Meet the Masters WBT Masters Reykjavík Iceland January 22-25 2024 

Summary

Meet the Masters

A trip to Snowland

The World Bridge Tour, which aims to celebrate and grow the game of bridge for players and spectators, recognises that bridge is the finest card game in the world and the only mind game where humans still outperform computers. 

Their aim is to strive to promote the many positive aspects of bridge and increase its popularity, resulting in more attention and media coverage, as chess, poker and e-sports have achieved. WBT has established contacts with national broadcasters, and aim to have WBT tournaments on-air as soon as possible. 

WBT is designed to be an arena for all competitive bridge players. Through their prime events and Challengers Cup they offer tournaments for a wide range of players. For face-2-face events, teams may have a maximum number of players of 6, whereas in online events, that number goes up to 10.  

The WBT Champions Tour that now starts its fourth edition was launched in 2021 and caters for bridge players at the highest level and for those who enjoy kibitzing top-level bridge. 

In 2023, the total prizes awarded amounted to a staggering €340000. 

The WBT Masters Reykjavík is organised together with the Reykjavík Bridge Festival and the Icelandic Bridge Federation. It is the first event of the 2024 WBT, and is held in the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík. 18 teams will play 16 10-board rounds of Swiss over the first three days, at the end of which the top two will advance to Thursday’s 36 board final, with the next two teams playing off for third place. 

During the event, you can follow the play at every table, including Geir Helgemo, Boye Brogeland, Sabine Auken, Dennis Bilde, Jacek Pszczola, David Gold, Michał Klukowski, Sjoert Brink, Bas Drijver, Jaggy Shivdasani, Peter Fredin, Gunnar Hallberg and host of other World, European and National Champions.  

Playing Times (local times = UTC) 

Meet the Masters

Round Robin

Apres-Bridge Champs won all four matches to top the table on day one of the WBT Masters in Reykjavik. There were some exciting deals! 

Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul. 

Left to their own devices, you would expect NS to finish up in 3NT (that happened on 12 occasions) but circumstances alter cases: 

De Botton v Sandfia

Open Room 

The VuGraph operator whimsically described East’s bid as ‘a fresh modern style opening’. If North had bitten the bullet and reopened with a double, I dare say South would have passed and collected 500. As it was EW only had to pay out -150. 

Closed Room 
1) 2NT: Forces 3♠
2) 3♦: Forcing. 

NS were celebrating their selection as part of the England team for the European Championships. 

East led the ♦Q and West won and returned the ♦4 to declarer’s king. The ♥J lost to West’s king and when West exited with the ♥2 declarer took two tricks in the suit and played the ♣2 to the queen followed by two more rounds of the suit, West winning with the ♣K. Declarer could not be prevented from scoring a club ruff, +620 and 10 IMPs, setting up a winning start. 

Apres-Bridge Champs continued their winning ways, finally having their colours lowered in Round 9 when they lost narrowly to Edmonds. Normal service was resumed in the last match of the day, with the leaders finishing well clear of the field. 

Final Day of the Round Robin 

On day 3, the leaders lost three times, but after the penultimate round they were assured of a spot in the first-place showdown, which might explain their heavy defeat in the last round which saw them deposed at the top by Mavericks. Remarkably, the top two did not meet in the Swiss! 

Meanwhile, Edmonds and Milner would contest the third and fourth place playoff.

Mavericks and Edmonds enjoyed a carryover advantage of 10.1 IMPs.

These were the teams that made it to the final and play-off: 

Final: Mavericks against Apres-Bridge Champs  

There was a sensational start to the final. On the opening deal, Welland-Auken bid a 23 count 3NT. The critical decision for the defence came at trick three. North, having taken trick 2, held ♥KJ85 and could see ♥1072 in dummy. A heart switch was indicated, but which card do you play? 

A low heart works if partner has four cards headed by the ♥A (and would give declarer a guess if South has only three hearts headed by the ace). The ♥J works if South has a holding headed by the ♥A9. North went with the ♥J only to find declarer with ♥Q9 so that was a 7 IMP swing. 

Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul. 

Open room
1) 1♥ : Spades. 

East led the ♠10 and West won with the ♠A and returned the ♠7 for the eight, nine and a ruff and shortly thereafter declarer claimed 11 tricks, +650. 

Closed room
1) 2♣ : Hearts.

North led the ♥3 and South won with the ♥A and returned the ♥4, declarer ruffing and playing a club for the king and ace. Back came the ♥Q and declarer ruffed and tried ducking a spade (a low diamond is best). North won with the ♠J and continued with the ♠K, declarer winning and only now playing a low diamond. South won with the king and North could claim the rest for seven down, -1700 and 14 IMPs. 

A slam on a finesse that failed, an unfortunate line of play and a misdefended slam saw the Apres-Bridge Champs take the first session 69-3. The champagne was on ice! 

The second session was closely contested – I must show you this deal: 

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul. 

Closed Room

In the other room, West had taken 11 tricks in 4 Spades. 

