Day 5: The results
This month Team Funbridge is venturing into Denmark! Check this article regularly for updates. We will share the results and highlights of the event here.
Summary:
- 2023 WBT Masters Copenhagen
- Day 1: Let the competition begin!
- Day 2: A peaceful day
- Day 3: Between successes and defeats
- Day 4: A tough day
- Day 5: The results
2023 WBT Masters Copenhagen
News of 16 October
This month Team Funbridge is playing in Denmark!
On 16-20 October our team of young players will try to grab first place in the Open Teams tournament held by World Bridge Tour.
All participants are expected for kick-off on Monday 16 October 3.30pm at the prestigious 5* NH Collection hotel.
Team Funbridge players will pit their skills against renowned French players like Thomas Bessis or Cédric Lorenzini as well as top international players from all over the world. Over 12 different nationalities will meet at bridge tables during the tournament week!
To climb onto the highest steps of the podium, Team Funbridge will need to play no fewer than 266 boards over 5 days of competition.
This is a big challenge for our team of young players but it is well within their reach!
Come get to know the four members of Team Funbridge who will be playing at the 2023 WBT Masters Copenhagen!
To follow Team Funbridge’s results live, click below:
The unmissable sites in Copenhagen
Tivoli Gardens
This amusement park is among the oldest in the world. Legend has it that it inspired Walt Disney to build the famous castle of his own park. Today it is popular for its wooden roller coasters and huge carousel.
Rosenborg Castle
Originally built by order of King Christian IV in the early 17th century in the middle of Kongens Have (King’s gardens) in the north of the city, it was used as a royal residence until the beginning of the 18th century and then became a museum.
Nyhavn (“new port” in Danish)
The Copenhagen canal stands out for its colourful houses along the banks. Its postcard-like atmosphere earned it worldwide fame. The houses by the canal themselves are famous too. For instance, the Danish fairy tale writer and poet Hans Christian Andersen who wrote “The Princess and the Pea” used to live in No. 20.
The Little Mermaid
Known as “Den lille havfrue” in Danish, this bronze statue was inspired by the main character of the eponymous fairy tale. Its small height (1.25 metres high) does not fail to surprise the tourists discovering the city!
The Round Tower
This tower is the oldest functioning observatory in Europe. It is still used nowadays by amateur astronomers. Even if you are not interested in astronomy, you will be impressed by its height (34 metres).
Day 1: Let the competition begin!
News of 16 October by Team Funbridge and Jérôme Rombaut
“Here we are in Copenhagen. 👋
In 2008, Copenhagen was declared the city with the best quality of life in the world. It’s the city of bicycles, of wellbeing, a sustainable city that is striving to replace coal, oil and natural gas with biomass, log-shaped wood chips from sustainably managed forests, and to integrate large heat pumps powered by wind and geothermal energy. 🌳🍃
I hope we’ll have time to send you photos of the Little Mermaid or the famous Nyhavn district. 📸
Ivar and Andreas arrived from Sweden at 11am, Léo and I arrived from Paris at 11.30 am (Léo played for the junior national team for 3 days and qualified brilliantly for the French U26 team), Federica and Valentina arrived from Milan at 1.30pm.
The 6 of us are sharing an Airbnb in the centre of Copenhagen, about 1km walk from the bridge room. 🏠
There are 16 teams in the tournament. (I’ll give you an update on the teams present later).
The tournament format is 4 days of round robin where we play each team and then 1 day of final or ranking match.
For today, we’ll be playing 3 matches of 14 deals from 3.30 pm to 9.30 pm. No time to relax, it’s already time to go and play…”💪
-Jérôme Rombaut-
Debrief of day one 📝
“All in all, a very good start to the first day despite an opening 11-25 defeat in the imp, giving 6.04-13.96 for the first match against the English team from Nettleton with David Gold.🎉
An unfortunate deal: the opponents bid clubs, then Blackwood and 6T. Ivar thought that his only chance of bringing down the opponent’s slam was to find a cup in his partner, so he bid the Ace of K and then played K again. Unfortunately the opponents had made a mistake in the response to the Blackwood and in fact two Aces were missing! (Andreas was waiting with his Ace of T, he’s still waiting, … the opponent discards his losing clubs on another suit and wins this slam. We lose 11 imps on the deal instead of gaining 11 …
We made up for it in the next match, again against the English, the Harris team. We were paired with Federica and Valentina, and won a superb 48-7, or 18.53 to 1.47.😄
Third and last match of the day against the French Vinciguerra team (Thomas Bessis, Cédric Lorenzini, Marc Bompis), we left the youngsters in action and they did very well: victory 22-17 in Imp and 11.58-8.42 in VP (victory points). 💪
We’re now in 9th/16th place, but with an average score of almost 12, that’s excellent.“
-Jérôme Rombaut-
It’s time for Team Funbridge to get some rest before tackling an exciting second day tomorrow.
