The annual MCC Mixed Swiss Teams competition will take place in the Long Room on Sunday 13 October. 

Play will start promptly at 11.00 BST and the aim is to finish by 18.00. There will be a break for lunch of an hour. The teams will play 6 x seven-board matches in two sessions and the event will be in Swiss format, which means that teams with similar scores will always be matched against each other after every round. 

Each team of four must comprise at least one MCC Member or Candidate, at least one gentleman and at least one lady. The event is designed for amateur club players, not international experts and those who play at the very highest levels. The organisers reserve the right to challenge the composition of teams with players who do not meet these criteria.

The entrance fee will be £160 per team, and this includes lunch followed by dessert along with tea and coffee throughout the day. Other drinks will be available to purchase in the Long Room Bar. For those who would like to take part, a tour of the Ground is also included, and this will start at 09.15.

During the 2024 cricket season, there are a number of dates when we will not to be able hold Club Nights in the Members' Bar and, in some cases, not at all, due to fixtures at Lord's. On match days when we can play, it will not be possible to drive in through the Grace Gate until play has ended and spectators have left the ground. Instead, please go to the North Gate on Wellington Road where there should be parking spaces available next to the indoor cricket centre.

DRESS CODE: Please note that on 2nd July, we will be in the Members' Bar but the universities cricket final is being played on the main square and you must comply with the Pavilion match day regulations, even if play has ended. The dress code requires jackets and ties for men and equivalent for women. See here for details..

There will be no Club Night bridge on 9th July, 16th July, and 27th August. On 10th September, we will play in the 278 Room in the Grand Stand. 

It is with a sense of sadness regret and loss that we have to report the passing of one of our own!

On Thursday 16^th November 2023 Peter Donovan died. PD as he was affectionately known was probably the best bridge player that many of us ever played with or against.

He was a  larger than life character and we would like to express our condolences to his wife Michele whom he always referred to as ‘the frog’ whereas she in turn in her persisting French accent addressed him as ‘toad’.

PD first attended MCC pairs bridge on the third Tuesday following our start up-  he won and came first, and went on to join our founding committee with enthusiasm and much valuable input. Under his guidance we started the Rubber Bridge competition. He represented the club in our Guest Teams events on many occasions invariably with distinction. Peter continued as the World’s longest serving Bridge journalist with his daily column in the Daily Mail in fact many members will recall the pre publication phone call ‘Do you remember that hand… … hand by hand suit by suit sometimes weeks after being played. In his pre abstinence days if you were lucky enough to be invited to play with him the invitation invariably carried the rider ‘meet you in the pub before for a half gallon’!!  PD didn’t suffer fools and the recriminations following  a missed "agreement" or signal could be almost violent. We Bridge playing MCC members were indeed privileged to have known him and few of us will fail to remember those meetings.

Nigel Parmenter 2023

Russell Tenzer took over from Simon Alterman as Chair of the MCC Bridge, Chess and Backgammon sub-committee from 1st October. Simon will remain on the sub-committee after his six-year term as Chair.

After the drama of the Ashes test, the MCC Bridge Society secured a comfortable victory over our friends from Melbourne CC in the President's Box at Lord's on 3rd July. The teams of 16 match was the third encounter between the clubs, all won by MCC. There were also wins against our partner club in cricket, real tennis, and golf.

The iconic Bridge Ashes trophy -- a box with the charred remains of playing cards -- was handed to Society Chair Simon Alterman by Helen Fitzpatrick who established the fixture in 2009 with George Meyer. The trophy now goes back to Australia while we keep the other Ashes urn in the MCC Museum. We've been invited to Melbourne at the end of 2025 to see how we perform in the harsher environment of an Australian summer. Game on!

The dates for the majority of the 2023/24 representative matches have been agreed. Click on the Representative Matches menu item to see the fixture list and application form to play. Only Members and Candidates can represent the Club in these matches.

The MCC Bridge Society win over Melbourne Cricket Club on 3rd July is in the news. It was covered by the Australian bridge podcast Sorry, Partner (warning -- it's only seven minutes but your Society Chair does most of the talking). And the EBU published a blog post here. We like to think we laid the foundations for England's win at Headingley.

Five wins and seven defeats for the 2022-23 season. Click here see results and team details.

Would you like to represent MCC in online matches against other clubs? Register your interest by completing the form on the Representative Matches page here. Open to Members, Candidates, and those on our register of Sponsored Guests. For more information, please contact Dominic Flint. 

