Days 2 at the 56th European Championships (updated 3/07/24)
Bridge in the Kingdom of Denmark
Bridge in the Kingdom of Denmark
by Vincent Labbé
The 56th European Team Championships are fast approaching. They will be played from 24 June to 4 July.
Where?
In the small city of Herning, in the heart of Denmark, in the Jutland peninsula. So, far away from the capital Copenhagen, which is located in the Danish Far East on the eastern island of Seeland.
How many events?
The Championships consist of 4 categories: Open, Women, Seniors and Mixed. The Women’s and Seniors’ Pairs Championships will be held ahead of the Team Championships.
How many teams?
Nearly 100 in total! 30 in Open, 22 in Women, 20 in Seniors and 23 in Mixed.
Which format?
No qualifiers followed by KO matches as for the Bermuda Bowl. The Championships will be played as a single complete round robin with all teams playing each other in 16-deal matches. This exhausting marathon will last 11 days for the Open Championship and 7 days for the other categories.
What is the recipe for success?
In this kind of long-distance race, regularity is the watchword of the favourite teams. Being heavily defeated by a team seen as weak (there are fewer and fewer of them…) is a huge missed opportunity which comes at a big price in the end. When two strong teams face each other, a clear victory keeps a potential rival at bay and these match points “count double” so to speak.
Who are the favourites?
During the previous Championships in Madeira, the Netherlands and Switzerland dominated the Open, leaving far behind Norway and even further Italy and Poland. These teams should be leading the race this time again. The event turned into an absolute disaster for France, ranked 15th out of 30. The French team can’t do any worse and will try to qualify for the World Championships. To do so, they will need to finish in the top 8 and the battle promises to be intense.
In Women, again, two nations should outclass their opponents: Poland and Sweden. A few outsiders will be on the lookout: Israel, Germany, Denmark and of course France (they finished 5th in Madeira).
In Seniors, Poland, the current title holder, is tipped to win again. Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Israel will be on their heels. France disappointed with a 9th place only in Madeira, but their medal hopes are real this time as players with years of experience on the international stage will be lined up.
Finally, in Mixed, France is currently on top of the world. They are the big favourites but will have to keep an eye on their usual contenders: Romania, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Israel and Belgium.
Place your bets!
OPEN
Thomas BESSIS
Baptiste COMBESCURE
Pierre FRANCESCHETTI
Cédric LORENZINI
Jérôme ROMBAUT
Léo ROMBAUT
Hervé FLEURY npc
Wilfried LIBBRECHT coach
WOMEN
Marion CANONNE
Donatella HALFON
Margaux KUREK-BEAULIEU
Anaïs LELEU
Carole PUILLET
Anne-Laure TARTARIN
Stéphane GARCIA npc
Wilfried LIBBRECHT coach
MIXED
Bénédicte CRONIER
Philippe CRONIER
Vanessa RÉESS
Pierre SCHMIDT
Laurent THUILLEZ
Joanna ZOCHOWSKA
Nicolas DÉCHELETTE npc
E. LEMAÎTRE-DÉCHELETTE coach
SENIORS
Michel ABÉCASSIS
Marc BOMPIS
Philippe CHOTTIN
Dominique PILON
Philippe SOULET
Hervé VINCIGUERRA
Guy LASSERRE npc
Wilfried LIBBRECHT coach
June 26: departure day for Anaïs and me.
by Margaux Kurek-Beaulieu
The 56th European Team Championships organized by the EBL take place in Herning, Denmark, in the form of four different championships: Open, Women, Seniors and Mixed.
For my part, I’ll have the chance to represent France in the women’s category for the first time, alongside my partner Anaïs Leleu, and my teammates Donatella Halfon, Marion Canonne, Anne-Laure Tartarin and Carole Puillet. We’ll be accompanied by our captain Stéphane Garcia.
We’ll be playing from June 28 to July 4 as will the Mixed and Senior teams, while the players of the Open category have already had their cards in hand since Monday. This way, all teams will be able to finish at the same time, and we hope to celebrate a few French medals!
The three pairs of our team ended up leaving each on their own:
Anne-Laure plays in the Women Pairs organized by the EBL during the four days preceding our championship, and thus left on the 23rd, accompanied by Carole. Then Marion, Donatella and Stéphane fly out on Thursday 27.
Out of ecological awareness, we decided to take the train, which will also be my mode of transport for the Youth Championships in Poland in July. 🚂
Hence, we make the trip Paris-Herning over two days, spending the night in Hamburg. A very pleasant trip, leaving us plenty of time to brush up on the system over some chocolate brioche, and allowing me to stay in Germany for the first time.
June 27: arrival in Herning, at the championship venue!
by Margaux Kurek-Beaulieu
We set off from Hamburg towards Denmark and took four different trains, arriving in Herning at 2 pm!
After arriving, we went to the opening ceremony: presentation of all the nations that participate in the championships. Just before, we were able to applaud Alain Lévy, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the European Bridge League. He is the fourth Frenchman to receive this distinction, which is designed to reward individual players. Alain Lévy will be taking part in this European Championship in the Senior category.
Photo credit: European Bridge League
We then headed to the restaurant for our first team meeting of the week! We finalized our various defences against the foreign systems, defined the line-up for the first day of the competition, and discovered the Danish kroner: it’s great to have a 500 banknote!
Meanwhile, the French Open team is currently 11th out of 30.
The objective is always to be in the top 8 to qualify for the World Championships.
The Open team with Thomas Bessis-Cédric Lorenzini, Jérôme Rombaut-Léo Rombaut and Pierre Franchescetti-Baptiste Combescure, accompanied by captain Hervé Fleury and coach Wilfried Libbrecht, who will also be my coach next week in the junior women’s team!
Photo credit: FFB
A deal from the Women Pairs narrated by Sofie Sjødal, member of Team Funbridge:
As East, I was declarer in 2♠.
I got the Jack of Diamonds as opening lead, which was overtaken with the King by North who played back a Club for my Jack and the Ace from South. The latter played another Diamond. North won with the Ace and played back a Heart to my Ace.
I now cashed my Ace of Spades and played a small Spade towards dummy. Fortunately, my opponent thought I had only two and inserted the 10 from Jack-10 fourth. That way I was able to see the bad break.
The remaining cards now were:
Now I played a Heart to my King and a Heart to ruff: South must discard something or ruff.
If she ruffs, I overruff to then play the Queen of Diamonds, ruff a Diamond and cash my Club trick. I can then play another Heart, and overruff if she ruffs in or ruff small if she doesn’t.
If instead, she decides to discard a Club, I ruff small, ruff the Diamond and cash my Club. Finally, I play a Heart to ruff / overruff.
At my table, she decided to get rid of her Diamond, so I ruffed, cashed my Club and played my last Spade to fell the Jack of Spades. I then ended by cashing the Queen of Diamonds and the 7 of Diamonds. »
The full deal:
