11-19 VP loss.

In the final match we had the second England vs Scotland clash of the day. England started well and although the Scots got ten imps back over the closing boards, it only reduced the size of the defeat as they fell to a 9-21 VP defeat. A slow start for the team but a long way to go.

Tomorrow the Seniors play Israel, Canada and India. There were a number of practice matches with Israel Seniors before the Europeans and Scotland were generally successful, so they will be confident going into this match despite the Israelis lying second. Canada always have a competitive team but India are unknown to me but lying fifth overnight.

All scores subject to change!

Start of the championship

This evening is the opening ceremony of the 14th World Bridge Games, formerly known as the Olympiad, in Lille and play starts tomorrow. Most of the Scottish players arrived yesterday and are now hopefully focusing on their systems rather than the Olympics.

The Open team (Charles & Vi Outred, David & Catherine Gerrard and Jim Hay & Jun Nakamaru-Pinder) will start with Canada, Kenya and Singapore. Although the Canadians are not my picks to qualify from the group, they are a strong and experienced team with a couple of top players and it will be a tough start. I don't know the Kenyans but they may provide the chance for a win, but I do know that the young Singapore team should not be underestimated as they have done very well in a couple of big events.

The Women team (Anne Symons & Sheila Adamson, Liz McGowan & Sam Punch, Maida Grant & Sheila Macdonald, NPC: Alex Wilkinson) start with traditional foes, England. Maida and Sheila are the only change from these teams that met in the Europeans a couple of months ago so Alex's task is to motivate the team to reverse the 14-16 VP result, although motivation rarely needed for this match! Second up is Turkey who, although they finished third in the Europeans, were demolished by Scotland 25-5VP - again the same players will be involved so they will hoping to repeat the win. Finally Egypt, an unknown quantity.

Update: Scotland vs England will be on BBO vugraph at 9.30 BST.

The Senior team (Iain Sime & John Murdoch, John Matheson & Willie Coyle, Brian Short & Alan Goodman) start with Hong Kong and then the powerful Indonesian team. In their final match they play England, hoping to repeat the 19-11 VP win from the Europeans.

All the information, daily bulletins, teams and schedule are available from the WBF site, but I'll try to provide daily updates focused on the Scottish teams. I have asked them for photographs too.

There will also be lots of vugraph action on Bridge Base Online: its vugraph schedule provides the timetable in your own timezone.

Down to where the sun might shine

We have not had much of a summer up here so I'm sure a number of Scots will be travelling down to play in the EBU Summer Congress in Brighton this weekend. Even though the sun is not guaranteed, at least the shingle beach is.

I am only playing in the second weekend, the Swiss Teams, but will try to follow the progress of the Scots in the Swiss Pairs and then the midweek events. A number of the top UK players will be missing as they have headed for guaranteed sun in Lille for the World Bridge Games, and the Transnational Mixed Teams may rob Brighton of more than just the international teams. I think this will mean the competitions are more open than usual. A chance for everyone to shine!

Results will appear on the EBU website and, probably quicker, on its bridgewebs site.

Analysing performance

I have been helping some of the Scotland pairs prepare for Lille with matches on BBO. When we have two matches playing the same boards it is trivial to generate the butler rankings for the match.

In one of the matches I used a set of boards that had been played in the 2008 European Team Championships. This meant that I could also generate a butler score based on the top eighteen European Open teams and hence a datum that is representative of top play.

I think the main point of interest is that it shows the dangers of using butler scores from a small sample. The table below shows the difference of the butler just using the four tables in my BBO matches and the butler based on the Pau datum.

Scotland Pair	Match Butler (IMPS)	Pau Butler (IMPS)
NS Pair 1	43	56
EW Pair 1	25	12
EW Pair 2	5	-12
NS Pair 2	-41	-21

As is evident, one NS pair had a very good game that inflated the Scottish EW performances and depressed the other NS pair in the match butler. No surprise, but it does mean that examining the hands carefully is more important than looking at the butler scores.