Join us for this county event on SUNDAY MARCH 29th 2026.

The Liverpool Open Pairs is a long-established face-to-face competition which is returning after a break of a few years. This year, the event will also act as the qualifying heat for the EBU Nine-High Corwen.  The highest scoring three pairs with an NGS score of 9 or under will be invited, entry fee paid, to represent the County in the competition.  This really is an event for ALL Merseyside and Cheshire members.

The event will be held in the excellent new premises of Liverpool Bridge Club, Unit 8, Mersey House, 140 Speke Road, Liverpool L19 2PH. The format is 24-28 boards in 2 sessions with a break for refreshments. David Smith will direct and there are prizes for the winners and best performing 9 high pair.  The start time is 2.00 pm with a finish at around 5.30 to 6.00 pm.

The entry fee is only £10 per pair.  Please enter below and pay by BACS to:

• Merseyside and Cheshire Bridge Association
• Sort code: 09-01-50
• Account number: 05876354

Please reference your payment: LOP25 surname.

ENTRIES MUST BE PAID FOR IN ADVANCE.

ENTRY LIMITED TO 12 TABLES.

Please submit your entry using the form below.

With only 6 teams willing to enter the county teams championship for the Lady Connell Cup this year some tweaks to the format were required. We are starting with two mini leagues of 3 teams with the winners of each then playing off against the runners up in the opposite section for a place in the final. As always, the eventual winners will be invited to represent M&CBA in the Pachabo which is the national final for county championship knockout victors. This year however, the EBU have relaxed the rules considerably as to who may represent their county in the Pachabo. If the winners and runners up decline to take part then any team or parts of teams taking part might get the chance to play in the Pachabo & we will report more about this as the Connell competition progresses. A number of matches have already taken place and the results are listed below. A very strong performance by team Hunter (especially in defeating Ted Reveley’s team who have won the competition for the past few years) has put them in  a good position to qualify for the next round.

League A

Hunter  69   Reveley 58

Hunter 43    Green   38

League B

Merrill 71    Krasner  8

Merrill  48   Stevenson  79

The County is running a course for aspiring club tournament directors. It is free for EBU members and £10 for non-members.

Depending on numbers, the course will be offered at 3 venues.

• Merseyside Bridge Centre on 7th March
• Deva Bridge Club on 21st March
• Liverpool Bridge on 11th April

Applicants should email chairmcba@gmail.com in the first instance.

The Tollemache competition is one of the most prestigious EBU events contested by teams of eight representing counties and regions from all over England & Wales. The qualifier took place on Realbridge over the weekend of 8th/9th Nov involving 30 teams playing 98 boards in 2 heats with the top 4 to qualify for the final. Merseyside & Cheshire were represented by Matt Foster/John Hampson, Chris Pope/Andy Prothero, Laurence Stone/Jerry Hopkins, Paul Roberts/Julian Merrill & Paddy Murphy/Tracy Sherman. Our team produced a very creditable performance coming in equal 6th with London (who have a very much larger pool of players to choose from) and missed qualifying for the final by just 5 IMPs. Thanks to all for taking part & especially to John Hampson for also acting as team manager.

This competition has now ended with the final round on Saturday 11th October. Our A team had a mixed day with 2 wins & 1 draw from their 5 matches. Chris Pope & Andy Prothero were however top overall on X-imps. Looking at the cummulative scores Merseyside finished joint 2nd with Yorkshire on 220 VPs with Lancashire & Scotland tied in 1st position on 230 VPs. 

The C team had a better day defeating Yorkshire & then winning the crucial match against Lancashire by a maximum 20 VPs before then managing somehow to lose their final match against the lowest placed team (Cumbria). Chris Raymond & Colin Humphrey were top overall on X-imps with all three other pairs either positive or very close to par. 41 VPs on the day puts our cummulatve score at 147 and comfortably the winners of this division which means we get to go again in the national final next year.

Thanks to all for taking part. If you have not played in this competition before but are interested in taking part next year please contact the team organiser Chris Raymond ( drcjr56@gmail.com ).

Season 4 has now been completed – thanks to all teams for taking part. Congratulations to the division 1 winners who once again were team Liz & co (Liz Commins, David Stevenson, Simon Edwards, Alex Maddocks, Paddy Murphy, Mark Roderick & Tracy Sherman) who at the end were well ahead of Amber in 2^nd place. Division 2 winners were team Arrowe (Chris Wentworth, Tony Sutcliffe, Colin Nugent & Chris Whaley) with Cosmopolitans in 2^nd place.

Season 5 will start on 15^th Sept. New applications to join the league are always most welcome (the deadline for entries is Saturday 6th Sept) – we aim to offer all taking part a chance to play a friendly flexible and leisurely schedule of teams matches over the autumn / winter / spring. Master points are awarded for matches won (blue points for div 1). Even if you do not have a team but are still interested in taking part then we want to hear from you! Please contact Chris Raymond ( drcjr56@gmail.com )  for more information and application forms.