Tom Townsend | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas George Townsend 19 February 1971 (age 52) |
| Occupation | Bridge player and writer |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1994–present |
| Subject | Contract bridge |
Thomas George Townsend (born 19 February 1971) is an English professional bridge player and writer.
Townsend was educated at Wellington College and Cambridge University. He lives in Shepherd's Bush, London, with Polish (in 2022 also English) women's international Ewa Kater and their son Max. [1]
Townsend has been a regular British and England international for over two decades. [1] He is a World Bridge Federation World International Master. [2] Townsend, since 30 September 2013, has been the Monday-Friday bridge columnist for The Daily Telegraph . [3] In July 2019 he also became Sunday Telegraph bridge columnist.
In partnership with Jeffrey Allerton, Townsend was on the British team that won the European and World Junior Championships in 1994 and 1995 respectively. [2] [4] He was a member of the England open team that were runners-up to Italy at the 2008 Bridge Olympiad in Beijing. With David Gold, his partner in Beijing, Townsend was third in the 2005 European Pairs in Tenerife, and played for England in the 2005 Bermuda Bowl in Estoril. Partnering David Bakhshi, he played on the England team finishing 4th in the 2012 European Championships in Dublin and reaching the quarter-finals of the 2013 Bermuda Bowl in Bali. In 2022 they reached the same stage of the Bermuda Bowl in Salsomaggiore. Partnering Ben Handley-Pritchard on the Knottenbelt team, Townsend came 3rd in the 2023 World Transnational Open Teams in Marrakech. [2]
David Gold was his partner in the winning team at the 2000 Brighton Four Stars Teams, in the 2004 and 2006 English International Trials and the 2008 English Premier League. [4] With David Price he was part of the winning Crockfords team on two occasions and also won the 1999 Camrose trials. Partnering David Mossop, Townsend won the British Premier League twice, and also the Spring Foursomes. Townsend won the 2013 Lederer Memorial Trophy in partnership with Stelio di Bello, and the EBU Premier League again that year (and later again in 2019 and 2022) partnering David Bakhshi. Partnering Bakhshi, Dror Padon and Thor Erik Hoftaniska, Townsend won the 2021 BGB Gold Cup (played online because of Covid). He won the Gold Cup again in 2023 (played in traditional across-the-table fashion). [1]
The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial contract bridge world championship for national teams. It is contested every odd-numbered year under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), alongside the Venice Cup (women), the d'Orsi Senior Bowl and the Wuhan Cup (mixed). Entries formally represent WBF zones as well as nations, so it is also known as the World Zonal Open Team Championship. It is the oldest event that confers the title of world champion in bridge, and was first contested in 1950. The Bermuda Bowl trophy is awarded to the winning team, and is named for the site of the inaugural tournament, the Atlantic archipelago of Bermuda.
Alan Fraser Truscott was a British-American bridge player, writer, and editor. He wrote the daily bridge column for The New York Times for 41 years, from 1964 to 2005, and served as Executive Editor for the first six editions of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge from 1964 to 2002.
Pietro Forquet was an Italian bridge player, one of the most famous in bridge history. He won 15 World championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Eugenio Chiaradia, Guglielmo Siniscalco and, for the most part, Benito Garozzo. Apart from his excellent play, he was renowned for his nerves of steel.
Mir Zia Mahmood is a Pakistani-American professional bridge player. He is a World Bridge Federation and American Contract Bridge League Grand Life Master. As of April 2011 he was the 10th-ranked World Grand Master.
Geir Helgemo is a professional bridge player who was born in Norway but is now a citizen of Monaco. Through 2012 he had won three world championships in teams-of-four competition. As of August 2018 he ranked first among Open World Grand Masters and his regular partner Tor Helness ranked second.
The World Team Olympiad was a contract bridge meet organized by the World Bridge Federation every four years from 1960 to 2004. Its main events were world championships for national teams, always including one open and one restricted to women. A parallel event for seniors was inaugurated in 2000.
Glenn Frode Grøtheim is a Norwegian bridge player, WBF World Grand Master, winner of the 2007 Bermuda Bowl and a regular member of the Norwegian team since 1987.
Boris Schapiro was a British international bridge player. He was a Grandmaster of the World Bridge Federation, and the only player to have won both the Bermuda Bowl and the World Senior Pairs championship. He won the European teams championship on four occasions as part of the British team.
Raymond Slater Brock was a leading English bridge player and then a long-time administrator. He was a member of the Great Britain team that finished second in both the 1987 European Bridge League championship and the 1987 Bermuda Bowl world championship, and fifth in the 1988 World Team Olympiad. This success came during his partnership with Tony Forrester, which lasted from 1982 to 1990. He achieved the rank of World International Master through his performances.
Richard Anthony (Tony) Priday was an English bridge player and journalist, who had a longstanding and successful partnership with Claude Rodrigue. He was a member of Great Britain teams that finished third in the 1962 Bermuda Bowl and the 1976 World Team Olympiad, and those that won European Bridge League (EBL) championship teams-of-four in 1961 and came second in 1971.
Cezary Jacek Balicki is a Polish bridge and chess player. After 2014 competition, he ranked 17th among Grand Masters by World Bridge Federation (WBF) masterpoints, five places ahead of his longtime partner Adam Żmudziński. They ranked 26–27th among more than 100 all-time Grand Masters by placing points that do not decay over time. Balicki also holds the chess title of FIDE Master (FM).
Nicola Patricia Smith MBE, née Gardener, is a world champion English bridge player. She has many successes to her credit in more than 30 years of international competition, initially as Nicola Gardener. As of October 2017 she ranked first among Women World Grand Masters both by world masterpoints (MP) that decay annually and by placing points (PP) that do not.
Anthony R. (Tony) Forrester is an English bridge player and writer. He is a British and English international and a World Bridge Federation World International Master. Forrester was a bridge columnist for The Daily Telegraph from 1993 until 2019 and for The Sunday Telegraph from 1996 until 2019.
Hubertus Johannes Antoinetta (Huub) Bertens is a Dutch professional bridge player previously from Tilburg, Netherlands, now living in Bend, Oregon (U.S.). Bertens has won numerous national and some international tournaments including the Cavendish Invitational, NEC Cup, the Yeh Brothers Cup, the European Open Team Championships. In world championships for national teams, he earned a Bronze medal in 2007 and played on the Dutch teams that finished 5th to 8th (quarterfinalists) in 2008 and 2009.
The European Bridge League is a confederation of National Bridge Federations (NBFs) that organize the card game of contract bridge in European nations. In turn the EBL organizes bridge competition at the European level. It is a member of the European Olympic Committee and of the World Bridge Federation, where it constitutes one of eight "Zones" in world bridge.
Andrew Michael Robson OBE is an English professional bridge player, writer and teacher. He is a British and English international. Robson is the bridge columnist for The Times and Country Life. He was a member of the Great Britain Juniors team which won the World Youth Team Championship in 1989 and of the Great Britain Open team which won the European Open Teams Championship in 1991. He is from London.
Michelle Brunner was a British bridge player, writer and teacher. She was a member of the British team that won the 1985 Venice Cup, the biennial world championship for women national teams.
Tor Helness is a Norwegian professional bridge player. He was a stalwart on Norway junior and open teams for thirty years before moving to Monaco. Through 2012 he has won four world championships in teams-of-four competition. As of October 2016 he ranks second among Open World Grand Masters and his regular partner Geir Helgemo ranks first.
Pierre Zimmermann is a Swiss-born real estate developer and champion bridge player formerly resident in Monaco.
Boye Brogeland is a Norwegian professional bridge player. After a successful junior career, he won three Bermuda Bowl medals with the Norwegian team, including the gold in Shanghai 2007, and several North American Bridge Championships. He came into public focus in 2015 when he led a campaign against cheating in bridge, exposing wrongdoing of several top pairs, for which he received public recognition.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
 | This bridge-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  | This biographical article relating to sports in England is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