North led the ♠9 and declarer won with the ♠10, cashed the ♠K and went to dummy with the ♠A to play a club to the queen. North won and switched to the ♥4, declarer winning in hand, cashing the ♣A and ruffing a club. He ruffed a diamond and cashed his winners, but North could hold on to the ♦Q10 for one down. 

Do you see the brilliant opportunity that was missed? 

Having ruffed the third club in dummy, declarer leads the ♦K, forcing South to play the ♦A. That transfers the diamond menace to North, and now cashing winners will result in an inspired red suit squeeze. 

Apres-Bridge Champs edged the set 39-33 to extend their lead to 62.9, at which point Mavericks threw in the towel. The winners collected €12,000; the runners-up €8,000. 

The other match was much closer. With 5 deals to go Edmonds led 65.1-60, but could not hold on, Milner winning 75-66.1 to secure €6,000 and leaving Edmonds with €4,000. 

A trip to Snowland

It is generally considered that Iceland is so called because an early visitor found a fjord full of icebergs, an early Norwegian explorer having christened it snowland. 

Reykjavík played host to the 2024 Bridge Festival, played in the magnificent setting of the Harpa Concert Hall. 

The first event, the Championship Pairs, attracted 156 pairs and proved to be a triumph for the team that had won the preceding World Bridge Tour Masters event. Dennis Bilde and Martin Schaltz took first place (and €1500) ahead of their teammates, Roy Welland and Sabine Auken, while Keyzad Anklesaria and Debabrata Majumder (from the losing finalists) were third. 

Here’s a deal from the final session, which illustrates the need to combine getting to the right contract and then finding a way to make it: 

Dealer South. EW Vul. 

With 12 top tricks and chances of another in both clubs and spades, not to mention various squeeze possibilities, 7 No-Trump is a decent spot. 

Only 14 pairs failed to reach a slam, while of those who did go beyond game, only four failed to record 13 tricks. 16 pairs went ‘all in’ by bidding 7NT, six of them getting a club lead which immediately delivered the extra trick required. 

The other eight had to work harder. 

On a diamond lead declarer can take six rounds of the suit, play a heart to the ace and then play on spades to reach this position: 

When declarer cashes the ♠Q, West is caught in a show up squeeze. 

Everyone in 7 No-Trump passed the test, and it was worth 142.8 – 15.2 matchpoints. 

The second half of the festival is devoted to the Teams Championship, where 96 squads were competing for the first prize of €2150.

Dealer North. E/W Vul. 

Here’s a deal from the opening round that shows the downside of opening 1NT with a singleton: 

Open Room 

West led the ♠A. After three rounds of the suit, declarer having discarded a diamond and a club, East switched to the ♣4. That meant the defenders collected nine tricks – 3 No-Trump made – but not by declarer, three down, -150. 

Closed Room 

When South revealed his 1-3-5-4, North knew his limited assets were golden. 
West led the ♦4 and East won and switched to the ♥9 (a spade allows West to win and play a second diamond, but does not help). Declarer won, unblocked dummy’s ♣A, came to hand with a heart, ruffed a club, played a third heart and a third club and claimed when the ♣K appeared for +400 and 11 IMPs. 

Dealer South. E/W Vul. 

This deal from Round 4 was instructive: 

1) 1♣: 2+♣. 
2) 4♣: Cue. 

Once South fails to bid 4♦ over 4♣, North has no reason to do more than bid game. In the table I was watching, they missed it in the other room as well. 

Dealer East. All Vul. 

One doesn’t see too many redoubled contracts – they certainly add to the excitement, as you can see on this deal from Round 7: 

Open Room 

I cannot tell you if it is a good idea to overcall with South’s hand, but on this occasion it resulted in a score of +1000, declarer winning the heart lead and claiming as soon as the clubs behaved. 

Closed Room 

East led the ♥K and the four inevitable losers meant the loss of 15 IMPs. 

Dealer North. E/W Vul. 

Going into the last round, Kólumbía, Sørvoll, Apres-Bridge Champs, de Botton and Hotel Northern Lights were battling for the title. This was the most dramatic deal of the final session: 

As you can imagine, the range of contracts was considerable, ranging from 7 Spades doubled down to 4 Hearts. 

It had a critical role to play in the matches at table 1, Kólumbía losing 10 IMPs against Sørvoll when the latter stopped safely in 4 Spades against the 6 Spades in the other room. That was enough for Apres-Bridge Champs to leapfrog both of them and claim a second major title in less than a week. 

The top three were: 

• Apres-Bridge Champs : Sabine Auken, Roy Welland, Morten Bilde, Dorthe Bilde, Dennis Bilde & Martin Schaltz – 139.94 
• Kólumbía : Sam Dinkin, Olivia Schireson, Sibrand van Oosten & Tim van De Paverd – 136.58 
• Sørvoll : Jostein Sørvoll, Svein Arid Naas, Terje Aa & Kåre Bogø – 136.22 

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