Results	Contents
4th Session Final Results	Chairman's Closing Address Crossing the Finishing Line On the Homeward Stretch

The Swedish flag flies highest tonight, following the victory of Stefan Solbrand and Olle Wademark in the 2nd World Junior Pairs Championship. They moved to the top of the leader board early in the final session and held off all their challengers to win by a clear margin.

Stefan is 25 years old, currently unattached, and works in computers, while Olle is 24, engaged, and pursues a similar occupation. They both reside in Stockholm. Stefan relaxes playing tennis and trying mind sports, while Olle relaxes with his fiance. They formed their partnership in 1993 and this will be their swansong as a junior pair.

The runners up are a transnational mixed pair, Germany's Sebastian Reim and Denmark's Mette Drøgemüller. Sebastian is 25 and lives in Heidelberg, where we are assured he pretends to study economics. He is the reigning German Junior Pairs Champion, a title he won with Klaus Reps. Mette has at least one more year as a junior and has just moved to Copenhagen from Tjaereborg in Jutland. She works in an office and claims to be a bridge junkie, playing at all times of the day and night. Next year she will be partnering Kirsten Steen Møller in club events, which might lead to bigger things.

Third place went to Norway in the shape of Boye Brogeland and Trond Hantveit. Boye's exploits, both at and away from the table are already well known. He is currently in the army and claims to be married to bridge. His partnership with Trond is an off and on affair which started in 1991. Trond is a salesman specialising in school equipment who shares Boye's views on bridge. He may be unique in that at these championships his kibitzers have included his parents, his father having represented Norway in the 1991 European Championships.

Mr President, Mrs Vice President, Mr Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, This is a very short Championship and the time to say good-bye to each other comes all too soon. The idea of a Junior Pairs Championship was first implemented by the European Zone in 1991 when more than 100 pairs from nearly 20 countries competed in Fiesch, Switzerland. Participation was more or less similar in the second European event, held in Oberreifenberg, Germany, two years later.

The major breakthrough came in 1995 when the Junior Pairs became a World Championship: 154 pairs from 24 countries and 5 World Bridge Federation geographical zones gathered in Ghent, Belgium to compete for the first World title of this kind. Apart from the standard European support, the tournament's success was due to the numerous North American delegation and a number of other participants.

This year, we turned to the Far East and asked for their support in order to lead this event to even greater heights. I regret very much that our request did not appeal to the ears of the local administrators. This resulted in many Asian Juniors being deprived of the opportunity of competing here, together with you, for the World title - and we missed the pleasure of having them with us. Indeed, it is clear that we still have a lot of work to do to ensure Junior bridge reaches appropriate levels worldwide.

However, thanks to the increased support of the European Zone, and the excellent work done by the American Contract Bridge League in putting together once again a sizeable delegation from North America, we were able to have a slightly bigger tournament than in Belgium. And thanks to our friends from Brazil, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Australia, we were able to gather representatives from 27 countries and five WBF zones.

The 1997 World Junior Pairs will certainly go on record for another reason, and this is the quality of its organization. Our host, the Italian Bridge Federation, found Sportilia, this lovely spot in the Appennines, which may not be in the centre of the world but will certainly remain in the centre of our hearts!

Guided by President Gianarrigo Rona, who unfortunately could not be with us tonight, an excellent team worked hard to give us a taste of the famous Italian hospitality - and they really made us feel at home. What more could you have hoped for, Paolo Clair, Marina Madia, Donata Senni Buratti and Nicoletta Calamari?

The hospitality team was just the beginning. The Daily Bulletin was stationed nearby, and we are grateful for their contribution to Barry Rigal, Mark Horton and Thanassis Matziaris.

There was more to come, however, and we soon found out that we were lucky to have a most proficient team of Tournament Directors: thank you very much Antonio Riccardi, Mark van Beijsterveldt, Jan Boets, Maurizio di Sacco, Giulio Crevato Selvaggi and Lorenzo Stoppini. And thank you very much Steen Moeller for chairing the Appeals Committee so efficiently.

As you know, this tournament was played with the barometer system, which allows competitors to know their scores as the game progresses. Knowing your scores is certainly handy - but I wonder if many of you appreciate what this involves. About 5,000 boards had to be duplicated in advance, and a highly qualified scoring team had to work most efficiently together with many assistants to offer you this service. I know that you are all most appreciative people, and am sure that you would like to join me in giving a warm round of applause to all those who did so much for us.

