43rd World Bridge Teams Championships

Lyon, France • 12 – 26 August 2017

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August 12

Source: www.atlasobscura.com At the turning of an hourglass in an angel’s hand, a rooster crows three times and eerie bell music rings through the Cathédrale Saint-Jean in Lyon. The mechanical spectacle comes from an astronomical clock that has been keeping the time and the path of the stars since the 14th century. The clock is one of the oldest in Europe and has an astrolabe that indicates the date, the position of the moon, the sun, and the earth, as well as the stars in the sky over Lyon. Created in the age of geocentrism, the sun is shown circling the earth. An astronomical clock was first documented in the cathedral in 1383. It was almost completely destroyed during a 1562 raid by the Baron of Adrets during the War of Religions, and in 1661 was reconstructed by master Lyonnais clockmaker Guillaume Nourrisson. During the French Revolution, all ornamentation that referenced royalty, like coats of arms and fleur-de-lys, was stripped from the clock. The last restoration was in 1954, when the clock’s perpetual calendar of 66 years was reset. It will be accurate until 2019. What was no mechanical were these two boards from the third round of the world bridge teams championships, in Lyon. Match: Brazil- Bulgaria  BB (Bermuda Bowl) Round 3 Board 5 The bidding (Open room):
Thoma Stefanov Ravenna Nanev
 1club suit1 Pass 1Spade Suit2
2club suit 2Spade Suit 3club suit 4Spade Suit
Pass 5Heart Suit Pass 5Spade Suit
All Pass
  1. Precision
  2. as 1NT
Lead: club suitQ Thoma found the only lead to defeat immediately the contract. The club suitQ won the first trick, the club suitJ the second and finally the club suitA won the third trick. Finally declarer made  only 10 tricks for one down. The bidding (Close room):
 Mihov Chagas Karakolev V-Boas
 1Spade Suit Pass 2Spade Suit
Pass 4Spade Suit All Pass
The big difference here was that now North was the  declarer,  and no lead could defeat the spade game and even 5Spade Suit were cold. Lead: Heart Suit10 Declarer won the lead with his ace, played three rounds of trumps finishing in the table, continued with a diamond to the ace and cashed the Spade SuitQ. Chagas continued with a heart to the king, and let run the Diamond SuitQ, Karakolev won the trick but again he couldnt play a club so he returned a heart. Finally declarer lose only a diamond and a club and fulfilled his contract with one overtrick. BB (Bermuda Bowl) Round 3 Board 6 The bidding (Open room):
Thoma Stefanov Ravenna Nanev
1Diamond Suit Pass
1Spade Suit 2Heart Suit Double Pass
3Heart Suit Pass 3NT All Pass
Lead: Heart Suit6 Declarer won the lead with his Heart SuitA, cashed the club suitA and continued with a club to the club suit10, North covered with his club suitJ and returned the Heart SuitQ. Ravenna won with the heart king, cashed three spades but finally had to go three down. The bidding (Close room):
 Mihov Chagas Karakolev V-Boas
1Diamond Suit Pass
1Spade Suit Pass 1NT Pass
2club suit Pass 2Diamond Suit Pass
3club suit Pass 3NT All Pass
Lead: Diamond Suit7 Chagas won the lead with his Diamond SuitK and returned the Diamond SuitJ. Declarer played his Diamond SuitQ, V. Boas won with the Diamond SuitA  and returned a third diamond. Finally declarer made: three spades, three hearts, three diamonds and a club for +430 and 14 IMPs for Bulgaria. The match finished Bulgaria 25 – Brazil 23.