| Entries For Lockdown League Season 3 now open |
There will now be prizes for the top two teams in each division, £40 for first place and £20 for second.
The entry fee will be £20 per team, or £10 for a team entirely composed of juniors. The fee will be invoiced to the team captain's EBU account and will need to be paid by Sunday 31st May.
Please submit entries for teams of 4 to 8 to charlie@ebu.co.uk in the following format:
Name, EBU Number, BBO username
Please note if entries are not in the format, they may not be registered.
The season will commence on Monday 25th May.
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| Bridge Warehouse Now Open |
If you need bridge supplies so that you can play with those you live with, or books to keep you occupied, you will need to order them online. We will not be able to take phone orders just yet. All orders will be dispatched at the end of every month. You can find our full range of our products on our website.
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| Participate in (possibly the world's first) #BridgeHackathon this coming Saturday! |
The #BridgeHackathon is a 24 hour event this Saturday (23rd May) is being designed to build working prototype online bridge software. We are an international set of bridge-playing software developer pros and enthusiasts who want to create an open source, high quality, progressive, exciting online bridge environment to engage and amaze bridge players, old and new!
Further info in the following links:
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| 50,000 Player Sessions on BBO |
Yesterday (Sunday 17th May) the EBU online games held on BBO reached the threshold of more than 50,000 player sessions, since the games started two months ago.
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| 100-hand Marathon Bridge Challenge |
The locally well-known Farnham bridge partnership of Helen Mitchell and Tony Philpott are taking up the challenge of playing 100 competitive bridge hands in a single day in aid of the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice.
Since the coronavirus lockdown, all bridge clubs have been shut and the only place for hundreds of people to continue their hobby has been online. Over 200 members of clubs in the area have joined Bridge Club Live. However, the many fund-raising events normally organized by local bridge groups in aid of Hospice funds have had to be cancelled or deferred, so Tony and Helen have come up with the brilliant idea of staging their own personal fund-raising bridge marathon.
Their challenge will take place all day on Wednesday 27th May at www.bridgeclublive.com. Tony and Helen will aim to play 100 hands online in a single day!
Currently all of the upcoming Hospice events have been cancelled and many bridge events, community events and personal challenges such as marathons have been postponed. Hospice care continues but with additional measures in place to protect staff and patients. This includes PPE, social distancing, providing support such as counselling via telephone and very sadly limiting the people who can come into the Hospice. Needless to say this is a very difficult time for clinical staff who are unable to give or receive hugs at the moment.
Please sponsor Helen and Tony generously and be part of our bridge fraternity supporting the much-loved Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in these special times of need. Visit the fundraising page (set up by Mike O'Donnell) to make a donation and send a message of support https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/100handsofbridge (if you are a taxpayer, please do gift aid your donation to maximise hospice funds).
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| Premier League 2020 Announcement |
The Selection Committee has agreed the following regarding the 2020 Premier League:
1) The closing date for applications for the 2020 Premier League is extended indefinitely. A new closing date for applications will be announced in due course, when it is clear if and when the 2020 Premier League will be played.
2) The Committee is keeping the situation under review. Dates may be put back or it may become necessary to cancel the 2020 Premier League entirely.
3) If the 2020 Premier League is cancelled but the 2021 Camrose Trophy is played, teams will be chosen by some means to be determined by the Committee.
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| Top 50 clubs by players 2019/20 |
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| Bridgebase Online upgrade |
In order to accommodate the large number of players on the BBO site, they have recently made a major update to its structure to divide it into two areas, Competitive and Casual. The significant thing about this for our players is that if they want to play in EBU event or those of Virtual Clubs, they need to be in the Competitive part of the website at the time the game starts. They will not automatically be taken there from the tables in the Casual section.
Login -> Competitive -> All Tournaments -> put EBU in the search box. Paul Gipson has produced one of his extremely helpful Youtube videos explaining it all in detail.
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| Peter Jordan |
We are sad to announce the death of former staff member, Peter Jordan on May 12th. Peter came to the EBU on his retirement from his family business and stayed for the best part of 20 years, not only working in the Tournament Department but also acting as Congress Manager for the Summer Meetings and all our overseas congresses. As such he was one of the best-known faces of the EBU and was universally liked and respected for his kindness, warmth and efficiency.
Ian Payn, Chair of the EBU said "Peter was the heart and soul of the Tournament Department. It didn't matter who rang up - he knew who they were and most likely what event they wanted to enquire about. His service on the Tournament Committee was invaluable, as he knew more than anyone what made various events work, and what didn't. On retirement he was keenly missed, and we have lost a loyal and dedicated colleague, and a friend."
In light of the current situation, Peter's family have created an online memorial page which you can visit, and leave a message on if you would like to. They have also set up a Just Giving page in Peter's name. They have already had so many lovely flowers there isn't much room for many more so if you would like to make a small donation instead that would be lovely. Donations will be split evenly between Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust and the Towersey Playing Fields Fund.
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| EBTA Membership Benefits - ALL for only £25 |
EBTA Membership – The Package
Benefits:
- Free Professional Indemnity Insurance – Professional indemnity insurance costs on average £60-£80 every year
- Discount on Bridge for All materials - If you then sell 4/5 books on to your students each year, you can soon recover the cost of your EBTA membership fee
- BFA Books One & Two £19 each full price £26
- Fast Track £22 full price £30
- Practice Book One & Two Now only £8 each
- System Summary Cards £2 full price £2.50
- Access to Online Teachers’ Zone Materials – Did you know in the teacher zone there is a huge amount of support material including hands, which you can access and use with your students?
- Access to the EBED Bridge Course Calendar where you can advertise your courses for FREE
- Access to EBUScore
- Access to free advice and support from EBED/EBU
- FREE 1-year membership of EBU for all new students
- Access to the EBED Student Zone for all your students
- FREE access to No Fear Bridge website and 6 weeks’ FREE access for all your students
- Discounted membership to No Fear Bridge for all your students
- Hand Generator Macro and HandPlay software - available in the Teacher Zone
- 2 editions of Accolade per year
- Access to EBTA Teachers’ Forum – via Teach Bridge section of EBED website
- Membership of EBTA Facebook group – search ‘EBTA’ via Facebook
- EBTA Teachers Conference invitation
- Your contact details held on the EBED Teacher directory – on completion of the EBED survey
- Access to Full and Professional membership progression and mentoring programme
Please contact Jacqueline@ebedcio.org.uk if you'd like more details.
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| Jessie Newton |
We're sad to hear of the death of Jessie Newton. Jessie was known as a Welsh international player, Welsh Bridge Union Life Master and administrator.
There is a full obituary on the Welsh Bridge Union website.
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| Webinar - Counties and Virtual Clubs |
Jacks Morcombe, supported by other county officials from Suffolk, Malcolm Pryor, Richard Evans & Peter Bushby, ran a Zoom webinar on Saturday 16th May, sharing their county's experiences of introducing Virtual Clubs and helping clubs train to run them. The intended audience was county officials and volunteers, although a number of representatives from clubs also attended. After a few problems getting started, the meeting ran smoothly and covered a lot of ground . It has been recorded and is now available here for anyone who missed it.
Text chat and questions appear below.
00:22:53 Jeffrey Smith: Do they do Teams of 8?
00:25:39 Jeffrey Smith: Have you done Charity bridge and how was that organised?
00:26:50 Shirley's iPad: can I ask about finance please? how much do County games cost and how do you monitor payments?
00:29:16 Jeffrey Smith: How did you manage to get host rights? BBO have refused us several times?
00:30:35 Lesley Millet: How do we regain our members who are playing for free at the moment?
00:30:49 Brian Smith: How do you play your team matches. we had horrendous experiences
00:31:20 Sati: Once you have done the training, do you need to register as a TD with BBO? What does that involve?
00:31:54 Jeffrey Smith: How do you get the BBO results onto your bridgewebs site?
00:32:22 Pippa Green: Would Peter be ok with us using his YouTube links on our county and club website too?
00:32:55 Peter Bushby: Yes Peter would :)
00:33:06 Richard Evans: Re results on to bridgewebs, one of our members has produced a spreadsheet which enables us to convert BBO data for Bridgewebs and EBU uploads
00:33:14 Daniel Miller: Brian. it is critical you reserve seats for your players. or you will be inundated with demand.. also I strongly advise you friend all eight players so you know they are ready to accept. if one player is asleep don't close. just try again
00:34:12 Pippa Green: How successful was your AGM online? Was it well attended?
00:34:44 Shirley's iPad: Gordon - is it true that in a BBO Swiss there is no algorithm to prevent Pairs playing each other twice?
00:34:51 Richard Evans: Virtual AGM takes place next month
00:34:52 Brian Smith: Does BBO Swiss Pairs work? we tried it and there wer multiple pairs
00:35:05 Daniel Miller: not aware of being able to switch tables in match. suspect you have to set up two halves and add scores
00:35:06 Brian Smith: How can you rum Swiss Teams?
00:35:31 Jeffrey Smith: Does Chris Chambers extractor rescore the event properly ie not BBO average percent method?
00:35:31 John Barker: There is a system already in Bridgewebs which will automatically upload results with correct names and upload available to ebu with 2 clicks from bbo
00:35:38 Gordon Rainsford: Yes Shirley, it is not really Swiss at all but Danish, which is why we no longer use it.
00:35:59 Gordon Rainsford: They have just introduced Howells which solve some of those problems
00:36:00 Alan Mould: My experience is that there is no Swiss available in BBO which prevents pairs playing each other multiple times. It is a full "Danish Swiss" as it is called.
00:36:09 Daniel Miller: no no Swiss teams BBO is pairs oriented afaik
00:36:30 Jeffrey Smith: Can you handle sitouts? and Are all your competitions clocked?
00:37:03 Gordon Rainsford: Swiss pairs is what is being talked about
00:37:19 Malcolm: About playing teams, after a month of playing teams all our teams are now comfortable with setting up matches. I sent out detailed instructions at the beginning of our league, for some teams I set up their first match. I also coached some people through their first set up on the phone. There are one two potential pitfalls.
00:37:50 Richard Evans: Yes, competitions clocked. Currently 16 mins for 2 boards. If we have a half table, we get subs, which - surprisingly perhaps - has worked well. We explain t them we are running a club evening and they have fitted in
00:41:35 Graham Hardman: How do people buy BBO$ if not at the store please?
00:41:38 The Manx Sargents: Free tournaments are disappearing... The trend is to paid events...
00:41:44 South-West Region: How do the movements (Mitchell/Howell) work so those in a virtual club play with each other?
00:42:00 Nicky Ferguson: Current problems with BBO overload mean evening bridge can be problematic. Are other clubs shifting their sessions to earlier in the day and still getting large numbers of participants?
00:42:19 The Manx Sargents: COMMENT: Reliability of the online platform is a big issue
00:42:25 Meena Samani: BBO$ can be purchased on BBO website - on the right when you log on... blue box
00:43:40 The Manx Sargents: Small virtual clubs are not the way forward in my view... Can we organise clubs on a regional basis?
00:44:24 Tony French: One has to remember, and please take this as intended, clubs will be competing with the EBU itself for online games.
00:44:39 Robert Killip: I understand that a virtual club can be run without members paying BBO$. The EBU pays for the session and the club pays the EBU together with UMS. The club is then responsible for collecting "table money" from members. Is that correct?
00:45:37 Sati: Yes, the BBO can invoice the club, money collected by EBU
00:45:59 Richard Evans: Nicky, yes we have moved one session a week to afternoons…most clubs are still having evening sessions
00:46:35 The Manx Sargents: My question too
00:46:36 Daniel Miller: subs are happy to play. it's free for them
00:48:54 Daniel Miller: BBO collect the money and pass 70 percent back to EBu. EBU remunerate clubs which will receive UMS demand as per usual (normal time frame)
00:55:10 Robert Killip: It would be helpful to understand how a virtual club session actually works: How do pairs join a session; is it a standard duplicate; how do you handle an odd no. of pairs; how many boards are played; what happens if there are internet problems for someone during a session
00:55:22 Graham Hardman: IS there an upload to Pianola please
00:57:21 Peter Bushby: Run Swiss Teams By Running it on EBUScoreWsissTeams Round-in-Arrears. Send Captains the draw and they set up their own matches. Then you quickly score the round using Match Scored IMPS scores. And send out the assignments a round in arrears to th ecaptains. Later you can add the board by board scores for NGS.
00:57:49 Malcolm Boyack: Exeter bridge club are running a Swiss Pairs Event (subject to numbers) but each session of 8 boards is run over 6 weeks
00:59:07 Peter Bushby: CHris Chanbers output goes into Pianola
00:59:19 Tony French: Can a virtual club host be authorized for more than one club?
00:59:57 Richard Evans: Yes, my fellow host is helping out at our neighbouring club
01:00:23 Peter Bushby: Colchester and Stratford St Mary run joint sessions under one Virtual CLub ID. We share the rebate 50-50.
01:00:40 Daniel Miller: to cope with small table numbers I recommend you have .. say 6*3 board rounds. so when you have 7 tables you avoid 9*2 and the same opponent twice
01:01:20 Daniel Miller: or join forces and increase numbers
01:03:31 Daniel Miller: Gordon. please add a note on front page regarding the two rooms in BBO and how this impacts on managing events when you cannot see activity in other room (call for tournament etc)
01:07:55 Michael Green: all the clubs in Berkshire are restricting to memebers
01:08:34 Peter Bushby: The great thing is Clubs can choose
01:08:59 Richard Evans: In Suffolk we are inviting visitors from other local ie Suffolk, clubs…and that is working well
01:09:07 The Manx Sargents: The move to online bridge will ultimately change our existing club structures... We need to expect and anticipate this.
01:09:19 Richard Evans: I totally agree
01:09:57 Pippa Green: We have found that the EBU events are running at BBO $1.50 per player whereas the clubs are suggesting BBO $3 per player and the times are very similar at 7pm and 7.30pm. Why is there a difference?
01:11:03 Peter Bushby: EBU events are 12 boards not 20. Club events connect you to those you're used to playing with. We augment the experience with a Zoom 'after party'
01:11:13 The Manx Sargents: During this change, we need to make sure we support our EBU central function, particularly in terms of financing...
01:11:57 RonFM: It will lead to new forms of bridge between clubs and groups within clubs however.
01:12:25 Tony French: To be clear, virtual clubs support the EBU. Lest we forget, clubs pay to be affiliated and collect P2P.
01:12:28 Alan Mould: You have to make sure you are NOT on the casual part of the site but on the competitive part of the site
01:13:39 Daniel Miller: Alan Mould. I asked EBU to specify this.
01:18:15 David Guild: This phase of our online development is concerned with technical/procedural/financial issues on a static ebu club population. As we are expecting to the end of the year how do we manage new members to club/eb. Also a major incentive to embrace non-affiliate clubs into the EBU.
01:18:19 richard: could Richard make available the How to page from Suffolk with video links please?
01:18:41 Tony French: Robert is welcome to join one of our virtual sessions...…. I'm sure other clubs would offer this.
01:19:44 Richard Evans: Go to Little Clacton bridge club website…and you will find all the links there. Failing that contact me via Suffolk website
01:20:43 freda: Thank you so much for this enlightening session paving the way forward. It has been most interesting
01:21:25 Lesley Millet: Can we please have notes from this meeting quite quickly - Yorkshire's Bridge Development and the Northern Counties meet in the next week?
01:22:31 Tony French: Many thanks for the time that hosts have given up, much appreciated.
01:22:34 Sati: Thank you organisers for a very useful webinar.
01:22:36 South-West Region: Congratulations to Suffolk for organising this!
01:22:45 Meena Samani: Thank you for a very useful session
01:23:08 Daniel Miller: thx Suffolk
01:23:10 Pippa Green: Thank you Suffolk and EBU for organising this session.
01:23:14 RonFM: Brilliant and rich presentation and discussion
01:23:19 Peter Grice: Thanks Jacks and everyone for arranging this.
01:23:45 Simon: A very useful session. Thank you, Suffolk. You've obviously worked hard.
01:24:18 Shirley's iPad: thanks to Suffolk very impressive
01:26:52 Keith Stait: thank you Suffolk / hosts, a valuable contribution to those lagging behind you in online bridge
01:26:59 David Guild: Brilliant Thank you
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| New Skyblue Book Supplementing Blue and White Book for Online bridge |
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| Over 80 EBU Virtual Clubs and Counties on BBO |
So far more than 80 clubs and counties, listed below, have signed up to the scheme whereby they can set themselves up as virtual clubs on Bridgebase Online (BBO), running their own games of whatever size whenever they wish, restricted to their own members if they like, with players being charged a fee decided by the club in BB$ at the point of registering for the game.
Clubs or counties that wish to investigate this further should consult the information sent to all clubs by email . before contacting the Club Liaison Officer, jonathan@ebu.co.uk to take this further.
Clubs and counties currently set up as virtual clubs:
Abbey Smith Bridge Club
Allendale Bridge Club
Allestree Bridge Club
Avenue & Lewes Bridge Clubs,East Sussex
Aylesbury Aces
Bedfordshire
Berks & Bucks
BfA Marlborough
Bourne Bridge Club
Bourne End Bridge Club
Bracknell Forest Bridge Club
Bristol Bridge Club
Broadstairs Bridge Club
Bromley North Bridge Club
Broxbourne Bridge Club
Bury Bridge Club
Central Yarnton Bridge Club
Cheltenham Bridge Club
Chichester Bridge Club
Chiltern Bridge Club
Chippenham Bridge Club
Chislehurst Bridge Club
CICBA Guernsey
Clare Bridge Club
Clevedon & Portishead Bridge Club
Colchester Bridge Club
Derbyshire
Deva Bridge Club
Dorset
Exeter Bridge Club
Farnborough Bridge Club
Folkestone Bridge Club
Gerrards Cross Bridge Club
Halifax Bridge Club
Hants & IOW
Harlow Knights Bridge Club
Harpenden Bridge Club
Harrogate Bridge Club
Hemel Hempstead Bridge Club
Heritage Coast
Hitchin Bridge Club
Horsham Bridge Club
Hungerford Bridge Club
Hutton Bridge Club
Ipswich & Kesgrave Bridge Club
Kent
Leeds Bridge Club
Lines Bridge Club, Saffron Walden
Marlborough Bridge Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Meridian Bridge Club
Naphill & Lane End Bridge Clubs
Ned Paul Bridge Club
New Amersham Bridge Club
North Devon Bridge Clubs
Norwich Bridge School
Nottingham
Oswestry Bridge Club
Ottery St.Mary Bridge Club
Oxford
Oxford Bridge Club
Patcham Bridge Club
Phyllis Court Bridge Club
Pinner Bridge Club
Plymouth Bridge Club
Ripon City Bridge Club
Somerset
Southend and Leigh Bridge Club
St Albans Bridge Club
St Martins and Manor Bridges Clubs, Guernsey
Stansfield Bridge Club
Stratford-upon-Avon Bridge Club
Stretford Bridge Club
Stroud Bridge Club
Suffolk
Swindon Bridge Club
Tessa Templeton's School of Bridge
The Garden Room Bridge Club
Thurs Eve Bridge Club, Tunbridge Wells
Torquay Bridge Club
Tyler Hill Bridge Club
Upminster & Cranham Bridge Club
Wallingford Bridge Club
Watford and Bushey Bridge Club
Welwyn Garden City Bridge Club
Woodberry Bridge Club
Young Chelsea Bridge Club
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| Interview with Sue Foggatt |
Last week membership trainer and consultant, Sue Froggatt was interviewed about how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting membership organisations.
During the interview she reflected on how it has impacted her personally with regard to playing bridge.
The section relating to bridge can be found by skipping to the time of 25:20.
Watch here: https://player.vimeo.com/video/412725573
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| EBED – Chief Executive Officer |
After three years setting up and establishing EBED as a charity and the national body with responsibility for bridge education, our current Chief Executive’s term is ending in the Autumn. We are now seeking an inspirational leader with the necessary skills to be able to take the charity on to the next stage of its development after an orderly handover. View EBED Chief Executive role profile, if you would like further details or are interested in applying for the role, please contact EBED’s Chair by email andy@ebedcio.org.uk. Applications should be submitted by 31st May 2020.
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| Spring 2020 Club Management Focus newsletter now available |
The Spring 2020 edition of the Club Management Focus Newsletter is now available.
It contains news, articles to help you in the running of your clubs, details of forthcoming events, and important information about club administration. If you need any advice, or have any suggestions for issues you would like covered in the next newsletter, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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| Graham Smith Steps Down as Board Member |
Graham Smith has decided to stand down from the Board of the EBU with immediate effect, for positive personal reasons. Chairman Ian Payn said "We thank Graham for all his efforts over the last five years, particularly his work on the EBU shop (now the "warehouse") and with developing the County Working Groups. His common sense and sense of humour will be much missed."
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| Online Bridge - How to get started Course - Bringing your Bridge online |
Following EBED's successful series of on-line tutorials which have been viewed by 1000's, EBED are now launching a new course to assist the whole bridge community in bringing their bridge activity online.
The NEW 1 day Online Bridge - How to get started course will give you all the skills you need to easily access all your usual bridge activities while in 'lock down'.
The course will teach you :
- WHAT ONLINE BRIDGE CAN DO FOR YOU
- How to use - WEB CONFERENCING SOFTWARE
- How to use - NO FEAR BRIDGE AND BLUE CHIP BRIDGE
- How to use - BRIDGE BASE ONLINE
- How to use - FUN BRIDGE
- How to use - BRIDGE CLUB LIVE
The course is taking place on Wednesday 13th May 2020 and places are very limited as we want to ensure all attendees are given the support they need to be able to confidently continue their bridge activity online. EBED are also offering the first course at a subsidised rate of just £75.00 per person.
BOOK NOW to avoid disappointment either via MyEBU utilities / book events / online bridge - how to get started or by emailing jacqueline@ebedcio.org.uk.
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| April Online Competition |
April's competition for our online games, hosted by Funbridge, has concluded.
In the main April matchpoints ladder, Dominic Connolly finished top of the leader board. His best six scores in the month averaged 67.5%, and he wins £30. Second place was claimed by Olivier La Spada with an average score of 67.33%, he wins £20. There were also cash prizes for third to fifth places.
In the handicap ladder, for the players whose scores exceed their NGS by the greatest amount. Anne Hawkins finished top of the leader board over the top six games, with a handicap score of 11.03, winning £25. The second place prize went to Paul Hawkins with a score of 10.36. There were also prizes for third and fourth place.
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| EBED LIVE TUTORIALS |
Full video of the 1st live tutorial hosted by EBED - Teaching Bridge Online
Full video of the 2nd live tutorial hosted by EBED - Handling multiple tables
Full video of the 3rd live tutorial hosted by EBED - Bridge Club Live - New users guide
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| Online Bridge Games |
In the current circumstances with bridge clubs closed and events cancelled, many of our members are thinking of playing online bridge. Some will already be familiar with what is available but here is some information to help those who do not already play online, pointing them in the right direction to investigate the various options. This replaces the pre-COVID-19 information about online bridge.
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| EBU Virtual Bridge Clubs and why we need online bridge |
New blog post from Membership Development Officer Tim Anderson, looking at the need for virtual bridge clubs during this current time:
"These are hard times for bridge clubs, and speaking personally I greatly miss the bridge sessions we enjoyed before the UK went into “social distancing” lockdown. None of what follows is meant to suggest that playing bridge online is a perfect substitute for the enjoyment of playing face to face at a club, and I very much hope we can get back to doing that safely before too long."
Read more at Membership Development Blog
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| EBED book and product orders |
During the C19 crisis and while the Bridge Warehouse remains closed, EBED will be selling all EBED publications including Bridge for All books directly to our teachers and students in order to assist you. EBED will be processing orders ONCE A MONTH which will be dispatched during the first week of the month using the following procedure:
- Place your order via email to lisa@ebedcio.org.uk by Friday 1st May
- Please state your name, phone number, delivery address and details of what you‘d like to order
- Lisa will call you to take payment on Monday 4th May
- Your order will be sent out following payment
Unfortunately, EBED are unable to take orders for books and products via the bridge warehouse at this time.
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| Fantastic New Initiative from Bridge Base Online |
New - A fantastic initiative from Bridge Base Online - SYG - A day long tournament between Thursday 23rd April and Sunday 26th April, specifically to raise funds for bridge organisations who have been affected by the Covid 19 restrictions. English Bridge Education & Development (EBED) are the first organisation within the bridge community to receive this support from BBO!
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| EBED Communication on Tutorials |
Open invitation to all Bridge Teachers, Clubs & County Associations
English Bridge Education & Development (EBED) are working hard to provide fast support and learning to the whole bridge community. We are dedicated to enabling all, to embrace new ways to continue our work, hobbies and social interactions.
Thank you to all who attended the live tutorial held last Tuesday where we covered Handling multiple tables, followed by a live Q & A session. For those of you who were unable to attend the Zoom meeting or access the live stream on social media, a full recording can be found here.
The third free tutorial - BRIDGE CLUB LIVE – A NEW USERS GUIDE will be held on Tuesday 28th April at 11.00 am.
If you wish to take part or even just view the EBED tutorials, please download and sign up for Zoom here https://zoom.us/. The EBED tutorials and Zoom are available at no cost but if you would like to make a donation to the charity, you can do so here.
If you haven’t used Zoom before, I would suggest that if you have time over the weekend, you watch a few of the Zoom video tutorials available here, or try using Zoom with family or friends.
N.B. If you are unable to join Zoom live because the maximum number of participants has been reached or you do not wish to take part in the live Q & A session, you can access the tutorial via live steaming on EBED’s Facebook page using the link below. A recording of the tutorial will be posted to all EBED social media platforms during the afternoon of 28th April and links will be made available on both the EBED and EBU websites.
Visit EBED's Facebook page: 
To join the EBED Zoom tutorial on Tuesday 28th April, please click on the link below.
Topic: BRIDGE CLUB LIVE – A NEW USERS GUIDE
Time: Apr 28, 2020 11:00 AM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/93367164499?pwd=SVdDRjNvQXBkL0h1RHFzUTc3OXdMQT09
Meeting ID: 933 6716 4499
Password: 5QDX92
EBED are really looking forward to seeing many of our community members on-line with us next week as we enable the continuation of all our bridge activities together at home.
#TogetherAtHome
Kind regards,
Donna Wright
Chief Executive Officer
English Bridge Education & Development
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| A Word from the Chairman |
It has been pointed out to me that I have been silent on matters which concern us all for a while, and that it’s time for what has facetiously been referred to internally as “another sermon from the mount”. I hasten to add that I am aware that this is not a universally held view: the correspondent who wrote “please, just stop”, will no doubt be disappointed by the appearance of this piece, but needs, I’m afraid, must.
Although the circumstances around us offer precious little by way of hope and encouragement (the latest statements warning us that social distancing will be in place until the end of the year are not words of comfort to bridge clubs, counties and the EBU) we are all doing what we can. Players are dipping their toes into the on-line world, clubs are helping them, and we are helping clubs (and so are a small army of willing volunteers). The Board of the EBU are meeting regularly, and so are our re-start sub-committee, a core group dedicated to making sure that when we come back into action we come back swinging. Notes of Zoom meetings of these bodies will be on-line, available for perusal at leisure.
Zoom, and other forms of face-to-face communication across the ether, are proving a godsend for many of us, both in business and at home: it’s much more pleasant, when you don’t see anyone during the normal run of events, to see them on-line rather than just hear them down a telephone line (and yes, I know mobiles don’t have lines, but the concept remains).
One thing that might interest you (which I am shamelessly nicking from the restart sub-committee) is that this might be a good time to teach captive audiences how to play either minibridge or bridge. Got a couple of sullen teenagers hanging around doing nothing? Get them round the table, using threats if necessary (and threats are always necessary with sullen teenagers) and teach them to play bridge. They’ll be grateful to you for life. Almost certainly. You can even teach a group remotely, provided you can get them to sit round their kitchen table. In a way, it’ll be almost like the old days, only with broadband.
If I occasionally appear to make light of matters, it doesn’t mean that I’m unaware of the threats faced by the smallest clubs all the way up, yes, to the EBU. The longer the hiatus, the less income, at every level. We’re conserving our cash wherever it is sensible to do so, but at every level hard decisions have to be made, and doubtless will be. I hope that I don’t sound too fatuous in quoting a recent occupant of Number Ten: we’re all in this together. A lot of people at the time (and, indeed, subsequently) thought he didn’t mean it. I do. We’re here to help, now and hopefully in the future. When it looks as though bridge clubs can throw their doors open again, we’ll be there, with advice, encouragement and maybe every now and then, a shoulder to cry on. We have to accept the situation we’re in, but we needn’t dwell on it. Indeed, to do so is dangerous, because we all have to decide what our strategic aims are for emerging from the year of the virus.
I don’t know about you, but although today may seem bleak and depressing, I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring.
Onwards!
Ian Payn, Chairman EBU.
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| Bridge and the impact of Covid-19 |
A new bridge research project as part of the Bridge: A MindSport for All work, is looking for participants to share their experience of bridge in this time of Covid-19.
BAMSA say:
Whilst we recognise that the health consequences of Covid-19 are by far the most important and distressing, there are also significant economic and social impacts. Government guidance to stay at home and engage in social distancing means that our everyday lives have been massively disrupted. Covid-19 is impacting the bridge community in a range of ways, and these changes regarding bridge may be, to differing degrees, positive or negative. This piece of sociological research, aims to understand the diverse issues that the bridge community is currently facing and how it is responding (or not) to these.
If you are interested in participating, please see here for more details. Anyone involved in bridge is welcome to share their views. In due course, the findings will be freely available and the final report will be sent to all participants (unless requested not to).
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| Lockdown League won by Mike Bell's Team |
The new Lockdown League Season One has been won by the team of Mike Bell, Sarah Bell, Michael Byrne, Kieran Dyke, Ben Norton and Nicola Smith. They won 9 of their 13 matches, and finished with an average of 13.43 VPs. The structure was a round robin of 8 board matches.
The results from each division can be found here.
Season Two will begin on Monday April 27th, following the same format. Information will be sent out to captains this Friday, 24th April.
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| Welcome New Board Member Kiat Huang |
The EBU Board is delighted to announce that it has co-opted Kiat Huang to join its number. Kiat's responsibilities will include IT. He is also a member of the Midland Counties Working Group and a good county player.
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| EBED Tutorial 2 |
English Bridge Education and Development are hosting a second tutorial for bridge teachers on Tuesday. See their announcement for more information.
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| EBU Online Games- Ethics |
Some members are concerned at the possibility of cheating when playing online. This possibility does exist in all online games (as in face-to-face games), but there are a number of things that can be done to minimise the risk.
The ACBL have successfully been running online games with masterpoints for many years, and their experience is that the scope for underhand behaviour is severely limited by having strict time limits per round, having a live TD on-site, and having a record logged of all bids, plays and exactly who took how long for each action.
We also note that these online results are linked to the players’ real offline presences too – they aren’t just anonymous statistics, but are people playing in the same games as others who they may know in real life. So while it might be possible for someone to do something underhand on a one-off basis (as they could in a club, with an accomplice), it’s unlikely that they could repeat it many times without their actions seeming strange enough that we would challenge them about it and indeed this is what we do.
Let us be clear: cheating is cheating whether online or in a face-to-face game, and it will be subject to the same disciplinary processes, the same sanctions and the same possibility of being named publicly if convicted.
BBO also has their own ethics department (abuse@bridgebase.com) which investigates and deals with all such matters that are raised with it, and apply sanctions of their own.
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| EBED Tutorial No.1 - Using Zoom and BBO to assist with teaching online |
Full video of the live tutorial hosted by EBED on the basics of how to use Zoom and BBO to continue the teaching of bridge students on-line.
EBED’s next live tutorial will take place on Tuesday 21st April at 11.00 am. Details of content will be released shortly.
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| Sim Pairs in support of the NHS |
To help support the NHS the Surrey County Bridge Association will be running an online Simultaneous Pairs event during from 27th April to 1st May. Each session will start at 10.00am and will consist of 21 boards. It is open to all EBU affiliated clubs, and all EBU members either individually or as a pair. Caterham Bridge Club have kindly agreed to host sessions for individuals and pairs that do not have access to a club that is participating. During the week of these games, the EBU Fast Games at High Noon will start at 12:45pm to allow members to play in both games if they wish.
This is a non-profit making activity for the SCBA. The entry fee will be £6 per person per session but after covering our costs all of the balance will go to NHS Charities Together
The sessions will be run on Bridge Base Online (BBO) which is free to join and free to play.
To participate as a club you will need to have a BBO accredited TD/Tournament Organiser. If you are able to call on the services of such a person and wish to participate in this as a club then please contact: tonycherrettbridge@gmail.com.
To participate as a pair or as an individual and not part of a club then please register via the SCBA website where you will also find joining and payment instructions.
This is our first experience of anything like this but we feel the cause cannot be ignored. We have no idea what we are letting ourselves in for, so if we are swamped with entries, as I hope we will be, please bear with us.
Trevor Hobson
Chairman – Surrey County Bridge Association
For any further information please contact me at: trevor_hobson@hotmail.com
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| EBU Lockdown League Season Two |
We are now welcoming new teams to the EBU Lockdown League Season Two. If you would like to enter, please send your team details to charlie@ebu.co.uk by midday, Friday 17th April. We will assume existing teams will continue to play in their current iterations, unless we are informed otherwise, if you wish to change your team, please email charlie@ebu.co.uk.
New teams must be sent with the following details:
- EBU number
- Name
- BBO Username
Please note if none of your team members have either:
- More than 100 logins
- Been a BBO member for fewer than 2 weeks
So that we can fix any administrative issues for creating team matches as both of these are pre-requisites.
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| Tony Verran wins BBO Easter Ladder |
Over the Easter weekend we held a ladder competition on BBO. The event was a great success, with well over 1,000 people taking part (along with over a hundred robots).
Tony Verran finished top, with an average score of 67.65 from his top six scores. In joint second place, Eduard Malhasyan and Mobin Rahman finished with an average score of 66.25.
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| Update on Online Activity |
Information is available about the various ways in which members can play bridge online, including in our own EBU games on BBO. Our latest addition has been a daily “Fast Game at High Noon” with 12 boards played in an hour for $1.50.
For those who would like to learn as well as playing, renowned teacher Bernard Magee is offering free-online bridge sessions in live streams at 11am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. A mixture of seminar, information and chat, with quizzes, hands, etc. with the aim of having fun and learning a little.
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| European National Team Championships Postponed |
Due to the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, the EBL has announced the postponement of the European National Team Championships from its scheduled date in June.
Therefore each championship for the Mixed, Open, Seniors and Women's teams, have also been postponed. The events will be rescheduled when possible and new details will be made available once the dates have been fixed.
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| First for Bridge Malta Congress |
We are delighted to announce that from February 2021 we have a new partnership with First For Bridge, who will be running our overseas congresses and organising accommodation for our competitions in England.
Our first overseas congress with First for Bridge will take place in Malta, from 3rd - 9th February 2021. The holiday is being held at the wonderful Db San Antonio Hotel & Spa, in the heart of Qawra, on the North of the Island.
Given the current climate you may just wish to register an interest with First for Bridge and confirm your travel plans at a later date.
Arrangements for our existing events for the rest of the year and in January 2021 will continue to be provided by Bridge Overseas.
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| EBU Games on Bridgebase Online (BBO) |
We now run five 12-board games on BBO every day, all of which give master points and are processed for the NGS. The "Fast Game at High Noon" is played at 5 minutes a board for those who like to play faster than our usual games (NB this will start at 12.45pm during the week commencing 27th April to avoid clashing with the sim pairs organised by Surrey).
The remaining games are played at a gentler 7 minutes a board and start at 2pm, 3:30pm, 7:30pm and 9pm. They cost $1.50, of which 50c per game will go to a fund for our clubs. We intend to use this to reduce the affiliation fees when they become due in August. Players should note that buying BB$ through an app using Apple or Google incurs a surcharge, so it is cheaper to buy them directly from Bridgebase in a web browser.
We have a guide to starting playing on BBO available and so too do BBO themselves. Results from these games can be found on the Bridgebase site through our online results page.
The games are match-pointed pairs, so you will need a partner, although there is a partnership desk if you have not organised to play with anyone, or you could pay to have a robot as a partner.
We have information available on the following topics:
A couple of final things to note are that BBO games work using self-alerting, so do have a quick look at the information we have provided about that. It is helpful if you give a brief summary of your methods to your opponents at the start of each round.
That same document tells you how to call the TD during a tourney, which you should do if you have an adjustment on an unfinished board that you wish to question. You can also message the TD within 20 minutes of the end of a game for the same reason - click on the TD's name in the messeges you will have received during the game.
There have been some questions about the size of master point awards given in these games. Since nearly all our games are larger than the “theoretical top”, because they have more than 25 tables, the size of the awards of master points are reduced as described in the Licensing and Master Point Handbook and so they are lower than that indicated by the simple calculation done by the BBO software.
Paul Gipson has written a guide to BBO here, which you may find useful. There is also further information about the BBO rules here. Remember it is important to be friendly and social - just like at your normal club.
Enjoy your games and please be tolerant and patient with those who may be finding their way around online bridge for the first time.
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| Update from EBED for EBTA Teachers and on Club Teacher Training courses |
EBED has published help and guidance for bridge teachers to assist in moving their teaching on-line. Members of the English Bridge Teachers Association (EBTA) can access the information via the Teacher Zone accessible through your MyEBU page. It contains advice on setting up on-line teaching tables and help on web conferencing including a review of the various platforms available. EBTA members can also contact Jacks Morcombe at jacqueline@ebedcio.org.uk or Lorna Watson at lorna@ebedcio.org.uk for further assistance in this area if required.
Although we have had to postpone a number of our Club Teacher Training courses whilst the current Covid-19 restrictions remain in place, we are trialing the delivery of an on-line version of the course later this month to allow our training programme to continue. If the trial proves successful, we will aim to offer additional dates when we can.
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| Club Grants |
For the last few years the EBU has had a scheme whereby clubs could apply for financial assistance for up to half the cost of items of capital expenditure that they would otherwise have difficulty affording, as described in last year’s information about the scheme.
It was intended that the scheme would run again this year on the same basis and today is when we would have been inviting applications. However, the current situation with COVID-19 means that we have decided not to do so this April. Not only are the EBU’s finances under great pressure in the current climate, but it is also unlikely that many clubs will consider capital expenditure to be their priority right now. We hope that clubs and members will understand this decision and we hope to be able to reintroduce the scheme at an appropriate time when the current situation is behind us.
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| March Online Competition |
March's competition for our online games, hosted by Funbridge, has concluded.
In the main March matchpoints ladder, David Dawson finished top of the leader board. His best six scores in the month averaged 67.95%, and he wins £30. Second place was claimed by Dominic Connolly with an average score of 65.83%, he wins £20. There were also cash prizes for third to fifth places.
In the handicap ladder, for the players whose scores exceed their NGS by the greatest amount. Paul Hawkins finished top of the leader board over the top six games, with a handicap score of 10.25, winning £25. The second place prize went to Bryn Smith with a score of 7.76. There were also prizes for third and fourth place.
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| Liz Clery wins Quarterly Online IMPs Ladder |
The inaugural quarterly IMP competition for our online games, hosted by Funbridge, has concluded.
For the first quarter January to March, Liz Clery finished top of the leader board. She scored 361 IMPs from the total of her best six games, and she wins £30. Second place was claimed by Matthew Covill with a score of 358 IMPs, he wins £20. There were also cash prizes for third to fifth places.
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| April issue of English Bridge out now |
The April 2020 issue of English Bridge is out now and will be delivered to eligible members in the next few days.
We hope you enjoy it, though you will note that most of it was written before the current situation with COVID-19 developed. The April issue was sent to our printers prior to the escalation of the current pandemic situation. With this in mind, there are some competitions mentioned in this issue that have now been cancelled.
We would also like to take this opportunity to inform you that due to the current situation, the June issue of English Bridge will be sent online only. We will keep you informed of any further updates via the EBU site and email.
Camrose Trophy
David Bird talks through some of the hands from this year's Camrose Trophy, page 46.
Junior Camrose & Peggy Bayer
Laura Covill looks at the ups and downs of the youth teams as Wales hosted this year's Junior Camrose & Peggy Bayer, page 52.
Basic Acol Quiz
Sarah Bell has written a fantastic quiz which will test your knowledge on the basics of Acol bidding. This is a must-read for all players looking to become fluent in Acol, page 6.
The 2020/2021 Members' Diary
Please remember if you wish to receive a diary with the August issue of English Bridge you will need to positively OPT IN and have enough magazine points by 15TH JUNE
The best and easiest way to opt-in is by changing the setting on your account on My EBU. Click on 'account' in the top right corner, select 'My details', and then in the 'account setting' section of the page, under the magazine/diary preference option use the drop down list to choose your preferred setting.
We believe this is the environmentally and financially responsible action to take in order to eliminate waste. If you do still wish to receive the diary, then please opt in and we will be very happy to send one to you. If you no longer require a paper copy of the magazine and are happy to read it solely online, you can also amend your preferences in My EBU account setting, or by letting us know.
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| Chairman's Message - Lockdown Blues |
Well, we’re not quite 100% locked down, but it feels like it. The streets are deserted, supermarkets are counting people in and out, and we’re getting used to speaking to people from six feet away. This, in time, will pass. The world we wake up to will be different from the world we know. We will have got used to a different type of behaviour, and to doing different things.
For many of you, the temporary loss of bridge from your lives will be a great blow. Oddly, my regular partners seem to be showing signs of relief rather than anything else, but that’s by the way. Nothing can replace the feeling of actually going to a bridge club. The friends, the enemies, sitting down, hearing the director announce the movement (prior to changing it five minutes later when the latecomers arrive), and then finally leaning forward to pull the cards from the board for the first hand of the evening. What will it be? A scattered eight count? A respectable opener or – really? So many points that it takes you three goes to count them? Then, as the evening progresses, bemoaning your bad luck during the tea break, and finally waiting for the results.
That’s what we can’t have now, that’s what is going to be missing from our lives for the next few months.
We’re doing our best to find ways to help eat away at the boredom until we can all get back to normal.
We have an on-line league
We have a general guide to on-line bridge
We have a user guide for the neophyte
And we have an excellent piece from Tim Anderson, our Membership Development Officer
As you will probably have seen elsewhere on the web site, numbers continue to rise and on Tuesday 24th March we had 64 tables for one of our games on BBO. The price of our BBO games is going up to $1.50 but 50c of that will be going directly to clubs – we intend to do this by reducing the club affiliation fee which will particularly benefit smaller clubs.
We are looking at doing something extra over the Easter weekend. At the moment we think that will probably be a ladder, with some extra master points. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to run Swiss Teams, but we may have some extra IMP pairs games.
A number of clubs have managed to run their own club-only games, using BBO-approved directors. This, of course, is an excellent idea if you can manage it.
One of the ways I’m personally keeping sane during a period of near-lockdown and working from home is not to count upwards (One day in isolation. Two. Three…) but to count down. I have decided, completely arbitrarily, that the current full lockdown will be lifted on April 30th. Consequently, this isn’t Day 7 at home, it’s T minus 35. If the lockdown lasts longer, I’ll just set myself a new target. Try it, it has a surprisingly beneficial effect. Just think, it’s T minus 90 days until you’ll be able to go back to the bridge club, and have another crack at your lifetime nemesis, who always has the luck of the very Devil when he plays against you…
Stay safe, stay sane.
Ian Payn
Chairman, EBU
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| Schapiro Spring Foursomes Postponed |
We are sorry to announce that due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic the decision has been made to postpone the Schapiro Spring Foursomes. We hope we may be able to run it later in the year.
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| British Spring Sim Pairs Cancelled |
We are sorry to announce that due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic the decision has been made to cancel the British Spring Sim Pairs.
Please don’t throw away and don't open the booklets that you have already received, as we may use them at the later date. Please don't worry if our website still showing your entry.
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| NICKO, Hubert Phillips, Gerard Faulkner, Silver Plate, Crockfords Cup |
The following arrangements have been announced in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, for the above competitions.
1. Cancellations of previously agreed match dates since the coronavirus pandemic broke will not result in matches being awarded to either side.
2. All play-by dates are being extended. When social distancing recommendations are relaxed sufficiently to enable face to face bridge to resume, new deadlines will be announced. These will give captains approximately four weeks from then to arrange matches for the current round, but with more generous than usual provisions for extensions. Subsequent rounds will have play-by dates on a slightly tighter timetable than usual to allow some catching up, but again with more generous than usual provisions for extensions.
3. Do please play online if you can. It is accepted that this is not for everyone, although it seems probable that there will be quite a lot of players playing online in the current situation who have not done so previously. Please refer to the Online Match Regulations for further information. If you are concerned about security, you can always use Skype or equivalent, so that each player has a video connection to one of his opponents at the table.
For the Crockfords Cup, along with the above arrangements, a decision will be made at a later date as to whether there is time for the two remaining knockout rounds in both Crockfords Cup and Crockfords Plate to be completed in time for the scheduled 8-team finals on 5th - 6th September, or whether the finals weekend will have to be re-scheduled.
For all of the above competitions (NICKO, Hubert Phillips, Gerard Faulkner, Silver Plate, Crockfords Cup) the entry deadline for the 2020/21 competition is being extended indefinitely. New closing dates will be announced in due course.
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| Keeping your bridge club alive in difficult times |
New blog post from Membership Development Officer Tim Anderson, talking about "Keeping your bridge club alive in difficult times". Read the full blog post here.
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| COVID-19 - Further cancellations and update |
Things are moving apace. Yesterday's Board meeting was cancelled, instead, the Officers met, the Board having formally devolved dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, and having decided some pressing ongoing issues via e-mail.
The Officers have decided to cancel the following finals:
- The Corwen
- The Pachabo
- The Garden Cities
All of which follow fairly rapidly on each other's heels.
We are not necessarily only doing this because we fear extending our period of blanket cancellations: we are also aware that many counties have yet to play their heats, and will find it impossible to do so.
It's a shame that these events and others will not be taking place this year, but if alongside the date 2020 in the future honour roles "Did not take place" is written, well, that just means we have something in common with the Eurovision Song Contest, which is finally facing its Waterloo.
A further decision made yesterday was that we will not be taking the annual club subs by Direct Debit in April. It's only a modest sum for clubs but we don't want to be taking payments out when clubs are closed and finances might be at a low ebb. We can sort all that out later.
Finally, the County Chairman's Meeting in May is cancelled. There are too many people coming from too far away.
Further decisions will be made as and when they come up. You will, of course, be informed.
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| National Swiss Teams and Jersey Congresses Cancelled |
We are sorry to announce that due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic the decision has been made to cancel the National Swiss Teams Congress, due to take place 2nd to 3rd May and the Lambourne Jersey Festival on 24th April - 3rd May. Please be aware that other events may be subject to change. Other events that have been postponed are:
The Portland Pairs; The Really Easy Spring Break; The Mixed Olympiad Trials; The Northern Easter Festival; The Easter Festival; The National Pairs Final.
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| Updated information about Coronavirus |
In the light of increasing concerns about the increasing spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) the Board of the EBU has decided to postpone its own events, and revise its guideline/advice for counties, clubs and members.
Postponed Events
The Portland Pairs; The Really Easy Spring Break; The Mixed Olympiad Trials; The Northern Easter Festival; The Easter Festival.
Further postponements may be announced in time. Where possible, we will reschedule events.
Knockout matches will have deadlines extended on request or teams may choose to play matches online, using the existing arrangements.
Advice to Counties/Clubs and Members
Counties. County events, because of their nature, we strongly recommend cancellation.
Clubs we advise to follow government/PHE instructions. If you are unable to comply for whatever reason (inability to observe social distancing, inadequate sanitation then we strongly advise closure pro tem). Clubs with cramped premises and no scope for even the most rudimentary social distancing must also beware of the dangers they face. Ironically, larger clubs must also be willing to make tough decisions because of the sheer number of people they have through the door.
Members. Follow government/PHE advice, do not attend if showing any symptoms.
We all know two things. Cards and bidding boxes are major likely sources of infection, and our demographic includes many people at high risk. It is in view of this, that the Board has made this decision about its own events and made the advice to counties, clubs and members more robust.
Ian Payn
EBU Chairman
*Information about online games
Some of our members will already play in the games on Bridge Club Live and Funbridge. Others may wish to investigate these, or play in the free games on Bridge Base Online in preparation for the EBU games that we expect to be starting there soon.
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| Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer 2020 |
The Junior Camrose Trophy and the Peggy Bayer Trophy take place this weekend, 14th - 16th February in Newport, South Wales.
The Junior Camrose Trophy is contested between England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland with the participants being under the age of 26. The Peggy Bayer Trophy will be contested between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland with the participants being under the age of 21. The Welsh Bridge Union have generously invited two teams for both competitions from England.
Watch all the action on Bridge Base Online, starting from 7pm on Friday.
The England and EBU teams are as follows: read more
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| Rome Congress Results |
The Overseas Congress in Rome, sponsored by Bridge Overseas, concluded yesterday.
Sarah Jones & Susan Dunnett (pictured here) were top in the Swiss Pairs, finishing with 132 VPs. Peter Cardiff & Gilly Cardiff were second with 130 VPs, and Charles Bucknell & Linda Benneworth were third with 124 VPs.
In the Swiss Teams, the Fontes team - Adrian Fontes, Mike Fithyan, Maria Budd & Mark Westley - finished in first place on 69 VPs. The team of Pauline Cohen, Elizabeth Barnard, Charles Bucknell & Linda Benneworth were just 2 VPs behind in second place.
The other winners at the congress were: Read more
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| NICKO Plate |
The NICKO Plate - the 'consolation' competition for teams losing in the early rounds of the National Inter Club Knock Out - has been won by Leeds C.
The Leeds C team (pictured, from left: Alan Hayward (capt), Alan Jarvis, Tom Cohen and Phil Morrison) beat Oxford B (Matthew Covill, Emily Middleton, Diana Nettleton and Mary-Ann Sheehy) by 115-80 on Saturday 8th February.
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| Hinden Team wins European Mixed Trials |
The trials to represent England in the 2020 European National Mixed Teams Championship, has been won by the Hinden team.
The winning team (pictured, left to right: Kay Preddy, Michael Byrne, Frances Hinden, Graham Osborne, Heather Dhondy and Joe Fawcett) topped the four team round robin section of the trial with 86.78 VPs, with the Seale team (Ian Pagan, Catherine Seale, Neil Rosen and Anne Rosen) in second place. The Hinden and Seale team then competed in a head to head final, with the Seale team conceding after 64 boards.
The 2020 European National Mixed Teams Championship, will be held from the 21st to 27th June 2020, in Funchal, Madeira.
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| New Board Member and Vacancy |
The EBU Board is delighted to announce that it has co-opted Patrick Shields to join its number. Patrick's responsibilities will include shaping strategy. He is also Chairman of the Midland Counties Working Group, and a player of some distinction.
The Board has a vacancy for another co-opted member, and is interested in applications from members with a current or recent IT background. Please apply with relevant CV to Gordon@ebu.co.uk before 5pm on February 14th.
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| Young Bridge Challenge Entries Open |
Entries for the Young Bridge Challenge is open.
The Young Bridge Challenge is a historic annual schools cup competition hosted by EBED. It is a one-day bridge event for school-aged players of all experience levels.
