Dubious Logic

Felixstowe Congress

After last year's celebration of twenty five consecutive congresses in Suffolk, all but a couple in Felixstowe, a conjunction of events conspired against the twenty sixth. A combination of confusion over the calendar (it spanned September and October), religious holidays and clashes with other bridge, threatened its very existence. Fortunately the organisers had the wit to change the format. Rather than a horizontal schedule where the teams spread over three days and pairs over two, the revision saw pairs on Saturday, teams on Sunday with subsidiary events on Friday. This decision brought in enough entries to keep the congress viable and judging by the atmosphere, everyone who played enjoyed themselves.

What has become of the congress, the three day event? There are many theories and most of them have some truth. That Felixstowe should be more attractive as separate events is evidence to some of them: weekend accommodation is not good value; travel, though notionally easier, is less pleasant than it was twenty or thirty years ago; people today have more demands on their time; we work harder and longer, finding it difficult to get away for a Friday start and reluctant to make a late night of Sunday.

Yet there's considerable charm in the format: meet old friends, play relaxed bridge, take a stroll – a 'blow' – along the promenade. The environment was conducive to some good bridge from time to time too:

As North I declared 4♠ after opening a nebulous club and optimistically accepting my partner's optimistic try for game. East could have made the defence easier by leading a club but you can see why that wasn't attractive and he chose the diamond knave. Having avoided the club lead I didn't want to squander the initiative so I won the ace and played the king of hearts, taken by the ace. East played another diamond, West won and played a diamond here:

I ruffed with the spade knave and East…? East refused the temptation to over-ruff and threw a club. I kept to my plan and played two more rounds of hearts pitching a club then ace and ruff a club in dummy. Now the spade ten. Did West cover? Certainly not. East won this trick and gave his partner a ruff with his carefully retained heart as I had to follow in the closed hand. Playing either trump honour early would have ruined the defence but Clive Rowe and Harold Morris made no mistake.

Published Saturday 7.Oct.2006