BP1000 Equinox Arena: the results

Summary:

The qualifying arena

The grand final

The qualifying arena

The qualifying phase of the Equinox Arena tournament came to a close on Thursday 27 March after four days of fierce competition.

In this arena where battles were raging, 2,641 bridge players took up the challenge, determined to secure their place in the final by achieving an average score above 60%. But with such a high level of play, many saw their journey come to a halt at the gates of the final…

16% qualified

434 bridge players – that is 16% of all participants – made it to the final phase of the Equinox Arena tournament. Congratulations to them on this great performance, as well as to all the players who took part in this competition! 👏

Three players particularly stood out in the qualifying arena:

🥇 Sweden’s Kenneth Wallin aka Lovelyyou9 (362^nd in the Live rankings) with an impressive average of 72.64%.

🥈 Canada’s Ross Taylor (1417^th in the Live rankings) finished brilliantly with an average of 71.20%.

🥉 Belgium’s Valardent (33^rd in the Live rankings) with an average of 71.12%.

These champions, coming from different backgrounds and rankings, show once again that the Equinox Arena tournament isn’t just for players in the top 10 of the Live rankings. Will they be able to maintain this impressive level of play in the final stage and perform against strong competitors? 🤔

Many familiar faces among the finalists

With 10 times more Bridge Points at stake, the competition for a place in the final attracted many players from the Funbridge community. Players gave their all to take advantage of this unique opportunity to move up the rankings.

The finalists included many well-known names from the Bridge Points Circuit: players who regularly top the Live rankings, Funbridge ambassadors, Team Funbridge members and even some staff members. These top-level bridge players were determined to seize their chance to shine.

The grand final 

After three intense days of final, the Equinox Arena tournament ended on 30 March. The 432 finalists climbed the cosmic heights of the final in a bid to win the coveted title. 🏟️

In this article, discover the winner of this BP1000 event and his exclusive analysis, as well as the outstanding performances of this final phase. ⚔️

Surprises in the rankings

Three players performed very well in the qualifiers, finishing at the top of the rankings.

But the high-level final which brought together some great players reshuffled the cards. 

In this intense competition, worthy of a BP1000 tournament, their performances in the final unfortunately did not take them onto the podium despite their remarkable competitiveness:

Sweden’s Kenneth Wallin aka Lovelyyou9 (362^nd in the Live rankings) finished 199^th with an average of 50.39%.

Canada’s Ross Taylor (1417^th in the Live rankings) finished 102^nd with an average of 53.68%.

Belgium’s Valardent (33^rd in the Live rankings) finished 12^th with an average of 59.34%.

Several of Funbridge’s big names came close to winning, but missed out on first place.

Our ambassador Milan Macura did very well and came 17^th with a score of 58.39%.

Meanwhile, Fabrice Noilhan, leader of the BP Live rankings known as Fabno, finished in 6^th place with 61.24%.

Well done to them for their results in a very competitive final!

The Professor asserts himself as the master of the arena

This time, the arena crowned an iconic Funbridge figure.

Dominique Fonteneau aka The Professor is the big winner of the Equinox Arena tournament with a score of 63.78%. A recognised ambassador for the platform, he took revenge for his 7^th place in the last BP1000 tournament, once again confirming the quality and consistency of his game.

Behind him, two players also distinguished themselves and climbed onto the podium of this final:
🥈 Tomasz Twaróg aka TomekT with 62.55%.
🥉 Niclas Johansson aka Bridgeniclas with 61.47%.

Congratulations to these three bridge players for their superb performances in this tough final!

🔍 Read Dominique Fonteneau’s exclusive analysis

I played all 48 deals on Friday afternoon because of my personal schedule. It wasn’t ideal because I couldn’t really compare the scores, which changed over time. I didn’t know where my direct rivals stood.

I decided to play this tournament by attacking. I put myself « out of the field » as soon as possible. That wasn’t necessarily the right strategy. I alternated between good and bad actions without ever being able to rely on a basic deal. It’s tiring, especially when you’re playing 48 deals in a row.

When deal 45 arrived, my brain was on fire. I was both smiling and frustrated.

So far everything is classic, and if I want to score a top, I have to go for the overtrick in spades. I can’t try a finesse in spades by playing towards the queen-10 tenace because the defence would cash the ace of clubs.

The only solution is a weakening strip squeeze at the end of the trick. If the opening leader has an honour in spades, they must keep it at least doubleton. If they bare the king of spades, I can cash the ace to establish the queen and if they bare the jack of spades, I can play dummy’s queen as a pinning play.

When I ran my eight red winners, ending up in dummy with the queen of diamonds, West discarded a spade and bared their ace of clubs.

Here are the positions:

I played the queen of clubs, West won with the ace and had to play a spade.

If they have the king, I must play towards dummy’s queen. If they have the jack, I must play towards dummy’s 10. How do I guess?

I chose the queen for two reasons:

• West played a diamond away from the jack on trick 3, which was dangerous. If I had had the king of spades in hand instead of the king of diamonds, this return could potentially have given me 11 tricks and West would have gone home with their ace of clubs.
• West discarded the 9 of spades first, which looked like a signal.

3NT+1 brought me 83%!

Thank you to all the participants!

This BP1000 Equinox Arena tournament was once again a success thanks to you. Your performances, commitment and passion have set the pace for this competition and offered us some memorable matches in the arena. ⚔️

We’d love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments. What did you think of this edition? What were your favourite moments? And of course, tell us what you think of this article.

See you soon for more competitions on Funbridge!

When did the tournament take place?

How did the qualifying stage work?

How did the final work?

Which prizes were up for grabs?

Keep up to date with the tournament in this dedicated article! 🏹