More information including the online entry form can be found at https://www.ebedcio.org.uk/ybc. It is completely FREE to enter, and entries of single players or pairs are also welcomed.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Giles Ip via e-mail giles@ebedcio.org.uk. You can also phone 01296 317228.
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| Online Knockout Teams Entries Extended |
Entries for the Online Knockout Teams, the knockout event played exclusively online, have been extended to a date to be confirmed.
The competition is for teams of four to six, all of whom are members of their own federation and a majority of one of the ‘home unions’. There is also a Plate competition, available for teams that lose their first match, so everyone is guaranteed at least two matches.
Entry is £33 per team, with prices for juniors at 50% pro rata.
If you would like to enter, the easiest way to do so is online through MyEBU. You can also call 01296 317203/19, email comps@ebu.co.uk.
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| Max Bavin |
We were saddened to learn of the sudden death of Max Bavin. He became the Chief Tournament Director of the EBU in 1986, at which point he was already directing at both European and World championships. He then became CTD of the World Bridge Federation in 2003. Max left the EBU at the end of 2012, and retired from his role with the EBL and the WBF a few years ago.
His long time friends John Williams, Antonio Riccardi and Eitan Levy have written heartfelt obituaries.
He will be sadly missed and we send our condolences to his family.
There is also a personal note from WBF President Gianarrigo Rona on the WBF website.
The funeral will be at Bierton Crematorium on Mon 28th October at 2pm and afterwards at the Horse & Jockey. Max's son Ben has asked that anyone who would like to say a few words get in touch with him at ben.bavin@canaccord.com or via his Facebook page. A tribute webpage has also been set up in memory of Max.
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| Really Easy Weekend 3-5 April |
The next Really Easy Weekend is to take place at the Wroxton House Hotel, near Banbury on the 3rd - 5th April.
The hotel has 16 rooms left available at the special discounted package rate that the EBU has negotiated with them, please book with the hotel first before paying for your bridge either via your My EBU account or by emailing competitions at charlie@ebu.co.uk.
A bespoke package has been arranged at the Wroxton House Hotel. This includes dinner, bed and breakfast with sandwich lunch on Sunday. Tea and Coffee will be available after each dinner, during the daytime bridge sessions, and with Sunday lunch.
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| January Online Competition |
January's competition for our online games, hosted by Funbridge, has concluded.
In the main January matchpoints ladder, Olivier La Spada finished top of the leader board. His best six scores in the month averaged 66.71%, and he wins £30. Second place was claimed by Dominic Connolly with an average score of 64.55%, he wins £20. There were also cash prizes for third to fifth places.
In the handicap ladder, for the players whose scores exceed their NGS by the greatest amount. Paul Hawkins finished top of the leader board over the top six games, with a handicap score of 8.18, winning £25. The second place prize went to Wendy Nuttall with a score of 7.8. There were also prizes for third and fourth place.
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| Mossop Team wins Senior European Trials |
The trials to represent England in the senior competition of the 2020 European National Teams Championship, has been won by the Mossop Team.
The winning team of David Mossop (C), Brian Senior, Norman Selway, John Holland, Paul Hackett and Gunnar Hallberg, finished the weekend on 272 IMPs. They were 31 IMPs ahead of the Dhondy Team (Jeremy Dhondy (C), Brian Callaghan, David Kendrick, Alan Mayo, John Hassett and Trevor Ward).
The European National Teams Championship, will be held in Funchal, Madeira, from the 21st to 27th June 2020.
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| English Success in French Trials |
The final stage of the French Trials were held over the last weekend (24th-26th Jan) in which the French kindly invited 6 of the top English pairs to participate to aid their selection process.
Mike Bell and Ben Norton achieved the highest score over the first six matches, whilst Ankush Khandelwal and Ben Green achieved the highest score over the final six matches and overall amongst the English delegation
Thanks to the FFB for inviting our players and organising this hugely successful event.
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| Sarah Teshome & Catherine Jagger win Lady Milne Trials Final |
The Lady Milne Trials concluded this weekend, 25th - 26th January 2020 at the West Midlands Bridge Club. The winners were Sarah Teshome & Catherine Jagger who finished on +124 IMPs. In second place were Nicola Smith & Sarah Bell with +103.80 IMPs.
The pairs were competing to represent England in the Lady Milne Trophy - the home nations women's international championship, which will be hosted in Coventry in April. As hosts for the event this year, England are eligible to field two teams, which will be confirmed on Tuesday. The top six pairs were:
Update: The selections have now been confirmed. The top three pairs have been selected to represent England and the pairs placed 4th to 6th have been selected to represent the EBU.
- 1st - Sarah Teshome & Catherine Jagger
2nd - Nicola Smith & Sarah Bell
3rd - Anne Rosen & Nevena Senior
4th - Helen Erichsen & Fiona Brown
5th - Qian Li & Susanna Gross
6th - Claire Robinson & Heather Bakhshi
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| County Green Point Weekend |
As some events were unfortunately left out of the February issue of the English Bridge magazine, we would like to let you know of some of the upcoming County events.
The next County Green Pointed weekend is the 7th – 8th March 2020.
The following counties have events taking place:
If you have any queries about any of the events above then please contact the Counties directly.
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| Castner Team Wins National Point-a-Board |
The National Point-a-Board Teams has been won by the team of Phil King; Kevin Castner; Dessy Malakova and Stefan Skorchev (pictured, from left to right). Not pictured is Petar Ivanov, who also played for the team on the Saturday. They finished just 1 point ahead of Paul Hackett, David Mossop, John Sansom and Jason Hackett. The team of Peter Crouch, Anita Sinclair, Simon Cope and Tom Paske finished third.
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| February issue of English Bridge out now |
The February 2020 issue of English Bridge is out now and will be delivered to eligible members in the next few days.
EBU Awards
This issue details all the awards that were announced at the 2019 AGM. The awards are given in recognition of various members' contributions to bridge in England. Read all the details, starting on page 34.
Highs, lows and statistics from 2019
The EBU’s Michael Clark has pulled together great facts and figures showing the amazing feats some players achieved in 2019, page 29.
The 2020/2021 Members' Diary
Remember you need to OPT IN by 15TH JUNE if you would like a printed diary in August
The best and easiest way to opt-in is by changing the setting on your account on My EBU. Click on 'account' in the top right corner, select 'My details', and then in the 'account setting' section of the page, under the magazine/diary preference option use the drop down list to choose your preferred setting.
The online version, which contains extra content, is available via My EBU (use the 'Magazine' link in the top right corner of the My EBU webpage). More information on accessing and using the online version is available here.
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| Support our Junior Squad by playing in February's Sim Pairs event |
There is still time for your club to take part in the Sim Pairs, Monday 3rd/Tuesday 4th & Wednesday 5th/Thursday 6th February. Previously titled the Bridge England Sim Pairs, this event has been re-named the "Junior Squad Sim Pairs" to celebrate and promote junior bridge in England, with funds raised from the event going directly into the junior squad budgets. The event remains in the familiar fun format, suitable for everyone to play, not just juniors!
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| Brock & Brown win European Women's Trial - Stage 2 |
The second stage of the European Women's trial took place over the weekend and finished yesterday at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club.
Congratulations to the first and second placed pairs, pictured, from left Fiona Brown, Sally Brock, Sarah Bell and Nicola Smith.
Sally Brock & Fiona Brown finished in first place with 170.68 IPMs, and Nicola Smith & Sarah Bell who finished second with 58.34 IPMs.
Both pairs will take their place in the England team for the 2020 European Women’s Championship, to be held from the 20th to 27th June 2020, Funchal, Madeira. The EBU Selection Committee will also select a third pair to join them.
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| Junior Success at Scottish Winter Foursomes |
The Scottish Bridge Union generously invited the England Juniors to play in the Scottish Winter Fours 2020. The event is a double elimination knockout with consolation events. The England team were undefeated for the first two rounds, before losing to the eventual winners of the main event. They were then eliminated by the eventual runners up to the main event, before going on to come second in the subsidiary final. Congratulations to the team (pictured, left to right) Jonathan Clark, Ben Norton, Eshan Singhal and Kripa Panchagnula.
The EBU would like to thank the SBU for providing the Juniors with the opportunity to play in the Winter Fours.
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| British Winter Sim Pairs |
The first Simultaneous Pairs of 2020, the British Winter Simultaneous Pairs took place this week. All of the results and commentaries can be found via the links below. Master Points will be credited to the accounts of the top third of the field once the results are finalised in a few weeks' time.
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| World Bridge Games |
The World Bridge Games (formerly known as the Olympiad) have been announced to be held in Salsomaggiore, Italy from the 21st August to the 4th September.
The trials for our teams are as follows:
| Open Olympiad Trials: 13th - 17th March |
Entries close on February 14th |
| Mixed Olympiad Trials: 3rd - 7th April |
Entries close on March 19th |
| Senior Olympiad Trials: 24th – 28th April |
Entries close on April 9th |
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| Women’s Olympiad Trials: 22nd – 26th May |
Entries close on May 1st |
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Entry for each of the above events is £440 per team. Entries will be accepted from teams of four to six players, please email entries to charlie@ebu.co.uk.
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| EBL Women’s Newsletter |
The EBL Women’s Committee has begun 2020 by publishing their January information letter.
The newsletter is available on the EBL Website. It includes an article from the EBU's Tournament Director, Nicole Cook writing about her exciting adventures, both underwater and at the bridge table, as well as mentioning the achievements of our women’s team.
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| Bridge Team on Only Connect |
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Monday 13th January on BBC2 at 8pm sees the return of the team of bridge players taking on the challenging quiz show that is Only Connect.
Fresh from the Junior Squad, players Kyle Lam and Toby Nonnenmacher are joined by their non-bridge playing friend Isi Bogod, to form "The Suits", a team name suggested by the producers of the show in a nod to the bridge players. Hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell, the show consists of a tournament-type format in which teams compete by finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. The team are playing against the Electrophiles, who are all fans of electronic music and it is their last chance to make the quarter finals!
For more information about the show visit BBC2 - Only Connect.
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| Smith & Bell win Lady Milne Pre-Trials |
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The pre-trials to represent England in the Lady Milne have been won by Nicola Smith & Sarah Bell, they finished on +118.07 IMPs.
The top twelve pairs qualified for the trial, the remaining pairs to qualify were:
- First - Nicola Smith & Sarah Bell
Second - Sarah Teshome & Catherine Jagger
Third - Catherine Curtis & Christine Jepson
Fourth - Ewa Kater & Malgorzata Sawicka
Fifth - Claire Robinson & Heather Bakhshi
Sixth - Helen Erichsen & Fiona Brown
Seventh - Dinah Caplan & Catherine Draper
Eighth - Anne Rosen & Nevena Senior
Ninth - Sandy Davies & Carole Kelly
Tenth - Sally Brock & Gilly Cardiff
Eleventh - Qian Li & Susanna Gross
Twelfth - Lyn Fry & Lizzie Godfrey
Those qualifying pairs will compete in the remaining stage of the trial, which will take place on 25th-26th January, at the West Midlands Bridge Club.
The Lady Milne Trophy is set to take place 17th-19th April 2020 in Coventry.
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| British Winter Sim Pairs |
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The first Simultaneous Pairs of 2020 starts today with the British Winter Simultaneous Pairs. All of the results and commentaries will be updated throughout the week via the links below. Master Points will be credited to the accounts of the top third of the field once the results are finalised in a few weeks' time.
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| 2020 Camrose Trophy - 1st Weekend Results |
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The England team sit atop the table after the first weekend of the Camrose Trophy, the competition between the teams of the 'home nations'.
With an excellent start to the competition, the England team finished the weekend in Scotland, with 90.50 VPs. Ireland were second with 66.14 VPs, with hosts Scotland in third on 52.37 VPs.
Congratulations to the England team Janet De Botton & Artur Malinowski, David Bakhshi & Tom Townsend, Glyn Liggins & Alex Hydes, and NPC Peter Hasenson.
The final weekend takes place on 6th-8th March, in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
For full details of all results, visit the Camrose Page on the Scottish Bridge Union site.
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| Funbridge / World Bridge Survey Results |
In 2019, several major players of the bridge world collaborated to launch the largest bridge survey ever.
The aim of this survey was to establish the profile of the average bridge player and understand the reasons why this card game attracts millions of people around the globe.
Nearly 15,000 people have answered hundreds of questions such as "Why do you play bridge?", "Where do you play bridge?" and "Is bridge a sport?". Funbridge have broken the results into a wonderful infographic, highlighting all the collected answers. It is great to see two of the top ten desirable partners names were English women, Nicola Smith and Sally Brock.
You can read the full details on their website, here.
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| EBED Trustee Vacancy – Trustee Lead on Fundraising |
EBED are currently recruiting for a new trustee to join the Board during 2020. The successful applicant will take the lead on fundraising on behalf of the charity.
Trustee meetings are held four times a year and trustees may be asked to attend additional meetings on an ad hoc basis.
EBED would expect candidates to have the following attributes:
- A background of working in a fundraising role
- An understanding of successful Philanthropy
- Strong networking skills
- Excellent verbal and written communicator
If you would like to register your interest in this role or ask for further information, please email donna@ebedcio.org.uk
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| Robson & Gold win European Open Trials |
The European Open trials, which took place this past weekend, have been won by Andrew Robson & David Gold. They finished the trial with 133.69 IMPs, with Alex Hydes & Ben Handley-Pritchard in second place with 121.69 IMPs. These top two pairs, along with a third pair, to be selected, will represent England at the European Championships in June.
At the same time, the European Women's were taking place, with the top five placed pairs joining the three exempted pairs and competing at the final trail weekend later in the month.
The top five pairs to qualify for the final trial were:
- First - Diana Nettleton & Marusa Gold
Second - Pauline Cohen & Lizzie Godfrey
Third - Claire Robinson & Heather Bakhshi
Fourth - Debbie Sandford & Kath Stynes
Fifth - Kitty Teltscher & Nevena Senior
The final stage of the trial will take place on 17th - 20th January.
Full results - Open Trials, Women's Trials
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| Online Knockout Teams Entries Now Open |
Entries are now open for the Online Knockout Teams, the knockout event played exclusively online.
It is for teams of four to six, all of whom are members of their own federation and a majority of one of the ‘home unions’. There is also a Plate competition, available for teams that lose their first match, so everyone is guaranteed at least two matches.
Entry is £33 per team, with prices for juniors at 50% pro rata, closing date for entries is Monday 27th January.
The easiest way to enter is online through MyEBU. You can also call 01296 317203/19, email comps@ebu.co.uk.
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| Year End Congresses |
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The Year End Congresses in London and Blackpool have now completed.
The Jack High Swiss Pairs for players with a NGS grade of Jack or below was won by Virginia Crouch & Myra Tipping who finished one VP ahead of Sue Ford & Paul Wiltshire. They are pictured with Jerry Cope (EBU Treasurer).
The winners of the Swiss Pairs in London were Alex Hydes & Lynton Stock (pictured here) who won 9 out of their 11 matches to win by 11 VPs. The Mixed and Open Pairs the next day were won by Kevin Castner & Marusa Gold and Gunnar Hallberg & Phil King (pictured here) respectively. Kevin and Marusa scored over 70% in their first session and won by over 5% in the end; it was closer in the Open Pairs with Gunnar and Phil winning by a little over 1%. The Swiss Teams on the final day had 86 teams competing and was won by Black (Andrew Black, David Gold, Andrew McIntosh & Phil King) who finished on the same VP score as Brock (Sally Brock, Gilly Cardiff, Ed Scerri & Barry Myers) but won the title after the tie splitting procedures were applied.
In Blackpool the winners of the Mixed Pairs were Jeff Smith & Rhona Goldenfield and the winners of the Open Pairs were Ollie Burgess & Mark Weeks. The Swiss Pairs was won by John Dearing & Jeremy Stanforth who finished 3 VPs ahead of Paul De Weerd & John Large. Jeff and Rhona were victorious again in the Swiss Teams playing with Jackie Pye and John Holland, their team won 6 out of 7 matches to win by 17 VPs.
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| Channel Trophy |
The Channel Trophy in Utrecht, Netherlands took place this weekend. England was represented by three of our junior teams - the U26 Women, U26 and U21.
Congratulations to the U21 team who won their group; after losing their first match they won their next 5 matches to win just ahead of France. In the U26 Women group France won comfortably but England finished just ahead of Netherlands and Belgium to claim 2nd place. The U26 team had a tough weekend and despite winning two matches finished last in their group.
Full results are available here.
The teams were:
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| 2019 High Scores |
People liked this last year, so we thought we'd take another end-of-year look through the statistical highs (and lows) of the year's bridge.
As with 2018, there was only one pair to manage a 90%+ card this year - Natasha Romaine and Phil Thompson, playing at Belper Bridge Club on 25th January. They couldn't quite top last year's score of 92.50%, but they won't have been too disappointed with 90.18%.
Natasha and Phil only played 16 boards, which makes it a little bit easier to score big. The pair with the highest score who played 20+ boards was Tony Cherrett and Phil Harris at Caterham Bridge Club on 30th August with a score of 86.25%.
In all, 21 pairs managed to score 80%+ over 20+ boards, so if you were one of the pairs that managed this - you're in rare company!
How about the biggest NGS improvement for a pair? Technically, that was a score of +40.36 against par, but it was a pivot teams and they only played 3 boards together, so probably shouldn't count. The largest jump for a mature grade in a normal session was Rachel Calvert and Sarah Pendarves, who beat par by +34.18 on a bridge holiday in January.
We don't want to look at the worst scores of the year (we were all beginners once!), but the biggest NGS drop of the year by a mature partnership was -34.05 against par!
For the strongest session of the year we couldn't manage to top last year's Open Trials, although the final of this year's trials in January may well do. The strongest EBU sessions (and strongest overall) were:
| 1 |
Premier League Division 1, October to November |
66.70 |
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European Open Trials Stage 2, November |
66.12 |
| 3 |
Crockfords Cup Final, August to September |
65.80 |
| 4 |
Four Stars A Final (Summer Meeting Teams), August |
65.51 |
| 5 |
National Point-A-Board Teams Final, January |
65.11 |
Outside of national events, by far the strongest bridge was played in the London Super League, organised by Nick Sandqvist at the Young Chelsea. They actually took the top 14 spots, but their strongest heat was 64.79.
The Super League attracts a lot of very strong teams, so let's also mention the strongest "normal" club evening which was a smallish teams night at New Amersham Bridge Club on 30th April. Their SOF was 61.44.
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| Young Chelsea L Team win NICKO |
The National Interclub Knockout has been won by Young Chelsea L Team.
The Young Chelsea L team (pictured, from left: Neil Rosen, James Thrower, Andrew McIntosh and Ali Ahmed) won by 11 IMPs in a tight match against Young Chelsea A team.
In addition to the players pictured, Joe Fawcett and Szczepan Smocynski played for the Young Chelsea L team in earlier rounds of the competition.
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| U16s Three Seas Trophy |
This past weekend some of the under 16 squad were busy playing an online tournament, the Three Seas Trophy, which took place online on Bridge Base Online.
Giorgio Provenza, squad leader for the U16s, has written a blog with news on the squad's recent activities - click read more.
This weekend coming (20th - 22nd December) there is action for three more junior squads - the U26W, U26 and U21. These teams will be playing in the Channel Trophy in Utrecht, Netherlands. More details of squad selections here.
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| Mossop Team wins Teltscher Trophy Senior Trial |
Congratulations to Team Mossop, who won the senior trials over the weekend at the West Midlands Bridge Club.
The team included David Mossop, Alan Mould, Paul Hackett, John Holland, Brian Senior and Gunnar Hallberg. They will represent England at the Teltscher Trophy - the 'senior Camrose' competition, which will take place 15th - 16th May 2020, in Ireland.
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| Applications for Senior European Trials |
Applications for teams of four to six are invited for the Senior European Trials.
The trial takes place from 31st January 2020 to 4th February 2020 at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club. Entry is £440 per team.
Please send applications to charlie@ebu.co.uk by 5pm January 23rd.
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| Bridge clubs targeted by email fraudsters |
Earlier this year we notified clubs about a spate of fraudulent emails targeting clubs and club officials requesting payments or bank transfers. Unfortunately, we have been made aware of further recent fraudulent emails being sent to club officials.
We would advise our clubs to be very wary of any payment requests, especially if it is not something you are anticipating. Please do not send money to anyone on the basis of what may appear to be an email from a club committee member, without first confirming that it did actually come from that person.
If you have any concerns regarding emails received from the EBU please contact us directly.
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| Tollemache Qualifier Draw Announced |
The draw for the Tollemache Qualification event, which takes place in Daventry this weekend has now been finalised.
The Tollemache Cup is the inter-county championships for teams of eight.
This year promises a great occasion, with teams from 36 counties competing.
You can see the full programme here.
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| De Botton team win Premier League |
Janet De Botton, David Bakhshi, Tom Townsend, Espen Erichsen, Glyn Liggins & Artur Malinowski have won the Premier League title for 2019.
In second place were the Black team of Andrew Black, David Gold, Gunnar Hallberg, Phil King, Andrew McIntosh & Derek Patterson. The Small team finished in third.
By virtue of their victory, the De Botton team will receive an invitation to represent England in one weekend of the Camrose Trophy.
The Premier League is part of the series of competitions contributing to the Player of the Year Championship. Following this weekends results, there are currently three people in joint first place (Espen Erichsen, David Gold and Glyn Liggins).
In the Second Division, Tim Leslie, Mike Bell, Michael Byrne, Kieran Dyke & Ben Norton (see picture here) finished first. The Penfold team (Sandra Penfold, John Holland, Alan Mould, Kay Preddy, Norman Selway & Brian Senior) finished in second place.
In the Third Division - Paul Hackett, John Sansom, Croz Croswell & Dave Debbage finished in first place, ahead of Paul Fegarty, Catherine Curtis, Mike Scoltock, Peter Lee, Richard Fedrick & Andrew Southwell.
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| New Tricks BC YouTube Channel |
New Tricks is a new non-profit organisation, dedicated to the promotion of bridge education at all levels. They have created and launched an online bridge channel, which is free to access on YouTube. You can view the first episode of their Tournament Series, which combines expert commentary and graphics, and features world class players like Andrew Robson, David Gold & Zia Mahmood, here: Tournament Series Episode One
In addition to the Tournament Series, which acts as a great ‘masterclass’, they are also developing an innovative series of animated tutorials for beginners, which they plan to promote to schools and youth groups, with the aim of bringing more young players into the game.
You can find more information about the project, and view the first few tutorial modules, at www.newtricksbridge.club.
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| Seniors Congress Winners |
The Seniors Congress took place in Daventry over the weekend.
The Championship Pairs was won by Jeremy Dhondy & Bill Hirst (pictured), who finished on 54.33%, just 0.16% ahead of second place pair David Norman & Arun Suri. Raymond Semp & Rhona Goldenfield were third with 53.37%.
In the 'B Final' of the competition, Jon Downing & Julian Wernick had a winning score of 56.73%, (see picture here). In second place were Simon Stokes & Alison Nichols with 55.61%, and in joint third on 53.37% were David Barnes & Mike Wenble and Joan Murphy & David Killick.
The Swiss Pairs competition - for those eliminated from the Championship Pairs, or joining the congress later - was won by Bob Foster & Val Cooper (see picture here), who were a whole 9 VPs ahead of second placed Roland Gronau & David Wing. In third place were Pat Dowdeswell & Mike Ribbins with 116 VPs.
The Swiss Teams event was won by the team of Jeremy Dhondy, Celia Oram and Derek Oram, (along with Bill Hirst, not pictured) (see picture here) finishing 11 VPs ahead of Paula Hopkinson, Dick Davey, Nigel Wolfendale & Phil Thornton.
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| October online competition |
October's competition for our online games, hosted by Funbridge, has concluded.
In the main October matchpoints ladder, Andrew Eastwood finished top of the leader board. His best six scores in the month averaged 66.38%, and he wins £30. There were also cash prizes for second to fifth places.
In the handicap ladder, for the players whose scores exceed their NGS by the greatest amount, the top spot was shared equally between Bryan Smith and Paul Hawkins who both ended the month with a handicap score of 7.66, winning £7.50 each.
Starting this weekend, and continuing throughout November, there will be two extra 12-board games taking place each weekend. This weekend the games will be in match-points. From next weekend there will be one 12-board game with IMPs and one 12-board game with match-points.
You may have noticed that from 1st November, Funbridge introduced a virtual currency which allows players to participate in federation tournaments on Funbridge. You can purchase the currency on the Funbridge website or via in-app purchases on iOS or Android and then use this currency to pay for registration fees of federation tournaments.
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| Lords beat Commons for the first time since 2016 |
The annual Lords Commons Bridge match took place in the Houses of Parliament on 31st Oct. Despite missing their captain, Baroness Henig who is in hospital and to whom we send our best wishes, the Lords team under Baroness Byford managed to beat the Commons by 120-65 over 24 boards.
Congratulations to (pictured, left to right): Kitty Teltscher, James Cooper, Baroness Byford (Captain), Lord Howard, Lord Kalms, Lord Hamilton, Earl of Caithness, Richard Cumming-Bruce.
The Tony Berry Trophy for the best-played hand, judged by Tom Townsend of the Daily Telegraph, was awarded to Lord Kalms for making 6D on board 3 (picture).
A hand commentary for the event, written by Heather Dhondy, is available below.
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| Board and Standing Committee nominees announced |
The nominations for the EBU Board and Standing Committees have now closed.
The EBU AGM will take place on 27th November. The following people have been nominated/elected/re-elected to the EBU Board and Standing Committees:
The Board
There were two nominees for two positions. Therefore no election is needed. Both will join the Board for a three year term.
Gillian Fawcett
Bev Purvis
In addition to those elected the Board of Directors may also appoint two Directors for one year at a time. Appointments for 2020 will be considered at the meeting of the Board in January.
