Simon Gottschalk

REPORT #113 – 55th European National Team Championships – June 2021

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The European Bridge League (EBL) had originally planned to hold the 55th European National Team Championships in Funchal, Madeira in June 2020, in conjunction with the Portuguese Bridge Federation, but the original event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is now being proposed that the 55th European National Team Championships takes place in Funchal, Madeira from 12th – 22nd June 2021. The 55th European National Team Championships will consist of four Series: Open (over 11 days) and Women’s, Seniors’ and Mixed events (each over a 7 day period). All four Championships will be played as a single complete round robin. The number of boards to be played in each match will be determined and published when the number of participants is known.

The WBU had originally planned to enter a team in the 55th European National Team Championships in June 2020 but one of the pairs that were originally selected for the event in 2020 are now unable to play in the rescheduled 2021 event so the Selectors are looking for “expressions of interest” from any pairs that may be interested in playing in this event. The entry fee for the 55th European National Team Championships will be paid for, with a further contribution being provided towards the expenses for this team. In addition, the WBU had agreed to fund the entry fee for a further team, deemed to be of good standing, that may be interested in playing in one of the Women’s, Seniors’ and Mixed events. Consequently, the Selectors are also looking for “expressions of interest” from any pairs that may be interested in playing in a team in any of these events.

In addition to the 55th European National Team Championships, the 11th Women’s & 9th Seniors’ National Pairs will also be held in Funchal, Madeira from 12-15 June, just prior to the Women’s & Seniors’ National Teams Championships. The 11th European Women’s Pairs Championship and the 9th European Seniors’ Pairs Championship are National Pairs competitions. It is anticipated that each Pairs Championship will consist of two stages: a Qualifying Stage, and a Final Stage (Final A and Final B). However, should the number of participants permit, there will be a one stage all-play-all competition. However, details of the competitions may be changed according to the final registration of participants. The WBU, as the National Bridge Organisation, would support any pair of good standing wishing to play in these events but the WBU will not be offering any financial support to those pairs.

REPORT 111 – TELTSCHER TRIAL ON WEEKEND OF 23-24th JANUARY 2021 – POSSIBLE LADY MILNE TRIAL ON 30/31 JANUARY 2021

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THERE WILL BE A  TRIAL TO SELECT THE WELSH 2021  TELTSCHER TEAM TO PLAY ONLINE OVER THE WEEKEND OF 16-18TH APRIL 2021.

THE TELTSCHER AND LADY MILNE EVENT WILL BE A COMBINED ONLINE EVENT ON 16-18th APRIL.

THIS MEANS THAT PLAYERS MAY NEED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN REPRESENTING WALES IN EITHER THE TELTSCHER OR THE LADY MILNE.

WE HAVE DECIDED TO TRY TO HOLD SEPARATE TRIALS FOR THE TELTSCHER AND LADY MILNE IF ENTRIES PERMIT.

WE WOULD LIKE EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST  (to simon@welshbridgeunion.org) FOR THE LADY MILNE TRIAL  AND THE TELTSCHER TRIAL.

PLATFORM: REAL BRIDGE, ENTRY FEE: £30 per player.

CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: 15th January 2021 at 09:00hrs.

FULL ONLINE ENTRY FORM FOR THE TELTSCHER TRIAL WILL BE POSTED HERE SHORTLY.

(NOTE: THESE EVENTS CAN ONLY BE FORMALLY ENTERED BY USING THE ONLINE ENTRY FORM).

REPORT 110 – COMBINED ONLINE LADY MILNE & TELTSCHER TRIAL 30-31 JANUARY 2021

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THERE WILL BE A COMBINED TRIAL TO SELECT THE 2021 WELSH LADY MILNE AND TELTSCHER TEAMS TO PLAY ON 16-18TH APRIL 2021.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PLAYING PLEASE EMAIL simon@welshbridgeunion.org

ENTRY FEE: £30 per player.

CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: 15th January 2021 at 09:00hrs.

