Issue No 1

Vincent Labbé, Coordinator, Editor Francesca Canali, Layout & Social Media Editor, Photographer Liz Wright, Reviewer

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3rd 2019

CONTENTSCLICKABLE ON WEB

SCHEDULE TODAY

13.30 14 boards 15.45 14 boards 18.00 14 boards

www.cavendish.bridgemonaco.comwww.facebook.com/cavendishmonaco/@CavendishMonaco

MONACO WELCOMES THECAVENDISH VI

CAV E N D I S H VI

Daily BulletinDaily Bulletin

3 - 8 FEBRUARY 2019

BBO will broadcast two matches from every round

The last word was for Ziap. 4

Participants - Teamsp. 5

Schedule - Teams Eventp. 6

DIAMONDS WILL SHINE ON THE ROCK OF MONACO

Le Méridien - the venue

Sous le Haut Patronage de SAS le Prince Albert II de Monaco

A former President of the EBL Small Federations, Jean-Charles Allavena also organizes the “Biggest” bridge event. The prestigious Cavendish is now well attached to its “Rocher”. Since 2012, it enjoyed continual success. 2019 will be the sixth edition. The best players of the planet are present and ready to shine. Interview with the man who prepared their jewel case.

Compared to 2017, how does this 2019 vintage taste in terms of quantity and quality?

The 2019 vintage will be identical to 2017 vintage in terms of quantity (22 teams, 64 to 66 pairs) but will be much higher in terms of quality, with an incredible density of very top players among the first thirty pairs. Bridge stars love Cavendish, and it’s tailor-made for them!

The Monaco Cavendish being the “richest” bridge event in the world, it requires both a field above suspicion and high security in play. How did you manage these two issues?

I believe that, even if there was not so much money on the table, we should not compromise on ethical issues, and since the Cavendish returned to Monaco we never compromised. We were able to get rid very quickly of pairs that were originally accepted, and this even without formal evidence, because the survival of the tournament depended on it. But as this question cannot remain within the domain of the organizers alone, I decided to involve the players, by creating a “Players Board” to help me validate the choice of invited pairs. Seven top players, Steve Weinstein, Thomas Bessis, Tom Hanlon, Sjoert Brink, Thor Erik Hoftaniska, Nathalie Frey and Fernando Piedra have agreed to be part of it. I have submitted them the list of participants: they found no objection. Continues on page 2

Interview with J.-C. Allavenap. 1-2

J.-P. Meyer: All bridge in onep. 3

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As for the safety of the game, it is also a real issue: I think the risk is lower than elsewhere, despite the sums involved, because these champions have much higher than average ethics and behavior. However, we must be careful, avoid negligence and temptation, and that’s what we are doing. We will perhaps one day move towards the concept of isolated boxes for each table. While I am not personally for it, I will open the discussion.

In the 2017 edition, you regretted the modest presence of players from across the Atlantic... Where do we stand today?

There’s no real change. I regret it because I love bridge so much that I think that any champion should dream of winning the Cavendish; but when I talk to the American pros, they explain to me all the opportunities offered by the American circuit and the solicitations of local sponsors. Added to the reluctance of these sponsors to travel, I understand that they cannot refuse these proposals. We continue to work, we start to have regulars, like Zia Mahmood of course, Jeff Meckstroth, Jacek Pszczola, John Hurd or Vince Demuy, but the quantity is not there. That’s a pity, but let’s welcome those who are here for the first time, like Adam and Zach Grossack or Marty Seligman.

To go beyond the very particular framework of North American bridge, let’s greet those who have come from even further, such as the Brazilian Miguel Villas-Boas, the Argentinians Frankie Frontaura and Adolfo Madala (the brother of...), the South Africans Alon Apteker and Craig Gower, or the distance record-holder, Nabil Edgtton, from Australia: but there’s nothing one would not do to play with Christina Lund Madsen?!

Where are the women? We are still waiting for the rebirth of the Ladies event...

Since the second edition of our Cavendish, I decided to create the “Ladies Cavendish” and it worked: 16 pairs, then 20, then 26, with growing auctions as well. But in 2017, when the tournament migrated from October to February, we had the demonstration that almost all these ladies were not professionals, that they had a job, that with the multiple demands of the international bridge agenda they could not leave their work at every opportunity, and we no longer had enough pairs to make a real tournament. So we offered them to participate in the Open, under suitable conditions, with success. The current edition will follow the same pattern and perhaps one day, will we be able to revive this “Ladies Cavendish”.

Good idea, you have promoted the participation of juniors. You have offered them privileged treatment on several points.

Surely, young players and juniors are our future! A link through this prestigious tournament between the present and the future stars makes a lot of sense. We therefore offer them favorable conditions (reduced entry fees, lower opening bids, better rewarding prices according to their final ranking). I am very anxious to see the result of the fight between the Rimstedts and the Grossacks, perhaps mediated by a few Swedes or Dutch.

Players make the show but we must not forget the financial partners thanks to whom the Cavendish retains its attractiveness...

