[AL78]

I have found one problem contributing to my poor defence recently.

Today I played in a teams competition which was six 8 board rounds in a (too) warm and stuffy room. I think it was someway through the second round and on the third round I was slipping up in defence. The information was there as to how to proceed but I felt groggy and at times was not with it at the table so did careless things to let contracts through. It didn't help that through the first two rounds we defended on 12 out of 16 boards, and partner picked up such poor hands she only declared once in those 16 boards, so I am having to concentrate on the play on almost every board (on one round she failed to find a bid on the first seven consecutive boards). The question is how do I fend off fatigue (or help stop it building up in the first place) and keep alert to the point where I can play correctly according to the information available. I didn't have a poor nights sleep last night so I hadn't built up a large sleep debt and I eat breakfast.

[pescetom]

 AL78, on 2022-November-27, 15:30, said:

I have found one problem contributing to my poor defence recently.

Today I played in a teams competition which was six 8 board rounds in a (too) warm and stuffy room. I think it was someway through the second round and on the third round I was slipping up in defence. The information was there as to how to proceed but I felt groggy and at times was not with it at the table so did careless things to let contracts through. It didn't help that through the first two rounds we defended on 12 out of 16 boards, and partner picked up such poor hands she only declared once in those 16 boards, so I am having to concentrate on the play on almost every board (on one round she failed to find a bid on the first seven consecutive boards). The question is how do I fend off fatigue (or help stop it building up in the first place) and keep alert to the point where I can play correctly according to the information available. I didn't have a poor nights sleep last night so I hadn't built up a large sleep debt and I eat breakfast.

My experience of directing 48 (or even 36) board teams competitions in the same day is that almost all non professional players suffer visibly (at best) towards the end.
My conclusion (maybe controversial, but possibly useful for the future of the game as a sport) is that we should not be playing such long competitions in one day, or should at least consider them an extreme specialization, much like Marathon versus shorter distances.
And if we really want high statistical precision then at least play things electronically where the elapsed time is shorter for a multitude of reasons, most positive from the point of view of a fair result.

[TMorris]

I have just played in a 49 board teams event online today (7x7 board matches).

A few thoughts (many easier on line).

a) when dummy I try to ignore what is going on - in this case I had a book to (re)read "Thinking about IMPs" (very good it is too);
b) keep hydrated;
c) if at all possible don't get upset with partner if they do something wrong;
d) if at all possible don't get upset with yourself if you do something wrong;
e) if at all possible don't get upset with your teammates if they do something wrong.

At the end I felt fine. As with most things practice makes it a lot easier. Once you have done this a dozen or so times (I forget how often I have played in these events now) it starts to get easier as you know what to expect. No need to travel to the event helps a lot.

Another thought. if opponents start chatting for more than a sentence or so try to politely stop them and move onto the next board if the round hasn't finished. It you haven't played in these events all that much such chat can destroy your concentration.

[DavidKok]

48 boards in one day is very tiring. I've made it a habit to force myself to go for a short walk and some fresh air during a break (assuming there is one). But to a certain extent it's simply another factor in the competition.
One thing that can help, but takes a long time to build, is experience at defending. Over time the careful deductions become routine, sometimes even effortless. This way you get to keep your energy for the tougher situations. However, to the best of my knowledge there are no great shortcuts here.

[akwoo]

Yes - it's tough.

In the last session of the Micro-Spingold, our opponents said it as the worst bridge they'd played in years. I pitched a couple doubled undertricks on one hand as well, said "Sorry partner," and got "It's contagious" from one of the opps. (It was a friendly match and clear by that point that the comment would be taken as a joke.)

Matchpoints is especially tough.

IMP scoring is easier. I would suggest not sweating the overtricks. Once it's clear there is no way to beat a contract, just switch off and don't worry about anything beyond following suit. The 1 or 2 IMPs from an overtrick or two is just not worth the energy. Also, at IMPs, don't bother trying to figure out where everything is; just try to figure out the most plausible lie (or two) of the cards on which the contract goes down, and play for that.

[LBengtsson]

Warm, stuffy rooms, badly Air-coned rooms, badly lit rooms, over lit rooms, peripheral noise, boredom and a variety of other things can contribute to fatigue. Coffee helps but that aint a universal solution.