EBU Chairman
There was one nomination for the position. Therefore no election is needed and Ian Payn will become EBU Chairman for a three year term.
EBU Vice-Chairman
There was one nomination for the position. Therefore no election is needed and Gillian Fawcett will become EBU Vice-Chairman for a three year term.
The Selection Committee
There were three nominees for two positions. The nominees are:
Paul Barden
Alan Mould
Neil Rosen
The election for these positions will therefore take place at the AGM.
The Laws & Ethics Committee
There were three nominees for three positions. Therefore no election is needed. All three will be re-elected for a three year term.
Tim Rees
Martin Pool
Frances Hinden
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| Applications invited to provide hotel accommodation for the EBU |
Our current agreement with our hotel/holiday organiser comes to an end early in 2021 and we are willing to consider applications from other travel operators to provide this service, which involves running two holidays abroad for us each year as well as finding hotel accommodation and playing areas for about 15 congresses and other competitions in England. Further details from gordon@ebu.co.uk.
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| Club Teacher Training Courses for 2020 Now Available |
EBED have published a list of the Teacher Training courses for 2020. Click here to view the schedule of courses on offer next year.
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| Applications invited to provide hotel accommodation for the EBU |
Our current agreement with our hotel/holiday organiser comes to an end early in 2021 and we are willing to consider applications from other travel operators to provide this service, which involves running two holidays abroad for us each year as well as finding hotel accommodation and playing areas for about 15 congresses and other competitions in England. Further details from gordon@ebu.co.uk.
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| Applications For International Trials |
Applications are invited from teams for both the Teltscher Trophy (Senior's Teams) and Lady Milne (Women's Teams).
The Teltscher Trophy Trials take place on the 14th - 15th December 2019 at the West Midlands Bridge Club. Players need to be born in 1958 or earlier. The entry price per team is £340.00. The Teltscher Trophy takes place in Ireland 15th - 17th May 2020.
The Lady Milne Pre-Trial will take place on 11th - 12th January 2020 at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club. The Trial will take place on 25th - 26th January 2020 at the West Midlands Bridge Club. The entry fee will be £120.00 per player. The Lady Milne Trophy takes place 17th-19th April 2020, venue TBC.
Please send applications for both trials to charlie@ebu.co.uk by 8th November 2019.
More information:
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| Club Teacher Training Courses for 2020 Now Available |
EBED have published a list of the Teacher Training courses for 2020. Click here to view the schedule of courses on offer next year.
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| Job vacancy for Bridge Education & Development Manager |
We are recruiting a new Bridge Education & Development Manager, to manage, develop and deliver successful education & development projects and maintain delivery of associated education services for EBED. The job is a full time position and based in Aylesbury and would suit an active bridge player and preferably someone with experience of teaching bridge. For more information, and details of how to apply, see the the job advert and the job description. For further details, email donna@ebedcio.org.uk.
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| Sicily Congress Winners |
Another successful overseas Congress has come to an end, with a number of players enjoying success in the week's events in Sicily.
Tom Gisborne & Sandy Davies were the winners of the Swiss Pairs, finishing on 141 VPs. Celia Oram & Derek Oram were just 2 VPs behind in second place, with Malcolm Lewis & Nicky Adamson in third on 131 VPs.
The Swiss Teams was won by David Stevenson, Liz Commins, Dee Lindon & Peter Lindon (pictured) who finished on 135 VPs. Jimmy Ledger, Dodo Georgevic, Geoffrey Herbert & Maureen Ledger were second with 131 VPs. The team of David Stevenson, Liz Commins, Dee Lindon & Peter Lindon also won the overall Pivot Teams.
The full list of winners was:
- Pre-congress pairs: Paul Littlewood & Fiona Littlewood (picture)
- Swiss Pairs: Tom Gisborne & Sandy Davies (picture)
- Ladies's pairs: Paula Hopkinson & Pat Dowdeswell (picture)
- Men's pairs: Frank Wharton & Emile Lawy (picture)
- Mixed pairs: Geoffrey Herbert & Maureen Ledger (picture)
- Open Pairs: Emile Lawy & Frank Wharton (picture)
- Pivot Teams: Red & Overall - Liz Commins, Dee Lindon, David Stevenson & Peter Lindon (picture); Blue - Val Mollison, Ann Owen, Paul Mollison & Cath Fox; Yellow - Sandy Davies, Vivianne Norling, Tom Gisborne & Par Ljungqvist;
- Swiss Teams: David Stevenson, Liz Commins, Dee Lindon & Peter Lindon (picture)
The next Overseas Congress takes place in Rome, 5th - 11th February 2020.
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| Allfrey Team Wins Gold Cup |
The prestigious Gold Cup, organised by Bridge Great Britain, has been won by Alexander Allfrey, Andrew Robson, Mike Bell, Tony Forrester, Graham Osborne & David Gold (pictured).
They defeated Simon Gillis, Odin Svendsen, Hugh McGann, Tom Hanlon, Glyn Liggins and Espen Erichsen (pictured here) by 24 IMPs in the final. The defeated semi-finalists were the Brock and Senior teams.
The Gold Cup provided the first scores in the EBU's Player of the Year Championship, with the Allfrey team taking an early lead. The next scoring event is the Two Star Pairs at the Autumn Festival.
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| East & Leese head list of winners at Really Easy Weekend |
The Autumn Really Easy Weekend has taken place in Midsomer Norton, just outside Bath.
The main competition of the weekend, the Swiss Pairs, was won by Anne East & Gill Leese (picture), with Kate Webb & Jan Edwards in second and Dawn Mertens & Carol Williams in third.
The other winners across the weekend were: Friday Afternoon Pairs - Kate Webb & Jan Edward (picture); Saturday Afternoons Pairs - Anna Collett & Michelle Cox (picture); Saturday Evening Teams - Dawn Mertens, Carol Williams, Josephine Jackson & Vicky Bevan (picture).
The next Really Easy Weekend, aimed at less experienced players, takes place at Wroxton House Hotel, near Banbury, in April 2020.
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| Ten TDs receive promotions |
Congratulations to the ten Tournament Directors who achieved a promotion to the level of County TD at the recent County Directors weekend. The successful TDs were:
| David Emerson * |
Jeremy Child * |
| John Barker |
Keith Sheppard * |
| Mark Westley |
Martin Oates |
| Megan Jones * |
Peter Bushby * |
| John Oakland |
Patricia Hones * |
* - passed with distinction
Megan is the 2nd youngest person ever to become an EBU County TD and the youngest ever to receive a distinction.
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| EBU Trials dates confirmed for 2019-2020 |
The EBU Selection Committee has undertaken to hold trials for all international events, and we have agreed dates and the provisional format for trials to select the England teams.
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| British Autumn Sim Pairs |
The British Autumn Simultaneous Pairs are now finished and you can find all the results and commentaries via the links below. Master Points will be credited to the accounts of the top third of the field once the results are finalised in a few weeks' time.
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| Dhondy team leads Premier League |
The team of Heather Dhondy, Brian Callaghan, Barry Myers & Sally Brock lead the First Division after the first weekend of the Premier League. They ended the first round-robin with a 16.16 VP lead over the team of Cameron Small, Jon Cooke, John Cox & Peter Taylor.
The Second Division is being led by the team of Tim Leslie, Mike Bell, Michael Byrne & Kieran Dyke. Paul Hackett, Croz Croswell, Jason Sansom & David Debage lead the Third Division.
The second and third weekends take place on 26th/27th October and 9th/10th November.
In addition to this being a prestigious competition in its own right, it serves as a trial with the winners of the First Division earning selection to represent England in one weekend of the Camrose Trophy.
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| Read & Marchbank win Great Northern Swiss Pairs |
Terry Read & Bob Marchbank (pictured) have won the Great Northern Swiss Pairs title in Leeds which took place this weekend.
Terry & Bob, finished comfortably on 176 VPs, sixteen ahead of Tom Gisborne & Sandy Davies on 160 VPs. Third with 157 VPs were Fiona Brown & Helen Erichsen.
The Improvers' Pairs was won by John Ungar & Miranda Hughes (picture) with 84 VPs from five matches. Linda Cartwright & Steve Cartwright were second with 66, and Andrew Pearson & Kathy Pearson were third with 61.
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| EBU makes donations to charity |
The EBU is pleased to have made a donation to charity on behalf of its members.
Whenever a club holds a charity event a special, reduced licence fee is paid to the EBU, and the EBU periodically donates the collated fees to charity.
The fees collected for the financial year 2018/19 - £1030.19 - have been donated to support Cancer Research.
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| Silver and Bronze Medals at World Championships |
The World Bridge Championships, taking place from 14th-28th September 2019, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, have reached the Semi Final stage, and three of the four England teams will be featuring.
The Quarter Finals kept supporters watching up to the very end, with only the Women being genuinely comfortable going into the final boards. They ended up beating Poland by 52 IMPs. The Mixed team were leading all through the final set, but Latvia did close the gap considerably towards the end, giving us a few nerves. The final margin was 12 IMPs. But the most exciting finish went to the Seniors, who were trailing the whole time, and still a single IMP in arrears going into the final board. They won 5 IMPs on the 96th board out of 96, to win by 4.
Sadly, the Open team won't be joining the others. They gave the very strong USA 1 a good fight, and were leading for most of the match, but the Americans finished strong and won by 33 IMPs.
The Semi Finals start tomorrow, so good luck to team England!
The teams are:
The World Bridge Championships, concluded over the weekend, having started on 14th September 2019, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Two of the England teams won medals at the Championships. Having won both a silver and a bronze medal, England were the only country to take home more than one medal at the Championships!
The Seniors team won Silver in the D'Orsi Cup, they played Denmark in the final. Denmark won the match 194 - 167 to take the gold medal (picture).
The Women's team were up against the Netherlands for the bronze medal in the Venice Cup. After a close match the England team won by just 5 IMPs (162 - 157) (picture).
From the Chairman:
- I'd like to congratulate all our teams on their fine showing in the recently completed World Championships in Wuhan. All four teams qualified for the Quarter Final from the round robin with our Mixed team winning the qualifying event. The open team had a tough quarter final against the USA and despite an early lead couldn't hold on but our other three teams proceeded to the semi-finals. The Women and Mixed lost but the Women won their bronze medal play off against the Netherlands on the very last board and our Senior's team won their semi-final and were silver medal winners losing the final narrowly.
All in all an excellent performance and one I think the membership will join with me in saying well done to our teams.
The teams were:
| Mixed: Frances Hinden & Graham Osborne; Sally Brock & Barry Myers; Fiona Brown & Michael Byrne; NPC: Paul Barden |
| Open: Jeffrey Allerton & Chris Jagger; David Bakhshi & Artur Malinowski; Tony Forrester & Andrew Robson; NPC: Neil Rosen; Coach: Andrew Murphy |
| Seniors: John Holland & Alan Mould; David Muller & Malcolm Pryor; David Kendrick & Trevor Ward; NPC: David S Jones |
| Women: Heather Dhondy & Nevena Senior; Catherine Draper & Gillian Fawcett; Nicola Smith & Yvonne Wiseman; NPC: David Gold; Coach: David Burn |
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| IPBA Award for Simon Cochemé |
At the annual general meeting of International Bridge Press Association, three awards were presented.
One of these was the Alan Truscott Award, which is presented periodically to an individual or organisation that, in the opinion of the IBPA Executive, has done something in the world of bridge that Alan would have approved of and appreciated. Alan was an IBPA Executive member, serving as its president from 1981 to 1985 and was the long-time bridge editor of the New York Times.
This year the award was presented to Simon Cochemé for his work over the last two decades writing humorous bridge related articles.
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| Robinson Team Wins Online Knockout |
The EBU Online Knockout Teams competition has been won by Claire Robinson, Qian Li, Neeraj Tanna, Tony Ye, Siyu Ren & Alex Hydes.
They beat the team of James Thrower, Ali Ahmed, Todor Tiholov, Marusa Gold, Szczepan Smoczynski & Tenyu Tenev by 66 IMPs in the final.
Congratulations to all involved and well done to Team Robinson.
The 2020 competition will start in the new year with entries opening soon.
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| Welcome to Charlie Bucknell |
We are pleased to welcome Charlie Bucknell who joined the staff last week. Charlie has joined the Tournament Department and will fill the role previously held by Jake Cope. Charlie is a member of the U26 squad.
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| Guernsey Congress Winners |
The ten-day Guernsey Congress concluded on Sunday with victory for Rune Hauge, Reidar Laland, Dan McIntosh & Tim Gauld (pictured) in the Swiss Teams event.
The other winners in the congress were:
| Pre-Congress Pairs - Joan Murphy & David Killick (picture) |
Pivot Teams - Denis Talbot, Kathy Talbot, Shirley Godwin & Brian Crack (picture) |
| Men's Pairs & Seniors Pairs - Gary Hyett & Alan Cooke (picture) |
Ladies' Pairs - Janet Latham & Agnes Baxter (picture) |
| Mixed Pairs - Susan Jones & Brian Parkin (picture) |
Swiss Teams - Rune Hauge, Reidar Laland, Dan McIntosh & Tim Gauld (picture) |
| Multiple Teams - Dan McIntosh, Andy Hall, Alex Gauld & Tim Gauld (picture) |
Senior Multiple Teams - Brian Crack, Shirley Goldwin, Kathy Talbot & Denis Talbot (picture) |
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| Senior Team wins Gerard Faulkner Salver |
The winners of the Seniors Knockout competition for the Gerard Faulkner Salver are Norman Selway, Brian Senior (Captain), Sandra Penfold, Tony Forrester and Paul Hackett (pictured, left to right).
In the final, the first time champions defeated the team of Malcolm Pryor (Captain), Alan Mayo, David Muller and Ed Scerri by 44 IMPs.
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| Graham Osborne wins Player of the Year Championship |
Congratulations to Graham Osborne, winner of the Player of the Year Championship for 2018/19.
The Championship awards points for finishing in the top positions of major competitions, and Graham topped the table after winning the Premier League and Crockfords Cup, and high finishes in the National Point-a-Board Teams and Easter Pairs.
The leading players were:
| 1st |
Graham Osborne |
32 |
3rd= |
David Mossop |
29 |
6th= |
Glynn Liggins |
26 |
| 2nd |
Justin Hackett |
31 |
5th |
Tony Forrester |
28 |
6th= |
Tom Paske |
26 |
| 3rd= |
Jason Hackett |
29 |
6th= |
Ed Jones |
26 |
9th |
Alex Hydes |
24 |
The full list of points scorers, and information on the 2019/20 competition, which restarts in October with the finals of the Gold Cup and the Two Star Pairs at the Autumn Congress, can be seen via www.ebu.co.uk/poty
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| Allfrey Team Win Crockfords Cup |
The Crockfords Cup - England's premier knockout teams competition - has been won by the team of Tony Forrester, Ed Jones, Graham Osborne and Tom Paske (Alexander Allfrey and Andrew Robson not pictured, played in the early rounds). The winners of the eight-team all-play-all final scored 104 VPs, with the Mososp team (Alex Hydes, David Mossop, Justin Hackett, Jason Hackett, Diego Brenner and Paul Hackett) in second on 84, and the Black team on 80 VPs.
The Plate competition, for those losing in the early stages of the Cup competition, was won by Diana Nettleton, Marusa Gold, Simon Cope and Marion Robertson (picture). They finished the all-play-all final with 100 VPs, with the Lee team in second with 96 VPs.
The entries for the 2019-20 competition are now open, and close on Monday 16th September.
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| Mould & Holland, and Jarvis team, win at Northern Midweek Congress |
The Northern Midweek Congress has now concluded, with Harrogate the venue for three days of weekday bridge.
The two-day Championship Pairs was won by Alan Mould & John Holland who finished with 62.60%, ahead Celia Oram & Derek Oram in second place, who scored 57.61%. Val Gibson & Pearl Murphy completed the podium with 57.33%.
The Swiss Teams competition was won by the team of Alan Jarvis, Tom Cohen, Alan Hayward & Robert Dixon. They finished with 100 VPs from their seven matches, 6 VPs ahead of Bill Niccol, John Gladders, Graham Jepson & David Musson. The Gibson team was just one point behind with 93 VPs.
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| Summer 2019 Club Management Focus newsletter now available |
The Summer 2019 edition of the Club Management Focus Newsletter is available now here.
It contains news, articles to help you in the running of your clubs, details of forthcoming events, and important information about club administration. If you need any advice, or have any suggestions for issues you would like covered in the next newsletter, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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| Job vacancy for Tournaments Administrator |
We are recruiting a new Tournaments Administrator, to give professional secretarial and admin support to the EBU Tournaments section. The job is based in Aylesbury. For more information, and details of how to apply, see the job description.
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| Entries open for Open European Trials |
We are accepting entries from pairs wishing to compete in the Open European Trials. The Trials will consist of three stages, to select two pairs, (to join a third pair to be selected at a later date), to form the team to represent the England open team in the 2020 European National Teams Championship, to be held in Funchal, Madeira, from the 17th to 27th June 2020.
Entries should be sent to gordon@ebu.co.uk by 5th September and all applicants will be accepted to at least the first stage of the trials.
The entry fee will be £150.00 per player for the first stage played, plus £75.00 for those who play in a second stage.
The dates for the trials are:
- Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd November 2019 - West Midlands Bridge Club, Solihull
- Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th November 2019 (venue to be confirmed)
- Friday 3rd – Monday 6th January 2020 (venue to be confirmed)
Open Trials 2019
Pairs Trial for European Open Teams Championships - Regulations and Conditions of Contest
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| John Turner |
We’re sad to report the death of John Turner, Dimmie Fleming award winner. He will be sadly missed and we send our condolences to his family.
His long time friend Mike Willoughby has written an obituary.
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| World Youth Open Championships |
The World Youth Championships have started in Opatija, Croatia. The event, which features pairs and teams events in four age/gender categories, takes place from 20th - 29th August.
Update: After day 1 at the Championships, England's Under 16 pair of Henry Rose and Jamie Fegarty are in first place with 61.75%. In the Women's Under 26 pairs, Hanna Tuus and India Leeming are second with 57.98%. The pairs sessions continue today, with the finals tomorrow and the teams events starting on Saturday.
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| Clark & Panchagnula win U26 Pairs |
For the second year in a row, Jonathan Clark & Kripa Panchagnula have won the Under 26 Championship Pairs, which took place in London this weekend.
They finished on +110.5 IMPs, with Theo Gillis & Jack Ronayne in second on +69 and Eshan Singhal & Ian Robson in third with +62.4.
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| Steve Barnfield |
We were saddened to learn of the death of Steve Barnfield. Earlier this year, he was presented with a silver award for his long service to Regulation and Laws & Ethics. He was Chairman of the L&E for six years and served on the committee before that. He was a referee for some years and he was also until recently the EBU pro bono advisor.
He will be sadly missed and we send our condolences to his family.
His long time friend Richard Fleet has written a heartfelt obituary.
His funeral will be held on Monday 2nd Sep at 11.30 in Tunbridge Wells
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| New EBU forum to discuss EBU tournaments |
Following the well-attended meeting at Eastbourne on the way forward for EBU tournaments, we now have a new forum to discuss this, both in general and in respect of the Summer Meeting. Those who are not already registered with the forums will need to do so before they can post, but it’s straightforward and anyone who does not appear to be a spammer will be routinely approved! Various short posts have been created to start the discussions off, reporting a number points that were made at the meeting or have been since.
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| Mossop team wins Four Star Teams to conclude Summer Festival |
The Summer Meeting concluded on Sunday with the Four Star Teams competition, which was won by the team if David Mossop, Paul Hackett, Justin Hackett and Jason Hackett. They were 12 VPs ahead of the second placed team of Paul Denning, Richard Plackett, Patrick Shields and Richard Chamberlain.
The B Final was won by Artur Malinowski, David Herman, Waseem Naqvi and Hussain Ali, with Mike Ash, Christopher Chambers, Paul Barton and Jun Nakamaru-Pinder in second. The Swiss Teams, which continued after the top team progressed to the finals, was won by Tom Townsend, Bernard Teltscher, Phil King, Kevin Castner and Mark Teltscher.
Summer Meeting Hub (for results, articles from the Summer Meeting, and more)
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| EBU Trials dates for 2019-2020 |
The EBU Selection Committee has undertaken to hold trials for all international events, and we have agreed dates and the provisional format for trials to select the England teams for the European Championships and the Olympiad in 2020. More information will be supplied once applications for these trials are open.
Update: The EBU selection committee has listened to feedback about the scheduling of the European Trials in 2019/20 and has therefore revised the dates of the women’s and mixed trials. The first stage of the women’s trials will now be held at the same time as the final stage of the open trials. Any women who have entered both trials and progress to the final of the open trials will be granted exemption to the final stage of the women’s trials.
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| Victory for Black and McIntosh at Summer Meeting |
The main event of the first weekend of the Summer Festival was won by Andrew Black and Andrew McIntosh.
The midweek competitions, held at multiple venues around the country, were well supported, with Margaret Sandell and Shirley Hancock winning the Play with the Experts Pairs, and Gerald Soper and Colin Wilson winning the GCH Fox Championship Pairs.
See the Summer Meeting Hub for more details, along with articles, results, and other information from the event.
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| Wendy Nuttall wins July online competition |
July's competition for our online games, hosted by Funbridge, has concluded. July was the first month of the handicap ladder, for the players whose scores exceed their NGS by the greatest amount. Wendy Nuttall scored an average of 57.54 over her top six games, with a handicap of 12.64, winning her £10. There is also a prize for second place, won by Anton Mauve.
In the main July matchpoints ladder, Dominic Connolly finished top of the leader board. His best six scores in the month averaged 65.79%, and he wins £30. There were also cash prizes for second to fifth places.
July was the first month with the new changes with the Funbridge games. They now take place on every day of the year, with Monday and Friday games being scored by IMPs. Another innovation started this month is that all games will run midnight - midnight (24 hours) and you can start at any time, stopping and restarting as often as needed. Master Points are awarded in every game, and as well as the monthly competition, there is also an annual competition with cash prizes.
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| Bridge England Sim Pairs now supporting Junior Teams |
The Bridge England Simultaneous Pairs, will now be supporting the EBU Junior Teams and as such has been re-named the Junior Squad Sim Pairs. The event will still take place on the usual dates next February, and will also keep the same format.
The next Juniors Squad Pairs will take place: 3rd – 6th February 2020. We hope that your club will consider hosting a heat, and support our junior teams, and that you will encourage your members to take part – if not at a heat at your club, then at one in your local area.
Your participation, and contribution towards ensuring bridge has a bright future, is greatly appreciated.
Clubs should enter via the EBU website. Members interested in playing can find lists of all the clubs taking part on the EBU website.
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| Jim Downes and Josie Allen win Jack High Swiss Pairs |
Congratulations to Jim Downes and Josie Allen of Horsham Bridge Club, winners of the inaugural Jack High Swiss Pairs which took place on Friday. The one-day event, which was sponsored by First for Bridge, was for players of no higher than a Jack on the NGS ranking.
Jim and Josie are pictured here with Eddie Eddie Williams who presented them each with the prize of £150 worth of First for Bridge vouchers.
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| Ben Norton and Shahzaad Natt win Young Pair of the Year |
Ben Norton and Shahzaad Natt were presented with the 2019 Young Pair of the Year award at the Summer Meeting over the weekend. Congratulations to Ben and Shahzaad for a great year in which they were key members of the U26 team which won the Junior Camrose and reached the semi-finals in the White House Junior Internationals event. They are pictured receiving the award from EBU Chairman, Jeremy Dhondy.
Other awards - including the Young Player of the Year - will be announced and presented later in the year.
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| Summer Meeting 2019 is underway! |
The Summer Meeting in Eastbourne is underway, but there is still chance to take part in the numerous competitions that will go on until 11th August.
The congress has something for everyone, with the Weekend Challenge events for those wanting a full long weekend of bridge, the Really Easy Congress for less experienced players, the Jack High Swiss Pairs (sponsored by First for Bridge), the Seniors Congress and lots of one-day and one-session events. Full information on all the competitions are available via the Summer Meeting webpage.
There are also TD and scoring courses.
In addition to the events being held at Eastbourne, there will be four competitions held at multiple venues around the country. This gives you a chance to play in a national competition without having to travel very far. More information available here.
We are no longer taking bookings over the telephone, but you can enter online through the members area, by email to comps@ebu.co.uk, or you can enter at the venue. So whilst we would prefer that you enter in advance you can still decide to play on the spur of the moment and enter when you join us in Eastbourne.
If you haven't yet planned your visit to Eastbourne then the pre-congress information page may be helpful as it has information on travel, accommodation and more.
Any participants who need to contact the competitions staff can do so on 01296 317203 between 10.30am and 1pm Monday & Tuesday, with normal office hours resuming of Wednesday.
Results, pictures, news, and articles are available to view on the Summer Meeting Hub.
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| School's Out For Summer... |
Summer holidays can seem never ending when you are trying to come up with new, fun things to do with the children and grandchildren, week after week. Well fear not, the staff at EBED Youth have got you sorted!
Places are still available for the EBED Junior Teach-In 2019 and with this event just around the corner, why not come and enjoy a packed weekend of Bridge Tuition, Coaching and plenty of Play for all young people.
This fun filled event is being held at The King’s Park Conference Centre, Northampton, from 30th August – 1st September 2019. The price is £150 for Juniors and £180 for accompanying Adults including Full-Board accommodation, the Bridge and other fun activities! Non-Residential places are also available. To book online, please visit www.ebedcio.org.uk/JTIbooking
For more information, contact Giles on 01296-317228 or e-mail giles@ebedcio.org.uk.
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| August issue of English Bridge out now |
The August 2019 issue of English Bridge is out now and will be delivered to eligible members in the next few days.
