BFAME Championships, 2021 - Indian Teams Top Round Robins in all 4 categories
Indian teams ruled the roost at the round robin stage with all 4 teams topping their respective leagues.
In the Women's Teams category, India and UAE have qualified to represent BFAME at the at the world championships to be held in Salsamaggiore early next year. Likewise, India and Jordan have qualified in the Mixed Teams Category.
In the Open Teams, an amazing performance by India saw them lead the table by more than three matches, UAE came second with Pakistan and Jordan finishing third and fourth respectively. These four teams will play a 64 board semi-final to determine which two teams head for the world championships and then a 32 board final to determine the champions.
In the Senior category, which has a similar schedule to the Open, we saw India win ahead of Pakistan with Bangladesh and Jordan taking the other two semi-final places.
These were the final standings
Image courtesy - BFAME Bulletin
One cannot but have sympathy for the UAE Seniors who were playing Jordan in the last match and, with four boards to play, holding the fourth spot. Then this deal came up.
The Jordan West, with no interference, was able to understand the combined strength of the hand perfectly to bid this slam which is cold as the cards lie.
In the other room, South inserted a double over the 1 Club bid. West bid 2 Hearts (presumably to show a better hand). When East bid 3NT, West could not envisage the slam.
Earlier, the same UAE pair were the victims of a misclick where they failed to ask for an undo
South informed us about this deal where his partner passed his quantitative 4NT bid. When he checked with his partner, the latter said that it was a misclick.
It is unreasonable to believe that anybody could pass this hand at that stage. However, North failed to ask for an undo, a request which would have sealed the spot for them.
These two deals cost them the fourth place and the opportunity to battle it out further.
Today, the qualifiers of the Women's and Mixed Teams battle it out for the title of BFAME champions in a 32 Board finals. We wish the Indian teams all the best
Simultaneously, the qualifiers in the Open and Senior teams play 3 sessions of a 4 session semi finals. India plays Jordan in both categories. The other semi final will be between Pakistan and UAE (Open) and Pakistan and Bangladesh (Seniors). We hope the Indians win and clinch the qualifying spot in both events.
The youth and juniors will play as one category on Realbridge
Youngsters and kids will play as one category on BBO
Both categories will have teams and pairs events as shown on the schedule page
Performance in this event will be counted for getting selected the Indian Team Trials for Juniors and Youth Championships for participating in the World Youth Championships
All juniors and their parents are requested to ensure maximum participation in this event.
RealBridge - Junior Promotion Initiative
RealBridge have asked BridgeFromHome to host a session every Sunday for juniors in January, 2022. RealBridge will promote these sessions with other NBOs in the region to have them join and play as well.
These sessions will be free of cost for all juniors. We hope the juniors will take this opportunity to participate and practice in an international forum.
We will soon publish more details of this program. Stay tuned!