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Special Report from our Bridge Correspondent Jon Thompson.......

The first International Bridge Tournament was recently held at Restaurante Rincón de Elias on the Bolnuevo paseo. It was organised by the Mazarrón Bay Bridge Club (MBBC).

The MBBC would like to thank Leen (pronounced “Lane” as in Penny Lane) and JVB (pronounced John Van Beek) who were responsible for proposing and setting up and running the event. Smaller thanks also go to Phil, Anita, Anne A, Jon (no”h”) and Leicester City for their brief contributions.

The European Team was made up of Spanish, Dutch, some Scandahooligans, a few Scots (they did want to leave the UK), and a man with a Scottish sounding name, a redhead and a solicitor.

The British Team (Please note the name JVB) comprised mainly English, a Jamaican (British Commonwealth) and one Welshman (no “h”).

There were 3 rounds of 8 boards (games) held through the morning. The Europeans took a commanding lead after the first ´half´ but the British (JVB) came back in the second and third. You have to read the complete article to find out the result. Or look at the photograph on the Home Page to see who is receiving the magnificent trophy.

The defining moment might have been the small slam (6 hearts) bid and made by Pieter (pronounced “Peter” in English), which was matched by Jean (middle name Melody) on the British Team.

After totalling the scores, the teams (32 players) were joined at lunch by 11 partners, husbands, wives, friends and relations including an 18-month granddaughter of Paula. You can never start too early to learn Bridge. She even brought her own “dummy” (boom, boom).

Rincon put on a great lunch as always; helped by lashings of red wine and the trophies were handed over. A large one for the winners and a tiny one for the runners up. Score Europeans 220, British 229.

MBBC play Bridge on Mondays and Thursdays at 09:30 hours at Hotel Playa Grande, on the road from Puerto de Mazarrón to Bolnuevo. For more information on MBBC go to http://www.bridgewebs.com/mazarrnbay/

Addendum:  Apologies for blurry photos, this was mainly due to the ´lashings of red wine´ reported above, & Phil´s mediocre photography skills.

INTERNATIONAL ´FRIENDLY´ MONDAY 2^nd MAY 2016

At Wembley Stadium El Rincon de Elias, Bolnuevo

DIRECTOR: John van Beek

TEAM ENGLAND(ish):

Team 1   Iris & Barry Baker

                Joe Hayes & Ken Fisher

Team 2   Trevor Worthy & Paula Seager

                Phil Carter & Cilla Brooks

Team 3   Anne & Chris Rayner

                Jean Boone & Jon Thompson

Team 4   Irene Wilmore & Christine Bruce

                Lawrie Hunt & John Blakey

The Team Captains are underlined.

´DREAM TEAM´ EUROPE (including Scottish blood):

Team 1 Peter and John

Cathy and Doug

Captain John

Team 2 Ann and Leen

Martin and Hazel

Captain Leen

Team 3 Henk and Anita

Anne and John

Captain Anita

Team 4 Dario and Vincent

Carmen and Monica

Captain Dario

THE MOVEMENTS: 3 Rounds of 8 Boards

First round 8 boards

England 1 vs Europe 1

England 2 vs Europe 2

England 3 vs Europe 3

England 4 vs Europe 4

Second round 8 boards

England 1 vs Europe 2

England 2 vs Europe 3

England 3 vs Europe 4

England 4 vs Europe 1

Third round 8 boards

England 1 vs Europe 3

England 2 vs Europe 4

England 3 vs Europe 1

England 4 vs Europe 2

JvB INSTRUCTIONS FOR CALCULATING THE RESULT OF A TEAM MATCH

1 – The captains are responsible for ensuring that from each team 1 pair plays N-S and the other pair play E/W

2 – All pairs note the results (8 results per round), inserting only the plus score for N/S or E/W in the correct column on their pair´s scoresheet

3 – After 8 boards have been played, both captains check that the scores have been identically recorded by both sides

4 – Each captain then sits together with the rest of his team

5 – Each captain calculates his team´s combined score for each of the 8 boards

6 – Each captain notes these results in the correct column and calculates the IMPS per board

7 – Total the IMPS of the 8 boards for you and your opponents

8 – Compare your result with the captain of your opponents

9 – If both captains have calculated the same result, both captains hand this result to the director.

Note: Don´t worry, JvB will explain in more detail prior to play starting.