The scoring team of Professor Gianni Baldi, with Gianni Bertotto, Marco Mazzurega, Luciano de Simone and Simone Rona; The assistants and caddies - and all those who offered themselves to play such a role: Franco Crosta, Federico Primavera, Livia Saibante, Francesca Trovato, Lennart Heip, Klaus Reps, Michael Gromoeller, Christian Bernscherer, Monica Miroslaw and Mirjam Abraham.

Finally, the man who takes the whole blame for whatever goes wrong in whichever department, who is always responsible everywhere and for everything: the Operations Director who also happens to be my dear friend Dimitri Ballas.

Dear Friends,

The world of bridge attaches tremendous importance to the young generation, for we all know that you are the future of the game - the people who will be carrying our hobby and tradition when many of us will no longer be available. What better proof of this importance could you have than the presence here with us of the world's number one bridge personality? I am talking of course of our President José Damiani, who has always been a keen supporter of our cause. Than you very much José for being with us tonight. And thank you very much Anna Maria, Vice President of the European Bridge League, and dearest friend and colleague for honouring us with your presence in this ceremony.

Finally, I would like to thank my good friends on the Youth Committee with whom we share our difficult and rewarding moments in our work for Junior bridge. As I have said before, it is difficult to find words to describe their contribution, because they are simply the people who make it all happen. Thank you very much Stefan, Hubert, Henrik - and, of course, Anna although you could not be here this evening.

What sort of Championship could you have without the players? None, of course. You are indeed the protagonists and whatever we do is a side event, destined to help you and our game. You reward us with your presence, your smile, your good sportsmanship and your ethical manners. For many years now you have been teaching the world that good attitude makes policing unnecessary. Thank you very much for keeping up the unique tradition of Junior bridge also this year. I find it hard to believe that many of you will go away tomorrow. Together with those who are staying and those who are coming for the Camp, we shall have, I am sure, a memorable time. The rest of you, I can assure you, we shall really miss you…

Thank you very much.

The trouble with getting a bulletin out for the final prize-giving can be that there is little opportunity to write up the final session in detail. To try to overcome this we had a relay system in operation, and thus managed a fairly detailed coverage of the first eight boards at the two tables where the leaders were playing. This is a summary of the action.

Board 1. Dealer North. Love All Q 6 3 8 4 K 10 8 6 A Q 7 6 A 10 9 K J 8 7 4 10 9 5 K 6 A 7 2 J 4 3 10 8 5 2 J 9 4 5 2 A Q J 7 3 2 Q 9 5 K 3 West North East South Wademark Zagorin Solbrand Konow Pass Pass 2 Pass 1NT Pass 2 Pass Pass 2 Pass Pass Dbl Pass 3 All Pass

Both our leaders started well here. Zagorin and Konow missed game on the above sequence; still, Zagorin had the chance to collect a penalty of 300 from 2, but ran to 3. When the defence failed to lead spades (what is the attraction of leading a trump on this auction?).

Daniel got a spade loser away but misguessed diamonds to hold himself to 170. By contrast in the Polish auction Grzedjzial used a Drury 2 in response to the 1 opening bid. Nystrom came in with 2, Kielichowski rebid 3 (implicitly non-constructive with six hearts) and Igor awarded his partner a fourth heart when Janssen competed to 3. It seems more logical to double 3 here than to bid on, I think. 4 is a pretty poor spot, but on a trump lead Kielichowski had the chance to make 11 tricks. He too misguessed the diamonds, but 420 was a fine score.

Grzedjzial played 4 very nicely on board 4 I thought.

Board 4. Dealer West. Game All 10 8 7 6 5 A 7 A 6 A 7 4 2 J 9 A 3 2 K 8 J 10 9 5 K Q J 8 3 10 7 5 4 J 9 8 5 10 6 K Q 4 Q 6 4 3 2 9 2 K Q 3 West North East South N. Brink Igor S. Brink Urban Pass 1 Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 4 All Pass

The defence did not find the diamond lead, but started with a low trump instead, and declarer rose with the Q. A heart to the A and a second heart, ducked all round, brought forth the K, and the diamond shift was a little late. Igor took the A and played a club to dummy, then led the Q and threw his diamond loser while West ruffed with the J. A second diamond was ruffed, and declarer played a trump up. East did the best he could by taking his A and playing a third spade, allowing declarer to ruff out the hearts, and not have to rely on the clubs splitting. Although the cards lie reasonably well, and declarer could have succeeded by other routes, this does not take anything away from his line.