Our flagship tournament returned to the Long Room at Lord's on Sunday, 9th October after an absence of three years, with 21 teams competing. Fittingly, the sun shone all day and victory went to a home team: Bill Coles, David Alterman, Jo Jarrold and Simon Alterman, who won all six of their matches. Runners up were George Meyer, Michael Clack, Lynn Fry and Rachel Lillycrop, with Rachel also acting at tournament director alongside husband Jonathan. Many thanks to all those who supported the event. Full results available here.

We're delighted to have Andrew Robson, now a Full Member of MCC, as guest of honour at this year's Annual Dinner on Thursday, 10th November. Members and Candidate can book places for themselves and a guest now, either via the MCC ticketing system or by calling Club Services.

Our first MCC Open Duplicate evening took place at Lord's on 21st June with a large contingent of guests as well as MCC regulars. The winners were guest pair Madeleine Sheldon and Frank Wharton, who started the round in second place but swapped places with Madeleine's husband Stephen and his partner Russell Tenzer to emerge comfortably ahead of the pack. Many thanks to all 19 pairs those who took part. We plan to stage the event again, probably in September after the summer break, so do spread the word. Click here for the results. 

Congratulations to Gary Diamond who, in partnership with Paul Thornton, won the RAC blue-pointed Swiss Pairs competition played on 31st October. 

Gary (right) and Paul received the Ros and Bob Bowman trophy from Michael Bailey during the dinner at the RAC Centenary Cup competition for teams of eight on 15th November. Sadly, no prizes on that occasion for the MCC team, comprised of Russell Tenzer & Gary, Geoff Lane & Pralab Barua, Barrie Gilbert & Steve Foster, and David & Simon Alterman.

We are resuming our weekly online MCC duplicates, in addition to the Tuesday evening Club Nights at Lord's. We'll be playing on RealBridge on Thursday evenings at 7.00 pm, starting on Thursday 28th October. Members and Candidates are entitled to play and to bring a guest. We will pair up all who attend without a partner. Details of each RealBridge session will be posted in the Calendar on this site, along with the link to access the session. Initially, there will be no fee to play in these duplicate events while we put in place a simple and flexible payment system. 

Tuesday evening Club Nights continue weekly at Lord's on Tuesday evenings after three good sessions since resumption. We look forward to seeing many more playing with us again in the future. Please note we are playing in the 278 Suite on the second floor of the Grand Stand. Play starts at 19.00 so please be sure to arrive by 18.45. Parking arrangements are as normal and entry will be via the Grace Gate. 

M.C.C. bridge is active again with our "online" Club Nights every Tuesday evening on Bridge Base Online. We are now getting 10 tables on a regular basis and look forward to seeing other Members and Candidates and their guests in future. Play starts at 7.00 pm.  If you are not already registered on our list of players for the Virtual MCC Bridge Club, please email Simon Alterman.

Results are being posted on this website as normal. Our thanks to regular TD Gary Conrad for running the online events too.

Club Nights resume on 7th January. Please note that on Tuesday 14th January, we will be in the Writing Room as the Members' Bar will not be available to us.

Almost 50 Members and guests attended the Bridge Society Dinner on Wednesday, 20th November at Lord's. Thanks to all who supported the event and congratulations to the winners of our various competitions who received their prizes on the evening. All were royally entertained by our guest speaker Ian Robertson, a masterful raconteur of rugby and other sporting anecdotes. More details and photos here.

Victory Point Scale

VPScale : WBF-D
Scoring:  Matches of 6 Boards
Victory Points  IMP Difference
      10 - 10        0 - 0
      11 - 9          1 - 2
      12 - 8          3 - 4
      13 - 7          5 - 7
      14 - 6          8 - 10
      15 - 5          11 - 13
      16 - 4          14 - 17
      17 - 3          18 - 21
      18 - 2          22 - 26
      19 - 1          27 - 32
      20 - 0          33 +

Triple Matches of 3 Boards
Victory Points  IMP Difference
       0 - 0           0 - 0
      1 - -1          1 - 3
      2 - -2          4 - 6
      3 - -3          7 - 9
      4 - -4          10 - 14
      5 - -5          15 +
 

MCC Mixed Swiss Teams 11/10/2020

ROUND 6 ASSIGNMENTS
Overall
Team Rank  Total  Names

   1    2     53  Richard Cumming-Bruce,Bruce Blair,Peter Collins,Emma Hyde               v TEAM 12         

