April 2020 - 15

Mr. Brightside

Dennis Bilde wins Lazard Sportsmanship Award
BY CHIP DOMBROWSKI

Photo by Peg Kaplan

ccording to the United Nations'
annual World Happiness
Report, Denmark has been the
first or second happiest country in the
world for the past decade.
According to his peers in the world of
high-level bridge, the happiest bridge
player is Dennis Bilde of Denmark.
Partners, teammates and opponents
describe him as joyful and unfailingly
pleasant. For his winning demeanor,
Bilde has been named the 2020 recipient of the Sidney H. Lazard Jr. Sportsmanship Award.
"Dennis is a fantastic human being,"
says Agustin Madala, a fellow member
of the Lavazza team and occasional
partner. "Kind, generous, smart, and
happy 99% of the time. Playing with
him is as nice as spending time together. A great bridge player, but more
than anything, an honest, simple guy. A
well-deserved award, for someone who
deserves everything."
Giorgio Duboin says he was lucky
to get Bilde as a regular partner when
Bilde joined Team Lavazza four years
ago. "He loves bridge and he loves
people," Duboin says. "He is the kindest partner you could imagine, the best
teammate and the nicest opponent you
could meet."

Bilde explains his sunny disposition as simply a part of who he is. "In
general I'm just a positive person," he
says. "You have one life to live. Why not
make the best of it? Also at the bridge
table!"
At age 30, Bilde is the youngest
person to receive this award, chosen by
a selection committee of Steve Beatty,
Zia Mahmood and Steve Weinstein.
Bilde "has comported himself with
dignity and class from a young age,
impressing everyone throughout his
relatively short career with not only
his bridge skill but his integrity, effusive personality, and charm," according
to the selection committee. "He has
distinguished himself as not only a topnotch player but also as a model competitor, partner, teammate and opponent. Gracious in victory as in defeat,
he would be near the top of any poll of
the most popular player around."
Bilde has won six NABC titles with
six different partners, including the
recent Reisinger with Team Lavazza
last fall. In 2017, when he won the Kay
Platinum Pairs with Justin Lall and the
Nail Life Master Pairs with Alon Birman, Bilde was Player of the Year.
Coming from a family that included
three members of the Danish national
team, Bilde learned bridge at a weekend bridge camp when he was 11. He
began competing in international
Junior events at 14, winning a Junior
world championship at 18 in 2008.
Learning bridge as a child influenced
Bilde's outlook on the game as something to be played for fun. "I strongly
believe that you play better if you enjoy
it," Bilde says. "If I started to feel like
it was more like a job, something that
I just had to do, instead of the game I
love to play, I think I would stop."
One of his notable early performanc-

es in North American events came in
the 2013 Vanderbilt. Playing with his
father, Morten Bilde, along with Roy
Welland and Sabine Auken, they made
a dramatic comeback in the last quarter of the final against Monaco to win
the trophy.
Welland, a past recipient of the
award, commented on Bridge Winners: "Nobody is more deserving of this
honor. If the bridge world had more
players able to maintain Dennis's joyful and pleasant demeanor both at and
away from the table, bridge would be
much more popular around the world."
Also commenting on the post was
Barry Rigal. "I'm not sure I know a
player at the top level who is so unfailingly cheerful, polite and nice at the
table and who appears to treat success and failure in equivalent fashion.
People enjoy playing bridge against
him, and that isn't true of many players
as good as he is."
Duboin noted that when he plays
with an Italian partner, it is normal for
them to have some heated discussion
at the table. "With Dennis, it is impossible. He never says anything if you
make a mistake." And if Bilde happens
to make a mistake, he acknowledges it
quickly and cheerfully, putting his head
down to look under the screen and
flashing a smile. "Nobody could blame
him after looking at his smile."
The Sportsmanship Award was
established by Sidney Lazard in honor
of his son, who died in 1999 of cancer
at the age of 41. Administered by the
Foundation for the Preservation and
Advancement of Bridge, the award is
given annually to a top-level player. It
will be presented at the Hall of Fame
banquet at the Summer NABC in
Montréal.
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April 2020 Bridge Bulletin

April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2020