The Poles suffered a setback on hand 5, as indeed did the Danes.

Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Game A 2 K Q 8 7 6 5 10 Q 9 6 4 5 4 K 10 3 A J 4 3 9 K J 4 2 A Q 9 6 5 3 10 5 2 K J 3 Q J 9 8 7 6 10 2 8 7 A 8 7 West North East South John Morgan Igor Jacob Morgan Urban 1 2 2 3 3 Pass Pass Dble All Pass

John and Jacob defended this hand impeccably I thought. It is easy to get too active on defence here, and risk losing at least one trick in the black suits. However Jacob had done well to double 3, and John did well to lead two rounds of diamonds. Declarer guessed to lead the K from out of his hand, and Jacob ducked this, also a nice play. Now declarer was poorly placed, although two rounds of spades might have allowed him to escape for one down. Instead he crossed to the A and ran the Q. John won and returned a passive spade, and declarer had to go two down now.

By contrast Wademark in a competitive auction tried 3NT over 3 (doubling might have generated 100 or 300). 3NT has no play on a spade lead, but the defence granted him a respite with a top heart lead. There were eight tricks now, but no genuine route to a ninth, and indeed you might have to guess clubs to get out for one down.

Both pairs did the best they could, I think, on the next hand, the Poles in defence to 3NT and Stefan Solbrand as declarer, but the Swedes emerged with a much better score.

Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Game J 7 6 2 Q J 9 7 Q 7 2 10 8 K 10 A Q 8 3 K 6 5 A 10 8 J 8 4 K 9 5 3 Q J 7 4 3 K 2 9 5 4 4 3 2 A 10 6 A 9 6 5

Both tables had a two bid auction to 3NT by East, and Urban did well to lead a heart to the J and K. Declarer, John Morgan, knocked out the A and ducked a second heart to the Q. Grzedjzial cleared the hearts, but Morgan simply played two more rounds of clubs, and South was endplayed.

The best he could do was lead a spade, but Morgan hopped up with the K and cashed the last club, forcing Igor as North to bare his Q to retain the spade guard. Declarer read the position, and pitched a spade on the last club, then led a diamond up to establish his ninth trick.

By contrast Stefan Solbrand received a club lead to 3NT. He won in hand and played a second club, and when everyone followed it seemed a fair bet that South was 4-3-3-3, else why a fourth highest lead in a minor? Now he tried the J, covered by the queen and king, and South ducked, in an attempt to find out more about the hand. South won the next diamond, but shifted to a spade, not a heart, and that was fatal. Stefan put on the 10 and took the J with his ace, then played a third diamond. He won the next spade, played a heart to his A and cashed his two spade winners for an overtrick. Nicely done.

Sometimes the most difficult thing in the world to do is to stay fixed in an auction. When the opponents preempt against you, it is natural to want to show your machismo by bidding. On the hand that follows both E-W pairs had the auction up to 3 by the third call of the auction. Sitting back and collecting 50 would have been a very decent score for N-S, despite holding a combined 23 points. Neither of our tables managed this.

Board 8. Dealer West. Love All K Q 7 5 5 2 K 9 Q 8 5 4 2 J 9 4 8 6 3 A Q 10 7 6 3 K J 8 J 10 7 6 4 J 9 3 A 10 7 A 10 2 9 8 4 A Q 5 3 2 K 6

At least Grzedjzial reached a playable spot; 4 has no more than nine tricks on repeated heart leads - and might well suffer a worse fate. -50 was not a tragedy for the Poles. But when Wademark opened a weak 2 Basler really pushed out the boat by doubling. When Frey heard Solbrand raise to 3 she must have been thinking of slam, but settled for a quiet 5 and must have been more hurt than surprised to discover that this was no less than 3 down in top tricks. Still, at least she was not doubled!

Kees Tammens continues our on-the-spot reporting, giving us a Brogeland hand. We expect to see a few games bid and made on insufficient values when Boye is at the helm, and the following hand was no exception.

