The final event of Madeira 2020 was a truly international affair, won by Sveinn Runar Eiriksson and Niels Steenstrup Zeeberg.  Congratulations, and thank you both for your regular support for our tournament.

1.  Sveinn R Eiriksson (Iceland) & Niels Steenstrup Zeeberg (Denmark) 60.00
2.  Ron Tacchi (England) and Harry Burmania (Netherlands) 59.00
3.  Gareth Bartley (Germany) and Frederic Boldt (Germany) 56.50

FULL RESULTS HERE

Photographs of prize-giving ceremony now available HERE

The 2020 Open Teams was won by Team Nuno Matos (Miguel Teixeira, Diego Brenner, Carlos Luiz, Nuno Paz), a repeat of their 2017 victory.  Congratulations to them on a fine win.

The final rankings at the top were:

1. Team Nuno Matos (Miguel Teixeira, Diego Brenner, Carlos Luiz, Nuno Paz) 124.40                                                  
2. Don Julio (Julius Sigurjonsson, Kauko Koistinen, Sveinn Runar Eiriksson, Magnus Eidur Magnusson, Sanna Clementsson) 104.38
3. Autobahn (Peter Jokisch, Udo Kasimir, Sebastian Reim, Guido Hopfenheit) 99.14                                           
4. DARFF (António Campos Palma, David Wrang, Fredrik Nystrom, Frederic Wrang) 99.08
5. Baleal (Jorge Cruzeiro, João Paes de Carvalho, João Barbosa, Paulo Sarmento, Reinaldo Timóteo) 89.29

FULL RESULTS HERE

Despite the truncation on account of the new coronavirus regulations, Day 2 of the Teams produced a lot of excitement.  Team Nuno Matos were in the lead at the end of the first day and the second, but in between the top placings changed hands several times.

A momentary lapse of concentration by one of the Nuno Matos line-up gave Match 3 by a narrow margin to GBRD, no shame given that GRBD ‘s members hold at least 13 world titles between them.   This allowed Don Julio, the Iceland-Finland combo, to take the lead, a lead which they retained in Match 4.

It didn’t last.  Nuno Matos won the Match 5 head-to-head against Don Julio and retook the lead, with Plan B Bridge – a Danish-Dutch-German combo – lying second.

Match 6 produced no change at the top, but DARFF – António Palma and his Swedish team-mates – rose from their disappointing Day 1 placing to occupy 5th place.  The standings after six matches, with four to play on Sunday, are as follows:

1. Team Nuno Matos (Miguel Teixeira, Diego Brenner, Carlos Luiz, Nuno Paz) 89.90
2. Don Julio (Julius Sigurjonsson, Kauko Koistinen, Sveinn Runar Eiriksson, Magnus Eidur Magnusson) 82.84
3.  GBRD (Sally Brock, Barry Myers, Sabine Auken, Roy Welland) 74.02
4. Plan B Bridge (Christian Lahrmann, Niels Steenstrup Zeeberg, Nikolas Bausback, Michael Pauly, Marie Eggeling) 73.08
5. DARFF (António Campos Palma, David Wrang, Fredrik Nystrom, Frederik Wrang) 69.67

FULL RESULTS HERE

An early lead was taken by the formidable international lineup of Team DARFF (António Palma, Frederic Wrang, Fredrik Nystrom, David Wrang).  In the second match, however, they had the misfortune to come up against the seasoned lusophone Team Nuno Matos (Miguel Teixeira, Diego Brenner, Carlos Luiz, Nuno Paz), who were on top form to take a 60-14 win.

That left the standings after two matches as follows:

1. Nuno Matos 38.68
2. GBRD 35.37 
3. Don Julio 35.22
4. Plan B Bridge 34.31
5. Autobahn 31.02

FULL RESULTS HERE
TEAM ROSTERS IN BULLETIN 5

Guido Hopfenheit and Sebastian Reim held on to their second session lead to win the 2020 Open Pairs. Congratulations to our German visitors on a fine victory.

Runners-up, with an astonishing final session score of 70.38% and a climb of 19 places, were Mark Thiele and Renée Verdegaal of the Netherlands. In third place were our own Carlos Luiz and his long-time partner Nuno Paz, of the Azores.

Leading the local pack were Bruno Macedo and Luís Miguel Silva, who also win the consistency prize for remaining in 6th place throughout. Top Mixed pair was Shahzaad Natt and India Leeming – of England but living in Lisbon – in 9th place. The leading Women’s pair was Marie Eggeling (Germany) and Ceri Pierce (Wales).