The strange thing I have discovered in recent years as my body gets a bit arthritic all round is that the comfortable-ness of the chair I am sitting in can make a hell of a difference. I guess you cannot choose the chair you are sitting in when playing a tournament, but maybe you can bring some seat mat/ back mat to relieve the stress.

It is surprising how much better I feel doing anything if I am seated comfortably. Just a thought...

[AL78]

 akwoo, on 2022-November-27, 17:26, said:

IMP scoring is easier. I would suggest not sweating the overtricks. Once it's clear there is no way to beat a contract, just switch off and don't worry about anything beyond following suit. The 1 or 2 IMPs from an overtrick or two is just not worth the energy. Also, at IMPs, don't bother trying to figure out where everything is; just try to figure out the most plausible lie (or two) of the cards on which the contract goes down, and play for that.

That is one of the problems. I think there is no way to defeat the contract so get lazy in the thinking, whereas if I'd just focused for a short time I could come up with a chance to defeat the contract.

One example, we were defending 3♥, partner started off with ♦AK which held, then cashed ♣A (I discouraged with the 2) and got off lead with a spade. I hold five clubs to the jack, dummy has four clubs to the queen. Declarer plays a heart off dummy and I hold AQ. I mindlessly played second hand low and declarer put me in with my ace on the second round. It turned out partner held a stiff club ace and I could have won the first round of hearts and given her a club ruff, down one, which was a perfectly reasonable layout based on the auction.

Second example, we were defending a low level contract (1♥ I think) and I hold a singleton. I know partner has length so I am thinking force declarer when possible. Unfortunately I didn't stop to re-evaluate at trick 11 and carelessly played a spade to force declarer, which had the effect of finessing partner out of her otherwise natural trump trick. Stupid boy!! Those (I think) were my two worst mistakes.

[AL78]

 DavidKok, on 2022-November-27, 16:15, said:

48 boards in one day is very tiring. I've made it a habit to force myself to go for a short walk and some fresh air during a break (assuming there is one). But to a certain extent it's simply another factor in the competition.
One thing that can help, but takes a long time to build, is experience at defending. Over time the careful deductions become routine, sometimes even effortless. This way you get to keep your energy for the tougher situations. However, to the best of my knowledge there are no great shortcuts here.

I am defending between two thirds and three quarters of hands on many sessions so I have lots of experience . You are right, I try to conserve mental energy on hands that don't need much of it and use dummy time as rest. In this recent event I couldn't do that for much of the day because partner hardly got a chance to declare, she declared seven out of 48 boards in total.

A good idea to take a walk outside (this is also good if things are going badly as well, take deep breaths of fresh air) although with classic UK November weather including 12 hours of continuous rain, not overly appealing.

[DavidKok]

Sorry, I meant something else. Over time it becomes easier to spot defensive methods, count tricks and shapes and everything as a matter of course. This makes defending itself no longer tiring, or at least most hands won't be much of an effort. That is what I was going for. And then you use your energy for the difficult defensive hands, the difficult declarer problems and the tough calls during the auction.

[mycroft]

"First and last match, and first match after dinner". There's a reason for that bit of advice.

One of the real problems with the face-to-face game is dealing with the elements (yes, even indoors). And you have to be prepared. And sleep debt is absolutely a thing.

But I second TMorris' first point at least - when you're dummy, turn off. I wouldn't even read a bridge book, myself. Pay only and exactly enough attention to the game to play the cards partner asks for and keep count of the tricks (and ask for revokes, if your partner is that sort of person). You do not have enough energy to play 48 boards. You might have enough energy to play 36 boards and follow suit for the other 12; if you use that up in the first 36 boards, you'll be "following suit" for the other 12, whether or not you're dummy.

[helene_t]

48 boards in one day will be exhausting for almost everyone, but there are a few things that can be done:

- avoid introducing new bidding or caring methods that would require memorization, or risk forgets or misunderstandings. I have sometimes played complex, unfamiliar methods which take mental energy away from the card play.
- get physical exercise
- drink enough water
- obviously avoid alcohol

[mikeh]

As someone who has played many multi-day events, often against very strong opps, let me pass on some advice I was given years ago, by a player with far more experience than I.

Try to be physically active before playing: I’m not saying go play some squash, but go for a walk. Get moving.

Take fruit with you to snack on between matches. Fruit releases it’s sugars slowly, compared to, say, a candy bar.

