BRIDGE (7)

I played in the final of the Fünen open pairs championship today. 24 pairs, everyone playing 3 hands against everyone else, 69 hands in all. We started at 9.30 and finished at 19.00; on a hot day, that was a looong day.

We started well, and after 7 rounds had scored +12 (0 is average). However, as the day wore on, we started to slip, then slide, and finally fall all the way down to -89. A modest revival in the last four rounds brought us back up to -56, which was an 18th place.

All of which proved to me that apart from bidding and card play, bridge also includes mental stamina. We got positive scores against the two pairs that eventually came first and second. But that was in the morning, when we were wide awake; in the hottest part of the afternoon, we got -17 against the pair that came bottom (final score -212).

Since my brain has now become completely drained, I am going to go to bed and sleep.

Walter Blotscher