Lawrence - Brighton Congress (2007)

A small group of Acol clubbers went to the EBU Brighton Congress this year.

For some of us, it was our first visit.

It is the largest bridge congress in Europe and lasts 10 days.

There are pairs and teams tournaments each day for players of all levels and ages.  Steve, Ann, Lawrence, Helen, Goff, Janee, Dick, Angie, Kathy and others were there.  Lawrence stayed only a couple of days but many others were there for the entire 10 days of the event.

GordonSmith was also in Brighton, making a return trip after his big weekend.

Ruth and Kerri were amongst the representatives of a very strong junior contingent on BBO.

Steve and Ann played the “Really Easy” tournament over three days and many boards and achieved first place overall. A truly wonderful achievement!

Lawrence played with a pick up partner in an afternoon 27 board open pairs event (it takes about 3 and a half hours to play 9 sessions of 3 boards).  For Lawrence, it was his first experience of this type and level of bridge but he found the atmosphere very pleasant and his partner (a regular attender and an EBU TD to boot!) was very understanding.

That evening, Steve and Lawrence played a midnight speedball tournament.  This was fantastic fun and nothing like they had ever done before.  It involved playing 27 boards at 3 minutes a board, finishing just after 1.30am.

There was one player who was so drunk he could hardly stay upright.

The bidding and play are done at lightening speed without any thought whatsoever!  It was hard to keep up with what contracts made or went down.

There were many juniors in this event and they love it!

Steve and Lawrence came a very creditable 7th after the dust had settled.  They played another open pairs event the following day, coming about three quarters down the rankings.

That day also saw an exhibition event played between England and Norway.  This gave us an opportunity to see in real life the conditions for the sort of thing one only sees on BBO vugraph.

The pictures tell the story.

The EBU Brighton Congress is definitely well worth a visit and perhaps one year we can organise a group of us to go there and play as pairs and teams!

Lawrence