FULL ONLINE ENTRY FORM AND FURTHER DETAILS WILL BE POSTED HERE ON 18TH DECEMBER 2020.

(NOTE: THIS EVENT CAN ONLY BE FORMALLY ENTERED BY USING THE ONLINE ENTRY FORM).

REPORT 109 TELTSCHER 2020 CAPTAINS REPORT

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By Paddy Murphy NPC

The team played in an exemplary manner and were excellent ambassadors for the WBU and Welsh bridge. It was a pleasure and an honour to be their captain.

We did not have the best of luck in most of the matches

We had what some external pundits might have considered a relatively easy first two matches however the opponents played exceptionally well (more later) and made few mistakes. The third match was similar against tougher opposition but our moment of glory was a very narrow defeat of the winners of the event, England, in match 4. Our final match found the Irish team in aggressive bidding mood and everything they tried seemed to work, whilst our attempts to recover ground didn’t

My theory on the performance of the, Irish, NI, and Scottish teams is that they may have been better prepared than we were. I think the levels of online bridge “of a high standard” in Ireland, NI and Scotland are very high and the experience gained by the players in these competitions may have been their edge.

Possibly we need to embrace the online game more, and need to offer top class events and attract top rated opponents to improve our chances. Fatigue is a huge factor in these games and we need to practice and develop techniques to overcome this and to adopt strategies to conserve energy whilst playing and rest whilst dummy/between matches. I feel the online game is here to stay and I know our players are working hard to get experience.

 

REPORT 108 – LADY MILNE 2020 CAPTAINS REPORT

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WALES ACHIEVE OUTSTANDING 2nd PLACE IN LADY MILNE

By Tony Disley NPC

The Lady Milne was held online on RealBridge in conjunction with the Telscher Trophy.

Sarah Amos and Ceri Pierce arranged a number of practice sessions of 4 tables for both teams and willing volunteers to get used to the nuances of RealBridge with screens.

During the event Ceri[aka my PA ic IT]enabled us to use the WBU Zoom facility to hold team meetings both before sessions and after stanzas and a WhatsApp group for general communication.

The team started with a bang on Friday evening winning the first stanza v N. Ireland by 77 Imps .Despite a 7 Imp deficit in the 2nd set , that translated into 19.11 to .89 VP. After losing the 1st stanza by 20 imps a spirited fightback saw us gain 30 imps and beat the very strong England team , or so we thought [see below] A subdued match against EBU , losing by 9 and 14 or 5.76 to 14.24. However we approached Sunday in good spirits .

Again a strong performance in the 2nd stanza to overturn an 18 imp deficit to win by 13 imps and 12.6 VP against Ireland left it all to play for in the last match v Scotland . Losing the first half by 6 Imps left us in 4th place behind England , Scotland and EBU . In the first 13 bds of the last set set we gained 32 Imps with some terrific play and despite losing 19 in the last 3 had done enough to secure 2nd place.

The only sour note of the weekend was that England appealed a board where they questioned the Welsh declarer’s claim to make 5D..we were ruled against and lost 11 imps meaning the match result was overturned to a 1 imp loss.Whilst perhaps technically correct ,the ruling imagined that the declarer might take a very unlikely line and left a very bad taste in our mouths that England should pursue the outcome.

My thanks to the team for their unfailing good humour and the spirit they played in and my congratulations for their performance.

REPORT 107 – LADY MILNE 2021 & TELTSCHER 2021 TRIALS

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WE ARE LOOKING FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FROM PARTNERSHIPS WANTING TO BE CONSIDERED FOR SELECTION TO REPRESENT WALES IN NEXT YEARS LADY MILNE AND TELTSCHER ONLINE EVENTS.  IT IS LIKELY THAT ONLINE TRIALS WILL BE HELD AT THE END OF JANUARY 2020.

MORE INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED ON THIS BLOG ON 27/11/2020

EMAILS TO simon@welshbridgeunion.org