Definitely eat between sessions, again to keep up your blood sugar, but don’t eat heavily and don’t drink alcohol until after the day’s bridge is complete. Maybe not at all, but personally I often have a glass of wine or a couple of beer to help me decompress…I get quite intense while playing.

I also endorse the advice to to switch off as dummy. I kibitzed Hampson-Greco while sitting out a match in the Soloway teams. Each took time, as dummy, to read the Daily Bulletin, paying no attention to the play other than to play a card as directed.

Yesterday we played that team in the round of 32….losing by 9 imps over 60 boards….we played 45 boards against Steve Weinstein and Bobby Levin….great players and really good at the table….and Levin often left the table when dummy…when you’re Bobby Levin, you usually have at least one kibitzer happy to be dummy.

Also, it helps if one an maintain a reasonable standard of fitness…the fitter you are, the more stamina, physical and mental, you will have. There are very few obese professional players…some, but not many.

[AL78]

Thanks all, some good advice I will bear in mind should I be asked to substitute for a team member again.

I am physically fit, I enjoy walking, use a bicycle for local transport and lift weights, one thing I suspect I suffer from is mild insomnia. It takes me a long time to get off to sleep no matter what time I go to bed, and I think that slowly builds up a sleep debt over time.

[pescetom]

 mycroft, on 2022-November-28, 09:19, said:

"First and last match, and first match after dinner". There's a reason for that bit of advice.

One of the real problems with the face-to-face game is dealing with the elements (yes, even indoors). And you have to be prepared. And sleep debt is absolutely a thing.

Agree with that 100%.
My classic weak points in a f2f tournament are the first board, dinner or not (overconfident and still enjoying coffee) and last (thinking about a beer). Which with luck may not do much damage at IMPs, but is often fatal at MP.

Yesterday I played 2x18 at MP, above level in a national tournament. Lunch was hard to digest and coffee was feeble by Italian standards. The magnificent hall of the royal palace in Turin was unexpectedly hot, despite the 20m high roof and freezing temperatures outside. I was still on a sufficient competitive high to float the first two boards, but then doubled my partner (thank you polite TD) leading to the first bottom and obtained and blew a makeable 5♦X making
During the break I found a decent espresso and on the second round of 18 we started to roll it in (too late), but fatigue of opponents was a good part of that and on the last few hands we had some uncharacteristic arguments.

I understand and have witnessed that world level players are accustomed to duration and handle it much better, but I remain far from convinced that it takes 48 boards in a day to decide who is best, or that we are still measuring the same thing at that point.

[AL78]

 pescetom, on 2022-November-28, 16:36, said:

I understand and have witnessed that world level players are accustomed to duration and handle it much better, but I remain far from convinced that it takes 48 boards in a day to decide who is best, or that we are still measuring the same thing at that point.

This event was not a head-to-head teams but was a Swiss teams consisting of 16 teams and six eight board matches. We had two rounds, lunch, two rounds, tea break, last two rounds. The lunch I had was calorie dense which may have been to my disadvantage.

[pescetom]

 AL78, on 2022-November-28, 17:05, said:

This event was not a head-to-head teams but was a Swiss teams consisting of 16 teams and six eight board matches. We had two rounds, lunch, two rounds, tea break, last two rounds. The lunch I had was calorie dense which may have been to my disadvantage.

However well your body handles the meals and all that sitting, you played the last board 8 hours (more or less) after the first, and most of the time inbetween you were playing bridge. To my mind that defines a specific variant of bridge in which resistance is a dominant attribute.

Coming from other sports where the resistance variant is highly respected I have no objection to that, but I am also aware that this attribute is trainable and often not correlated with other highly signicant abilities which will emerge clearly in shorter competition.
In cycling, the best track riders, time trialers and sprinters will never win the Tour de France where a single stage can be 7 hours with a huge total effort, just to give one example. It's difficult to argue they are lesser athletes and they do have other opportunities to shine, right down to the possibility of becoming world pursuit champion by riding 4km in just over 4 minutes. And cycling or running are already extreme sports, soccer players are currently struggling with the idea that a 90 minute game of moderate average intensity can last 15 minutes more.
Most mind sports finish a competition in less than 2 hours with a maximum well below 4 hours.

[mycroft]

Ah yes, the cricket schedule. Not sure I could handle it well myself, but I'm sure it was "traditional" for many of the players.