On a rainy day, 13 nations started to compete for the coveted title of first World University Bridge Champions.
Chinese Taipei proved straight away that they had not travelled all this way for nothing, by beating France and taking the first top of the leaderboard.
This place will be more crowded when the sun returns
During his opening word, Constantin Anastassov, FISU Chairman, revealed that FISU was organising no less than 27 World Universities Championships in 2002. High time Bridge joined that list, we'd say.
Walking to the venue for the opening festivities took a bit longer than suspected, due to the Belgian team that took the lead. If their map-reading skills are anything to go by, we shall see them sitting North/West at the table before the tournament is over.
At the ceremony, it turned out there was a flag missing. Luckily it was the Dutch one, so the Netherlands and Yugoslavia used the same flag (hung the right way up for each) during the parade of the teams.
Belgium's geography skills returned when it mattered. Not only did they find the bar at the venue, they made certain that everyone else did too. Yesterday was a day off for the hotel staff, so Tom Venesoen of the Belgian team was barman for the night. Thanks Tom.
Great Britain and Denmark started the day by taking just 33 minutes to finish the first two boards. At that rate, they'll still be here in October.
Barman Tom
Some of the players here are not making their debut in University Championships. Let's see who isn't:
The full Danish team has appeared at University championships before.
Two members of the team from Rotterdam return, and many will regret that's Anders Hagen and Kasper Konow. They made their debut in University Championships in 1997 in Palermo. They play a complex system, as this example from last year shows:
Board 10. Dealer East.
All Vulnerable.
| Deal 10 E/= |
 10
5 J 10 7 5
4 7 6 A 7 4 2 | |
|
9 8 6 4 2 K
6 3 J
10 J 10 8 |
 |
A K J
3 A Q 8 K Q 3 K Q 3 |
| Q 7 9
2 A 9 8 5 4
2 9 6
5 | ||
| West | North | East | South |
| Anders | - | Kasper | - |
| 1 (16+) |
Pass | ||
| 1 (0-7) |
Pass | 1 (20+) |
Pass |
| 1NT (5-7,5c Maj) | Pass | 2 (?) |
Pass |
| 2 (Spades) |
Pass | 2 (?) |
Pass |
| 2NT (Bal. or ) |
Pass | 3 (?) |
Pass |
| 3 (Bal:5332) |
Pass | 3 (?) |
Pass |
| 3NT (5-3-2-3) | Pass | 4 (?) |
Pass |
| 4 (0 Aces) |
Pass | 4 |
All Pass |
15 bids in order to get to game, and the trump suit is only named in the final contract!
Anders is a former champion, from Skövde in 1998, as is Gregers Bjarnarson. Michael Askgaard joined the team in Weimar in 1999. The last two return to the Danish team after missing last years' championship through competing (and winning bronze) at the World Junior Teams in Rio, that event being held at the same time as the Rotterdam championships.
The same is true for most of the Dutch team. The team that played and won in Rotterdam was dubbed by some (but not themselves), the "B" team. This year the "A" team is back, and they too contain two former champions in Bas Drijver and Niek Brink (Weimar 1999), whereas Maarten Schollaardt was already on the team in 1998.
In addition, Bas Drijver has a silver from the World championships Junior
Pairs in 2001.
Fabio Lo Presti of the Italian team here won the bronze then.
Also on the Italian team is Stefano Uccello, who was in Weimar in 1999. Both of
them recently returned from Torquay with European Junior gold.
The Belgian team is also quite experienced in these championships.
Another
perpetual student is Quentin Louveaux of Belgium. He was already on the team in
Palermo 1997. Claude Desset and Tom Cornelis made their debut in 1998. Alon
Amsel and Tom Venesoen played in Rotterdam.
Julius Linde of Germany is the fourth player here who made his debut in 1997. He is joined by Nils Bokholt, who debuted in 1999.
Three of the French team return from Rotterdam, as do four of the English/British, and the complete Estonian quartet.
Two Poles also return, Krzysztof Buras and Jakub Kotorowicz. Both have already won a European Title in the Schools teams.
And finally, Eugene Hung and Leo La Sota of the USA were also present at the World University Cup in Maastricht in 2000.
