CSBNews en España
February 8, 2014, Barcelona, Spain
Taking advantage of the participation of some international players in the [ilink url=»http://csbnews.org/v-open-internacional-de-bridge-de-barcelona/»] V Open Internacional de Bridge de Barcelona[/ilink] I invited several of them to a series of questions ping pong style.
Here you can read the first of them:
Krzysztof Martens: is one of the greatest players in the history of the bridge. Among his latest achievements, we can mention that he is the actual coach of one of the strongest teams in the world: the Monaco team, winner of the European Championship in Dublin in 2012 and of most of the major international bridge events all over the world. In 2005 he was coach of the Open Russian team and in 2004 he coached the Open Turkish team among other achievements.
These are some of his personal achievements in bridge International major events: 1981: 35th European Team Championships (Birmingham); 1984: 7th World Team Olympiad (Seattle); 1989: 39th European Team Championships (Turku); 1993 41th European Team Championships (Menton); 1997 33th World Team Championships ( Tunisia)…
To acccess all his achievements: Click Here
1) ¿How did you started to play bridge?
My parents played bridge at home with friends, so when I was 1o years old I already had knowledge of the game.
2) How was bridge during the communist era?
It was the golden age of bridge because the average wage in Poland was good and people lived very well.
3) From your countless triumphs which you believe was the most important?
My greatest satisfaction was at the beginning of my career when we won the playoffs to avoid relegation to second category. It was in the 70s.
4) Who were the most difficult opponents you faced in your long career?
Georgio Belladonna from Italy, no doubt.
5) Poland is one of the powerhouses of world bridge, which are the reasons for this?
Yes it is!.
In the summer there are many tournaments in Poland. Events with a field of 200 to 300 pairs, playing 3 daily sessions. Half of the competitors are between 30 and 40 years. There are many young people playing bridge. I mean there is a large base playing Bridge. In schools, children instead of playing other games, play bridge.
Thats the reason why the Polish Bridge Federation (Polski Związek Brydża Sportowego) has many members.
6) What can you tell us about bridge at the Poland Universities?
Many training courses are organized in many Universities in many different cities. And the Municipalities also organize many tournaments and courses.
7) You are a member of the «WBF High Level Players Commission» ¿What is this commission and what is its function?
The WBF consults this commission before making decisions about regulations or tournament formats.
8) As a writer. Of all the books you have written: What book do you think is considered the most successful? and what book is the most awarded?
The most successful is: “Imagination” – Bridge Stories.. I think that everybody can find there the funniest and curious bridge hands.
And the most awarded: A book published in the year 2010 who is entitled “Owl, Fox and Spider” which was awarded by the IBPA (International Bridge Press Association) as the best book of the year.
Access the list of his books where you can also buy them:
9) You are currently the coach of the Monaco team: What is the role of a coach of a Bridge team?
It depends on the level of the team. At higher levels, as in the Monaco team, is to sort the knowledge of the players.
10) How can you describe the 3 Monaco’s team pairs?
Helgemo-Helness: Naturalists
Fantoni-Nunes are the authors of a complex bidding system of nearly 400 pages, while the Norwegian system only has 40 pages.
Zimmermann-Multon their Bridge style is French they play fifth major openings.
11) ¿What can you tell us about the fair play in the high competitive field?
In my opinion fair play it only means to abide the WBF Rules.
12) From the large number of Polish young players who today are reaping success in the world of International Bridge, Who do you consider are the most talented?
| Buras-Narkiewicz | Kalita-Nowosadzki | |
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13 ¿ What is your opinion about Dennis Bilde’s bridge?
He is an extremely smart player.
14) ¿Your feedback about the group of Poland players gathered in Bridge 24?
Excellent. They have developed a contact platform for young people, which is also very well known in Poland. (Note CsbNews: Access Bridge 24 Internet website [ilink url=»http://bridge24.pl/en»] Bridge24.pl[/ilink] )
15) ¿Do you remember a funny anecdote you want to share with us?
In the 80’s, playing in a tournament in Deauville (France) some people asked me about my thoughts about the bidding in one of the hands played during the event and the possible voices I thought that could be the correct ones.
I gave them my choice, the one I believed was the best.
After that in a meeting with some players I told Omar Sherif, who was one of the players that played that board, that his double in that sequence was crazy for me. Immediately Omar threw me a glass of Dom Perignon. 🙄