The 2019/2020 Members' Diary
With this magazine comes the diary for all qualifying members who have not opted out of receiving it. If there are any changes during the year you will be able to find them at www.ebu.co.uk/diary-changes. The government has sprung one surprise since the diary went to press. The Bank Holiday at the start of May has moved from Monday May 4th to Friday May 8th which is the 75th Anniversary of VE Day.
From 2020, if you wish to receive a copy of the diary you will need to opt in even if you currently receive it.
The best and easiest way to opt-in is by changing the setting on your account on MyEBU. Click on 'account' in the top right corner, select 'My details', and then in the 'account setting' section of the page, under the magazine/diary preference option use the drop down list to choose your preferred setting.
We believe this is the environmentally and financially responsible action to take in order to eliminate waste. If you do still wish to receive the diary, then please opt in and we will be very happy to send one to you.
Diary Date Changes
Unfortunately, the surprise change of the Bank Holiday at the start of May that the government sprung on us has affected the arrangements for three events:
These and any further changes during the year will be available to view at www.ebu.co.uk/diary-changes.
Learning Bridge - App reviews
It’s over three years since our previous review of bridge apps available on electronic devices and we felt it time to update the information. The current reviews, can be read in the August magazine and are also available to view online. The previous reviews can still be read on page 16 of the December 2015 issue.
The online version, which contains extra content, is available via My EBU (use the 'Magazine' link in the top right corner of the My EBU webpage). More information on accessing and using the online version is available here.
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| Updates to the Blue and White Books for 2019 now available |
The annual updates to the Blue Book and White Book have been made by the Laws & Ethics Committee. The finalised versions can now be viewed and downloaded.
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| Team Paske Wins Mixed BAM at NABC |
Congratulations to English player Tom Paske, whose team (pictured, left to right: Veri Kiljan, Christina Madsen, Migry Zur Campanile and Tom Paske) won the Freeman Mixed BAM at the North American Bridge Championships.
Further details on Bridge Winners
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| With record high temperatures, one club took to playing bridge outdoors! |
Extreme temperatures have prompted a west Suffolk village bridge club to resort to extreme measures to escape the heat – by playing outdoors in the dark.
Rather than meet as normal inside Stansfield village hall at their regular Tuesday and Thursday evening sessions, members set up on the playing field outside.
When the light started to fade players produced torches, iPhones and, in one case, head lamps to provide the necessary illumination. Here is the group at 10pm. More pictures here and here.
“Playing bridge outdoors is something of a rarity, probably because there is always the danger a breeze will scatter Dummy’s card to the four winds,” Richard Evans, the club chairman, said. “Inside our village hall was stiflingly hot this week, so the relative cool of outdoors was delightful and meant we could enjoy the game. On the second evening, two members went to the trouble of providing portable outdoor lights and a gazebo with interior lighting and we played as thunder and lightning rumbled not that far away.”
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| Order from the Bridge Warehouse for collection at the Summer Meeting |
If you are attending the Summer Meeting and would like us to take your order to Eastbourne to save on postage costs, please telephone us on 01296 397851 by midday on Wednesday 31st July.
There will be a stand with bridge gifts and books in Eastbourne but cards, stationery and bidding boxes will not be available to purchase there. The full range of stock can be seen on the Bridge Warehouse.
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| New EBED Product Launch |
Summer is the time for carefree attitudes, music festivals and the beach. It is the also the time that EBED has launched a brand new set of products. Available to purchase from the Bridge Warehouse are Beginners Flippers, table top flippers designed to act as either a student aid or teaching aid. Each flipper covers one term of the first year of learning and are compatible with Beginning Bridge Book One. The Flippers are made of sturdy plastic coated card and are spiro bound.
They are available to purchase individually for £4.99 or £13.50 for the complete set of three.
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| British Summer Sim Pairs results |
The British Summer Simultaneous Pairs takes place this week and you'll be able to find all the results and commentaries via the links below. Master Points will be credited to the accounts of the top third of the field once the results are finalised in a few weeks' time.
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| Nominations for Awards now open |
Nominations can now be made for both a Silver Award and a Dimmie Fleming Award. The Silver Award is given for outstanding contribution and recognition of long service as a volunteer at national and/or County level. The Dimmie Fleming Award recognises those who have made a significant contribution to county bridge through voluntary work over a long period.
All members can put forward suitable candidates, however the nominations should be submitted to the EBU by a County official, to confirm that it has the approval of the County Committee. Nominations should be made using Dimmie Fleming Form or Silver Award Form by 19th August.
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| Two Bronze Medals in the European Youth Team Championships |
The 27th European Youth Team Championships, which started on Fri 5th July in Oslo, Norway, have now come to an end with our U16 (pictured) and U21 (picture) teams both placing third in their groups, to win bronze medals. The U26 and U26 Women's teams each came eighth in their respective groups, which just puts the U26 team among the qualifiers for the next world championships.
The four teams of six selected to represent England were:
Under 16:
Under 21:
Under 26:
Under 26 Women:
Michael Byrne has written a blog for the event, you can read it here.
The Under 16s team have also been keeping a video diary of the events, see their short videos on the EBU YouTube channel
Live coverage of events will be shown on Bridge Base Online
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| Forster and Fawcett win Summer Seniors Pairs |
The Summer Seniors Congress has just taken place in the new Welcome building in Eastbourne.
The Pairs A Final was won by Roger Forster & Mike Fawcett (pictured) with Simon Gass & Alan Scott second and Peter Law & Clive Cubitt third.
The B Final was won by Celia Day & Dan Crofts (picture), Steve Irwin & David Elvin second and Gerry Stanford & Kamran Nadim third, while in the Swiss Pairs Carla Sidney-Woollett & Lorna Vestey were joint winners with Malcolm Lewis & Nicky Adamson, with Gerald Soper & Terry Goldsmith third.
John Holland, Raymond Semp, Frank Wharton and Geoff Foley won the Swiss Teams (picture).
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| Cooke team win at Riviera Congress |
The Riviera Congress held in Torquay took place last weekend.
The Swiss Teams was won by Team Cooke, with 100 VPs. The team included Gary Hyett, Robert Miller, Bill Taylor, and Alan Cooke. They are pictured receiving the Wing Trophy from donor David Wing. In second place were the team of Harry Anoyrkatis, Sam Anoyrkatis, Joe Fawcett and Theo Anoyrkatis, just 3 VPs behind. Bob McRobert, Fred Hotchen, Geoff Oldfield and Peter Crouch were third.
The Swiss Pairs was won by Harry Anoyrkatis & Sally Anoyrkatis (see picture here). They finished just one VP ahead of second placed Stefan Lindfors & Jim Grant. Theo Anoyrkatis & Oscar Selby were third.
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| Andrew Eastwood wins June online competition |
June's competition for our online games, hosted by Funbridge, has concluded, with Andrew Eastwood finishing top of the leader board. His best four scores in the month averaged 66.92%, and he wins £30. There were also cash prizes for second to fifth places.
July is the first month of the new changes with the Funbridge games. They now take place on every day of the year, with Monday and Friday games being scored by IMPs. Another innovation started this month is that all games will run midnight - midnight (24 hours) and you can start at any time, stopping and restarting as often as needed. Master Points are awarded in every game, and as well as the monthly competition, there is also an annual competition with cash prizes.
In addition, there are now two handicap prizes for the players whose scores exceed their NGS by the greatest amount. Only players whose NGS is public will be eligible and it will be based on their grade at the time of the first game they play in the month.
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| Team Mossop wins EBL Open Teams |
Congratulations to Team Mossop on their gold medal win at the European Open Champions in the Open Teams in Istanbul, Turkey.
The team is made up of Edward Jones, Thomas Paske, Justin Hackett, Alexander Hydes, David Mossop and Jason Hackett (pictured left to right).
They are the first English team to win a major event at the European Open Championships. They beat the Netherlands Blue team (Danny Molenaar, Berend Van den Bos, Joris Van Lankveld, Tim Verbeek, Ton Bakkeren (cp)) in the final, which saw Mossop take the lead with a very strong third set, and hold on to win by 48 IMPs. The bronze medals went to Rushka (Poland/Russia) and Texan Aces (USA/India/Israel).
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| 2019 European Open Championships |
The 9th European Open Championships, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey, over the course of two weeks, has now concluded.
A thrilling final day saw the lead change hands several times before the allocation of the final set of medals was decided.
Congratulations to Team Mossop on winning the Open Teams competition. The team was made up of Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, Alexander Hydes, Edward Jones, David Mossop and Thomas Paske (picture).
David Gold (England) and Richard Mark Plackett (Wales) finished second in the Jean-Paul Meyer I Pairs, just behind first placed French pair Baptiste Combescure and Cédric Lorenzini. Gunnar Hallberg (England) and Frederic Wrang (Sweden) finished third in the same event.
England also had success winning bronze in both the Women's and Senior's teams events. Team Desadima (Sally Brock, Barbara Drinovec Drnovsek (Slovenia), Marusa Gold, Susanna Gross, Diana Nettleton and Debbie Sandford) won bronze in the Women's Teams and team Penfold (John Holland, David Kendrick, Sandra Penfold, Norman Selway and Brian Senior) won bronze in the Seniors Team event.
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| Funbridge Updates |
We are pleased to announce a change of format to the Funbridge games.
At present the games take place every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, but from 1st July they will take place on every day of the year, with Monday and Friday games being scored by IMPs. Another innovation starting next month is that all games will run until midnight - midnight (24 hours).
You don't have to play all the boards in one go, so you could play some over breakfast, some in the afternoon, and the final few before you go to bed.
In addition, starting in July, there will be two handicap prizes for the players whose scores exceed their NGS by the greatest amount. Only players whose NGS is public will be eligible and it will be based on their grade at the time of the first game they play in the month.
For more information and to download the app, see the Funbridge FAQs
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| Andrew Thompson (1949 - 2019) |
We were saddened to learn of the death of Andrew Thompson, former tournament player who also represented England.
He played in the Junior Camrose in 1973 and 1975 and was selected for the Seniors in Beijing in 2008 but did not play.
He will be sadly missed and we send our condolences to his family.
Andrew’s funeral will be at 14:30 on Tuesday 23rd July at Telford Crematorium, Woodhouse Lane, Red Hill, Telford, Shropshire TF2 9NJ and after at the Swan Inn, 4 Lower Bar, Newport, Shropshire, TF10 7BQ.
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| Sally Brock inducted to EBL Hall of Fame |
At a ceremony which took place at the European Open Championships, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sally Brock was inducted into the EBL Hall of Fame.
Sally has played in the European Championships 14 times for Great Britain and England's Women's Team, getting 1st place on five occasions. She has also won numerous other medals, including gold in the Venice Cup and Women's World Olympiad twice.
Sally joins two other English players, Nicola Smith and John Holland, who were recognised and inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.
The Hall of Fame was established to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the formation EBL, and recognises notable contributions by individuals. Alongside Sally, this year the EBL also recognised Iceland’s Jon Baldursson.
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| Gerard Faulkner Salver Entries Extended to 24th June |
Applications to enter the 2019/2020 Gerard Faulkner Salver have been extended and will now close at 12 noon on Monday 24 June, but due to the format of the competition it will not be possible to accept late entries once the draw has been done.
Introduced in 2002, the Seniors Knockout Teams for the Gerard Faulkner Salver has proved to be very popular event. It is open to teams consisting of four to six players, all of whom are EBU members born in 1958 or earlier.
The event is played as a knockout throughout, with matches played privately. Matches prior to the semi-finals will be played over 32 boards, the semi-finals 40 boards, and the final 48 boards. Matches in the early stages will be arranged so as to avoid long journeys wherever possible. There is a repechage round for first round losers, so all non-seeded teams are guaranteed at least two matches.
The entry fee is £79 per team. The easiest way to enter is online through My EBU. You can also call 01296 317203/19, email comps@ebu.co.uk.
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| Leicestershire wins at Inter-County Leagues finals |
The National Finals of the Inter-County Leagues took place at Coventry Bridge Club on Sunday 16th June.
Congratulations to Leicestershire who won the 'A' final for the first time since their victory in the inaugural event in 2007.
Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire retained their ‘B’ and 'C' Division titles, making it four times in succession for Hertfordshire.
Pictured are the Leicestershire team (Simon Stokes, Nick Stevens, Ian Bruce, Dick Pathan, Jim Mason, Colin Dean, Duncan Happer, Ben Norton)
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| EBED Teacher’s Conference |
This weekend saw the return of the EBED Teacher’s Conference, held this year in Milton Keynes.
Based on feedback received from the 2017 Teachers Convention, the theme for the event was Recruitment and Advertising where the weekend was full of talks, case studies, presentations, workshops and Q&A sessions.
The highlight of the weekend was the inaugural EBED Teacher of the Year Award which was given by EBED Chairman Andy Margetts to Chris Lohan (pictured), much deserved for her hard work and dedication. Video of the award presentation.
- Chris said “After a horrendous journey along the dreaded M25, I was greeted with such warmth and smiley faces from all – Lisa, Donna and Claire – that that memory quickly faded and I went on to enjoy a very pleasant few days indeed – not only pleasant but also extremely well organised and structured. I’m sure every teacher there gained a great deal from all the sessions. They were all so varied in content – ranging from the workshop introducing the Teacher Educators, offering much practical advice on a number of questions, to the exciting initiative at Stirling University researching the social world of bridge, and Tim Anderson’s description of his important development role – to name but a few.
Of course for me, the fortunate recipient of the new Teaching Award, it was an especially happy occasion and I received many congratulations both on the day and now from my students who have received the news and are so delighted for me. However, I believe congratulations should also go to all the EBED staff who, in my view, are doing a fantastic job - clearly illustrated by the amount of thought and planning that had gone into this gathering of bridge teachers.
I will look forward to the next one!”
The event was an overall success. There was a great turnout and lots of information shared and gained.
A few of the comments from other attendees of the event:
"fantastic, really helpful", "lots of good information", "inspirational speeches", "innovative workshops", "long overdue and much needed", “a very useful and enjoyable weekend”
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| Cheltenham wins Garden Cities Trophy |
Cheltenham BC (Gloucestershire) has won the Garden Cities Trophy, the competition for each county's 'teams-of-eight champions'.
The final featured the eight teams which qualified from the Regional Finals which took place in April, and Cheltenham finished in first with 86 VPs. Avenue BC (Sussex) was second with 81 VPs, and last year's winners Tunbridge Wells BC (Kent) was third with 77 VPs.
The winning Cheltenham team was Val Constable, Judith Sanis, Patrick Shields, Richard Chamberlain, Tony Letts, Ben Ritacca, Allan Sanis and Paul Denning.
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| U16s top the table in WBF Youth Online Championship |
The England U16 team competing in the 2019 World Bridge Federation Youth Online Championship, have finished top of the table, 10 VPs ahead of China in second place.
NPC Giorgio Provenza has written a new blog, with updates on the U16 squad's progress throughout and what's next on their journey. You can read it below.
   
I can’t believe it’s been almost 10 months since the last time I have been in touch.
At that time, we were on our way back from China, having competed in the U16 World Championship.
A lot has happened in the meantime; half of that team has outgrown the category – Andy, Liam and Oscar have now moved to the U21s, where they keep proving their worth.
Our squad has added many new recruits and it consists now of about 20 girls and boys.
Back in March we started competing in the 2nd WBF Youth Online Championship. Those who have been following us might remember that last year – in the very first edition of this competition – the team won the silver medal, losing in the final only to the mighty Chinese team.
Eight kids have been selected to play this event:
- Jasmine Bakhshi & Henry Rose
Dido Coley & Jamie Fegarty
Kim Hudson & Theo Sinclair
Freddie Beneat & James Cater
Nineteen teams from four continents are taking part and the first stage consists of seven 14-board matches, after which the first eight teams progress to the K.O. stage.
The team have been absolutely brilliant, winning all their seven matches and topping the table, 10 VPs ahead of China in 2nd place. We are now waiting to know the opponent for the quarter finals.
If you want to see them in action, this is the link to the last match we played, against the USA.
Some information about this event can be found on the World Bridge youth site. I warn you though, the website is not updated regularly!
Another big event awaits us this summer; in the 2nd week of July we will be heading to Norway for the European Championship, where we will try our best to qualify for next year's World Championships. The team for Norway can have a maximum of 6 players; the top three pairs listed above have been selected.
Preparation for it is well under way. The team played the Spring Foursomes back in May – courtesy of a generous donation – and will meet again face to face in London at the end of June, when we will be guests of Andrew Robson's Bridge Club. If all of this, plus online training, plus school exams, plus the other commitments these kids have (it is not just bridge they are good at) wasn’t enough, they have also taken upon themselves the task of promoting the game of bridge among other young people.
They have been running school assemblies, writing in the school’s newsletters, teaching in their schools’ bridge clubs.
They have even been approaching local and national papers asking to cover their stories. This is an article that has recently appeared in a couple of papers in the SW London area.
They are also planning to set up a Facebook page to upload videos before and during the Norway campaign, all with the goal of showing other kids how much fun the game of bridge is.
And it doesn’t end with Norway!
Five of the six kids who will be playing in the Euros will be over age next year. So the team for 2020 is work in progress.
The very weekend we fly to Oslo, the rest of the squad will gather for a weekend of training, where Meena Samani and Helen Erichsen will put their skills at the service of the talents of the new rising stars of English junior bridge.
The squad will be joining the Southern Counties Junior Camp. It’s an event open to any junior of any ability, including minibridge. And it’s not too late to sign up for it. If you know anyone who could be interested, please direct them to the SCCBA website and they may be the next Andrew Robson!
Another great event for junior players is the Junior Teach-In at the end of August, organized by EBED. More info here. It’s the perfect way to finish off the summer!
We will be there and scouting for new talent. Last year’s Junior Teach-In was where I first came across Kim Hudson. At that time, she had barely played any duplicate club bridge and nine months later she is part of the team.
Who wants to be next?
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| Bridge Fraud URGENT |
In a further follow up to the article last week about fraudulent emails, we ask all clubs to remain vigilant with regards to “phishing” emails.
There have been a number of clubs that have reported being targeted, with at least one resulting in a financial loss.
The pattern seems to be that they get the name of the Treasurer and someone else on the committee (presumably from the club website) and then write to the Treasurer asking them to pay a bill (examples include the fraudulent email purporting to be from the Bridge Warehouse), or transfer money. They give some payment details (including sort code and account number), and then sign the email as being from the other club official.
Please ensure all committee members, especially Treasurers, are familiar with the potential signs of a fraudulent email. Please think twice about making any payments, and always check if these payments are expected before proceeding. Once a payment has been made via bank transfer the bank can do very little to stop or reverse the payment.
There can be lots of tell-tale signs that it isn't genuine, although easy to miss if you are not vigilant. Some signs the email may not be genuine are:
- URL links within the email do not match genuine websites (hover over the link without clicking on it to check it)
- The return email address is different from the sender
- Poor spelling and grammar
- The email asks for personal information or payment
If you have any concerns regarding emails received from the EBU please contact us directly. Any suspicious emails should be reported to Action Fraud.
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| Manchester wins Pachabo Cup |
The Pachabo Cup has been won by the Manchester team of Michael Newman, Alan Mould, Michael Byrne, John Holland (pictured, left to right). Three of the four were also winners in last years winning team, they were joined this year by Alan Mould. All were part of Manchester's winning team in 2015.
The Pachabo Cup is contested by the holders of the teams-of-four Championship of each County Association of EBU, and 29 counties took part in the event held on 8th - 9th June. It uses a hybrid system of scoring, combining both 'point-a-board' and IMPs converted to VPs.
Manchester scored 210 with Hants & Isle of Wight (Andy Hughes, Jeremy Dhondy, Steve Preston and Dave Huggett) in second on 208.5. Gloucestershire were third with 198, and in equal fourth place with 193.5 were Middlesex and Worcestershire.
Results; Previous winners
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| Ivor Hoskins (1928-2019) |
We were saddened to learn of the death of Ivor William Hoskins, former EBU panel Tournament Director, peacefully at Gloucester Royal Hospital on 16th April 2019, aged 89.
He was well known and liked by many players round the Midlands, Wales and South-West. The funeral took place on Wednesday, 22 May 2019 at Gloucester crematorium. He will be missed by his many friends.
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| Rare Bridge Mention on Virgin Radio |
Yesterday morning during the The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky on Virgin Radio, Chris Evans and his sports reporter Vassos Alexander, gave a glowing review of bridge. When talking about improving memory and keeping your mind active they said that bridge is the best game in the world ever to offset Alzheimer’s, with lots of people now taking up the game.
If you would like to listen to again, please use the link below. The bridge mention is at approximately 8.10am
Link to the full show
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| Bernard Goldenfield (1932-2019) |
We’re sad to report the death of Bernard Goldenfield who, in addition to numerous domestic successes, was part of the Senior World Olympiad team in 2000. He will be sadly missed and we send our condolences to his family.
His long time friend Raymond Semp has written a heartfelt obituary.
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| Andrew Eastwood wins May online competition |
May's competition for our online games, hosted by Funbridge, has concluded, with Andrew Eastwood finishing top of the leaderboard. His best four scores in the month averaged 65.38%, and he wins £30. There were also cash prizes for second to fifth places.
Games take place every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and you can start at any time, stopping and restarting as often as needed. Master Points are awarded in every game, and as well as the monthly competition, there is also an annual competition with cash prizes.
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| Bridge clubs targeted by email fraudsters |
Last summer we sent all EBU bridge clubs an email warning of "phishing" attempts that seemed to be aimed at bridge clubs. We also included an article about this in last summer's Club Management Focus. We have now had a more recent report of one very sophisticated such attempt, so we would advise our clubs to be very wary and not to send money to anyone on the basis of what may appear to be an email from a club committee member, without first confirming that it did actually come from that person.
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| Barden and Cooke win Corwen Trophy |
Paul Barden and Jon Cooke representing Cambs & Hunts won this year's event with 61.18% over four sessions. The Corwen is the EBU's inter-county pairs championship for which pairs qualify from their county's pairs championships. Paul and Jon previously won it in 2014.
Second place was taken by Ed Scerri and Dick Davey from Berks & Bucks with John Brearley & Ross Shine of Lancashire in third.
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| Team Brock Wins The Hubert Phillips Bowl |
The Hubert Phillips Bowl, the National Championship for Mixed Pivot Teams, has been won by Sally Brock’s team (Barry Myers, Phil King and Robert Sheehan), who beat Alan Mould’s team (Jackie Pye, John Holland and Jeff Smith) by 430 aggregate points in the final played over 60 boards at the East Midlands Bridge Centre at Spondon, near Derby.
Sally Brock and Robert Sheehan now move ahead of John Holland with seven wins in the competition (all as team-mates) to John’s six.
Gunnar Hallberg played in an earlier round for the winning team.
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| Upcoming Club Director Training Course Dates |
English Bridge Education & Development (EBED) has organised the following training courses for aspiring club directors. Each course consists of four days. There are additional spaces available at each venue, so please book if you would like to attend. The courses are open to all and can be booked by individuals or by clubs on behalf of their members. Participants can select different venues for each part of the course as necessary (i.e. it’s not essential to do all the dates in one go at a single venue!). For additional information, or for clubs to make a booking, please contact Richard Banbury by email richard@ebedcio.org.uk while individual EBU members can book directly via MyEBU.
Upcoming Club Director Training Course Dates
- Scunthorpe: 22nd June, 6th July, 20th July, 3rd August
- Eastbourne: 5th August, 6th August, 7th August, 8th August
- Halifax: 1st September, 29th September, 6th October, 20th October
- Aylesbury: 2nd October, 23rd October, 6th November, 4th December
New course dates for the autumn will shortly be announced for additional venues. (Southport is next on the list). Information about course content & fees can be found on the EBED website
Upcoming Advanced Director Training Course Dates
- Darlington: 30th June
- Eastbourne: 9th August
County Director Training Weekend
- Coventry Hilton: 14-15th September (not bookable online, please email richard@ebedcio.org.uk)
Information about both the Advanced course & Training Weekend can be found on the Laws and Ethics pages
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| Shashou and Sandqvist win Championship Pairs |
Nathalie Shashou and Nick Sandqvist (pictured) won the main pairs event at the Spring Bank Holiday Congress in Stratford. Their score of 55% was just enough to push Dinah Caplan and Michael Byrne into second place with a score of 54.25%. Phil King and Kevin Castner were third with 53.44%.
The B Final in the Championship Pairs was won by Robin Wright and Alan Wilson (picture) on 57.14%, ahead of second place Simon Cope and Diana Nettleton with 54.68%. Eric Cummings and Ceri Pierce finished third with 54.44%.
The teams event was won by David Gold, Catherine Seale, Phil King and Kevin Castner (picture), with the Solomon team in second and the Hearst team in third. The winners of the B stratification teams final were Mary Johnson, Michael Mahoney, Richard Smith and Jonathan Hughes (picture).
Those not reaching the A or B Final, or joining the Congress on the second day, contested a Swiss Pairs which was won by Todor Tiholov and James Thrower (picture), with Waseem Naqvi and Ben Ritacca in second.
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| June issue of English Bridge out now |
The June 2019 issue of English Bridge is out now and will be delivered to eligible members in the next few days.
The online version, which contains extra content, is available via My EBU (use the 'Magazine' link in the top right corner of the My EBU webpage). More information on accessing and using the online version is available here.
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| Top 50 clubs by players 2018/19 |
We're pleased to announce the top clubs by number of player sessions in the year (2018/19). The top 5 are below - view EBU page: https://www.ebu.co.uk/topclubs2019 for the top 50.
| 1 |
Richmond Bridge Club |
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| 2 |
Wimbledon Bridge Club |
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| 3 |
Stamford Bridge Club |
 1 |
| 4 |
West Midlands Bridge Club Limited |
 1 |
| 5 |
Cheltenham Bridge Club |
2 |
In previous years we have included Bridge Club Live in this list as our one online bridge club, but since the basis of measuring their UMS is rather different from other clubs we have decided not to include them this year. Similarly we are not including our Funbridge games, although it is interesting to note as a reflection of the evolution of the game, that had we done so they would have come in at number 8.
