WMSG Lille 2012

Source: IMSA

World Mind Sports Games 2012 is in progress in Lille (France)… Every day competitions results will be provided here. Daily Report of competitions: Click Here

Results Match a Match & On-Line: Click Here .     

Daily Bulletins Click Here.     Daily Chronicles Click Here.

August 23th: Playing like a team of destiny, Sweden stormed into the final of the Open series in the 14th World Bridge Games with an impressive win over Monaco and then pounded Poland 371-234 to claim their first Open world championship. Along the way, Sweden knocked off Israel and won a nail-biter against USA before eliminating powerful Monaco. The winners are Krister Ahlesved, Peter Bertheau, Per Ola Cullin, Fredrik Nystrom, Jonas Petersson and Johan
Upmark, with Mats Axdorph as npc and Jan Lagerman as coach. The World Transnational Mixed Teams was won by Reese Milner, who came from behind against an all-Canadian team to win 179-159. The champions are Milner, Petra Hamman, Hemant Lall (USA), Jacek Pszczola (Poland), Meike Wortel (Netherlands) and Gabriella Olivieri (Italy).

August 22:For the first time in Hungary’s history, a team will bring home a world bridge championship as the Senior series team in the14th World Bridge Games vanquished a veteran USA squad 247-166. In previous bridge competition, Hungary’s best achievements were European championships in 1934 and 1938. In Lille, Hungary lost a close first set, then poured it on against the Americans, forging a 70-IMP lead at halftime. USA cut the margin by 22 in the fourth set, but Hungary pulled away to win easily. The champions are Gyorgy Barany, Miklos

Dumbovich, Mihaly Kovacs, Peter Magyar and Geza Szappanos, with Beatrix Nagy as coach. The bronze medal in the Seniors was won by France. In the Women’s series, 2008 champions England powered their way to an impressive win over Russia 209-140. In the Women’s series, 2008 champions England powered their way to an impressive win over Russia 209-140. The Women’s winners are Sally Brock, Fiona Brown, Heather Dhondy, Nevena Senior, Nicola Smith, Susan Stockdale, with Jeremy Dhondy as npc and David Burn as coach. They took the first set by 17 IMPs and gradually built an insurmountable lead against the 2004 winners. Poland won the bronze medal. With this victory, Senior became a World Grand Master, joining Pierre Zimmermann of Team Monaco (Open series) in attaining the rank at this tournament. In the Open series, Sweden carries a 265-185 lead over Poland into today’s final 32 boards. On Wednesday, Monaco defeated Ireland 249-152 for the bronze medal. In the World Transnational Mixed Teams, Canada enters play today with a 122-114.3 lead over the Milner squad. The bronze medal was won on Wednesday by SAIC Red, 121- 88.7 over Yeh Bros. Jack, a Dutch program, won the World Computer-Bridge Championship over Wbridge5, a French product. The Stansby team won the BAM Coupe de Ville.

August 21th: The Swedish pop group ABBA had a hit song that could be the mantra of the band’s countrymen, now on the brink of their first major Open world championship: I have a dream. The same, of course, could apply to the other teams, including previous winners, playing in the championship rounds of the three main series in the 14th World Bridge Games. After knocking off Monaco in the Open semi-final, Sweden is hoping to get past the strong team from Poland, winners in 1984. Through the first three of eight sets, the Swedes are looking good, with a 131-76 lead. There are still, however, 80 boards to play. The winner will be determined on Thursday. In the Women’s series, the last two winners — Russia in 2004 and England in 2008 — are in a close match at the halfway point. England leads102-78 with 48 boards to play. In the Seniors, Hungary used two strong sets to establish a 148-78 lead over USA, winners in 2000 and 2004. The Women’s and Senior series conclude today. In the World Transnational Mixed Teams, which also ends on Thursday, the finalists are Canada, 110-69 winners over SAIC red, and Milner, who defeated Yeh Bros 77-66.