Board 11. Dealer South. Love All 10 8 2 Q 8 2 K J 10 6 4 9 7 A J 5 Q 6 4 4 3 A K 10 7 5 Q 9 7 5 2 A K 5 2 10 8 4 3 K 9 7 3 J 9 6 8 3 A Q J 6 West North East South Pass Pass 3 3 Pass 3NT All Pass

After a junioresque 3 preempt E/W were goaded into 3NT when they would probably have stopped in 2 if left to their own devices. Brogeland would have been very poorly placed on a diamond lead, but who leads their own suit nowadays? The 8 travelled round to the J, and Boye led a heart to the 10 and J. Back came the Q, and when it held the trick this was the defence's last chance to play a diamond.

Alas for E-W, South cleared the clubs, and now an avalanche of hearts finished South off. In the four-card ending he had to keep one club and two spades, and thus only one diamond, so he was squeezed out of his diamond exit. Brogeland cashed the A and exited with a club, to force the lead away from the K, for his ninth trick. (I think Brogeland cannot make the contract if he takes the first club. The same squeeze does not work if South has two club guards, since he can keep both his diamonds in the ending).

After 12 boards the Swedish pair had taken the lead, and over the closing stretch it transpired that their closest challengers would be the transnational pair of Drogemuller and Reim who claimed that their identifying country symbol should be "DAN/GER" not "DEN/GER"! The margin kept extending as the Swedes kept recording a steady 65%, and with four boards to go it was up to a clear top. The last four boards saw both sides have one poor board, the Swedes bid to an excellent slam, down on a ruff, while their challengers stopped in game.

And the challengers recorded -870 while the leaders were collecting 500 for a near top. That last board was enough to see them retain their position at the top, when the music stopped. Commiserations to the second placed pair. Mette and Sebastian had averaged 65% off the last three sets, but were unable to catch up to a pair playing so well.

This was the critical board, which ensured that the leaders would have something in hand at the end.

Board 27. Dealer South. Love All 7 5 3 10 8 Q J 9 K Q 9 7 5 8 K J 9 6 K Q 9 5 A A 10 7 6 3 2 K 8 5 4 4 3 10 8 6 2 A Q 10 4 2 J 7 6 4 3 2 — A J

Drogemuller and Reim had stopped off as E/W to double 2, and the bad trump split was more than overcome by the favourable lie of the spades. It looks impossible to prevent eight tricks, and in fact trhe defence slipped and allowed nine tricks to make.

Where Baremans and Verloove were N/S, Verloove opened 1 and Wademark overcalled 2. Baremans raised to 2. Solbrand bid 3NT, and Verloove tried 4, doubled in the pass-out seat. Dummy, on the lead of the K was a disappointment.

Solbrand took his ace and played a diamond, and declarer should discard to try to retain control and limit the damage. When he ruffed, he exposed himself to a force, and that meant three down for -500. All declarer got was five trumps in hand and two club tricks.

For the third session of the World Junior Pairs I was fortunate enough to select, almost at random, the table at which Solbrand and Wademark were sitting North-South. At that point in the event they were lying in eleventh place, by the time I left, after fourteen hands they were in second place, after a 75% game thus far. Although they coasted home to finish with a modest 67.5% game, this was still enough to win the set, and remain just a top behind the leaders. If they take the gold medal, I am definitely going to want my name on the cup too. Some of their good results came from good play, some from their opponents' errors, with a little bit of luck thrown in.

Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Game J 9 5 2 5 3 10 5 3 J 9 8 5 A Q 8 7 6 3 K 4 K 10 4 Q J 9 A K 9 8 4 10 2 Q 7 6 4 3 10 A 8 7 6 2 Q J 7 6 2 A K

thought Alex Hydes and Jonathan Starkings coped well with their opponents' intervention. Perhaps Starkings might have probed with 3, rather than bid 2NT. However his partner took the raise to game anyway, and I thought they had done very well to reach 3NT rather than 4; that is because if spades split, there are ten tricks available in both contracts.

However Solbrand found the diamond lead, and Starkings played a spade to hand, then cleared the spades, but only had seven tricks when the suit failed to behave. Since one down in 4 would have been about an average, was there anything Starkings could have done? Well Lars Andersen in the same contract made the fine play of the 9 at trick three. After all if spades split he could tackle the heart suit at once, and if not, trying to steal a spade trick might be very valuable.