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| Spring 2019 Club Management Focus newsletter now available |
The Spring 2019 edition of the Club Management Focus Newsletter is available now here.
It contains news, articles to help you in the running of your clubs, details of forthcoming events, and important information about club administration. If you need any advice, or have any suggestions for issues you would like covered in the next newsletter, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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| Bridge clubs and technology |
Membership Campaign Officer Tim Anderson has written a new blog post looking at how bridge clubs can utilise technology as a key aspect of service to members.
In the blog, Tim addresses the ever changing use of technology in relation to bridge clubs, including dealing machines and website platforms such as Bridgewebs and Pianola.
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| Farewell to David Emerson |
David, who joined EBED last year as Youth Officer, left EBED last Friday 17th May. We would like to thank him for his contribution during his short time in the role and wish him all the best in the future.
Our new EBED Youth Officer will be Giles Ip, who joined us a few weeks ago, please join us in welcoming Giles to the team. There are some very exciting projects that are in store at EBED and he will be directly involved in expanding youth bridge activity in the United Kingdom.
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| Ireland wins Corn Cairdis match |
Ireland won the Corn Cairdis match - an annual match between teams representing the County, Club, and Officials elements of the English Bridge Union (EBU) and Contract Bridge Association of Ireland (CBAI). The event, hosted this year by the Basingstoke Bridge Club for Hampshire, took place last weekend 11th and 12th May.
The EBU team was:
Officials: Jeremy Dhondy & Andy Hughes; Philip Mason & Peter Stocken
County team: Heather McGinn, Guy Malcolm, Richard Ray, Helen Kinloch (Saturday), and Chris Kinloch, Iain Climie, Karen Dewar & Julian Sykes (Sunday)
Club team: Steve Tearle, Tracey Adams, Andrew Ferguson, Mary Ferguson (Saturday), and Steve Tearle, Tracey Adams, Ann Goss & Helen Kinloch (Sunday).
The winning Irish team (Pictured, left to right): Donek Szenejko, Martin Brady, Mary Timoney, Paul Delaney, Sean O Lubaigh, Maureen Pattinson, Bob Pattinson, Peter O’Meara (Captain), David Redmond, David Dunne, Seamus Costello, and Liam Gaynor.
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| EBED Spring Sim Pairs |
The EBED Simultaneous Pairs starts today and you'll be able to find all the results and commentaries at the links below. Results will be finalised, and Master Points credited, once all the results have been submitted and checked.
Profits from the event go to the charity English Bridge Education & Development, to help its work in creating the new bridge players, and bridge teachers, which are necessary for the game to thrive. Thank you for taking part, and we hope you will support the EBED Autumn Sim Pairs, 2nd - 6th September.
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| County Bridge Club, Leicester opening |
The County Bridge Club in Leicester recently celebrated their new venue with a grand opening on 11th May. Gordon Rainsford, Chief Executive of the EBU, cut the ribbon (picture). Irene Krantz, one of Leicestershire's longest bridge playing members, cut the cake (picture).
The club, which started in 1961, had been at their previous premises for 39 years. In September 2018 the members voted to seek charitable status and buy and move to a new building. The committee of nine volunteers, aided by several of the club members, worked tirelessly to ensure the move and work was completed on schedule.
The County Bridge Club has operated in the City of Leicester for nearly 58 years and this marks a significant new chapter in this clubs long and illustrious history. The modern single-story building will be able to host new events on a City, County and Regional basis utilising the excellent transport links to Leicester.
The club hopes to extend their teaching program to engage with schools, colleges and other organisations to promote the playing of Contract Bridge. The club committee are confident that this move will secure the future of the club and bridge in Leicestershire for many years to come.
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| 2019 World Wide Bridge Contest and Prizes! |
The World Bridge Federation is pleased to announce the 2019 World Wide Bridge Contest, taking place Friday 7th and Saturday 8th June.
The entry fee is just £1.50 per player per event. Payment instructions will be sent with the information to the participating clubs.
Prizes for events include:
1st and 2nd placed Pair on each day:
- B&B hotel accommodation in double room at the World Bridge Games 2020 for the duration of the Pairs Tournament,
- a subsidy of €500.00 to each player (8 in total) and
- free entry-fee to the pairs event of their choice (Open, Women's, Mixed or Seniors) **
3rd placed Pair on each day:
- B&B hotel accommodation in double room at the World Bridge Games 2020 for the duration of the Pairs Tournament and
- free entry-fee to the pairs event of their choice (Open, Women's, Mixed or Seniors) **
4th and 5th placed Pair on each day:
- free entry-fee to the pairs event at the World Bridge Games 2020 of their choice (Open, Women's, Mixed or Seniors) **
**Please note that these are all National Pairs events so a) the partners need to be eligible members of the same National Bridge Organisation, and b) the regulations pertaining to the specific event with regards to age and gender criteria are met.
This is a very exciting event that many clubs will wish to get involved in!
Results will be posted at https://www.ecatsbridge.com
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| Nonnenmacher team victorious at National Swiss Teams Congress |
The team of Ben Norton, Kieran Dyke, Michael Byrne & Toby Nonnenmacher (pictured) were overall winners at the National Swiss Teams Congress, which took place this weekend.
They finished on 166 VPs, 14 ahead of 2nd placed team Paul Hackett, Croz Croswell, David Debbage & John Sansom. The team of Qian Li, Claire Robinson, John Atthey & Richard Bowdery were just 1 VP behind in third with 151 VPs.
The winners of the Stratification B prize were Rob Turner, Mary Whyms, Ann Wall & Toby Wall. The team of Myra Twyman, Roger Twyman, Bob Galvin & Stephanie Galvin finished 2nd.
The competition was run by Warwickshire CBA on behalf of the EBU.
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| Team Mossop triumphs in Schapiro Spring Foursomes |
The Mossop Team have won Schapiro Spring Foursomes last night, one of the great events in the English calendar.
Team Mossop (pictured left to right: Tom Paske, David Mossop, Justin Hackett, Jason Hackett, Alex Hydes and Ed Jones) faced tough competition over the gruelling 5-day event. They won the 32-board final against Team Amalia (Castner, King, Gruencke, Rohowsky) by 8 IMPs after a tumultuous last set of 8 boards.
The defeated semi-finalists were Team Penfold (vs Team Mossop) and Team K1 (vs Team Amalia).
Punchbowl
The primary consolation event - the Punchbowl - was won by the team of Duncan Happer, Ben Green, Ankush Khandelwal and Ben Norton (picture). They defeated the team of John Atthey, Richard Chamberlain, Paul Denning, Richard Plackett, Patrick Shields and Garry Watson in the final.
Hamilton Cup
The Hamilton Cup - a Swiss Teams for those eliminated from the Punchbowl, or joining the event on Monday - saw the team Sally Brock, Catherine Curtis, Paul Fegarty & Barry Myers (picture) win after beating the team of Kare Bogo, Tor Elvind, Espen Fasting & Gruden Lars in a head to head.
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| Lambourne Jersey Congress |
The Lambourne Jersey Congress took place over the bank holiday weekend.
The Swiss Pairs title was closely contested with Mike Bull & Graham Horscroft taking top spot, finishing just one VP ahead of Dan McIntosh & Rune Hauge.
In the Swiss Teams the team of Graham Horscroft, Andrew Thompson, Mike Bull, Mike Walsh ended 10 VPs ahead of Denis Talbot, Kathy Talbot, Helen Lawton-Smith, John Slater.
The other winners at the congress were:
Pre-congress Pairs: Ray Hutchinson & Bobbie Sissons
Senior Pairs: Gary Hyett & Alan Cooke
Midweek Pairs Championship: David Hole & Roz Bavin
Senior Teams: Mike Bull, Mike Walsh, Graham Horscroft & Andrew Thompson
Mixed Pairs: Adrian Knight & Prue Knight
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| Phil (B. P.) Topley |
We're sad to report the death of Phil (B. P.) Topley, aged 94.
Phil was an Oxford graduate and professional bridge player in the 1950’s, winning the Gold Cup and Tollemache (twice), followed by several Camrose appearances. Following the death of his wife, he and his then six-year-old son moved to Stafford, where he became a respected and popular A Level Maths teacher. He continued to play following the move where further success followed with a Crockford’s Cup in 1984. He regularly represented Staffs, including his third (and the county’s only) Tollemache victory. He was a fine technical player and able to successfully play with many different partners who all found him very supportive as did his team captains.
He is survived by his second wife Ann.
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| All set for Eastbourne |
Building works are coming to a close in the new, modern Welcome Building (pictured) of the Devonshire Park complex in Eastbourne.
It will be used for the Nature Valley International Tennis Tournament in June, after which we are looking forward to holding our Seniors Congress there in July and then the Summer Meeting in August.
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| 2019 Premier League |
The closing date for applications for those wishing to play in the 2019 Premier League is Friday 31st May.
The event takes place over three weekends in the autumn, and acts as an international trial, with the winners of the First Division earning selection to represent England in one weekend of the 2020 Camrose Trophy series, and in the European Champions' Cup 2020, if England qualifies. It is also part of the Championship Series, with points earned towards the Player of the Year competition.
The three weekends will take place as follows:
5th-6th October:
- Divisions 1 & 2 – Young Chelsea Bridge Club
- Division 3 – Richmond Bridge Club
26th-27th October:
- All Divisions – West Midlands Bridge Club
9th – 10th November
- All Divisions – West Midlands Bridge Club
Applications were closed Friday 31st May 2019. The entry fee will be £860.00 per team
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| Booking now open for advanced Director Training Day |
Booking is now open for the advanced Director Training Day at the following venues/dates:
- Advanced Director Training – Darlington (St Georges) – Sunday 30th June
- Advanced Director Training – Eastbourne (summer Meeting) – Friday 9th August
Individual bookings can be made online via MyEBU – while club/county bookings, and any other queries, can be email to richard@ebedcio.org.uk The course is run from 10.30 to 4.30. Course fee is £55.
The first of these courses at Aylesbury on Saturday 11th May is already fully booked with 16 delegates, but players are welcome to contact me if they want to put their name down on the “reserve list” in the event of a last minute cancellation.
The residential county directing course will be held as usual at the Coventry Hilton on 14/15 September. Anyone wishing to know more information should contact me via richard@ebedcio.org.uk
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| Schapiro Spring Foursomes seedings |
The Schapiro Spring Foursomes seedings have now been finalised.
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| Garden Cities finalists known |
The Regional Finals of the Garden Cities trophy took place over the weekend in four locations. The top two teams at each qualified for the National Finals, which will take place on 15th June.
Bristol:
Bristol (Avon) - (Chris Dixon, David S Jones, Ralph Smith, Steve Tomlinson, Rob Lawy, Mike Huggins, Trevor Ward, Peter Shelley)
Cheltenham Bridge Club (Gkos) - (Val Constable, Judith Sanis, Patrick Shields, Richard Chamberlain, Tony Letts, Ben Ritacca, Garry Watson, Allan Sanis)
Stamford:
Warwick (Warwick) - (Roger Bryant, Susan Norton, Stephen Green, Martin Jones, David Kenward, Gareth Roberts, Nick Stevens, Colin Dean)
Cambridge (Camb & Hunts) - (Ben Tarlow, Jake Dunn, John Liebeschuetz, Alan Shillitoe, Jenny Jacobsberg, Joanne Caldwell, Jon Bonsor-Matthews, Graham Dolan)
Richmond:
Tunbridge Wells Bridge Club (Kent) - (Espen Erichsen, Helen Erichsen, Jeremy Willans, Jill Skinner, Frances Connell, Steve Barnfield, Croz Croswell, Matthew Brown)
Avenue Bridge Club (Sussex) - (Andy Ryder, Ken Ford, David Dickson, Vivian Priday, Peter Clinch, Julian Mitchell, Mike Allen, Oliver Powell)
Bradford:
Leeds (Yor) - (Phil Morrison, Tom Cohen, Alan Jarvis, Alan Hayward, Bill Townsend, Martin Edge, Mike Ferguson, Alan Brosgill)
Preston (Lan) - (John Brearley, Andrew Lum, Bob Loveridge, Mike Tomlinson, Don Hilton, Dagmar Fazackerley, Bill Alston, Andrew Petrie)
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| Buffett Cup |
The 2019 Buffett Cup was held in China last week, in the southern coastal city of Haikou, capital of Hainan Province.
The European team finished in second place, with the results on the last board deciding the winners USA. There were four English Players in the European team:
China, getting the most points in the individual, finished 3rd.
For all the results visit the Buffett Cup website.
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| Farewell to Dawn Mertens |
Dawn Mertens retires from the EBU today, having been on the staff for nearly twenty years. Aside from her work in the Competitions Department, where many members will have spoken to her on the phone when entering events, she has also been the secretary to the Selection Committee and to the Tournament Directors Development Group.
Although she plans to spend more time with her partner Bill on their narrow boat, regular attendees of our Really Easy Weekends will be glad to know she will still be involved with running them.
We wish her all the best, and will miss her quiet efficiency in the office. Her place on the staff has been taken by Jake Cope, who joined us a few weeks ago.
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| London Easter Festival Results |
Simon Gillis & Erik Saelensminde (picture) were the winners of the Championship Pairs at London Easter Festival over the weekend, with a score of 60.11%. In second place were David Gold and Catherine Seale with 58.80% and in third were Frances Hinden and Graham Osborne with 58.28%.
Easter Sunday saw the teams event, which was won by Jack Mizel, Tore Marskar, Brian Senior and Ingar Hansen (pictured, left to right not including Jack Mizel) with a score of 100 VPs, just ahead of the Baker team in second place. Three teams were joint in third place with 93 VPs, the teams of Sansom, Ivanov and Hackett.
On Monday there was the Swiss Pairs and Jack High Swiss Pairs events. In the Swiss Pairs, Heather Bakhshi and David Bakhshi (picture) claimed first place with 113 VPs, Mike Eden and Carrie Eden were second with 108 VPs and Ben Green and Ankush Khandelwal were just behind in third with 106 VPs. The Jack High Swiss Pairs, was won by Alistair Brown and Terry Dillon (picture) with 85 VPs, who were just 1 VP ahead of Philip Goldenberg and Diana Cook in second. Stephen White and Ala Swietochowski were third with 81 VPs.
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| Jepson & Brosgill win Northern Easter Festival Pairs |
Congratulations to Robin Jepson and Alan Brosgill (pictured) for winning the main Swiss Pairs at the Northern Easter Festival in Ilkley with 172 VPs. In second place were Steve Ray and Georgia Ray with 162 VPs and in third place were Jackie Pye and John Holland with 141 VPs.
The Swiss Teams was won by Jackie Pye, John Holland, Alan Mould and Michael Newman with 107 VPs (picture). The Hayward team finished second, just 2 VPs ahead of the Kenyon team in third place. The Improvers Teams competition was won by Katherin Libbert, Jon Crook, Andrew Pearson and Kathy Pearson (pictured). The Binks team finished second, with the Clifford team in third place.
The weekend started off with a Mixed Pairs, Open Pairs and Improvers Pairs. The Mixed Pairs was won by David Harrison and Jill Rushton (picture), with Michael Levi and Fiona Brown in second. The Improvers Pairs was won by Andrew Pearson and Kathy Pearson (picture), with Tony Harmer and Anita Craig in second place (picture). The Open Pairs was won by Andrew Thompson and Dan Crofts (picture), with Pat Watson and Carolyn Fisher in second place.
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| European Open discount deadline approaching |
The 9th European Open Championships take place in Istanbul in June, and the EBL has just released some further information for those considering taking part. In particular, the 10% discount on early entries will expire on 30th April, so make sure you are registered before then.
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| Durham "A" win Portland Bowl Finals |
The Portland Bowl Finals rounds took place this weekend, 13th - 14th April 2019 at the world famous Portland Club in London.
In the final, Durham A beat Cambridge B by 29 IMPs, 120-91, having trailed by 22 IMPs with eight boards to go, until a spectacular comeback saw them gain 51 IMPs in the final stanza. This is Durham’s third victory in the competition, their last one coming in 2008. Prior to this, Cambridge had won this event six times in a row, with Cambridge B winning the last five of these.
In the semi-finals Cambridge B beat Cambridge A, while Durham A beat UCL B. UCL B conceded to Cambridge A in the third-place playoff.
The Durham A team, from left to right in the attached photo, was Edmund Lea, Charles Bucknell (capt), [Christopher Kemp, Chairman of the Portland Club], Dominic Price and Euan Sarson.
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| England regain Lady Milne Trophy |
The Lady Milne Trophy - the annual women's home international series - took place this weekend in Ireland. The English team of Sally Brock & Gilly Cardiff, Susanna Gross & Catherine Draper, Nicola Smith & Yvonne Wiseman with NPC Andrew Murphy, won back the trophy which Scotland had pipped them to last year. They won all five matches, including an important 10.22 - 9.78 victory over nearest rivals Scotland, who were just 7 VPs behind at the end.
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| Changes to the EBU Licensing and Master Points Handbook |
All changes are referenced in this document.
There are a number of changes in the EBU Licensing and Master Points Handbook 2019; notably, the addition of Master Point awards listed for county congress events that replace County One-Day Green Point events. Furthermore, all references to the ‘Tournament Committee’ have been deleted and the information has been updated as necessary. Also note in the appendix, there is now added information about ‘Charges’, ‘Session Definition’, ‘Novice Sessions’ and ‘Annual Exempt Sessions’.
If you require any further clarification then please don’t hesitate to contact Robin Barker, by emailing robin@ebu.co.uk or calling 01296 317223.
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| New Licensing and Master Points Handbook |
An updated Licensing and Master Points Handbook is now available, along with a document that lists the changes which have made since the last handbook was published. There are no major changes for master point secretaries to watch out for - primarily the changes fill in some gaps and provide a bit of additional information.
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| Schapiro Spring Foursomes |
The booking for the Spring Fours is going fast. We have now taken 60 entries so there are only 4 places remaining! This is the most entries for this event so far this century!
The Spring Fours is one of the great events in the English calendar. The principal event the Schapiro Trophy has become one of the toughest events in domestic bridge. It is run on double-elimination lines over nine sessions each of 32 boards.
To book your place call 01296 317203/19 or email comps@ebu.co.uk
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| England regain the Teltscher Trophy |
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| Hinden & Allerton win National Pairs Final |
The National Pairs competition has been won by Jeffrey Allerton & Frances Hinden (pictured).
50 Pairs had qualified for the National Final from the Regional Finals, and Frances & Jeffrey finished atop the rankings with 58.01% after the two days of play. Sue Oakford & Rod Oakford were second with 56.63% and David Kendrick & Simon Mostyn were third with 56.31%.
The National Pairs is part of the Championship Series of competitions, with results counting towards the Player of the Year Competition. Their victory moves them up to a joint 14th place.
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| 2019 Yeh Bros Cup |
The 2019 Yeh Bros Cup (Shanghai Bridge Master Championship) starts today 8th April.
28 Teams are taking part. The England team includes: Andrew Black (Captain), Gunnar Hallberg, Phil King, Andrew McIntosh, Artur Malinowski and David Bakhshi.
There are also English players in the Pharon Team (Paul Hackett, Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, Brian Senior, Mike Bell and Alex Hydes) and the Allfrey Team (Thomas Paske, Ed Jones, and David Gold).
Live coverage of the event will be shown on Bridge Base Online. Good Luck to all involved.
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| Warwickshire Junior Challenge 2019 |
Warwickshire held their annual Junior Minibridge event on Friday 29 March at West Midlands Bridge Club.
It was a fantastic turnout with 47 children from two local schools taking part.
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| Places still available for Wessex Youth Weekend |
It is not too late to book for the Wessex Youth Bridge Weekend, which takes place this weekend (6th-7th April) at Cheltenham Bridge Club (with accommodation at Cheltenham Ladies’ College).
This is always a superb event packed with bridge fun, some of the best teachers in the country and great competitions too. The cost is just £60 including overnight accommodation, or £35 for a non-residential place. Parents are more than welcome as well!
To book, please complete the form here AND also e-mail Ro Kaye (rokaye@icloud.com). Bookings should be made as soon as possible to help with the organisation of the weekend.
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| Wolfson team wins Vanderbilt |
The Wolfson squad which included two English bridge players (Peter Crouch and Alexander Hydes) (pictured from left: Peter Crouch, Alexander Hydes, Jeff Wolfson, Mike Becker, Mike Kamil & Steve Garner), have won the Vanderbilt teams, one of the most prestigious competitions on the American bridge calendar. Originally seeded 17th, they finished an impressive run by toppling the 2nd seeded Nickell team (Nickell, Katz; Levin, Weinstein; Meckstroth, Rodwell) 127-102.
English Bridge contributor David Bird has written commentary on the event
Congratulations also to English bridge player Espen Erichsen, who led his team to victory in the Jacoby Open Swiss event, his team included Tony Leibowitz, Christian Bakke and Tor Eivind Grude.
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| 2019 grants to clubs for capital expenditure |
Once again the English Bridge Union is happy to accept applications from clubs for grants to assist them with capital expenditure.
The most common applications in the past have been for assistance with buying dealing machines or wireless scoring systems, though in principle any capital expenditure might qualify. Small items and those not considered capital expenditure, such as bidding boxes, tables or cloths, will not usually be funded unless there are small reserves left after awarding the main grants.
The EBU will provide funding to successful applicants of no more than half the total expenditure, but the fund available is limited and, in order to help as many clubs as possible, those who apply for a smaller proportion are more likely to be successful. As a guide, in 2018 the largest grants awarded were for £600.
- Only affiliated clubs may apply for a grant
- Clubs that are successful must undertake to remain affiliated to the EBU for at least three years or repay the appropriate portion of the grant
- Clubs that have received a grant in the last three years may not re-apply
- Clubs must make their purchases from the Bridge Warehouse except for items not stocked by them, such as electronic scoring. When buying Duplimate dealing machines, clubs will additionally be able to take advantage of the extra discount available to affiliated clubs
Applicants should email gordon@ebu.co.uk by 5pm on April 15th, with as much of the following information (in brief is acceptable) as can be provided:
- What equipment is needed and what is its total cost
- How much contribution from the EBU is being requested
- Where the remaining funds will come from (providing us with a copy of the club’s accounts might be useful supporting documentation in this regard)
- Why the club can’t fund the entire purchase
- Whether other clubs will also benefit from the grant, such as if the club is intending to deal boards for another club as well
You can read about the grants given in previous years here.
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| British Spring Sim Pairs |
The British Spring Simultaneous Pairs is now finished and you'll be able to find all the results and commentaries at the links below. Results will be finalised, and Master Points credited, once all the results have been submitted and checked.
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| Job vacancy for Club Liaison Officer |
We are recruiting a new Club Liaison Officer, to co-ordinate the development and delivery of services to affiliated clubs. Whilst requiring a presence in Aylesbury on a regular basis, the job involves significant travel around England visiting clubs and county organisations often requiring overnight stays.
For more information, and details of how to apply, see the job description. Please contact Karen Durrell to apply, or to ask for further information.
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| Warehouse Closed on 1st April |
The EBU Warehouse will be closed on Monday 1st April for a stock take. Any orders placed from Friday 29th March until Tuesday 2nd April will therefore be delayed by a few days. Orders placed within this time should be received by Friday 5th April at the latest. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
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| GDPR Update |
As many of you will have read in this months Club Management Focus, we have been updating the wording of our Data Protection Arrangements to make the details surrounding GDPR clearer. These updates are now complete, please take the time to read the new documents on the GDPR page.
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| Free places on Club Teacher Training Courses returning |
We are pleased to announce that, in conjunction with English Bridge Education & Development, free places on Club Teacher Training Courses are being reintroduced in 2019.
These courses, which are run by EBED, are intended to enable members with a motivation to help bring more players in to the game - and specifically in to their club - to run lessons.
It is hoped that in the coming few years EBED will provide courses round the country to try to cater for all affiliated clubs. EBED are in the process of putting together the dates and locations of the courses for 2019, and the calendar, and details on how to book places, will be available later this month.
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| Please help by supplying your date of birth |
The EBU is working hard to get more people joining clubs and playing bridge, and has begun working with various counties on membership campaigns. In order for these to be most effective we need accurate data on the current membership, but presently we have an age recorded for under a third of our members.
Some people want to keep this private, which is fine, but often it is just a matter of this optional field not having been completed when the member record was created. You can help us to get a clearer picture of current bridge-playing demographics, and therefore help us to help you all, by providing us with your date of birth.
You can easily do this by logging in to My EBU, going to Account and then My Details, and entering your date of birth if it's empty.
Please be assured that the information won’t be used for external marketing or shared with other organisations other than in aggregated form as part of our overall membership statistics. It is not visible to other EBU members.
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| Internationals news: October - November |
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| Results round-up: October - November |
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| New club and teacher directory |
We have launched a new directory, which hopefully makes it easier for anyone to identify their nearest club or bridge teacher, and to find out information on any in which they are interested. This replaces the map which used to be accessed via the menu on the right of the homepage. You will now see the EBU/EBED Directory in its place.
You can search using your postcode, or can generate a list of clubs and teachers by county from the menu at the top of the page.
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| October issue of English Bridge out now |
The October 2018 issue of English Bridge is out now and will be delivered to eligible members in the next few days.
The online version, which contains extra content, is available to members via My EBU (once you have logged in use the 'Magazine' link in the top right corner of the My EBU webpage). More information on accessing and using the online version is available here.
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| Fiona Brown and Sally Brock are World Champions; plus silver & bronze for English players |
Fiona Brown and Sally Brock are World Champions! After success in recent years for England's Women's team, they have now added the McConnell Cup, the World Championship for Women's teams at the World Bridge Series. Unlike in other Championships, where teams are restricted to players of the same nationality, this event is open to teams of players from more than one country, and in combination with four players from the USA Fiona and Sally have claimed the gold medal.
