The team led the field from the third match onward. There was a very exciting last set where de Botton came back to within 1VP of the leaders but in the end Ireland prevailed to win the 2024 title. The Irish team are great supporters of the Lederer and have four previous wins, most recently in 2009. This is the fourth time John Carroll has won the event – the most victories of any of the Irish team. Congratulations to you all.
It couldn’t have been much closer but in the end de Botton’s great last set left them 1VP behind Ireland. Well done to them and thanks for giving us such an exciting finish to the event.
Team de Botton’s Nicolai Heiberg-Evenstad (the youngest player in the tournament) and Thor-Erik Hoftaniska came top of the Butlers. Very well done. (See the cumulative Butlers)
Team de Botton needed a big win on the last match against Ireland and they came out swinging on the first board of the set.
South (Team de Botton’s Nicolai Heiberg-Evenstad) didn’t open his hand. Instead North (Thor-Erik Hoftaniska) started with 1C. East (Adam Mesbur) bid 2D which showed both majors and the auction continued as shown below to 6C.
At the other table the Ireland South opened a weak 2D and they stopped in 5C for a swing to de Botton.
2 other pairs reached 6C on this hand: Patrick & Oliver Lawrence and Dennis Bilde & Zia. Well done to them.
Team Ireland did lots of great stuff or they wouldn’t have won! Here’s an example from board 23 in match 8 against Black Adders. Ireland pair Tom Hanlon and Frederic Volcker were the only ones in the field to reach the good 6C despite the opponents’ (David Gold and Andrew Black) good efforts to keep them out.
A big bridge event takes a fair bit of organising and a lot of people worked hard to make things run smoothly. Here are some of the helpers from 2024. Thanks also to Paul Barden (Vugraph room commentary and BBO), Richard Creamer (BBO) and Gitte Hecht-Johansen (BBO). And to the wonderful staff at the RAC.
Team de Botton had a great last match against the leaders but in the end Ireland hung on for the win. More anon but well done all.
Ireland versus de Botton will decide the tournament. They’re on BBO now!
Did you know that an 8410 hand is called an albatross? I didn’t until Paul Barden, commentating in the Vugraph room, used the name for just such a hand on board 8 of match 6. (It’s a coining of Jeremy Flint’s from Back In The Day it seems – see this NYT article for details.)
At the table we were watching Mike Scoltock (London) opened 4 clubs with his albatross. North (Nick Fitzgibbon) doubled and south (Adam Mesbur) bid 4 hearts to end the auction. Ace of clubs led and club follow-up. Declarer ruffs, plays two rounds of trumps and tries the queen of spades. It’s very hard but E needs to hop up immediately with the ace of spades. Sadly for the defence, East ducked the ace of spades which went away and the contract is now cold. At the other table EW took the insurance and played in 5CX-1 for a swing to Ireland.
Ireland have increased their lead going into the last match. The only team that could just catch them is de Botton. And the two teams are playing head to head in the last match! Showing on BBO.
Nice defence from Richard Fedrick (E for London) on board 5 from match 6. Richard opens a lightish 1S, south bids 2D and north bids 3D. Richard now bids 3H, S bids 3NT and W (Mike Scoltock) doubles. The final contract is 3NTX.
Mike leads the 6 of spades which is covered by the queen. Declarer needs to duck this or the spades are basically set up so Richard is allowed to win with the king of spades. After a bit of thinking Richard decides partner has to have values in clubs and a good diamond card to take this down. So he grits his teeth and plays the queen of clubs. 800 in for London. Meanwhile at the other table Sally Brock makes 3NT+1 for another 630 in.
Lederer Trophy 