Venice Cup - Latest Rendition

Latest Rendition

France won the 2011 Venice Cup by 196 to 103 IMP in a two-day final match against Indonesia

France started with one-third IMP carryover from the 16-deal round-robin match, meaning Indonesia must score at least one IMP better on the 96 deals of the final. France scored consistently well during the first three segments, to lead overnight by 126+ to 56, and Indonesia conceded after two of three segments scheduled for the next day.

Notable performances

This is the second Venice Cup for France and the 7th medal in 14 Venice Cup tournaments from 1985 to date, the time of equality with the Bermuda Bowl. Silvie Willard has played for all seven medalists; Véronique Bessis, Bénédicte Cronier, and Catherine D'Ovidio (Saul) six; and Danièle Gaviard (Allouche) five. Following the tournament, D'Ovidio and Willard moved up current ranks one and two among Women Grand Masters and their three frequent teammates moved into the top twelve.

The silver medal for Indonesia represents a sudden arrival among the stronger teams, having placed during the preceding decade no better than 9th (2009), just outside the knockout stage in the current format.

Preliminary

There were 22 national teams in the field, who represented the eight WBF zones as follows. The regular quota for Europe is six teams, seven at Veldhoven because the host country qualifies automatically.

Europe: France, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, England, Poland, Italy

North America: Canada, USA 1, USA 2

South America: Brazil, Venezuela

Asia & Middle East: India, Jordan

C. America & Carib.: Trinidad & Tobago

Pacific Asia: China, Indonesia, Japan

South Pacific: Australia, New Zealand

Africa: Egypt, Morocco

The first stage was a full round-robin scheduled in advance. Every team played 21 short matches of 16 deals, three daily.

The women of France, Germany, and the Netherlands have been strong teams for about two decades but this year they waged a close fight for the last two slots in the knockout, Netherlands and France surviving with Germany 7 VP short. The two USA teams led the round-robin and selected quarterfinal opponents Indonesia, sixth, and Netherlands, seventh. England placed third and selected Sweden, fifth. That left defending champion China, fourth, to face France, eighth, a rematch of one 2009 semifinal.

In the quarterfinals, Indonesia and Netherlands both overcame 16-IMP carryovers (the maximum achievable head starts) to defeat the Americans by 33 and 28 IMP. England defeated Sweden to be the only preliminary leader who advanced, and France defeated China, 205+ to 197, in the only match that "went to the end". France led by 15+ after five segments and extended the lead to 29+ IMP on the 84th deal (#20), but the champions yielded nothing more and cut the margin to 2+ on the 95th deal. (The leader was known only to spectators, including local and internet commentators and presumably the third pair from each team.) Finally China defeated 3♠ one trick worth 50 points, while France doubled 4♠ and beat it two tricks, worth 300 points and a final margin of eight up from two IMP.

In the semifinals, Indonesia outscored England by 18 IMP on 96 deals to overcome 10.5 carryover. France outscored Netherlands by 21 to overcome 0.5 carryover.

While France won the Cup from Indonesia, the host Netherlands overcame 12 IMP carryover to beat England in 48 deals and win the bronze medal, 109 to 91.

So the preliminary eight, seventh, and sixth place teams had finished one, two, three on the victory stand.