Whatever the result in the final, there would have been cause for British celebration, as they defeated a team which included Nicola Smith, Yvonne Wiseman, and Scotland's Paula Leslie.
And to complete the set of medals, a bronze medal has been won in the Rosenblum Cup (for Open teams) by the team of Andrew Robson, Alexander Allfrey, Tom Paske & Ed Jones.
Congratulations to them all. This medal haul makes it the best result by English players in the event in many years - and with more competitions over the next five days there may still be more...
You can follow the competitions in Orlando on the event website and through the live coverage on Bridge Base Online.
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| Tim Anderson joins EBU as Membership Development Officer |
We are pleased to welcome Tim Anderson to the EBU staff. Tim started on 3rd September as our Membership Development Officer, and will be working with the regions involved in the expanding Membership Development Project - initially started, with success, by Yorkshire CBA - to help them bring more members into affiliated clubs.
In this part-time role, Tim will be using his background in marketing, publicity, and most recently in journalism, to help clubs and counties involved in the Membership Project reach out to existing, and potential, bridge players in their region. Tim has acted as Chairman, or in other committee positions, at various bridge clubs, and is also a County TD, so has a wealth of experience in bridge to combine with his professional skills. Once he starts in the role he can be contacted at tim@ebu.co.uk (the address will not be active until 3/9/18).
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| White Book for 2018 now available; Blue book unchanged |
The updated White Book for 2018 is now available - 2018 White Book.
A list of changes made to the 2017 version is available here.
The significant change for TDs and players is the increase in procedural and disciplinary penalties - 25% top/6IMP/1VP and 50% top/12 IMP/2 VP (though of course, for players, this only affects them if they fail to follow procedure or behave badly!). Other changes relate to the new laws of bridge from 2017, updates made by the EBU, and changing interpretations by the Laws & Ethics Committee.
The Blue Book is unchanged in 2018 - the 2017 remains the correct book to use.
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| Kripa Panchagnula wins Young Player of the Year |
Kripa Panchagnula was presented with the 2017 Young Player of the Year award at the Summer Festival yesterday. Congratulations to Kripa for a great year in which he was a key member of the U21 team which earned a bronze medal at the European Championships, won the Peggy Bayer Trophy, and finished second in the Channel Trophy competition. He is pictured receiving the award from EBU Chairman, Jeremy Dhondy.
Other awards - including the Young Pair of the Year - will be announced and presented later in the year.
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| Despite good performances, all junior teams miss out on qualifying at World Youth Team Championships |
Despite some excellent performances at times, all four England teams at the World Youth Team Championships in China missed out on qualifying for the knockout stages. The U16s narrowly missed out, finishing just outside the top eight in 9th place. The U26s and U26 Women both finished in 12th, and the U21s finished in 16th.
That all four England teams qualified for the competition exceed all expectations, so their performances in competing among the elite of world junior bridge, against countries where bridge is given far more importance in the national curriculum, is a credit to the players and their coaches. Whilst there will be a sense of disappointment in the squad that none of the teams progressed to the quarter finals, we can all be proud of their efforts, and be confident that England has a bright future in international junior bridge. Only a few of those in China will be too old to play in the 2020 WYTC, so the squads will be looking to use this event as a springboard to compete for medals at future events.
The NPCs have been writing blogs whilst in China, and these give an insight in to the highs and lows they experienced at the event - read them here.
Consolation events: The U16s led in the early stages of their consolation event, but with little to lose the other teams got more and more wild, and England slipped out of the top places. So they may not leave with any honours, but as Giorgio writes in his final blog, it has been "an amazing experience" for the team, and he gives his sincere thanks to all the supporters, particularly their sponsors Tetragon and No Fear Bridge, for making it possible.
In the Transnational BAM (point-a-board) competition, the England U20 Lions finished 10th and the Ingerland team (the U26s) in 11th.
The teams were:
| Under 16: Jasmine Bakhshi & Henry Rose; Jamie Fegarty & Liam Fegarty; Oscar Selby & Andy Cope; NPC: Giorgio Provenza; coach: Laura Porro (picture) |
| Under 21: Sam Anoyrkatis & Theo Anoyrkatis; Harry Madden & Kripa Panchagnula; Liam Sanderson & Daniel Winter; NPC: Michael Byrne; coach: Alex Roberts (picture) |
| Under 26: Michael Alishaw & Stephen Kennedy; Kyle Lam & Toby Nonnenmacher; Shahzaad Natt & Ben Norton; NPC: Paul Barden; coach: Graham Osborne (picture) |
| Under 26 Women: Yvonne Wiseman & Liz Gahan; Olivia Bailey & Ewa Wieczorek; Laura Covill & Siyu Ren; NPC: Sally Brock; coach: David Burn (picture) |
We would again like to thank everyone who has contributed to the fundraising. The response has been fantastic – not only because it has provided financial support but also because it has emphasized the importance that the membership places on junior bridge, giving a boost to all of those involved in knowing that they are appreciated. If you intend making a donation, but haven't yet had chance to do so, please note that the donation page on the EBED website will be closed at the end of August. You could still donate by other means, but if you want to ensure gift aid is included, please use that donation page before the end of the month.
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| Internationals news: July - September |
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| Results round-up: July - September |
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| Junior internationals news |
The England U26 team lost at the semi-final stage of the Tel Aviv International Bridge Festival, by just 7 IMPs to the eventual winners.
Fundraising for Junior teams passes £52,000
Thanks to the continued support of the membership fundraising for the junior teams has passed £52,000. This was aided by recent events organised by Warwickshire and Gloucestershire CBAs
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| All 3 England teams qualify for World Championships! |
England's campaign at the European Team Championships has ended with all three teams qualifying for the World Championships. Although no medals will be coming back across The Channel, England can be pleased to be one of four European nations represented in all three competitions in China next year.
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| Gordon's GM blog #4 |
EBU General Manager Gordon Rainsford has written a new blog about his recent visits to two growing bridge clubs, and you can see it by clicking 'read more' below.
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| Understanding how your data is used in compliance with the GDPR |
You may already have seen reference to the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into force on 25th May 2018, either in English Bridge magazine or in the wider media. We have made a start on implementing it with information on this webpage, not only for individual members but also to help clubs and counties comply with their legal obligations.
Update: All members for whom we hold an email address were emailed with information on 27th April*. Please check your inboxes, however please note that action is only required if you wish to change your information, or how we use it.
* - a follow-up email to those to whom the original email bounced, and addresses were subsequently corrected, was sent on 18th May
The purpose of the GDPR is to provide a set of standard data protection laws across the EU, making it easier for you to understand how your data is being used and to give you greater control over its use.
The EBU undertakes to collect and use your personal data in compliance with the GDPR. Our legal basis for processing this data is our legitimate interest as a membership organisation.
We use the data for the administration of your membership, the communication of information and the organisation of events. We only share your contact details with English Bridge Education & Development (EBED) and your county of affiliation; we provide a limited amount of data for use by scoring programs to ensure that they correctly identify members.
We have a Privacy Notice which is where you can find full details of all these matters including:
- What data we collect and what we use it for
- Where we get it from and to whom we give it
- What we do to ensure its security
- How you can see what data we hold about you and limit its use
- How you can ask for inaccuracies in data to be corrected
Your club and county will likely contact you in due course with information on their policies.
For further help or information please contact Gordon Rainsford - gordon@ebu.co.uk.
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| Raising our Game: Strategic Aims 2018-2023 |
At the Shareholders Meeting this week the EBU Strategy Document for 2018-2023 was launched. It has been produced by the Board of Directors and is designed to guide and measure the EBU in its progress over the next five years.
The document is available here and will be printed in the forthcoming June issue of English Bridge.
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| Junior fundraising passes halfway mark |
We are delighted to report that fundraising for the junior teams' participation in the World Youth Team Championships has passed £30,000. This means we are over halfway to our primary target, and we know of more donations which are still to come. Many thanks to everyone who has donated so far.
There is still lots of time to make a donation before the young players fly to China - the event is not until August - so we can still hit our target. No donation is too small, and all are gratefully received. Individuals can make a donation through this page on the EBED webpage so gift aid can be reclaimed. Any bridge clubs, counties, or other organisations should contact us to find out how to donate.
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| EBED supports bridge PhD; candidate wanted |
English Bridge Education & Development and partners are funding a 3 year PhD Studentship in the Sociology of Bridge - Bridging the Gap: An Exploration of Transitions in Play through the Lifecourse.
A suitable PhD candidate is sought. Bridge knowledge is not essential. For more details see this page of the EBED website, and for full further information and application details please see here.
Queries about the position should be sent to Prof. Samantha Punch - s.v.punch@stir.ac.uk
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| EBED needs your help with its upcoming research project |
English Bridge Education & Development is undertaking research in to the cognitive benefits of playing bridge, and needs volunteers - both bridge players and non-bridge players - who are willing to participate in the study.
They are looking for right-handed women, aged between 60 and 80.
Please see here for more details, and for information on how to find more about what your participation will involve.
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| A new online shop for the Bridge Warehouse |
The Bridge Warehouse has a new online shop. We hope you like the new, modern platform, and that you find it easy to use.
All profit from sales in the Bridge Warehouse is reinvested by the EBU in activities and services for its members and affiliated clubs. If everyone shops at The Bridge Warehouse we will all be better off, so please support it. If you see an item that is cheaper on another site then please get in touch with us before you shop elsewhere - we will match competitors’ prices where possible.
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| Internationals news: April |
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| Nominations accepted for 2018 Teaching Awards |
Nominations are now being accepted for the teaching awards presented jointly by the EBU and English Bridge Education & Development.
The Alec Salisbury Award is made to the school teacher who has made the most effective contribution to promoting bridge.
The Tom Bradley Award is made to the (non-school) teacher who has made the most effective contribution to promoting youth bridge.
More information on the awards and the process for making a nomination is available on the EBED website. Nominations should be made by 26th May.
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| Changes to the National Grading Scheme |
Changes have been introduced to the National Grading Scheme. These were made in response to feedback received during the consultation of clubs which took place last year.
- The grade of players with 'mature' grades will not change when they partner players who have played fewer than 150 graded boards. The session will not count towards the grade of the more experienced player, but will count towards the grade of the less experienced player. It is hoped that this will stop people being deterred from acting as a host or mentor at their club due to concerns they have about how it might affect their NGS.
- Grades will be published once you have played 150 boards (previously 300) but they will change more quickly than before to enable new players to reach an appropriate grade sooner. A grade will still be considered 'evolving' until you have played 1000 boards, at which point it 'matures'.
These changes are now in effect.
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| April issue of English Bridge out now |
The April 2018 issue of English Bridge is out now.
The online version, which contains extra content, is available via My EBU (use the 'Magazine' link in the top right corner of the My EBU webpage). More information on accessing and using the online version is available here.
Please note the change to the policy for the distribution of magazines to households of more than one EBU member, with only one copy sent except to those households opting in to receive more - please see here for more details.
The print featured on the cover can be purchased, with proceeds supporting the junior teams competing in the World Championships in China - see p.59 (or here) for details.
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| Junior bridge events: March |
The Young Bridge Challenge, organised by English Bridge Education & Development, took place in Loughborough on Saturday 10th March with young players from schools from around the country taking part in bridge and minibridge competitions.
The Schools Cup was won by Senthur Shanmugarasa, Ben Lewis, Jack Ronayne, Kavinthan Vickneswaran from Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys School.
See here for more details.
On Friday, 16th March, Warwickshire CBA welcomed over 50 Year 5 & 6 pupils from two local schools to West Midlands Bridge Club to take part in their annual Junior Challenge.
See here for more details.
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| Internationals news: March |
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| Gordon's GM blog #3 |
EBU General Manager Gordon Rainsford has written a new blog, and you can see it by clicking 'read more' below.
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| Two new Board members appointed |
Two new members have been appointed to the EBU Board of Directors.
We offer a warm welcome to:
- Bev Godfrey - manager of St Georges Bridge Centre in Darlington, a bridge teacher, and member of the North Eastern Bridge Association Executive - who will have a specific focus on 'club matters'
- Gillian Fawcett - current Chair of the Selection Committee, and a participant for England in ten Lady Milne competitions - who will focus on 'International issues' and on matters relating to 'sponsorship'
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| John Holland tops Master Point list; Club Champions announced |
John Holland has regained the Sunday Telegraph Salver, for the most Master Points earned in the calendar year.
John, who has won the competition on five previous occasions, earned 21,251 points in 2017. The 2016 winner, Mike Bell, was second with 20,604 and Michael Byrne was third with 18,929.
The highest scoring Junior (a new list for this year) was Shahzaad Natt. The Gold Point list is headed by Andrew Robson.
The winners of the Club Champions prize draw have also been selected. Club Champions are those who won the most Master Points in events held at each club, and each Club Champion is entered in to the draw. John Pope of Framlingham Bridge Club was first out of the hat and wins £400. Malcolm Schofield of Hampton Duplicate Bridge Club was drawn in second and wins £200, and Deirdre Sanders of Patcham Bridge Club wins £100 for being drawn third.
The top scoring players in each county in Master Point categories 4 to 6, and the top scoring players nationally in categories 1 to 3, also receive small prizes.
The Master Point leaderboards for 2017 can be accessed below - all lists can be filtered by county using the options in the menu at the top of the page.
To see your personal Master Point information, log-on to My EBU and follow the link at the top of the Master Point page. Alternatively, you can search for yourself using the box in the top right of any 2017 Master Points page. Well done to those who reached personal milestones during the year.
All the data is currently provisional - if you believe there are any anomalies please contact us as soon as possible.
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| Junior bridge events: February |
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The annual Surrey Schools Cup has taken place with great success. The winners of the Cup were Westminster School; the Salver was won by Hampton School; the minibridge competition was won by Weydon School. For a full report, from Surrey's Youth Rep, Tim Warren, plus more pictures, click here.
The 2018 Inter-University Bridge Festival took place on Saturday 24th February.
13 university teams took part, but it was the 'Warwickshire Juniors' team (Megan Jones, Imogen La Chapelle, Andy Cope, and young-at-heart Darren Evetts) which topped the table. The official winning university team were UCL C (Roy Goh & Ren Ziyu, Chua Teeyong & Lien Chongyou), with Imperial A in the runners-up spot, and Warwick A completing the podium.
The competition was organised by Warwick University Bridge Club, and supported by Warwickshire CBA and Coventry & North Warwickshire and West Midlands Bridge Clubs.
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| Results roundup: February |
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| Internationals news: February |
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| Welcome to newly affiliated clubs |
Welcome to the clubs which have recently affiliated with the EBU.
- North London BC in Stanmore. They hold a weekly session at 8pm on Wednesdays
- Besses o'th Barn BC in Manchester. They meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm in Whitefield in the north of the city.
- Freeland BC in Oxfordshire. They meet informally at present, but intend playing in Freeland Village Hall in future.
- Letchworth Heritage BC in Hertfordshire. They play on Monday afternoons, and also have a Friday morning student class for beginners and intermediates.
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| February issue of English Bridge out now |
The February 2018 issue of English Bridge is out now.
The online version, which contains extra content, is available via My EBU (use the 'Magazine' link in the top right corner of the My EBU webpage). More information on accessing and using the online version is available here.
Please note the change to the policy for the distribution to magazines to households currently receiving more than one copy - please see here for more details.
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| Change in magazine policy to help reduce waste |
In order to help reduce the number of copies of English Bridge which are 'wasted', we are changing the way the magazines are distributed.
From the April 2018 issue, we will only dispatch one magazine per household, unless you opt in to say you wish to receive all the magazines to which the members of your household are entitled. The distribution of the diary is not affected.
We believe this is the environmentally and financially responsible action to take, but we are only trying to eliminate waste. If your household reads all the copies which are currently received, so you want to continue receiving them all, then we are very happy to send them to you. But to continue receiving them you must opt-in. Alternatively if you are happy for your household to receive only one copy as one is unread, or a single copy could be shared, then you need take no action.
How to opt-in
The best and easiest way to opt-in is by changing the setting on your account on My EBU. All you need to do is...
- Log-in to My EBU (if you don't know your password then you can reset it here)
- Click on 'account' in the top right corner, select 'My details', and then click on the box labelled 'Receive multiple magazines at my address' which is in the 'account settings section' of the page. Then click 'save changes'.
Only one member of each household needs to do this.
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| EBED gives support to junior fundraising |
English Bridge Education & Development has offered its support to the ongoing fundraising efforts for the junior teams participating in the 2018 World Youth Team Championships.
Not only will EBED be making a donation from its funds, but a page has been established on its website which allows individuals to make a donation to the fundraising effort through EBED, thereby allowing Gift Aid to be reclaimed. These donations will then be included as part of a larger donation by EBED to the EBU to support the junior teams.
Part of EBED's remit is to promote and develop the playing of bridge by those in full time education, and its constitution makes specific provision for supporting junior involvement in events organised by the World Bridge Federation. The fundraising will not only contribute to the costs of participation, but also to the squad's training sessions in the build up to the event so they can perform as well as possible in the competition. EBED hopes that this may give further enthusiasm to youngsters who may just be starting to play; that it may motivate more to give bridge a try; and that it may encourage more people to set up bridge activities for young players.
The EBU, and those involved in the squads are very grateful for EBED's contribution.
An update on sponsorship activity can be seen here.
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| Online games expanded; new year-long competition introduced |
Following the success of our weekend online games with Funbridge, we have now introduced a game on Thursdays, and they will start on 18th January.
The games are proving popular as you can play at any time during the day (between midnight and 10pm), stopping and starting as often as necessary. This is because you play with, and against, robots, so don't need to be online at the same time as your partner or opponents. This means you can play any time, anywhere.
For more details on how to play, please see our FAQ page.
New year-long competition
In addition to our monthly ladder competition, we will be running a year-long competition in which you can win cash prizes. In the year-long competition, the player with the highest average from their 20 best scores in games played in 2018 will win £200, with further cash prizes for the rest of the top ten. This is in addition to the Master Points you can win in each game.
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| Internationals news: January |
England sit atop the table after the first weekend of the Camrose Trophy, the competition between the teams of the 'home nations'.
Well done to the England team: Michael Byrne & Kieran Dyke; Jeffrey Allerton & Chris Jagger; Frances Hinden & Graham Osborne; NPC, David Burn.
The trials to play in England's Open team in the 2018 European Championships have been won by Jeffrey Allerton and Chris Jagger, with David Bakhshi and Artur Malinowski in second.
They will be invited to be part of the team alongside Andrew Robson & Tony Forrester, who were already selected.
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| Results roundup: December |
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| Junior fundraising rolls out |
Fundraising to send our four Junior Teams (U26; U26 Women; U21; U16) to the World Youth Teams Championships next year has begun in earnest.
EBU Vice-Chairman Ian Payn has taken responsibility for the campaign after the resignation of Darren Evetts from the EBU Board. He will be supported by the Chairman of the Selection Committee, Gillian Fawcett, Squad Leaders, players themselves and their parents, in his endeavours to engage counties clubs and individuals in raising funds for this worthwhile cause.
County Chairmen have already been written to, and the response so far has been encouraging (Sussex having already raised funds well before the letters even went out), and we have also received a very generous donation from the Worshipful Company of Playing Card Makers.
This campaign has only two rules:
- 1. No contribution is too small, We are grateful for any effort.
- 2. No hard sell: this is an entirely voluntary affair.
There is very exciting news on the major sponsor front, as well. Squad Leader for the Women’s U26 Sally Brock has managed to acquire a massive £10,000 donation from Touchlight to fund travel and, crucially, training for the U26 Women’s team. We are incredibly grateful to them.
"Touchlight is delighted to support the Under 26 Women’s Bridge team and look forward to seeing their progress throughout 2018.
Touchlight was established on the conviction that our ever-increasing understanding of DNA would lead to its emergence as a material of the future. As such we have developed, patented, scaled and evidenced a revolutionary enzymatic platform to enable the new generation of DNA-based products."
But it’s not all about big packages – we want everyone who wants to, to feel a part of this, to feel they’re encouraging the future of the game.
Update: Thanks to No Fear Bridge for their support of the U16s through the donation of free membership to their website to all the squad and coaches.
If you want some ideas or further information please e-mail Ian Payn (idp@ebu.co.uk) or Peter Stockdale (peter.stockdale@ebu.co.uk).
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| Internationals news: December |
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| December issue of English Bridge out now |
The December 2017 issue of English Bridge is out now.
The online version, which contains extra quizzes and county news, is available via My EBU (use the 'Magazine' link in the top right corner of the My EBU webpage). More information on accessing and using the online version is available here. County News can also be accessed directly via this link - County News (an archive of these sections is available here).
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| EBU accounts - an overview of income and expenditure |
Every year, the EBU’s annual accounts are made available. This year's account were approved by the Shareholders at the AGM yesterday, and will be made available online soon alongside those from previous years which are available at www.ebu.co.uk/official-documents.
We are aware, however, that some people find this information a little impenetrable, so some charts were created to give a simple overview of the source of the EBU’s income, and where the money is spent. These can be seen by clicking 'read more'. We hope this is interesting and useful to you in understanding how the EBU’s finances are structured.
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| Contributions to bridge recognised at AGM |
The EBU presented awards in recognition of various members' contributions to bridge in England at the AGM in London yesterday.
- Silver Award, for an outstanding contribution, and recognition of long service, at a national and/or county level - Michael Rothwell, Westmorland (top left) and Richard Fleet, London*
- Tony Priday Award, for an outstanding contribution to bridge and enhancing the game is all its aspects - David Ewart (top right) for his contribution to the EBU's recent legal cases
- Diamond Award, for excellence over a sustained period for England's international teams - Sally Brock (bottom right), and Colin Simpson (presented earlier in the year)
- Dimmie Fleming Award, recognising a long and valuable contribution to county bridge - Audrey Hartley, Essex (middle left); David Muller, London*; Terence Treeby, Devon*; and Mervyn Wotton, Sussex (bottom left)
* - presentations to be made at a later date
Congratulations to all recipients, and we thank them for their contribution.
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| Gordon's GM blog #2 |
EBU General Manager Gordon Rainsford has written a new blog, and you can see it by clicking 'read more' below.
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| Bridge not a sport for VAT purposes says EU court |
The EBU has learned that the European Court of Justice has today overturned a recommendation from its Advocate General, and has ruled that bridge should not be considered a sport for VAT purposes.
This decision comes as both a surprise, and a disappointment, as we had welcomed the earlier recommendation made by Advocate General that bridge should considered a sport for this purpose. A positive ruling by the court would have both made participation in bridge competitions cheaper, and would have provided a rebate to the EBU which it could invest in bringing bridge – and the enjoyment and health benefits which participation offers – to a wider audience.
The Court did, however, leave open the opportunity for individual states to exempt bridge from VAT by recognising it as a ‘cultural service’. We are pleased by the court’s suggestion, and welcome the possibility that bridge activities may yet be exempted from VAT, however we have not yet considered the implications of the suggestion.
We would like to give our thanks to David Ewart and our legal team for their work throughout these legal proceedings.
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| 2017 Sim Pairs prize winners drawn |
At this week's AGM the 2017 Sim Pairs prize draw took place. Each host club, and the top pair at each club, were entered in to a draw.
The full list of winners, including the runners-up from the prize draw, and the overall winners for each heat, can be seen here. The winners of the top prizes were:
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Pairs winners |
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| 1st Prize - £1000 per pair |
Cliff Short & Anne Short |
Hemel Hempstead Bridge Club |
| 2nd Prize - £500 per pair |
Frances Moor & Peter Edwards |
Deben Bridge Club |
| 3rd Prize - £200 per pair |
Jim Ramadan & Charles Broughton-Pipkin |
Petersfield Bridge Club |
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Club winners |
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| 1st Prize - £1000 |
York Bridge Club |
Yorkshire |
| 2nd Prize - £500 |
Lines Bridge Club |
Cambs & Hunts |
| 3rd Prize - £200 |
Stamford Bridge Club |
Northamptonshire |
The 2018 will have a similar prize structure, and entries for all events are open now. We hope you will take part as the proceeds from each of the events helps to support bridge in England.
- The British Sim Pairs (in January, April, July and October) and Club Stratified Sim Pairs (in March) help to support the work of the EBU in providing services to you, the members, and to your clubs and counties
- The Bridge England Sim Pairs (in February) helps to support England's international squads, including the four junior teams which will be competing in the World Championships in China in 2018
- The EBED Sim Pairs (in May and September) helps to support the work of the charity English Bridge Education and Development
For more information on the competitions, and how clubs can register to take part, see the information via the Sim Pairs webpage.
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| Elections for EBU Board and Standing Committees held at AGM |
The EBU AGM took place on 22nd November. The following people were elected/re-elected to the EBU Board and Standing Committees:
The Board
There were four nominees for three positions. The votes received were as follows:-
Elected: Jeremy Dhondy - 60 votes; Ian Payn - 52; Rob Lawy - 42; each will serve a three year term of office expiring in 2020
Not elected: Paul Roberts - 39.
The Board of Directors may also appoint a further Director for one year at a time.
Jeremy Dhondy was re-elected as Chairman, and Ian Payn as Vice Chairman - both were uncontested.
The Selection Committee
There were four nominees for four positions. Elections were held to determine the length of term of the candidates.
Three year term: Gillian Fawcett - 55 votes; David Bakhshi - 54; Jeremy Willans - 40
Two year term: Paul Barden - 29
The Laws & Ethics Committee
There were four nominees for four positions. Elections were held to determine the length of term of the candidates.
Three year term: David Burn - 55 votes; Heather Dhondy - 54
Two year term: Martin Pool - 51
One year term: Alan Wilson - 38
To see the current members of the Board and Standing Committees, click 'read more'.