Day 2: A peaceful day
News of 17 October by Team Funbridge and Jérôme Rombaut
“This surprise morning, everyone was fighting to play the first game instead of wanting to sleep, which is very surprising for young guys … 🤔
I got the answer when I saw our opponents: Denmark junior! They were desperate to play their friends. 🎉
Unfortunately, a card drop on a single deal cost us the match. At the 6C contract Valentina played a small spade with 2 hands -1 instead of = and above all -11 instead of +11 when our opponents stopped at the end of the round.
As a result, we lost the match by 24 imps instead of winning by 2, which was a shame, but that’s how you learn.
In the meantime, a morning jog and a tour of the city with Léo 🏃”
-Jérôme Rombaut-
Debrief of day two 📝
We’re continuing to make good progress, and it’s been another good day. After losing our first game, we managed to string together 2 good wins and a narrow defeat. We’re still around the average, and tomorrow will be crucial in setting our final target… 💪
-Jérôme Rombaut-
Day 3: Between successes and defeats
News of 18 October by Team Funbridge and Jérôme Rombaut
After a very good start: a big win against the Cole team (Manno – Di Franco and (Palma – Cullin) 72-5 i.e. a 20-0 win in PV, we reached third place. 🥳
Followed by a narrow defeat against the Blackset brothers’ team (who run the biggest bridge club in Copenhagen).
For the third match we face the team made up of Sabine Auken and Roy Welland (probably the 2 best German players 🇩🇪 combined with 4 good Polish players).💪
To finish off the day, we’ll have the Gillis team with the best Swedish pair 🇸🇪 the Rimstedt brothers and the best pair in the world: the Norwegians Brogeland – Bakke…
Debrief of day three 📝
The return journey was difficult after lunch, with a heavy 1-39 defeat (just 1.83) against the Polish team Après Bridge, followed by a narrow victory over the Gilis team 33-27 for 11.87 PV.
Luckily, to cheer us up, our Italians had prepared some famous pasta à la Norma! 🍝
Here we are in 9th place going into the final day of qualifying. Our aim will be to finish in the top 8 … only 4 matches to go. 💪
Day 4 : A tough day
News of 19 October by Team Funbridge and Jérôme Rombaut
“It was a very difficult day… First of all, a narrow 23-27 defeat against one of the favourites: Schaltz. Then a draw against Mikadinho.
Then, unfortunately, after the lunch break, we went under, losing 2 heavy games to Lundberg (another of the favourites, and Schaltz and Lundberg will meet in the semi-finals) and then losing to the Irish team Moran.
For day 5, we’ll be playing 3 matches in Switzerland to try and clinch a place from 5 to 7. To lift our spirits, we’ll be joining our Danish junior friends in a restaurant and then a pub – ambience guaranteed!”
-Jérôme Rombaut-
Day 5: The results
News of 20 October by Team Funbridge and Jérôme Rombaut
“On the final day, we played a Swiss round robin for places 5 to 16. You had to be in the top 3 to get one of the financial rewards. With our poor finish, we started off with quite a disadvantage over most of the other teams.
Our first match was against the Gillis team and we lost by a narrow margin of 13-26, i.e. 6.03-13.97 in PV. We then took our revenge against Moran’s Irish team after our heavy defeat the day before, a clear-cut victory: 39-0 for a score of 18.66-1.34.
An amusing anecdote to show that the tension can be felt after a week’s play: The opponents play 6P, I start trump and Léo, my partner in flank, starts to spread his game on the table (fortunately he only had time to play his 2 small trumps) but everyone at the table has a good laugh!
A fine victory against the Botton team (winners of the previous edition) 45-23 or 15.99-4.01 allowed us to move back into 3rd place before the final match. 🎉
The Mikadinho team, a very eventful match that went slightly in our opponents’ favour, 30-41 (6.55-13.45).
We finished in 5th place, which was very satisfactory considering the overall standard of the event, and it was an adventure. 😄
8 wins, 1 draw and 10 defeats over the week as a whole.”
-Jérôme Rombaut-
What did you think of this article?
Share your view in the Comments section below!
Excellent !
Being Danish having lived and played bridge most of my life in Copenhagen
it is great to follow your venture here.
Best of luck to your team during the remainder of the tournament.
Very enjoyable
very interesting, but didn’t see any bridge deals?