All summer I am extremely busy playing bridge. First the European Championships (two weeks), next the tournament in Biarritz (one week) and after a week off I will be heading for New Orleans (two weeks). In short… bridge, bridge and more bridge.
To start with… the European Championships in Oostende. To play for the Netherlands is very special. It makes you feel that you have to do well for the whole of the country. All Dutchmen are counting on me, Sjoert Brink, for the Netherlands to obtain a medal.
And rightly so, I think. Partner Bas Drijver and I are playing well, make few mistakes and often the opponents can't help themselves throwing large amounts of points at us. So what can go wrong?

Or am I perhaps kidding myself? For the first time we play a major tournament without teammates Bakkeren – Bertens, who are a points-producing machine. If ever things look like going wrong, they turn up with fine results. Jansma – Paulissen, their logical substitutes, bring in the points less easily but in turn are less likely to give them away. In short: if we encounter headwind, it will be difficult to change the course of things. But if things go our way, we will be almost invincible. Much will depend on the first match.

I arrive in Oostende by car, in the company of Simon (de Wijs; he and Bauke Muller complete the team) and Bas. We decide to have lunch first. At once we chance upon a very good restaurant. The signs are good.
In the evening we attend a team dinner. We are told not to comment on the team line-up, and, to make matters worse, that Bas and I will not play the first match. And I feel it to be the match of the tournament. 'I hate it', like I used to say when I was a youngster. Still, I refrain from commenting on the line-up, of course...

During the first round — we're playing Ireland — quite a lot goes wrong in the organisation (though it quickly recovers): running scores are not passed on and the VuGraph theatre is far too small. At last the running scores appear on the screens... dear oh dear, we're trailing by a large margin.
In the end we lose the first match 24-6. Very embarrassing.
The next match we and Jansma – Paulissen play Spain and alas, another defeat (11-19).
The last match is against Russia.
The championship is organised as follows: there are two groups, each consisting of 18 teams, nine of which qualify for the second phase. In that second phase — to which they take their mutual results as a carry-over — they play the other group's nine qualified teams.

It's a safe bet to expect Russia to qualify. So this is going to be a match that matters. Bas and I do reasonably well and it looks like our first victory is there. Muller — De Wijs turn out to have done really well and we beat the Russians 23-7, so it's a good day after all. Or is it…? At Muller — De Wijs's table play was dead slow, so both teams are given a 5 VP penalty. The final result is 18-2, therefore. The other group is laughing out loud, since this result is part of the carry-over. So far it doesn't look like this is going to be our tournament — nor that of Russia, by the way.

The days that follow we're doing better and finishing in the top nine of teams doesn't seem to be a problem. But then we lose against Sweden, Israel, Poland, Estonia and Denmark, so the second week is going to be extremely tough.

The Sweden match is one I'd rather forget. Without playing really badly, we are completely blown away. An example:

		♠	K 3 2
		♥	A 10 9 3
		♦	K J 6 2
		♣	5 4
♠	A 9 8			♠	Q 10 7 6 5 4
♥	8 6 2			♥	5 4
♦	A 9 4 3			♦	Q 10 8
♣	J 9 6			♣	A 7
		♠	J
		♥	K Q J 7
		♦	7 5
		♣	K Q 10 8 3 2

¹ Multi: usually a weak two in a major
² Pass or correct: 'Partner, pass if this is your suit, bid 3♠ if not'
³ Proposition: 'I don't think 3NT is the right contract and have four hearts: pass if you have four hearts as well (or perhaps with only three); if not bid 4NT or 5♣'

Peter Fredin (yes, the one from the Fredin doubles, read about them here) leads the ♠8. When I decide to duck in dummy (questionable according to experts), I am defeated since Fallenius, after winning, plays another spade (isolating my club suit: as soon as East gains the lead with the ♣A, he plays another spade). Personally I think it is a very good lead.
At the other table De Wijs leads, also against 4♥, the ♠A and after seeing dummy realises there is one more chance to defeat the contract… he switches to a small diamond. Fortunately declarer takes the wrong decision and the deal is a wash.

After the deplorable first week the Dutch team recovers somewhat, playing in the final group. It turns out however, that the sixth spot (we entered the final group ranked eleventh) was the best we could do.
A disappointing result, certainly, since next year the World Championships take place in the Netherlands and we're supposed to take the gold then. This result brings us back to reality, since if we carry on like this, I fear the worst. Let's hope this will serve as a serious warning, so all of us will work even harder.