Reykjavík Rapyd Bridge Festival

Ella Rosthøj and Christian Lahrmann, two members of Team Funbridge, tell you all about their trip to Iceland!

Ella: The Reykjavík Rapyd Bridge Festival is an annual event that brings together players from all over the world. The festival takes place at the impressive Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík and offers an intense four-day programme, with 2 two-day Swiss pairs and a two-day Swiss teams competition.

The festival attracts amateur and professional players – both local and international – who want to combine their passion for bridge with experiencing Iceland’s unique culture and landscapes. The festival has a big field: this year’s pairs tournament featured 138 pairs, while the teams competition was contested by 88 teams.

Christian: My partner for the pairs tournament over two days was Kasper Konow, who has played for the Danish national team for a decade. After the first day, things were looking great, as we scored 58%. Day 2 started out well and we climbed up to second, but then the bad boards came and we finished 15^th.

Ella: I played the pairs tournament with Julie Marina Sigsgaard and we had an awful start. After the first day, we were down at 44% and we drowned our sorrows by going straight to the bar. However, day 2 was a different story. We scored 62.9% for the day, which brought us to a total of 53.6% and a 22^nd-place finish. Here is one board from day 2.

I was sitting South and the bidding went as follows:

Julie and I play transfer responses over a 1♣ opening, so my 1♥ showed at least four spades. Julie’s double showed exactly three spades. I chose to pass Julie’s double because, in our system, she had denied a strong hand with three-card support, so I knew that she had a minimum hand and we did not have an obvious game on. Furthermore, I did not want to bid 2♠ and find myself playing in a 4-3 fit with two balanced hands opposite each other, and down one for -200 is a great pairs score.

Julie led the ace of diamonds and then switched to a club, which I won before returning a heart. Declarer could not do anything to avoid losing two clubs, three diamonds and a spade, meaning it was down one for -200, a great score for us.

Christian: There were still two days left for the teams event.
I continued to play with Kasper, teaming up with the Danish young guns Daniel Tylvad and Nikolaj Hammelev, aka PEPE.
We woke up on Saturday morning after a rough night 🍻 and were on BBO for our first match.

Ella: For the teams tournament, Julie and I played with two other Danes, Amalie Rosa Bune and Søren Caspersen, on Team Spin the Wheel. One thing I particularly like about this tournament is that you get to play against a lot of great players. In match 2, we faced Team Edmonds, the eventual winners.

Sitting East-West, Julie and I were playing against Sjoert Brink and Bas Drijver when this board was dealt. 

Looking at the vulnerability and seeing Julie’s 3♦ overcall and Sjoert Brink’s confident 4♥ bid, I decided to bid 5♦. We went two off for -300, losing a heart, two spades and a club trick. They did not find the 5♦ save at the other table, and we won 8 IMPs.

We ended up winning the match with 15.97 VPs, which we were very happy about. We won the first five matches, but after suffering a big loss in match 6, we never got back into the top 10. We ended up placing 28^th.

Christian: My partner was sitting East and there were two passes around to him. He decided to open 1♠ third in hand, all vulnerable, to pre-empt the opponents, which worked very well.

The auction continued as follows:

2♥ went down two for -200, but our team-mates made 3NT, earning us 9 IMPs. This board illustrates how effective third-hand openings can be.

After we finished play on Saturday, we went out to a nice Indian restaurant and then immediately headed home to get some rest for the final day. We all played very well on the last day and, going into the last match, it looked like a 20-0 victory would win us the tournament.

Here is a fun board:

My partner, sitting East, opened 4♠, which was doubled. After I passed, LHO jumped to 6♦ and South raised to 7♦, which I doubled. It felt like Christmas had come again: the opponents had bid to 7♦ vulnerable and I had five trumps (108xxx), plus an outside ace. Declarer played it well and escaped for down one, which still gained us 11 IMPs.

Ella: After the day’s games, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy Reykjavík’s nightlife. You can go out to eat at one of the city’s many excellent restaurants and try Icelandic specialties, like lamb.

After dinner, the evening often continues at one of the city’s cosy bars. A popular destination is The English Pub, where you can try their iconic wheel of fortune – in fact, my team, Spin the Wheel, was named after this very wheel. The pub is a hangout for many people, whether you want to relax with a drink, listen to live music or celebrate a successful day of bridge.