August 20th: It’s down to the championship round for the three main events, with one surprise guest at the party in the Open series — the young team from Sweden. Going into the final 16 boards against mighty Monaco, the Swedes had a 171-146 advantage — hardly secure considering the 58-0 blitz Monaco put on Canada in the last set of their quarter-final match. Over the first five boards, it looked as though Monaco was at it again, trimming the deficit to 4 IMPs. At that point, Sweden went on a 47-0 tear over the next five boards to seal the deal. The final score was 220-174. In the Open final, Sweden will face Poland, 252-185 winners over Ireland. Sweden has never won a major Open world title. In the Women’s, neither semi-final was close, Russia defeating Poland 243-160 and England knocking off France 201-150. In the Seniors, USA broke open a close match against France to win 156-133. Hungary beat Sweden 201-184. The Women’s and Seniors champions will be determined tomorrow. The Open will conclude on Thursday. In the World Transnational Mixed Teams, the semi-finalists are Canada, SAIC Red, Yeh Bros and Milner. 

 August 18th:  In a breath-taking, nerve-jangling day with as much excitement as has ever been seen at a World Championship, three teams pulled victory from the jaws of defeat — literally on the final board — to make it to the semi-final rounds of their competitions. Another team nearly made it four. The result of the wild and crazy events is that Europe holds all but one of the semi-final spots in the Open, Women’s and Senior series of the 14th World Bridge Games. Here’s what happened; In the Women’s, France trailed the Netherlands by 1 IMP with one board to go. A vulnerable game swing to the French was worth 10 IMPs and a 9-IMP victory. In the Seniors, USA had a 30-IMP lead on Denmark with eight boards to play, but they trailed by 1 with a board to go. Denmark defended a doubled contract on the last board but beat it only one for a 4-IMP loss. One more trick and they would be playing today. In another match from the Seniors, Poland had a 1-IMP lead against Hungary after 63 boards, but they also suffered a game swing to lose by 9. In the Open, Italy trailed Poland by 9 with a board to play. Their chances came down to a misdefense by Poland against Italy’s 5 hearts save, which was doubled. Italy held the damage to minus 300, but the 8 IMPs they gained left them one short. The drama in the Seniors match between USA and Denmark was increased by the fact that the score on the final board was initially credited as a 2-IMP gain for the Danes, giving them a 3-IMP win. In fact, it was a 4-IMP gain for the Americans, winners by 3 IMPs. Also noteworthy: Sweden topped USA in the Open thanks to 30 IMPs on two boards in a match they won 172-168, and Bermuda Bowl champs the Netherlands were nearly shut out by Monaco, scoring 3 IMPs on the last board in another rout for the betting favorites.

August 17: Twelve teams in the main events of the 14th World Bridge Games will move on today into semi-final play — and 12 will be considering what might have been as the Open, Women’s and Senior contests continue without them. In the Open series, nothing is settled in any of the quarter-final matches, Monaco having the largest half-time lead at 38 IMPs over Bermuda Bowl Champion Netherlands. The others — Russia-Ireland, Poland-Italy and USA-Sweden — are basically a vulnerable game swing away from being tied. The leading Women’s teams have more IMPs separating the leaders from the trailers in a couple of matches, notably Poland, 59 IMPs up on Brazil. The Seniors also have one potential runaway as USA leads Denmark by 73. In the World Transnational Mixed Teams, Team Payen (Daniele Gaviard, Donatella Halfon, Bernard Payen, Philippe Soulet, Patrick Sussel) are 6 victory points ahead of Canada after five matches.

August 16th: The Monte Carlo Rally is a famous auto race finishing in Monaco each January for more than 100 years. On Thursday in Lille, Team Monaco in the Open series used a different kind of rally to avoid what would have been a stunning upset. Trailing Canada by18 IMPs, Monaco won set six 58-0 to advance to the round of eight against the Netherlands, reigning Bermuda Bowl champions. The Dutch were not taxed in defeating France as they scored 71 IMPs in each of the fourth and fifth sets to win 221-161. The Monaco-Canada match was one of several featuring late rallies, not all of which were successful. One that was occurred in the Women’s series, where Indonesia came from 49 IMPs behind in the last set to win 197-187. In another Women’s match, Poland withstood a 60-7 finalset rally by USA to win by 4 IMPs.
In the Seniors, Poland edged England 117-108 by winning the last set 30-4.