Obviously, yes, the Cavendish would not be the Cavendish without the auction night. And without bidders, there would be no auction. I must say that, from the outset, my main concern has been to ensure their presence. We will certainly not live again the great auction fights of 2013 and 2014 between Pierre Zimmermann and Evgueny Gladysch, but most of our faithfuls are there, and perhaps some absent bidders will be active on the telephone. We should therefore observe high auctions, especially since the tournament is strong, as are the Junior or Mixed “sub-tournaments”, whose special prices should sharpen the appetite of bidders. Let’s meet Tuesday at 8:00 PM.

After holding political responsibilities in the Principality, you are now in charge of the administrative and financial direction of the Monte-Carlo Opera. A U-turn...? A new passion?

Indeed, I was elected from 2013 to 2018 to the National Council (the “Monegasque Parliament”). But in Monaco, being elected is not a permanent profession. Hence, I kept in parallel my activities as a telecom consultant, until Jean-Louis Grinda, head of the Monte-Carlo Opera, gave me the opportunity to partner with him. It was a very exciting challenge for me to discover a new world, in a small and close-knit team (a little like ours at the Cavendish), with a director full of ideas and projects. Two years later, I absolutely have no regrets about this choice.

Last word. Your favorites? For the record, in 2017, you had predicted the victory of Zia in the Pairs and... he won the Teams event!

I remember this inaccuracy, due to a feather in my crystal ball, but it is still there and I must admit that a prediction is even more difficult this year. To start with, why not Zia’s double for the Teams? As for the pairs, Gawrys–Klukowski, Meckstroth–Bessis and Madala-Bilde would make a great podium. Zia–Gold, Hurd–Demuy or the Rimstedts could very well snatch the victory, unless Lauria–Versace or the regional Multon–Zimmermann, coming in the stretch from the outside, beat all of them on the wire... I look also at long odds - the Cavendish has loved them since 2012 - like Brenner–Villas-Boas and Hanlon–Carroll. And thinking about it, why not a mixed pair? Gromov–Gulevich or Bompis–D’Ovidio could turn the tables... Enough for the speculations as I feel that my crystal ball is turning mad!

Jean-Charles Allavena

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JEAN-PAUL MEYER: ALL BRIDGE IN ONEby Vincent Labbé

Jean-Paul left us in the course of July 2018, at the age of 81.

For more than half of a century, he has been a major actor on the French and international bridge scenes. In fact, he was all bridge in one.

A brilliant player (winner of the European pairs in Paris 1987 with Gerard Le Royer, victorious in multiple French championships and Coupes de France) and three-time captain of the French open team, he was also a best-selling author and the renowned editor-in-chief and managing director of Le Bridgeur during the glorious hours of the magazine from 1978 to 2001.

As vice-president of the French federation (1989), he was particularly involved in ethics and investigated the recent cases of cheating until his very last days.

But if everybody knows so well this “omni bridge player”, it’s also because he remained for a long time the conductor and supervisor of the Bulletins in the greatest competitions all over the world.

His competence is accompanying us. And the man will always be remembered.

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THE LAST WORD WAS FOR ZIAby Vincent Labbé

Defending champion in the Teams Cavendish is the Zia Mahmood team, including John Hurd, Vince Demuy and Steve Weinstein. They defeated the British Charles Wigoder (with Piotr Zatorski, Jacek Pszczola and Michal Klukowski) after a hectic (84 imp exchanged during the first 10-board session!) and thrilling (Wigoder just trailed by one imp before the last deal) match. This was the last, cruel and decisive deal:

Board 30. Dealer East. Vul None. [ 7 4 ] K 10 5 3 { J 7 4 3 } J 9 6[ A K Q 10 9 5 3 [ 6] A 7 2 ] 9 8 4{ A Q 10 { 9 8 5 2} — } K Q 7 5 2 [ J 8 2 ] Q J 6 { K 6 } A 10 8 4 3

West North East SouthDemuy Pszczola Hurd Wigoder— — Pass 1}Dble 1] Pass Pass2} Pass 2{ Pass3[ Pass 4[ All Pass

West North East SouthKlukowski Weinstein Zatorski Zia— — Pass Pass1} Pass 1{ Pass2{ Pass 2[ Pass3[ Pass 4} Pass4{ Pass 4NT Pass6[ All Pass

On a club lead, for the queen and ace, ruffed, Vince Demuy played out all his trumps, gave a heart, took the next heart with the ace and fired back another heart, waiting to be given a trick in diamonds or clubs. Well played. In the other room, Icarian Klukowski-Zatorski flew into the stratosphere before crashing: three down.

Back to the Cavendish 1999. This was the most agitated deal of the Teams tournament won by Weinstein and allies (Levin, Martel, Stansby) :

Board 23. Dealer South. All Vuln.West North East South — — — 1{Pass 1[ 4] 4[5} 5] 6] PassPass 6[ Pass Pass7] Dble

Your hand, in North:

[ A J 10 7 6 3 ] J { 8 } A 8 7 4 2[ 8 4 2] 10 9 5{ J 6} K Q J 6 3

Souths leads ace and king of diamonds. How do you defend?

