Championship Diary

There was plenty of muttering about the decision to show the last session of the Seniors Bowl on vugraph, rather than the Bermuda Bowl. We have no comment to make, but we did notice that 4052 were following the one table of the Bermuda Bowl on Bridgebase, while 308 were kibitzing the Seniors Final.

Slow play ruins the game for both spectators and players alike. In the quarter-finals of the Transnational one player took no less than 30 minutes to defend a contract - he won 10 IMPs for his side when the declarer took a losing line. However, justice was served when his team was subsequently fined 16 IMPs for slow play. It is traditional for Tacchi and I to lose most of our per diem during a Championship by following a tip from our French racing correspondent, JPM. Yesterday, he pointed out Obrigado at 5-1 in the first race at Saint Cloud - unfortunately, just after it had obliged. Tacchi was slightly under the weather yesterday. When I asked him if there was anything I could do he replied 'Bring me the head of….'