Let's show a hand from Torquay in which three players present here show their skills.
| Deal 6 E/EW |
K J
7 2 Q 8 A K Q J 10 7 6 | |
| A Q 8
4 A K J 8
4 9 4 3 2 |
|
6
5 10 6 5 4
3 A K 9 6 5
2 - |
| 10 9 3 2
Q 9 7 J 10 7
3 8
5 | ||
| West | North | East | South |
| Schollaardt | LoPresti | Drijver | Mazzadi |
| Pass | Pass | ||
| 1 |
Dbl | 4 |
Pass |
| 4NT | 5 |
Pass | Pass |
| 6 |
All Pass |
North was not willing to bypass 3NT by pre-empting 4 or 5 at their first turn to call. West therefore had enough space to
discover that 6 is a
reasonable contract, and had to go down as the cards lay. Maarten Schollaardt
ruffed the A lead, cashed
A then A, ruffed a diamond with 8, ruffed a club, ruffed another diamond with J, cashed K, and ruffed another club. Francesco Mazzadi
overruffed and played his last trump, killing dummy. Schollaardt exited a club,
end-playing North to escape for two off.
The championship started with a bang for England, with 28 IMPs changing hands in the first two boards:
| Deal 1 N/- |
9 8
6 Q 10 4 3 J 7 3 8 7 4 | |
| K 5 4
3 A 9 2 A Q 10 8 Q J |
|
A 7
2 K J 8 6
5 K 6 2 A 3 |
| Q J 10
7 9 5 4 K 10 9 6 5
2 | ||
| West | North | East | South |
| Moss | Askgaard | Prior | Bjarnarson |
| Pass | 1 |
3 | |
| Dble(1) | Pass | 4 |
Pass |
| 5 |
Pass | 6 |
All Pass |
(1) Game Try or better
After choosing to finesse the hearts the right way all I needed was for spades to split 3-3 (or 4 diamond tricks) to score +11 IMPs.
Our advantage was wiped away quite quickly though:
| Deal 2 E/NS |
K
5 A J 6 Q J 9 8 6 5 K 7 | |
| 10 9 4
K 9 7 5 4
K J 6 3 2 |
|
Q J 6
2 - 10 7 4 3 2 Q 10 8 5 |
| A 8 7 3
Q 10 8 3 2
A A 9
4 | ||
| West | North | East | South |
| Moss | Askgaard | Prior | Bjarnarson |
| Pass | 1 | ||
| Dble | 1NT(1) | 2(2) |
Dble |
| 2 |
4 |
Pass | Pass |
| Dble | Pass | 4 |
Dble |
| All Pass |
(1)Game Forcing
(2)Take/Out
4 went for a telephone
number and that was 17 IMPs back to Denmark, as 4 failed at the other table.
All this took slightly longer to play than to recount - 33 minutes to be exact.
The result after 12 boards was a Danish lead of 1.
Before you ask - we finished the session with 10 minutes to spare.
Quentin, Alon, Claude, Tom V, Kevin, Tom C
This team could not be more Belgian, as it consists of three Flemings and three Walloons.
Alon Amsel (22) has just graduated as a mathematician at one of the three universities of Antwerpen (they finally announced that they are going to merge). He partners Tom Venesoen (age only conveyed at the cost of 4 beers), a mathematics student at the same university. They're a steady partnership for DUA, the only University bridge club in Belgium. Alon and Tom were on the Belgian team last year, when they finished sixth, Belgium's best result yet. This is our experienced partnership.
Quentin Louveaux (25) also participated last year, and in Palermo 1997, although he played then with one of his brothers, Jérôme. He's a civil engineer in mathematics, currently mastering at the university of Louvain-la-Neuve. Claude Desset (28), his partner, a civil engineer in electronics, mastered in telecommunication last year and now works for the inter-university micro-electronics center. This is our brainy partnership.
Kevin Peeters (23), whose name does not reveal that he is a Walloon, has just finished his masters in management at the University of Namur. He has no previous experience of University bridge, but played in the Juniors in Torquay a few weeks ago. He's putting up with the system of yours truly, Tom Cornelis (25). I have nearly finished my studies as a computer scientist at the university of Gent. I've played in several junior and university championships. We are the explosive partnership.
You see, with this team we can't possibly do worse than last year !