   2    6     44  George Meyer,Wendy Spencer,Jackie Gee,Michael Gee                       v TEAM 7          

   3   14     32  Roger Challis,Colin Freedman,Isabel Barreto,Victoria Haines             v TEAM 15         

   4   12     34  Steve Foster,Barrie Gilbert,Valerie Biggs,John Biggs                           v TEAM 5          

   5   11     35  Peter Brent,Bernard Goodwin,Linda Harris,Michael Harris                 v TEAM 4          

   6    8     39  Charles Dixon,Miranda Churchill,Sati McKenzie,Teresa Brookes            v TEAM 16         

   7    5     46  Trevor Morris,Vanessa Clarke,Russell Tenzer,Gary Diamond                v TEAM 2          

   8    9     38  Malgosia Alterman,Bill Coles,Simon Alterman,David Alterman              v TEAM 11         

   9    1     57  Pamela Reiss,Dominic Flint,Dean Swallow,Carlos Dabezies                 v TEAM 13         

  10   16     24  Reg Horne,Richard King,Dirk Flower,Julie Flower                               v TEAM 14         

  11    9     38  Geoff Lane,Pralab Barua,Irene Fine,Nigel Clayton                               v TEAM 8          

  12    3     51  Martin Brand,Alan Newton,Pat Brand,Irene Graham                               v TEAM 1          

  13    4     49  John Neilsen,Paul Thornton,Catherine Rice-Evans,Geoffrey Lloyd          v TEAM 9          

  14   15     27  Steve Bispham,John Williams,Kim Staples,Jan Salvage                     v TEAM 10         

  15   13     33  Bob Simonis,Martin Camina,Bob Edmonds,Janet Adams                       v TEAM 3          

  16    7     40  Brian Silverstone,Lawrence Gaunt,Lester Emanuel,Rosella Emanuel         v TEAM 6          
 

MCC Mixed Swiss Teams 11/10/2020
Session 1 Section All
Director: Gary Conrad  Scorer: Gary Conrad
RANKINGS after Round 6
=====================================================================================================================
Rank Team Names                                                                      VPs  M1  M2  M3  M4  M5  M6  LPs
=====================================================================================================================
  1     9 FLINT                                                                                90  15  13  12  17  20  13  126
          Pamela Reiss, Dominic Flint, Dean Swallow, Carlos Dabezies
  2     1 CUMMING-BRUCE                                                           84   5  16  15  17  17  14   99
          Richard Cumming-Bruce, Bruce Blair, Peter Collins, Emma Hyde
  3    16 GAUNT                                                                            76   9  14  14   3  17  19   72
          Brian Silverstone, Lawrence Gaunt, Lester Emanuel, Rosella Emanuel
  4    11 CLAYTON                                                                        70  13   3   8  14  14  18   54
          Geoff Lane, Pralab Barua, Irene Fine, Nigel Clayton
  5     7 DIAMOND                                                                         66  13  19   1  13   3  17   36
          Trevor Morris, Vanessa Clarke, Russell Tenzer, Gary Diamond
  6     2 MEYER                                                                             64  11   4  15  14  17   3   36
          George Meyer, Wendy Spencer, Jackie Gee, Michael Gee
  7    13 NEILSON                                                                        62  11  13   5  20   6   7   27
          John Neilsen, Paul Thornton, Catherine Rice-Evans, Geoffrey Lloyd
  8    12 BRAND                                                                           60  12  17  19   3   3   6   27
          Martin Brand, Alan Newton, Pat Brand, Irene Graham
  9    15 SIMONIS                                                                         56   7   6   9  11  10  13   23
          Bob Simonis, Martin Camina, Bob Edmonds, Janet Adams
 10    10 HORNE                                                                           55   9   7   2   6  18  13   18
          Reg Horne, Richard King, Dirk Flower, Julie Flower
 11     5 BRENT                                                                             54   9   3  18   5  15   4   18
          Peter Brent, Bernard Goodwin, Linda Harris, Michael Harris
 12     4 GILBERT                                                                         50   8  15  11   0   0  16   27
          Steve Foster, Barrie Gilbert, Valerie Biggs, John Biggs
 13     8 ALTERMAN                                                                    45  11   1  17   9   5   2   18
          Malgosia Alterman, Bill Coles, Simon Alterman, David Alterman
 14    14 BISPHAM                                                                        44   8   7   6   6  10   7    6
          Steve Bispham, John Williams, Kim Staples, Jan Salvage
 15     6 DIXON                                                                             43  12  17   3   7   3   1   18
          Charles Dixon, Miranda Churchill, Sati McKenzie, Teresa Brookes
 16     3 CHALLIS                                                                        41   7   5   5  15   2   7    9
          Roger Challis, Colin Freedman, Isabel Barreto, Victoria Haines
=====================================================================================================================
(printed 16:59:56 11/10/2020 EBUScore Swiss Teams1.2.5(c) EBU

