Ascoli Piceno won its fifth straight title of BBO Intercity League (ICL), the championship between European towns. The Italian team won nine out of twenty-two editions hitherto played (ICL is played twice a year). Intercity League was established in 2004 by the late Tonci Radelja, a professor of mathematics at Split University.
The final was against Messina, a team which Ascoli defeated in the semi-final of the last edition. Ascoli started with a sparklingly + 11 in the very first hand, a 4♠+1 against 3NT-1. The Sicilians didn’t dishearten though – the barometer was on, as decided by captains – and at the fourth hand they got the lead, +6, but just to lose it at once; the first twelve board stanza ended +15 for Ascoli. In the second one Messina recovered much of the lost ground, but at the last hand they still trailed 2IMPs, and the cards allowed no more than a score contracts: Ascoli stopped on 1NT, made; Messina tried the game, -3.
Messina’s players in the final: Titto Crupi with Marcello Siracusano; Francesco Ferlazzo with Gianni Nostro; Bruno Randazzo with Marco Ricciarelli.
Ascoli Piceno’s players in the final: Fabio Colasante with Piero Millevoi; Stig Werdelin with Paolo Enrico Garrisi. Also played for Ascoli: Minù Tamburelli, Elena Ruscalla, Elisabetta Lucchesi, Mauro Fanesi, and Steen Moller. The Danish champion Steen Moller passed away in December; the Team dedicates him this victory.
The spring 2015 edition of Intercity League will start on Wednesday March 11th.
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