FULL RESULTS HERE

In Portuguese and English.  A shorter (English) version omitting the points that are not relevant to our tournament will be published in the Bulletin.

CLICK TO SEE FULL REGULATIONS

Exciting developments in the Open Pairs. After two sessions Guido Hopfenheit and Sebastian Reim of Germany have taken the lead with a well-rounded 62%, not quite winning the session but doing enough to fend off islanders Carlos Luiz (Madeira) and Nuno Paz (Azores), who won the session with 65.19% to rise five places.  In third place, with one session to go, are the Session 1 winners, Tim and Berend van den Bos (Netherlands). There’s just over 2% between the top three, with 4th and 5th a good 3% behind. Full results HERE Overall ranking list HERE Session 2 results HERE

Leading the field after the first session are Tim and Berend van den Bos of the Netherlands, with a score of 64.06% Chasing are Peter Jokisch and Udo Kasimir (Germany) on 62.15% and Portuguese mainlanders Inês Cunha and Miguel Ramos with 60.76% The leading Madeiran pair is Bruno Macedo and Luís M Silva, in 6th place on 57.12% Full results HERE

The winning North-South pair in the 2020 Warm-Up Pairs was Leszek Kawski and Adam Blachnio of Poland, with a score of 59.28%.  East-West winners were Kauko Koistinen (Finland) and Julius Sigurjonsson (Iceland) on 64.05% Congratulations to the first winners of the second week. The North-South runners-up were not far behind on 58.52%: Harry Burmania and John Linse from the Netherlands.  In third place were home-grown pair João Machado and José Macedo, winners of Saturday’s IMP Pairs, with 54.55%. The Netherlands took second and third East-West places:  Leo Huvers and David Kok on 63.22% and Berend and Tim Van den Bos on 59.09%. Full results HERE

Icelander Sveinn Runar Eiriksson and his Dutch partner Marc van Beijsterveld won the 2nd Inter-Nations Charity Challenge convincingly, a full 10% ahead of their nearest rivals.  Despite the effects of Covid-19 on this year’s numbers, a handsome €415 was raised for the Centro de Saúde de São João de Deus.

1st Sveinn R Eiriksson & Marc van Beijsterveldt 65.83%
2nd Haakan Tjarnemo & Bengt Emanuelsson 55.83%
3rd David Kok & Leo Huvers 55.00%

We have not declared a winning nation this year:  too small a field (because of Covid-19) and too many nations.

Full results HERE

The second IMP Pairs tournament was won by our very own João Machado and José Macedo, with a score of +28.33.  The runners-up (+14.33) were yesterday’s victors,  Haakan Tjarnemo & Bengt Emanuelsson, and in 3rd place were Harry Burmania & John Linse with +12.67.

Full results HERE

The first of the two IMP Pairs tournaments was played on Friday afternoon.

1st Bengt Emanuelsson & Haakan Tjarnemo (Sweden) +45.67 
2nd René Stienen & Elly Schippers (Netherlands) +17.33
3rd Han Begas & Lucia Grosmann (Netherlands) +16.00

Full results HERE

The first event of the 2020 Madeira International was won by our very own Bulletin Editor, Ron Tacchi [ENG] and his new-found partner Andrei Kavalenka [BLR] with 62.5%.

In second place were Madeiran pair João Machado and José Macedo with 56.25%, and in third Bengt Emanuelsson and Haakan Tjarnemo of Sweden with  54,86%.

Results HERE

Your complete guide to the tournament:  session times, Welcome Desk opening hours, tours, social programme.  View or download HERE

The new acrylic separator screens.  We are also issuing individual bidding boxes, labelled with players’ Bridgemate numbers.

We have two new excursions for Friday 6th November, as well as the popular catamaran trip.  See https://www.bridge-madeira.com/travel/ for details.

As we are sure you will understand, with numbers this year severely affected by Covid-19 and airline cancellations, we have had to revise the prize budget.  Please see www.bridge-madeira.com/prizes-2020/ for further details. 

We are extending the Early Bird discount until 28th October.  Please note this discount applies only for bookings made via the online forms.

Here are the measures put in place by the Regional Government, the Portuguese Bridge Federation and the tournament organisers to keep everyone safe during the Madeira International:

Our friend Inocêncio Araújo, President of the Portuguese Bridge Federation, has kindly brought to our attention this article about the low inflight risk of infection, which you may find reassuring:

Research Points to Low Risk for COVID-19 Transmission Inflight