It is a pleasure once again to see so many strong players from abroad and from Denmark as well. A special welcome to all the foreigners headed by Zia this time with Roy Welland as partner _and to the strong ladies, Sabine Auken and Daniela von Arnim, the Polish internationals Pepsi_ Kwiezcen, the French quartet (Levy, Mouiel, Quantin and Chemla), the Dutchmen Jansma and Verhees, the Spanish_ Argentine combination Ventin_Lombardi, the Norwegian trio Helgemo, Brogeland and Sælensminde, and the Swedes Bertheau, Nyström and Fredin (the latter almost classified as a Dane). And of course to all the Danish participants.

It is difficult to guess which one of these 16 strong pairs we have to celebrate as the first winner of the Hecht Cup in the new format.

Sincere thanks to the man behind the tournament, Peter Hecht-Johansen, whose dedication and support for this unique event increases year after year. As you all know it is impossible to run a tournament like this without the commitment of a bridge loving sponsor like Peter.

The Tournament Directors are the very same duo as in 2005, Jens Ulrik Fougt and Jeppe Knappe, and we continue with our daily Hecht Cup Bulletin written by "Mr. Bull", Ib Lundby (the Editor of DANSK BRIDGE), and live coverage on the internet presented by SWAN Games (Laila Leonhardt) as well as Bridge Base Online (Fred Gitelman).