August 15th:  The knockouts are in full swing in the Open, Women’s and Senior teams at the 14th World Bridge Games, and teams from the host nation are leading in all three events, as are the squads from Sweden. These are the French results from the play in the knockouts so far: Open, 97-58 over the Netherlands; Women’s, 82-60 over Scotland, and Seniors (after one round) 39-29 over the Netherlands. Sweden is doing just as well. In the Open, the Swedes rallied in the third set against Israel to lead 97-60 at the halfway point. In the Women’s, Sweden leads Australia 103-69, and the Swedish Seniors are ahead of their Australian foes 49-1 after one set. Also of note: Canada’s Open team leads consensus favorite Monaco 106-78 with 48 boards to play. (All results Click Here) .     

August 14th:  Now that the sprint is over, 32 teams in the Open and Women’s series of the 14th World Bridge Games can get down to what they hope is the long haul. Making it to the championship round means more than a week more of play, and all are hoping to be there at the end. The Seniors will decide on their group of 16 teams today. The leading qualifiers in the Open series were Monaco, Italy, Germany and USA. In the Women’s, Russia, Sweden and the Netherlands were on top. The women’s qualifiers came from the top five in each of three groups plus one other team.

August 13:  Only one day of qualifying play remains for teams in the Open and Women’s events at the 14th World Bridge
Games, and time is running short for some. Most of the favored teams are in qualifying position but only a few can be viewed as virtually certain to still be in their events at the end of play today. The top four teams in each of the four Open groups will start knockout play on Wednesday. In the Women’s, the top five in each of the three groups — plus one other team — will get through. The Seniors will determine their qualifiers with two more sets on Wednesday. Monaco still has the top victory point total in the Open with 257. Other group leaders are Italy, Germany and USA. Women’s leaders are Russia, Sweden and the Netherlands. France  and Hungary are ahead in their groups in the Seniors.

August 12: Many teams are still in contention in the three team events — Open, Women’s and Seniors — at the 14th World Bridge Games. Some of the current also-rans can make it to the proverbial Promised Land by mustering some winning streaks — starting today. They will have to go some to catch the leaders in the events so far. Some of them are moving like juggernauts toward the qualification finish line. In the Open Teams, for example, Russia outscored their three opponents on Sunday by a total IMP score of 225-48. Monaco has been so strong they can still be leading the field even after losing to Japan on Sunday.
The leaders so far: Open — Monaco, USA, Russia, Germany; Women’s —Russia, Netherlands, Sweden; Seniors —
England and Hungary.
The round-robin for the Open and Women’s events ends tomorrow. The Seniors continue through midday on Wednesday.

August 11: The men’s marathon in the Olympic Games in London is scheduled for today, just as players in the Open, Women’s and Senior teams begin the third of five days of roundrobin play — a marathon in itself as teams strive to qualify for the knockout phases of their events. The runners make their way on foot for 26.2 miles through London, but the event will be over for most of them in less than three hours.
In Lille, players in the Open and Women’s events have already played three days with three more to go. The Seniors
continue through midday on Wednesday. Four-member teams will have 175 deals under their belts by Wednesday, the Seniors even more with 17 round-robin matches. The round of 16 begins for the Open and Women’s teams on Wednesday.

August 10: Let the play begin

On Friday, it was time to play for 137 squads in the Open, Women’s and Senior teams. Qualification to the knockout rounds is different for each group. In the Open, the top four teams in each of the four brackets will go through to the round of 16. In the Women’s, the top five in each of the three groups — plus one other team — will make it to their round of 16. The Seniors have only two groups, so the top eight in each will get down to business in the head-to-head
matches next week.

9 August: Opening Ceremony WMSG