When South played low on the 9 (and it is not always right to fly up with the ace, if declarer has the J for instance) Andersen escaped for one down.

In fact while I was watching, Wademark and Solbrand went plus on the first 12 boards quite a feat in a World Class event! Probably the best individual play was on the following hand, where Wademark really earned his top by fine declarer play.

Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Game K 8 K 7 4 A Q 9 6 2 K J 8 A J 10 7 5 3 2 8 6 3 Q J 5 2 J 8 7 5 10 4 9 10 7 6 5 2 Q 9 6 4 A 10 9 K 3 A Q 4 3

The routine auction 1NT-3NT saw Andrew Walker on lead with a tough problem. As an unbiased spectator I was focusing on the 3 in an attempt to hit partner (my only successful opening lead of the year, and I have to waste it as a spectator!) but Walker led a small heart and dummy's 9 scored. Now Wademark played the K and a diamond to hand, and noted the fall of the 10 with interest. At this point he made the excellent play of crossing to dummy's A and leading a spade to his K. When this held, he cashed four rounds of clubs, learning that his Left Hand Opponent had nine cards in hearts and clubs. The question was what to throw on the fourth club. If he threw a spade he could see that he would make either 11 or 13 tricks, but he followed the odds by trying for 12 tricks, which he could see would be a fine score. He pitched a diamond on the fourth club, and crossed to hand with the K, squeezing West in the process.

To preserve the diamonds Ronaldson had to bare the A, and he was thrown in with it at trick 11 to lead a diamond, allowing Wademark to take the finesse, and notch up 12 tricks.

The run of plus scores came to an end when Julien Gaviard was faced with the following teaser. Both sides vulnerable, you deal and pass with AJ6 AQ6 975 J1083. You hear 3 on your right, and a take-out double from partner. What now? Gaviard passed for penalties, no doubt strongly influenced by the vulnerability. He was right in a sense, since his side had an easy 500 available. Unfortunately his side also had an easy 5 (and with good management 4, and even 6 were possibilities). +500 would have been about an average, and when a defensive slip held the penalty to 200, it looked as if things were continuing to go pretty well for the Danes.The second half of the third session threw up a number of interesting deals.

This was one of the more amusing boards we have seen:

Board 26. Dealer East. Game All 10 J 10 6 2 A 10 6 5 A J 9 4 K J 6 4 3 2 Q 9 8 7 A Q 9 8 3 2 J 9 8 4 8 5 2 Q 7 6 A 5 K 7 5 4 K Q 7 3 K 10 3 West North East South Yossi Schneider Pass 1 1 Dble 2! 3 Pass 3 Pass 4 All Pass

West kicked off with the two of diamonds for the five, eight and king. Declarer cashed the ace of spades and ruffed a spade, and then ran the jack of hearts, losing to the queen. West got off play with the ace of hearts and a heart and at this point declarer can clearly make at least ten tricks.

However, he won the third heart with the king and played a diamond to the ace. When West discarded a spade he played a club to the king and ran the ten of clubs. When that held he played a club to the jack and was mortified when East produced the queen. The spade return forced declarer's remaining trump and he had to concede a trick to the jack of diamonds. Full marks to Israel's Yossi Roll who found the only chance to defeat the contract. In so doing, he emulated a play made by the Brazilian star Gabriel Chagas.

Now for something completely different:

Board 21. Dealer North. N/S Game J 9 7 Q 9 6 A 10 4 K J 9 5 6 3 A K 8 5 A 7 4 K 10 5 2 J 3 K Q 8 6 5 A 10 6 4 3 2 — Q 10 4 2 J 8 3 9 7 2 Q 8 7

This was a Blue Club auction, so Two Diamonds was canapé. The redouble was meant to be for rescue, but West didn't see it that way! East was somewhat unhappy, but as you can see there is no defence to this contract. Of course we are sworn to secrecy as to the perpetrators, but we offer this picture as a small clue! While we are talking about the Blue Club system, what do you think this sequence should mean?

West North East South 1 Pass 1 Pass 1NT Pass 2 All Pass

Is it a transfer or natural? We think the former, an opinion shared by East but not alas by West!

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