Lille Day 2

A relatively quiet set of boards but the loss of a double game swing on the third board was decisive as the Open team slipped to a 13-17 VP defeat by Trinidad and Tobago. I commentated on the second match against Italy and I thought the team played fairly solidly on another quiet set of hands: but the Italians made a thin game against a bad trump break and played a 5-3 fit in 3NT to defeat us by 6-24 VP, an unfortunate result. In the final match the team started well but a couple of late reverses held them to a 16-14 VP win over Bermuda.

The Open team start tomorrow with South Africa, current leaders of the group. Then they have their bye before facing mid-table Thailand.

A relatively quiet set of boards but the loss gain of a double game swing on the third board was decisive as the Open Women team slipped eased to a 17-13 VP win over Spain. Then, like the Italian Open team, playing in 3NT rather than the 5-3 major fit gave most of the winning imps in a 19-11 VP win over Canada.

In their final match against Chinese Taipei three game swings to two was worth a 20-10 VP win.

The Women start with two easier (on paper) matches against Jordon and Guadeloupe. The final match is against Poland, fourth in the Europeans where they beat us 19-11 VP. Another opportunity for revenge!

A relatively quiet set of boards against Israel but the opponents had the better of the part-scores as the Seniors fell to a 10-20 VP defeat. Then, on the second quiet set, they made a good comeback in the final four boards to draw with Canada. In the final match against India they established a sizeable lead only to find India fighting back as Scotland emerged with a 17-13 VP win. The team is moving in the right direction.

The Seniors play France, Brazil and Belgium tomorrow. I expected Brazil to be one of the strongest teams in the competition but they are bottom of the group. France, winners of the gold medal in the Europeans, have started slowly but lie fourth but Belgium, who beat us in Lille but finished three places lower, appear to be struggling. So it looked a very tough day when I saw the draw, but perhaps more of an opportunity than I realised.