World Championship Events October 29th-30th
| I arrived in Estoril, Portugal for the 2005 Bermuda Bowl on
the evening of
Saturday, October 29th. The final round of the preliminary Round Robin
stage of the event was just finishing and an exciting rematch between
the two
finalists from two years ago, USA1 and Italy, had just been completed.
The
Italians
had been leading the event, living up to their billing as the favorites
to win
this year's Bermuda Bowl. The USA1 team had performed well up until
this
point, but had not yet returned to their championship form of the past
several
years. This match provided much excitement, with few flat boards and
much
for the crowds to cheer about. In the end, the USA1 team, with a strong
107-40 IMPs victory, reminded the Italians that though they have had
little
trouble
in leading the event to this point, the defending champions are still
here
and ready to repeat.
On Sunday, October 30th the final Knockout stage of the event began. Some exciting matches began in all the events- Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup(women), and Senior Bowl. Additionally, the finals of the World Computer Bridge Championships were held, with Wbridge5 knocking off the three-time defending champion, Jack, in an excellent match for computer bridge. Bermuda Bowl Quarterfinals with carry-over Venice Cup Quarterfinals with carry-over Senior Bowl Quarterfinals with carry-over You can follow these matches live at: One of the most impressive performances at this year's Bermuda
Bowl has been by
the relatively young USA2 pair, Geoff Hampson and Eric Greco.
Greco-Hampson
have been performing well at ACBL nationals for several years,
continuously
challenging the top seeds for victory. They performed
exceptionally well
in
the Round Robin stage of this year's Bermuda Bowl, winning the
prestigious
Butler rankings, which are given to the pair that scores the best
against the
datum. In
doing so, they beat out such top pairs as Italy's Versace-Lauria and
Egypt's
El Ahmadi-Sadek. This clearly qualifies them as one of the best pairs
in
the
world and solidifies them as a force in American bridge for years to
come. I
kibitzed Greco-Hampson during their first segment of their Quarterfinal
match
vs. Argentina on Sunday, October 30th. It was a close match in which
Greco-Hampson played solid bridge, forcing the Argentines to earn any
swings that were going to take place at their table. Greco-Hampson
began board 1 by
bidding and playing well to reach 4 The most interest match to American observers may be in the Venice cup, where USA1 faces USA2. The first two segments were tight, with both teams battling to gain an edge. In the third segment the USA1 took hold of the match with a strong 64-12 IMP beating of USA2 to take a 58 IMP lead at the half. Though USA1 has had much success against USA2 in the last year, expect a strong, difficult match to continue. One of the most interesting hands of the second segment was
board 12. North-South can made either 6 |
| Brd: Q2/6 #12 |  K J 10 4 |
|
| Dlr: W |  J 6 4 2 |
|
| Vul: NS |  A J 10 4 |
|
 10 |
||
| Q 9 3 |
8 6 |
|
| K 8 |
7 3 |
|
| K 9 8 7 |
Q 6 3 2 |
|
| K Q 9 7 |
J 6 5 4 2 |
|
| A 7 5 2 |
||
| A Q 10 9 5 |
||
| 5 |
||
| A 8 3 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Fantoni | Nunes | ||
| 1 |
Pass | Pass | X (1) |
| Pass | 1 (2) |
Pass | 3 (3) |
| Pass | 3 (4) |
Pass | 3N (5) |
| Pass | 4 (6) |
Pass | 4 (7) |
| Pass | 4 |
Pass | 6 (8) |
| All pass |
| (1) Two way, 8-11 or 14+ HCP |
| (2) Any hand without game interest opposite 8-11 HCP |
| (3) 14+ HCP, good Hearts |
| (4) Cuebid- Italian Style, 1st or 2nd round control |
| (5) Waitng, but minimizing hand 14-17 |
| (6) Cuebid, still interested in slam |
| (7) Cuebid |
| (8) Slam is likely! |
| Contract: 6 by N
|