SOLUTION

The full deal : [ A J 10 7 6 3 ] J { 8 } A 8 7 4 2 [ 8 4 2 [ -] 10 9 5 ] A K Q 8 7 4 3{ J 6 { Q 5 4 3} K Q J 6 3 } 5 [ K Q 9 5 ] 6 { A K 10 9 7 2 } 10 9

You don’t want South to play anything but diamond. As Fred Gitelman did at one table, discard the ace of spade! Message received. 1100 for your side.

ee mmosostt agagititatateded

20 YEARS AGO

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7. RUSSIA OPEN Yury KHIUPPENEN Georgy MATUSHKO Sergey ORLOV Vadim KHOLOMEEV Jouri KHOKHLOV Evgeni RUDAKOV

8. VINCIGUERRA Hervé VINCIGUERRA Jérôme ROMBAUT Philippe SOULET Cédric LORENZINI

PARTICIPANTS - TEAMS EVENT

1. ZIMMERMANN Pierre ZIMMERMANN Lorenzo LAURIA Piotr GAWRYS Franck MULTON Alfredo VERSACE Michal KLUKOWSKI

2. LAVAZZA Norberto BOCCHI Giorgio DUBOIN Agustin MADALA Antonio SEMENTA Giovanni DONATI Dennis BILDE

3. MAHMOOD Zia MAHMOOD Jeff MECKSTROTH David GOLD Thomas BESSIS

4. PEPSI LIGHT Tatiana DIKHNOVA Tatiana PONOMAREVA Anna GULEVICH Mikhail KRASNOSSELSKI Aleksandr DUBININ Andrey GROMOV

5. VENTIN Juan Carlos VENTIN Johan UPMARK Antonio PALMA Fredrik NYSTROM Frederic WRANG

6. HURD John HURD Ola RIMSTEDT Vince DEMUY Mikael RIMSTEDT

9. SOUTH SWEDEN Alon APTEKER Anders MORATH Craig GOWER Sven-Ake BJERREGARD

10. SAKR May SAKR Krzysztof MARTENS Michel EIDI Jacek PSZCZOLA Dominik FILIPOWICZ Vassilis VROUSTIS

11. Team K1 Ivan NANEV Julian STEFANOV Vladimir MIHOV Zahari ZAHARIEV

12. BLACK Andrew BLACK Gunnar HALLBERG Andrew McINTOSH Peter BERTHEAU Derek PATTERSON Phil KING

13. ERA Diego BRENNER Andrzej KNAP Andrej ARLOVICH Miguel VILLAS-BOAS Arturo WASIK Erikas VAINIKONIS

14. VAINIKONIS Vytautas VAINIKONIS Jerzy SKRZYPCZAK Krzysztof JASSEM Wojtek OLANSKI Boguslaw GIERULSKI Piotr ZATORSKI

15. WARRIORS Gabor WINKLER Amir LEVIN Alon BIRMAN Josef ROLL

16. GASS Gunnar ANDERSSON Simon HULT Adam STOKKA Simon EKENBERG

17. MORAN Tom HANLON Mark MORAN John CARROLL Donal MacAONGHUSA

18. MADNESS Christina LUND MADSEN Fredrik HELNESS Nabil EDGTTON Martin ANDRESEN

19. TWIN OAKS Rémi MAARI Mohamed HESHMAT Roland ROHOWSKY Hussein FOUAD Karim YASSA Nikos DELIMPALTADAKIS

20. GOLFARELLI Matteo MONTANARI Giuseppe DELLE CAVE Arrigo FRANCHI Vittorio GOLFARELLI

21. ROSENTHAL Marcia GREEN Lee ROSENTHAL Ory ASSARAF Eran ASSARAF Waseem NAQVI

22. MUSSO Piercarlo MUSSO Paolo GUERMANI Piero REVIGLIO Roberto MINERO Emanuele MANTINEO Eleonora DUBOIN

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SCHEDULE TEAMS EVENT

SUNDAY 3RD

Round 1 : 13.30 – 15.30Round 2 : 15.45-17.45Round 3 : 18.00-20.00

MONDAY 4TH

Round 4 : 10.00-12.00Round 5 : 14.00-16.00Round 6 : 16.15-18.15Round 7 : 18.30-20.30

TUESDAY 5TH

SEMI-FINALS (2 x 10 boards) 1st vs 4th

2nd vs 3rd

Segment 1/2 : 10.00-11.25 Segment 2/2 : 11.35-13.00

FINAL (3 x 10 boards) Segment 1/3 : 14.45-16.10Segment 2/3 : 16.20-17.45Segment 3/3 : 17.55-19.20

No carry over in Semi-Final and FinalTie-break procedure: the winner is the best classified in the qualification

SUSUNDNDAYAY 33 TUTUESESDADAYY 55

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