CONTRACT BRIDGE Championship In Europe Had Strange Ending

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32120, 16 October 1969, Page 7

CONTRACT BRIDGE Championship In Europe Had Strange Ending

(Contributed by

J R W.)

International bridge matches these days are like international soccer games. It is a matter for some comment if they pass off without incident.

The European women's championship this year achieved perhaps the most absurd result of all time when no team was declared the winner although the first prizes were distributed. This state of affairs, which would: have done credit to Alice in Wonderland, came about in; a very logical way. The event is run as a round-robin, each team play-’ ing every other, and when iti came to the last round Great Britain held a very narrow lead over France. Both had to play their final matches against teams placed rather lower in the table, but’ women’s bridge at this level; is at best unpredictable and; neither of the leaders could! feel confident of the outcome. I The tension then was con-; siderable, and the play in the! first half of the British match ’ was very slow. Time Limits

Ever since a French pair once took twenty minutes to deal with one hand, there have been time limits imposed in the European championships. There is a set time for each half of a match, based generally on about .eight minutes a deal, but unless the offence is serious a breach of the limits usually invokes only a warning. Since in the final round a warning would be of little use, there are quite severe penalties for slow play. It appears that the first ; half of the British match: clearly overran its allotted* time, though it is not clear that the players were warned | of the possible consequences’ of their tardiness. In the! event no immedate action i was taken, and when the re-i suits were collated the ■ British women were declared: the champions. Before the\ prize-giving the following day,; the French captain lodged a

[ protest. The Appeals Com- ; mittee, having established the facts, ruled it had no alterI native but to penalise the ’British team. The amount of ' the penalty was just sufficient i to give the championship to i France.

i The temperament of expert bridge players is such that this decision was bound ; to arouse considerable bitterness. In an attempt to pour a little oil on the troubled waters the French team renounced the title, and though they accepted the ’prizes, no women's champion was announced, a judgment Solomon may or may not have been proud of. Competitive Auction The British women’s team is generally regarded as the best in the world, and in its ’match against the French ’won quite decisively. This ihand helped. South was the i dealer, with only her side | vulnerable. . N. S—AQB43 H—QlOB6 D—B4 C—A7 W. E. S— S—lo 5 2 H—AK J 953 H—72 D—109753 D—KQJ6 C—Q 10 C—JB52 S. S—KJ976 H—4 D—A 2 C—K9 643 With Great Britain North- ’ South, the auction was: I S. W. N. E. ' 1C 1H IS No 2S 3D 4S 5D I 5S Ail Pass This competitve battle is typical of the bidding in international matches. South’s final call was very well judged, for she realised that her distributional hand would play well in a suit contract but had little in the way of defensive values. Against North's contract of five spades, East led a heart to her partner’s king. West switched to a diamond taken

Iby dummy’s ace, and the declarer drew trumps in three rounds. Then she made the ace and king of clubs before ruffing a club in her own hand. A heart was ruffed on the table, then another club was trumped in hand. The fifth club in South was now high, and North was able to reach it by trumping a heart. In all she lost only one heart and one diamond to make her contract. At the other Üble, where Great Britain was East-West, Mrs Rixi Markus, considered by many to be the finest woman player in the world, sat West: S. W. N. E. IS 3H 4S No No 5D 5S 6D Dble. All Pass North’s jump to four spades might have silenced many players but Mrs Markus’s aggression is legendary and she had no hesitation in calling five diamonds. This enabled her partner to sacrifice in six diamonds over North’s five spades. West made nine tricks, conceding a penalty of 500. Since South in the other room had scored 650, 150 for five spades plus the usual duplicate bonus of 500 for calling a vulnerable game, this was a profit to Great Britain of 150.