Geoff Lane & Pralab Barua have won the 2019 Rubber Bridge competion with victory in the final over Michael Bailey & David Mannooch by 1520 points. Michael and David had ended the unbeaten run of defending champions Norman Freedman & Martin Brand in the semi-finals, winning by just 170 points in a nail-biting climax. Geoff & Pralab, winners of their pool on points difference from Michael and David, also had a narrow victory in their semi-final, beating Russell Tenzer & Gary Diamond.

Thanks to all who took part in the competition and we hope for another exciting and well-supported event next year. Special thanks as well to Mike Alsford for organising the competition.

Click to see the full competition results.

The line-up for the quarter finals of the online "Rubber" Bridge Competion is now complete. Beverly and Elliot Black won all five of their matches to top the Anderson League, as did Nigel Clayton and Richard Cumming-Bruce in the Morgan League. Father and daughter combination Michael Stern and Tina Cole finished top of the tightly-fought Stokes League on net run rate, with four pairs were tied on three wins each. And 2019 Rubber Bridge champions Pralab Barua and Geoff Lane came top of the Root League.

The event, being played on BBO with Chicago scoring, has produced some tight finishes and some high scores. You can see the all the pairings for the quarter finals pluse the results of the group stages here. Thanks to all participants for supporting the event and completing their matches on time.

We have a record turnout of 24 pairs for this year's online version of the MCC "rubbber" bridge tournament. It's being played online, not in each other's homes, of course. But it will still be a friendly and social affair. We have four leagues for the first phase of the competition and the top two teams will qualify for the quarter finals. Good luck to all participants.

See results here. 

Barrie Gilbert and Steve Foster have comfortably beaten 2019 Rubber Bridge champions Pralab Barua and Geoff Lane in the quarter-finals of the MCC online "Rubber" Bridge Competion. In the semi-finals, they will play Michael Stern and Tina Cole, who overcame David and Ken Soanes. The other semi-final will see Jeff Lewis and Simon Alterman, who beat Beverly and Elliot Black, take on Lester Pereira and Marina Chaning Pearce, who overcame Nigel Clayton and Richard Cumming-Bruce. Three of the four semi-finalists were runners up in the group stages.

The event, being played on BBO with Chicago scoring, has produced some tight finishes and some high scores. You can see the all the results here. Thanks to all participants for supporting the event.

Michael Stern & Tina Cole have reached the final of the MCC online "Rubber" Bridge Competition, with a decisive win over Barrie Gilbert & Steve Foster. They will face Jeff Lewis & Simon Alterman, who beat Lester Pereira & Marina Chaning Pearce by 310 points in a nerve-shredding semi-final. Over the last six boards, the gap between the pairs was under 400 points and not one of the deals allowed a game to be made by either side.

The two finalists were winners and runners-up in the Stokes league during the pool stage of the competition, demonstrating once again the extraordinary powers of the England all-rounder.

You can see the all the results from the tournament, played using Chicago scoring, here. 

The MCC team of Nigel Clayton (capt), Peter Donovan, Pralab Barua and Richard Cumming-Bruce won the 2021 Roehampton Swiss Teams on 24th October. With neat symmetry, the victory came two weeks after a Roehampton team triumphed in the MCC Mixed Swiss Teams competition. Congratulations to the MCC team (pictured left).

Further congratulations to Nigel who finished second with his partner Denise Miller in the Mixed Pairs Championship at the EBU 2021 Summer Meeting.

The first match between MCC and Singapore Cricket Club took place via RealBridge on Sunday, 17th May, with the MCC team running out comprehensive winners. The event itself, greatly enjoyed by both teams, was far more important than the result. We look forward to regular encounters with SCC in the future.

The MCC team was Dominic Flint (c) & Pamelia Reiss, Gary Diamond & Simon Alterman, Malcolm Green & Ian Landau, and Shiv Datt & