Walddk

Wednesday June 30 at 10.30, 14.15 and 17.35 CEST. Open series unless stated. The open teams have the morning off. 10.30 Switzerland v Italy (Women R19) Belgium v Turkey (Women R19) England v Sweden (Women R19) Austria v Israel (Seniors R12) Germany v France (Seniors R12) Finals Round 1 Italy v Portugal France v Estonia England v Bulgaria Denmark v Iceland Israel v Sweden (Seniors R13) Finals Round 2 Italy v England Netherlands v Iceland France v Poland Sweden v Turkey Germany v Italy (Seniors R14)

No comment :) " As for England it may well be that they are on vugraph more han other countries (I am not sure). Maybe because they are good? " Carry Over subject to official confirmation 1 ITALY 148 2 ICELAND 147 3 ISRAEL 143 4 SWEDEN 142 5 FRANCE 140 6 RUSSIA 130 7 POLAND 127 8 BULGARIA 121,5 9 TURKEY 118 10 NETHERLANDS 115 11 ENGLAND 111 12 SWITZERLAND 109 13 NORWAY 102 14 ESTONIA 102 15 DENMARK 101 16 PORTUGAL 100 17 GERMANY 97,5 18 LATVIA 96 This is unfair, because you have the final standings in the round-robin. They were much higher when we had them on vugraph many times. Then they had a bad spell and the organisers realised that. So they were not on at all Monday and only once Tuesday. That makes much more sense. There are lies, and then there are statistics. The difference is marginal. My guess is that we won't see England much in the finals, but I don't know, because the EBL decides which matches we get. BBO does not interfere with those decisions. No, the ones who decide are not Englishmen. They are French. Roland

Open series standings before the final 9 matches. VPs against teams they met in the RR are carried forward. The teams now play against the 9 teams they did not play against in the round-robin. 01 ITALY 148 02 ICELAND 147 03 ISRAEL 143 04 SWEDEN 142 05 FRANCE 140 06 RUSSIA 130 07 POLAND 127 08 BULGARIA 121.5 09 TURKEY 118 10 NETHERLANDS 115 11 ENGLAND 111 12 SWITZERLAND 109 13 ESTONIA 102 14 NORWAY 102 15 DENMARK 101 16 PORTUGAL 100 17 GERMANY 97.5 18 LATVIA 96 The teams have more than medals to play for. Top 6 will qualify for the Bermuda Bowl in the Netherlands next year. If NL are among those, a seventh team also qualifies.

Yes, always one table with Italian and one table with English commentary. We do not mix languages at one table. Commentators must be able to understand each other. As I said before, we always have English at one table no matter what a given federation pays to have their matches broadcast. They can't demand their own language at both tables. As a matter of fact, they always ask if it is possible to have their language at just one table. The BBO policy is to meet their wish if at all possible. Roland

We always have English commentary in at least one of the two rooms. I don't know which match you are referring to as the "star match", but even that one had English at one table. In order to get a "foreign" language at one table, we have to arrange that in advance. As far as Italy and France are concerned, we have an agreement that we always have Italian and French respectively at one table. No offence intended, but to me it sounds a little inconsiderate if you can't accept a non-English table as long as we have English at the other table. We have thousands of spectators whose first (or second or third) language is not English. Many don't even understand one word of English and are delighted when we offer commentary in their native language. Finally, which table are we supposed to name the "star table" where English is a must? We don't know the line-ups until we see the player names in the rooms. Consequently, it is also impossible to tell which table gets more spectators than the other one. We have had this debate at length in the past, and my impression is that the vast majority can accept non-English commentary in one room, not least when we have as many as 10 tables. Roland

Tuesday June 29 at 10.30, 14.15 and 17.35 CEST. Open series unless stated. Round 17 Hungary v France Turkey v Iceland Germany v Norway Poland v Netherlands Italy v Ireland (Women R16) Round 18 Italy v Finland England v Israel Sweden v Ireland Norway v Wales France v Bulgaria Round 19 Croatia v Italy Germany v France Estonia v Netherlands Poland v Netherlands (Women R18) 5th match to be decided

Monday June 28 at 9.30, 13.00 and 16.15 CEST. Open series unless stated. Round 14 Italy v Bulgaria Estonia v Denmark Ireland v Russia Sweden v Israel France v Norway (Seniors R6) Round 15 Germany v Italy Poland v Sweden Switzerland v France Israel v Austria France v Belgium (Women R14) Round 16 Italy v Wales France v Latvia Austria v Poland Norway v Bulgaria Germany v Israel (Seniors R8)

As has happened several times in the past, Italy and France have rented a BBO box for the entire tournament. The federations pay a fee to the EBL, and all expenses. In theory, all federations could do likewise and we would have nothing but vugraph matches. What a thrill (not). As for England it may well be that they are on vugraph more han other countries (I am not sure). Maybe because they are good? I can't think of any other reason. This it not a social event; the organisers choose the best matches possible outside the mandatory two, see above. It is obviously hopeless to please everybody, but I am sure they try hard to show what the majority would think are good matches. This time round I actually think they have done a very good job. Roland

Sunday June 27 at 10.30, 14.15 and 17.35 CEST. Open series unless stated. Round 11 Switzerland v Italy France v Norway Iceland v Germany Russia v Poland England v Netherlands Round 12 Italy v Latvia Slovakia v France Sweden v Belgium Poland v Denmark Wales v Iceland Round 13 Hungary v Italy Serbia v Germany Russia v Estonia Poland v France (seniors R5) Netherlands v Bulgaria (women R12)

this is incredible there are rules that say those matches end 12-12 - so why are they allowed to rematch? Will they also be allowed to rematch, when they misplay 3NT? or misguess trumps in a slam? This match is over, they have made a mistake and the people reasonable for this get 12 (thats a lot compared to pairs, who play 20 minutes too long [why no rematch Netherlands-Russia, they might play faster now]), pairs who are not reasonable get 18 with kind regards, Tomi, who played 12-12 twice himself and would have liked to replay those matches, but nobody offered him this! I agree with Tomi. There would never have been a rematch if it had happened in the match between Sweden and Cyprus or England vs Cyprus, because the result would not have mattered. Sweden and England advance from Group B and Cyprus does not. So they would both gracefully have accepted 12-12. Now that Sweden and England both qualify, the carryover is important for both teams (they both hope for more than 12 VPs), so a rematch has been arranged. Will there be a re-rematch if one team gets less than 12 VPs tomorrow I wonder. Roland

Omspel kl 13.30 i morgon. Rematch tomorrow at 13:30. Peter Fredin on the Swedish federation's website. Roland

Saturday June 26 is a little unusual. 1. Only 2 rounds. 2. No Open and Women in the second. 3. The seniors join the action. Round 10 Italy v Cyprus Scotland v France Israel v Russia Bulgaria v Iceland England v Germany (women) Round 2 (seniors) Austria v England Turkey v Poland

Our matches Friday June 25 (open series unless stated). Round 7 Norway v Italy Serbia v France Netherlands v Sweden Romania v England Germany v Austria (women) Round 8 Italy v Slovakia Lebanon v France Austria v Netherlands Israel v Ireland Denmark v Sweden (women) Round 9 France v Italy Ireland v Poland England v Sweden Croatia v Bulgaria Poland v France (women)

Our matches Thursday June 24 (open series unless stated). Round 4: Lebanon v Italy France v Croatia Hungary v Germany Netherlands v Denmark England v Spain Round 5: Italy v Lithuania Iceland v France Russia v England Poland v Israel Germany v Bulgaria Round 6: Italy v Scotland France v Turkey England v Denmark Sweden v Austria Belgium v Germany (women)

I now have our fixtures for Wednesday (day 1) in Ostend. All matches are from the open series. Round 1 Iceland v Italy Wales v France Finland v Norway Russia v Sweden Greece v Belgium Round 2 Italy v Turkey Norway v Croatia Sweden v Denmark Netherlands v Spain Portugal v Poland Round 3 Serbia v Italy Iceland v Norway Finland v France Russia v Netherlands Ireland v England

I have some news regarding the 50th European Team Championships in Ostend, Belgium, June 22-July 3. A complete vugraph time schedule is now listed at ... http://www.bridgebase.com/vugraph/schedule...?order_by=event All information about the event to be retrieved from ... http://www.eurobridge.org/competitions/10O...Information.htm At this point in time it seems like we will be broadcasting from five matches (ten tables) in every round. 1. A match involving the Italy open team. 2. A match involving a French team. 3. The official vugraph match at the venue. 4. Two extra matches for BBO. The above is of course subject to operator availability. Things may change when we get closer. I will pass on all info as I get it. I am sure you have noticed that the 2010 Open Team Trials (USBC) in Chicago, Illinois, will take place more or less simultaneously. Due to the time difference, the two events will not clash too often, but there will be overlapping sessions. What can I say other than what a treat for all vugraph fans? Enjoy the shows! Roland

It would indeed, but the world is not ideal. You just ask the organizers how many convention cards they get well in advance, but that's what they need in order to implement the feature you suggest. Even then it's time consuming, and I suspect that most NBOs don't the the staff for it. Some organizers are quite strict regarding convention cards, but most are not. As a commentator I can assure you that it's very nice when we actually have CCs we can refer to. In most cases we don't I am sorry to say. BBO can only encourage organizers to make it a must for at least major tournaments, but at the end of the day it's not our decision. Roland

Many congratulations to Csaba (gwnn) and Gabor (cicus) on winning the Hungarian Cup in Team Galim. It was on vugraph from Budapest Sunday. The team were the underdogs going into the 64-board final against Harangozo with several Hungarian internationalists, but it was actually one-way traffic ... in the other direction. Team Galim were ahead from the word go and extended their lead board by board. After 48 boards Harangozo had enough and conceded, more than 100 IMPs behind. Csaba and Gabor were partners, and they played extremely well. Well done guys! Roland

Exactly. When your pc's computer clock is set to the time zone you are in, all times on our vugraph schedule web page are local to you. Example 1: A session starts at 10:30 Saturday in Rome (local Italian time). Then I will also see 10:30 on my screen because I live in the same time zone as Rome. If you live in China, you will see it as 16:30 because you live in a time zone that is 6 hours ahead of Rome. Example 2: A session starts at 11:00 Sunday in Las Vegas. I will then it see it as 20:00 on my screen because I am in a time zone that is 9 hours ahead of Las Vegas. If you live in China, you see it as 02:00 Monday because you are 15 hours ahead of LV. Example 3: A session starts at 09:00 Monday in Sydney. I will see it as 01:00 because I live in a time zone that is 8 hours behind Sydney. In China you will see it as 07:00 because you are 2 hours behind Sydney. Hope this is clear. If not, don't hesitate to contact me via e-mail at roland_wald at hotmail.com Roland

Looks like Madala is in the team after all. This is taken from our Italian forum: Dal sito FIGB: 15 aprile 2010 Il Commissario Tecnico della squadra Open, M.T. Lavazza, ha comunicato la formazione che ci rappresenterà ai prossimi campionati: cng Maria Teresa Lavazza coach Massimo Ortensi Agustin Madala Alfredo Versace Antonio Sementa Giorgio Duboin Lorenzo Lauria Norberto Bocchi

I heard, that they will add another pair, either Kwiecien-Jagniewski or Kalita-Kotorowicz but not sure about that Correct. They will be adding one of the two pairs after a practise match against the Netherlands on April 23-25. The two Polish pairs will team up with two pairs from Israel, Barel-Zack and Ginossar-Pachtman, already selected for the European Championships alongside the Herbst brothers. That match will be broadcast on BBO (schedule not listed yet). Roland

I came closer to the truth than I had thought. Play has been cancelled Friday evening local time and will not start until Saturday morning. Hopefully the Irish and Northern Irish ladies will have arrived by then. Roland

I am sorry, but I have to say this once and for all: Ég veit að heimamenn á Flúðum myndu hafa áhuga á að skaffa eina sveit í púkkið. Síðan er það náttúrulega hugmynd hvort að landsliðshóparnir gætu mannað hin 3 sætin, en það verður þá að vera háð því að það komi ekki niður á svæðasamböndum þeirra, þ.e.a.s. ef svæðasamböndin þurfa að nota krafta spilaraí Landsliðshópunum þá gangi þau fyrir. The rest is mere details, so no need to add anything to that statement. It is very clear! Roland

Hér að neðan er hlekkur á úrslit, mótsblöð og allar upplýsingar. Now, take that! Roland

Excuse me for asking, but why do we have Iceland? Nobody can understand what they say, they are out of money, and they refuse to pay their debts to the UK and Netherlands. And now they even have the nerve to spew a plume of volcanic ash into the atmosphere. Result? All airports and airspace in the UK, Scandinavia, parts of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium are now closed, causing nothing but annoyance to innocent people. I mean, royals from other Scandinavian countries can't make it in time for our queen's 70th birthday party. What a disaster! And what's more, they may have to cancel the Lady Milne in Manchester, England, because the Irish have problems with getting there. If that happens, we won't get any vugraph. I can't think of anything more disrupting, really! It's about time that those Icelanders get their act together! ;) Roland