Stuart has asked me not to disclose the bidding...... suffice it to say that I (East) finished as declarer in 4H - doubled by Zia, who was North. During the auction, Zia had shown a spade suit. Paul Chemla led S8, and I let Zia's Queen take the trick. There followed three rounds of clubs, the last of which I ruffed. I crossed to HA and led D10, covered by DJ and DQ. Then I cashed DA (Zia dropping the DK) and ruffed D3 with H3 in dummy.

Now I should cash HK to discover the trump break. Once I see the 3-1 break my only hope then is to place North with the last diamond, so I cash my last two trumps to squeeze North in spades and diamonds.

Unfortunately, I instead cashed SA and ruffed a spade with H9, hoping to ruff my last diamond in dummy, but allowing Chemla to score his HJ.

Zia was so polite that he wanted to avoid talking about the winning line I had missed until we were out of earshot! Fortunately, Monsieur Chemla was quite happy to educate me - in the nicest possible way.

Our round against Boris Schapiro and Tony Priday was probably the most memorable. Take a look at this Journey through Wonderland:

This time Stuart has allowed me to discuss the auction - I think he's quite proud of it.

Things started sensibly enough, at least as far as Schapiro's negative double.

Stuart, convinced that he must keep opponents from bidding their Heart game, tried to psyche a natural 2© bid. He was extremely disappointed when I spoiled his plan by alerting! Tony Priday asked me what 2© meant and I assured him that this was a cue bid showing a good raise in Spades.

I asked Priday whether Schapiro's negative double implied exactly 4 hearts, and he replied (with complete sincerity), "Yes, I think so. But we are a new partnership, you understand." I found this ironic, given the many years over which these two fine players would have been in the same team, representing England.

Priday's double was passed around to Stuart, who was grateful for the opportunity to throw another spanner in the works by bidding 3¨. Schapiro looked incredulously at Stuart's 3¨ bid. "What does this mean", he said. I assured him, with complete confidence, that this was an alternative contract. [I am sure I sounded much more confident than I felt!] "He might have only 3 spades", I offered as further clarification.

Schapiro, who has played Bridge for longer than most lifetimes, gave the impression that he had never met anybody who would bid like this lunatic. He decided to put an end to the nonsense by bidding the Heart game.

Now Stuart, buoyed up by my pass of 3¨ implying Diamond support, chose to bid 5¨.

Schapiro was horrified: "You say he does have Spade support?"

Perhaps confused by this display of apparently irrational bidding, Schapiro judged poorly and decided to push on to 5©. Even I managed to double this and, after a Spade lead and Diamond return, declarer finished 3 down for -500.

The next hand dispelled any lingering doubts in Schapiro's mind as regards Stuart's bidding.

When Stuart first looked at his hand, and saw the string of Diamonds, he thought he had picked up the previous hand again.

Stuart correctly chose 3¨, rather than a 4© splinter bid, as the best way to describe his hand. Holding a diamond void I wasn't at all interested in slam, so we rested in 4ª.

Before leading, Schapiro (holding 5 Diamonds to the KJ !) just had to ask what Stuart's 3¨ bid meant. I explained that this showed a strong (game-forcing) hand with Diamonds, holding either Spade support or a self sufficient Diamond suit. The 4© cue bid confirmed Spade support. Schapiro tried a Diamond lead, perhaps hoping that Priday could ruff.

I decided that not everybody would stop at the four level, so I should play safe for 10 tricks (a Diamond at trick one and 9 Spades from an immediate cross-ruff). Given the lie of the cards, this turned out well.

Anyway, returning to the real Bridge players, this was the final results from the main Pairs Championship:

1 U. Durmus (England) E. Erichsen (Norway) gold
2 Z. Mahmoud (Pakistan) P. Chemla (France) silver
3 T. Townsend (England) R. Sheehan (England) bronze

I believe that the only notable Oxfordshire success in this year's Mind Sports Olympiad was that of Suzanne Cohen, partnering Paula Leslie, who came 3^rd in the Ladies Pairs. Well done Suzanne!