Bridge League of FinlandNews
Bridge at Young Chelsea Bridge Club
Travelling report by Mauri Saastamoinen (2016-03-31 14:45:29)
Young Chelsea Bridge Club, established in 1968, is a local bridge club in London, now permanently situated at its own premises: 54 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd’s Bush, LONDON W12 8HA.
I had a possibility to visit there at late February. Only few metro stations from Paddington. “Take a Tube”, I heard they telling me. Ok, not a metro, not a subway, but the Tube. That’s a way they talk in Britain. “And it is Great Britain, not Little Britain”, I was also told by my relatives even before I got there.
So much for Britain. But how about their bridge? Yes, yes, they have Tower Bridge in London and so on, but how about their game? Is it wild or tame? I wanted to find out.
I had contacted a club manager Nick Sandqvist earlier by e-mail. He is a professional player who presented his home country Sweden as a junior player about the same time I was playing junior bridge in our own national junior team. But that was over twenty years ago – time flies by, as they say.
Anyway, Nick had arranged a partner for me. Nice Italian gentleman, who knew how to play bridge. We had time to discuss system and take a sandwich and a beer before game at club’s bar. It was an IMP Session, so bidding enough games could be crucial. But, who knows, perhaps it was a good time for a defence? We would soon find out.
Nine rounds, three boards per round.
First round. Nothing special. At a second board I am playing 3NT with
S: 43
H: AKQ10
D: 1076532
C: 7
vs
S: KQJ86
H: 632
D. K
C: AKQJ .
Easy hand, but after a club lead one has to check hearts before playing a spade. When a heart jack drops after second round, and diamonds do not behave too badly, I am home.
Second round. Our opponents bid and play a non-vulnerable game, but miss a vulnerable game.
Third round. Our opponents have an opportunity to bid and make a grand slam in diamonds, but they miss that and bid only a small slam. Is it so difficult to find? Dealer has:
S: 62
H: AKQ8
D: A108642
C: 10
and responder has
S: AKJ87
H: 2
D: KQ7
C: A983
If you play any natural system, it might be a bit of a nuisance to continue after 1D–1S, 2D–? Opener has “nuts” for his previous bidding, and so it proved to be too difficult to bid a grand slam at all other but one table. There the bidding went 1D–1S, 2D–3H, which was a Splinter bid. Hmm, all other mortals, who did not have that kind of tools available, were not able to recover and found only small slam. That hand would be easier to bid if you were playing some strong club system.
Fourth round. My partner makes a brave balance bid after bidding sequence Pass – (Pass) – Pass – (1NT), Pass – (Pass) – 2S showing 5 cards in Spades and at least four cards in other minor. Our opponents start to double, but I have a maximum fitting hand and cards behave nicely, so we eventually make 3DX. Our opponents should bid 3H instead, but that was not obvious at the table. After that round we are leading.
Fifth round. Our opponents bid two tight games: non-vulnerable 3NT rolls home but vulnerable 4S goes eventually three off after a good defence.
Sixth round. Partner does not let opponents play in 2D, and pushes them to 3D -1. We stop in 2H with 24 combined hcp, which is right this time.
Seventh round. I find a killing lead against opponent’s 3NT. They have a better contract available, but could not find it this time. It seems like we are winning tonight.
Eight round. Nothing much happens.
Ninth and last round. There is a safety play in 3S, which works. Then, on a last board, after a garbage Stayman auction I let our opponents play 2S undoubled when I should had doubled instead. Anyway, that does not prevent us from winning. Mille grazie, Albert!
Nice people, nice atmosphere. There were some after play at bar, and it seemed to me that every player (at least at a bar) was a winner after all.
It seemed to me that there are similar difficulties in Britain as in Finland: number of players has been declining and average age of players has been rising – almost some decades now. But, on the other hand, there are many new ideas and innovations that make a playing in a bridge club much more pleasant that in earlier decades. This same trend can be seen also in Finland: no smoking inside, not so much drinking while playing, and, at least for me, most importantly, there are live results available during a play and you will get the end results as soon as the last board is played.
So, was a game in Britain wild or tame? It depends. For example, there was a bridge club near our hotel, but, not even hearing my wife’s advice, I somehow knew there was not enough filling inside my wallet to cover possible losses in playing Chicago there I decided to orienteer to more tranquil waters and spend eleven pounds to play one evening. If you want to go to London to play, find a club most suitable for your own skill level and for your wallet. If you want to visit to Young Chelsea Bridge Club, or if you want to ask any questions about a club, you can e-mail to youngchelsea(AT)btconnect.com and get answers to your questions.
Mauri Saastamoinen
- H. A.-