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| New TD Forum available |
In response to requests, we have established a TD forum where you can ask questions and discuss matters of interest. It is open to everyone - not just restricted to qualified TDs - and anyone needing help with any matter relating to the Laws can use it.
Since the Laws of Duplicate Bridge 2017 have fairly recently come into effect, we anticipate that there may be a number of questions that TDs will have that more experienced colleagues may be able to help with.
The forum is available at: https://www.ebu.co.uk/forum
Update: A sub-forum for those wishing to ask questions about scoring has been added.
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| Internationals news: October - November |
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| Results roundup: October - November |
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| Funbridge results |
The winners of our Funbridge Ladder Competitions were Richard Page in October and Dean Swallow in November. The competition takes the four best scores achieved by each particpant in our online games during the month.
The top three each month receive cash prizes, and a copy of the GOTO Bridge software, kindly donated by Funbridge.
Ladder competitions take place each month. Our games on Funbridge take place each Saturday and Sunday. You can play at any time during the day, stopping and restarting as often as necessary. Each game costs just €2, and Master Points can be won.
For more details on playing in our online games on Funbridge, please see this FAQ page.
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| October issue of English Bridge out now |
The October 2017 issue of English Bridge is out now, and a printed version will be delivered to all eligible members in the next few days.
The online version, which contains extra content, including some highlights from a busy summer of junior bridge lessons around the country, and quizzes on some of the main articles, is available via My EBU (use the 'Magazine' link in the top right corner of the My EBU webpage). More information on accessing and using the online version is available here.
The County News, which is now part of the online version of the magazine, can also be accessed directly via this link - County News (an archive of these sections is available here).
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| British Autumn Sim Pairs takes place this week |
The British Autumn Simultaneous Pairs takes place this week and you'll be able to find all the results and commentaries via the links below. Good luck to all participants and we hope you enjoy taking part. Results will be finalised, and Master Points credited, once all the results have been submitted and checked.
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| Win cash prizes in EBU online games with Funbridge |
Our online games with Funbridge have been proving popular, and there is now another reason to take part - you can win cash prizes!
Starting in October, prizes will be awarded to those EBU members with the highest cumulative score from their best four results in our online games in each calendar month. The prizes are:
| 1st - £20 |
2nd - £10 |
3rd - £5 |
With games taking place each Saturday and Sunday there are nine chances in October to get four great results and scoop the prize.
Bonus prizes: Funbridge have kindly donated copies of their GOTO Bridge software and one will go to the top scorer in October, November and December, plus a copy to the top three scorers in the unofficial competition in September (see here).
Thank you to Funbridge for donating these prizes.
Links to the results from September's games, and the scores from the unofficial ladder competition in September, are available below.
About the games with Funbridge
The games take place on Saturdays and Sundays, and you can play at any time between midnight and 10pm. This is possible because you will partner one of Funbridge's 'robots', and play against two other robots, so you don't need to be online at the same time as anyone else. The competitions consist of 20 boards, and you can play them at any time during the competition period, stopping and restarting as often as you want. It's a great way to fill the gaps in your weekend.
Acol is one of the bidding systems available for you to choose (which isn't always the case with some online platforms), and you can set which conventions and carding methods you and your robotic partner play.
As well as the chance to win monthly prizes, Master Points are awarded for each game. Entry costs €2 per game.
We hope you will take part. Please see the FAQ for more details on the competitions and for information on how to play.
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| Results round up: September - October |
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| Nominations for AGM Elections |
Nomination papers for the elections which will take place at the EBU AGM in November have this week been dispatched to all Shareholders. Only nominations received at Aylesbury by Wednesday 25th October will be considered. Please note that only EBU Shareholders may nominate people for the Board or a Standing Committee.
Please click 'read more' for details of the current composition of the Board and Standing Committees, and of the elections which will be held at the AGM.
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| Learn to play with Bridge for All this autumn |
Autumn is the ideal time to start learning to play bridge, with lots of lessons beginning around the country in the next few weeks. Many of these will be using Bridge for All, the national learning programme administered by the national bridge charity English Bridge Education & Development.
Bridge for All offers a range of books and courses to enable you to learn in a way which best suits you, whether that is one lesson a week, or a more intensive course.
To help introduce the options available, EBED has produced the video below. Please share it with anyone who may be interested in learning to play. If you want to display the video on your website please get in touch.
For more information on learning through Bridge for All visit the EBED website, or contact them.
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| Results round up: August - September |
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| International News: August |
England's Women have won the silver medal in the Venice Cup at the World Championships. This great result means that England's Women have won medals in the last three Venice Cups - the only country to do so since 2003 - and in seven of the last eight major World and European competitions. Congratulations to Sally Brock & Fiona Brown, Catherine Draper & Nicola Smith, and Sandra Penfold & Nevena Senior (with NPC Derek Patterson and Coach David Burn).
The final against China started well, but the tide turned in the second session, and after five sessions England were willing to concede defeat.
NPC's blog: Derek Patterson, NPC for the team, has been writing a blog during the championship, and you can read it here.
Quarterfinal v. Russia
220-199 |
Semifinal v. Sweden
205-184 |
Final v. China
107-206 (concession after 5 sessions) |
For the results from the round robin phase, and session results from the knockout stages, click 'read more'.
USA2 was winners of the both the Bermuda Bowl and D'Orsi Bowl competitions.
Update: In the Transnational Teams which ran in parallel with the main events, the Percy team of Peter Crouch, David Gold, Andrew Robson, Anita Sinclair, Zia Mahmood (USA) & Marion Michielsen (Netherlands) (with Marshall Lewis of Croatia as NPC) finished in third place.
Congratulations to Shivam Shah (right) who has won a bronze medal in the teams competition at the World Youth Open Championships.
Shivam was playing with Christian Bakke (of Norway) and Guillermo Minutti (of Uruguay) & Maximo Crusizio (of Argentina)in the Villa Fabbriche team.
Stephen Kennedy & Michael Alishaw, and Ben Norton with Noah Thomas Apteker of South Africa, were narrowly defeated in the quarterfinals. In the BAM event which followed they were lying third prior to the final round, but had to withdraw. Shiavm's team carried on where they had left off, however, joining the competition and going on to take the silver medal.
The English players also put in good performances in the Pairs competition, although they missed out on the medals. Shivam, playing with Christian, finished 6th, Stephen & Michael were 8th, and Ben, playing with Noah, was 9th.
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| Gordon's GM blog #1 |
New EBU General Manager Gordon Rainsford has written his first 'blog' since taking over in the role, and you can see it by clicking 'read more' below.
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| Junior and teaching awards presented at the Summer Meeting |
At the Summer Meeting four awards have been presented to those who have excelled in junior bridge, and to those who have made significant contribution to the teaching of young players.
Young Player of the Year: Ben Norton
Young Pair of the Year: Stephen Kennedy & Michael Alishaw
The Alec Salisbury Award winner: Sarah Bell
The Tom Bradley Award winner: Jessica & Anton Mauve
The achievements of Ben, and of Stephen & Michael, during the period in consideration have been numerous. They have all been mainstays of the junior international squads which have enjoyed a good run of results recently - culminating in all four teams qualifying for the 2018 World Championships - and in domestic bridge they have all won titles at major EBU congresses. The links above give more detailed information.
The Alec Salisbury Award recognises a school teacher who has made a significant contribution to junior bridge. Sarah Bell, of St Paul's Girls School, was instrumental in the establishment of the U16 squad, and in the success that came about so quickly for the team. She has also established a bridge club at the school and has contributed to the development and growth of the Junior Award Scheme.
Jessica & Anton Mauve have been key in the burgeoning junior bridge scene in Kent, and were presented with the Tom Bradley Award, which recognises the 'non-school-teachers' who have made a significant contribution to youth bridge.
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| Updated Blue and White Books for 2017 now available |
The annual updates to the Blue Book and White Book have been made by the Laws & Ethics Committee. There finalised versions can now be viewed and downloaded.
There is also a summary 'poster' covering the significant changes in the Blue Book. This is available for clubs to print off and make available on their noticeboard, or to distribute to interested members.
Please note that new regulations relating to ‘strong’ bids have replaced the Extended Rule of 25 - see the Blue Book for more details.
The content of these books applies to all events held on or after 1st August 2017.
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| EBU online competitions with Funbridge starting in September |
Starting on 2nd September you will be able to play in EBU competitions on Funbridge.
In these competitions you will partner one of Funbridge's 'robots', and play against two other robots. You therefore don't need a 'human partner' to take part, and you can play whenever you wish as you don't need human opponents online at the same time. The competitions consist of 20 boards, and you can play them at any time during the competition period, stopping and restarting as often as you wish. The games will take place on Saturdays and Sunday, between midnight and 10pm (i.e. you have 22 hours to play your boards).
Acol is one of the bidding systems available for you to choose (which isn't always the case with some online platforms), and you can set which conventions and carding methods you and your robotic partner play.
The games cost €2 (by charging you in Euros we can charge less than £2), and Master Points can be won. The competitions are open to everyone.
We hope you will take part. Please see the FAQ for more details on the competitions and for information on how to play.
Watch the World Championship and Crockfords Cup live on Funbridge
Not only does Funbridge offer ways to take part in competitions, and to play practice hands to develop your game, but they will also be showing live coverage of matches.
They are official partners of the World Bridge Championships in Lyon, and will be broadcasting live coverage of matches from the event from 12th - 26th August.
The EBU will also be using Funbridge to show coverage of the finals of the Crockfords Cup on 2nd & 3rd September. More details on the coverage will be available in due course, but as it coincides with the start of our online competitions we hope you will combine watching with taking part in those (stopping and restarting the competition as required during breaks in play).
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| 2017 Laws of Duplicate Bridge now in use in EBU competitions |
More information, and useful documents, are available here.
EBED will be running a course on the changes to the laws - information is available on their website.
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| August issue of English Bridge out now |
The August 2017 issue of English Bridge is out now, and a printed version will be delivered to all eligible members in the next few days. The 2017/18 Members' Diary will also be delivered with this issue to those eligible members who have not opted out of receiving one. If you are not eligible to receive a diary, and would like to purchase one, they are available from the Bridge Warehouse.
In response to feedback in the readers' survey there are four new columns starting this month. We hope you enjoy them.
The online version, which contains extra content including quizzes on some of the main articles and a feature on some of the junior initiatives taking place around the country, is available via My EBU (use the 'Magazine' link in the top right corner of the My EBU webpage). More information on accessing and using the online version is available here.
As explained in the last issue, as of this issue the County News in its traditional format is no longer part of the printed version of the magazine, and is instead part of the online version of the magazine. It can also be accessed directly via this link - County News (an archive of these sections is available here).
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| Results round up: July - August |
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| Farewell to Barry Capal |
Barry Capal retired on Friday after eleven years as General Manager of the EBU. He was the longest serving GM since the title was created, and only Dimmie Fleming served longer in the former position of Executive Secretary.
Gordon Rainsford, who will be the new General Manager said “I’d like to wish Barry all the best in his retirement and thank him for his time at the EBU. I’m very excited about my new role and delighted to have such a pleasant and professional staff to help me in it!”
Barry has written a final blog with his farewell thoughts, and some highlights of his time at the EBU. Click read more to see it in full.
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| Bridge is a sport, says preliminary ruling in European Court VAT case |
We are very pleased that a report prepared by the European Court of Justice has concluded that contract bridge should be considered a sport for VAT purposes.
This is a non-binding recommendation, but if confirmed later this year the EBU would no longer need to charge VAT on entry fees to its competitions, and would receive a rebate on VAT which it had previously paid. This will have huge benefits as it will allow us to invest further in the game, and make entries to EBU competitions cheaper, thus allowing more people to enjoy playing bridge, and enabling more to experience the social and mental benefits that playing bridge offers. The final judgement is expected in the autumn.
Advocate General Maciej Szpunar gave his opinion that for the purposes of the VAT exemption a definition of ‘sport’ had different components, key among which was that it was intended to be understood as “training of mental or physical fitness in a way that is generally beneficial to the health and well-being of citizens”. He recognised that bridge met these criteria and also that the International Olympic Committee was one of a number of organisations which “expressly include mental sports or endorse activities without a physical element”, concluding that this implies that they be “generally regarded as similar to established sports”.
EBU Chairman, Jeremy Dhondy, welcomed the Advocate General’s report, saying:
- “I am delighted at this decision made today which I very much hope will be upheld by the judges who heard the case. It is a vindication of our view that bridge should be regarded as a sport with all the advantages that brings both for bridge as a game and also for our members and prospective members. We want our game to play its full part as an activity to promote social inclusion and welcome the judgement of the European Court.”
Update: The case was discussed on Radio 4's 'Law in Action' on Tuesday 20th June. You can listen to that here (scroll to 23:04).
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| Welcome to the Bridge Warehouse |
Our shop has changed, and it’s not just the name which is new.
Following a comprehensive review of the shop, led by Graham Smith, one of the EBU directors, we identified a number of changes which should be made to ensure its continued success, and to take advantage of opportunities for it to grow. These changes will help it meet its core functions of providing bridge supplies to the widest number of members at the lowest possible prices, and ensure that it generates revenue which can be reinvested in the EBU. All profit from sales in the shop is reinvested by the EBU in activities and services for its members and affiliated clubs.
From today:
- The shop will be called The Bridge Warehouse to reflect that it is open to all, and not just EBU members
- The prices displayed will be the fully discounted prices - the price you see is now the price you pay, with no need to calculate your discounted price. This will help everyone see that on most items our prices are the lowest available
- These prices will be available to everyone, as we hope this will increase sales to non-members and unaffiliated clubs, and increase the profits which the EBU can reinvest
- We will have intermittent special offers which are available only to affiliated clubs, EBU members, and/or EBTA members
We hope that this is the start of an exciting, and profitable, new era for the shop which will ultimately benefit all members. If everyone shops at The Bridge Warehouse we will all be better off, so please support it.
A fuller article on the changes is available by clicking 'read more'.
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| Article index now available |
An index of all the educational articles which have been printed in English Bridge magazine since 2007 is now available, along with links to the correct pages of the relevant magazines.
From beginners lessons to advanced topics, and including conventions, techniques and tactics, there is something for everyone to learn from and enjoy.
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| NGS consultation - changes to note, and report now available |
The consultation on the National Grading Scheme which took place earlier this year has concluded, and the board has considered the recommendations which were put forward by Gordon Rainsford following his collation and consideration of the responses received from clubs. Gordon's report is available for you to read.
The primary 'headlines' are:
- The 'exemption' for hosts (and their partner, if they wish) will still be available.
- 'Exemptions' must be registered with the EBU, via a section of MyEBU on the EBU website, as soon as the host knows they will be playing and wish to be exempt, and in any case no more than 30 minutes after the start of the game. They must also notify us via the scoring submission.
- Clubs and members are reminded that the 'exemption' must be used appropriately, and the privilege can be removed from any individual club or member if it is misused.
- Other suggested changes to the NGS were noted, and considered, and some may be revisited in future, but no further changes are to be made at the present time.
Any club which uses, or may in future use, the exemption, is asked to read the report and familiarise itself with the criteria which must be met. The information can also be circulated to anyone who acts as a 'host'.
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| Star Grand Masters - new to the Master Point scheme |
A new addition has been made to the Master Point scheme, with Star Grand Master ranks introduced to bridge the gap between the existing ranks of Grand Master and Premier Grand Master.
It was recognised that whilst the requirements for these ranks are appropriate, the gap was too wide without there being interim levels which members could achieve as they strive to reach the highest rank. Star Grand Master was therefore introduced, with the member gaining an extra star for each additional 200 Green Points won. More information is available on the Master Point page of the website.
A list of those who have been promoted due to the introduction of these new ranks is available here.
Landmark promotions in the Master Point scheme are printed in every second issue of English Bridge, and a list of all promotions (sorted by county) can be seen on our website with a new list posted every month.
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| Nicola Smith and John Holland inducted to EBL Hall of Fame |
 At a ceremony which took place at the European Open Championships, in Montecatini, Italy, Nicola Smith and John Holland were inducted in the EBL Hall of Fame.
Nicola has played in the European Championships 24 times for Great Britain and England's Women's Team, winning a gold medal on eight occasions. She has also won numerous other medals, including gold in the Venice Cup twice. She was awarded an MBE in 1995 for her contribution to bridge.
 John has played in the last six European Championships, the most recent four appearances in the Senior's event in which he won a gold medal in 2014. He also won the D'Orsi Bowl - the 'Senior World Championships' - in 2009.
The Hall of Fame was established to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the formation EBL, and the other inaugural inductees were:
Open - Paul Chemla (France), Benito Garozzo (Italy), Geir Helgemo (Norway/Monaco), Julian Klukowski (Poland)
Women - Bep Vriend (Netherlands), Sylvie Willard (France)
Senior - Apolinary Kowalski (Poland)
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| Robin Barker joins the EBU staff |
Welcome to Robin Barker, who has joined the EBU staff as Deputy Chief Tournament Director.
Robin will be working on matters relating to Laws & Ethics, and in the planning and running of EBU events. Gordon Rainsford will continue as Chief Tournament Director when he takes over as General Manager, following the retirement of Barry Capal later this month, however much of the 'day-to-day' work in this area will be done by Robin. Please consider Robin to be the first point of contact for enquiries - robin@ebu.co.uk.
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| Welcome to three newly affiliated clubs |
Welcome to three clubs which have recently affiliated with the EBU:
- Cutthorpe Friendly Afternoon BC, Derbyshire - a new, friendly club, which plays at Cutthorpe Village Hall in Chesterfield. They start on 13th July, and there will be sessions on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, plus Sim Pairs and 'full day' events.
- Market Harborough BC, Leicestershire - an established club in the centre of the town, which plays on Monday evenings.
- Friends BC, Middlesex - They play in Hatch End, and will be hosting heats of Sim Pairs during the summer, with regular weekly sessions starting in September
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| Updated Blue and White Books for 2017 now available |
The annual updates to the Blue Book and White Book have been made by the Laws & Ethics Committee. There may still be a small number of minor alterations before the content is finalised, however they can be downloaded and viewed now by those wanting to have an early look at them.
- Blue Book (changes are shown in blue text)
- White Book (sections which have changed from 2016 are shown with a mark in the left margin)
The content of these books applies to all events held on or after 1st August 2017.
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| Results round up: May - July |
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| International News: May - July |
 England have enjoyed a fantastic European Youth Team Championships. The U26 Women and U21s won bronze medals, and all four teams qualified for next year's World Championships - England being the only country to achieve this. This exceeds the pre-tournament expectations with Alan Shillitoe, NPC of the U26 team calling it, "by far the best all-round performance we have achieved at this level". We echo his "congratulations to all the players who achieved this and thanks to all the coaches, captains and mentors who helped to develop and lead the players".
The England team of Nick Irens, Tony Forrester, David Kendrick, Norman Selway & John Holland retained the Teltscher Trophy, at the 'Senior Camrose' which took place in Belfast in May
The Corn Cairdis - the Cup of Friendship - has been won by England in the annual friendly match against Ireland.
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| Laws of Duplicate Bridge to be updated in 2017 |
The World Bridge Federation will be updating the Laws of Duplicate Bridge in 2017, and these will come in to effect in competitions in England from the start of August.
You can buy a copy of the new law book now.
This video - - from the EBU's Chief Tournament Director, Gordon Rainsford, explains a little more about the introduction of the laws, and the impact it will have on some of the more commonly occurring situations - those covered in our 'How Can I Help You?' series of videos.
Courses will be organised by English Bridge Education and Development to help TDs update their knowledge of the Laws. More information on those will be available soon.
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| Top 50 clubs by players 2016/17 |
Every year we produce a list of the top 50 clubs by number of player sessions in the year, and we are pleased to announce this year's list. The top 5 are available below, and the full list can be seen via the 'read more' link.
| 1 |
Richmond Bridge Club |
| 2 |
Wimbledon Bridge Club |
| 3 |
Kenilworth Bridge Club |
| 4 |
West Midlands Bridge Club Limited |
| 5 |
Bristol Bridge Club |
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| Gordon Rainsford to be new EBU General Manager |
The EBU Board of Directors is delighted to announce that it has appointed Gordon Rainsford to be the new EBU General Manager. He will take on the role as from Monday 10th July and replace Barry Capal, who is retiring.
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| Colin Simpson to receive Diamond Award |
Colin Simpson is to receive the EBU's Diamond Award. Jeremy Dhondy made the announcement at the EBU Shareholders' Meeting which took place in London yesterday. Due to ill-health Colin was not able to attend the meeting to be presented with the award - it will be given to him in the near future.
The Diamond Award recognises excellence and success over a sustained period for England's international teams.
Colin is a Senior World and European Champion, having won those events in 2009 and 2014 respectively. These were among his eight appearances for England's Senior team in major competitions, and he played for the Open team in five major championships in the early part of the millennium. He has also represented England numerous times in the Camrose and Teltscher Trophy competitions.
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| Results round up: April-May |
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| International News: March - May |
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| My EBU reopens |
We have just switched My EBU, the replacement for the old Members Area, back on. There are some features associated with transactions that have not yet been released live: you cannot view your transaction history or past invoices; and you cannot book into competitions online. We hope these will be available within a day or two.
If you are having problems accessing My EBU, and still seeing the message saying the page is unavailable, then perform a 'hard refresh' of the page to clear your cache - this may be shift-F5 or ctrl-F5 depending on your browser.
Members should please note that the clubs have only just gained access too, so any sessions played during the downtime will not have been submitted yet. Please be patient as they work through the backlog.
The Aylesbury office will gradually open up our usual membership services over the next 48 hours. Please bear with staff as they get used to the new system.
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| Teaching award nominations now being accepted |
Nominations are now being accepted for the teaching awards presented jointly by the EBU and English Bridge Education and Development:
- The Alec Salisbury Award - to the school teacher who has made the most effective contribution to promoting bridge
- The Tom Bradley Award - to the (non-school) teacher who has made the most contribution to promoting youth bridge
Please click 'read more' for further details on the nomination process. Nominations should be made by 23rd May.
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| Mike Bell tops Master Point list for 2016 |
Congratulations to Mike Bell, who has claimed the Sunday Telegraph Salver, for the most Master Points accumulated in the calendar year, for the first time.
Mike earned 25,712 points, with Jason Hackett second with 20,741, and John Holland - who was top scorer for the previous four years - third with 20,647. David Gold has reclaimed the top spot in the Gold Point rankings, with Andrew Robson in second, and 2015 leader John Holland in third.
The winners of the Club Champions prize draw have also been selected. Club Champions are those who won the most Master Points in events held at each club. Pam Moore of Ridgeway Bridge Club was first out of the hat and wins £400. Inu Kassam of Wimbledon Bridge Club was drawn in second and wins £200, and Michael Shine of Herts & Essex Bridge Club wins £100 for being drawn third. The top scoring, lower-ranked players in each county also receive small prizes.
The full Master Point lists for 2016, including a breakdown by county, can be accessed below. All the data is currently provisional - if you believe there are any anomalies please contact us as soon as possible.
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| Youngsters enjoy half-term bridge events |
The February half-term was a break from school, but not from mental exercise as a number of bridge events for junior players took place. Unlike school, however, these proved to be very popular with the youngsters! Events included:
- At West Midlands BC a group who had played minibridge at school were introduced to bidding, and had even bid and made seven clubs before the two hour session had ended.
- At the Roehampton Club 18 youngsters, ranging in age from 6 to 14, with their parents, grandparents and helpers, were given a 2 hour introduction to mini bridge. The organisers report it was great fun - and not just for the children!
- Wimbledon BC had 20 youngsters learning minibridge. It proved very popular, with one parent reporting they have already played a few times at home. The club is hoping to hold more sessions in the Easter Holidays.
- In Guernsey, pupils in years 5 & 6 took part in the minibridge part of the EBED Students and Schools Sim Pairs. If your school or club would like to take part please see here for more information.
If you are planning any activities for youngsters - perhaps during the Easter holidays - please let us know. A calendar of upcoming junior events is available on the EBED website.
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| European Court considers VAT exemption for bridge |
On 2nd March, at the European Courts of Justice in Luxembourg, judges considered the EU Directive under which sporting activities are exempt from VAT.
At present the majority of the governments of member nations of the EU exempt bridge activities from VAT under this directive. The UK government does not implement the directive in this way, and the EBU, with the co-operation of HMRC, brought the matter before the British Court. The British Courts referred the case to the EU Courts to seek clarification regarding the intention of their directive. Prominent MPs have given their support to the removal of VAT from entry fees to Mind Sport competitions - Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron calling it "a common sense approach".
The Court looked at the intention of the directive in broad terms, and once it has been established then this can be applied to the case of bridge specifically. A preliminary judgement will be made on 15th June.
Despite 'Brexit' the ruling is still significant: a 'positive' result would enable a refund to the EBU of VAT paid in recent years; it would establish the basis for the implementation of the directive in all EU member states, not just the UK.
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| EBU denied leave to appeal court ruling; VAT case to be heard in March |
The EBU is disappointed to report that it has been denied leave to appeal the ruling given following 2015's Judicial Review of Sport England's definition of 'sport', and how it relates to bridge.
At the hearing which took place on Thursday (19th January) Lady Justice Macur determined that despite the arguments put forward by the EBU's legal team (which can be read here), there was insufficient prospect of the decision being overturned to warrant the court holding an appeal hearing.
This is the final action which the EBU will be taking in its current attempts to have Sport England recognise bridge as a 'sport'.
This decision has no impact on the VAT case which will go to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on 2nd March. This was referred to the court by the British courts, in order to seek clarification on the EU's directive that no VAT should be charged on sporting activities, and whether this should apply to bridge. Bridge is already exempt from VAT in a number of EU countries, and it is in the interests of all member states for a clear definition to be sought. 'Brexit' will therefore have no affect on the case, and in addition a positive ruling could results in a rebate on VAT which has previously been paid.
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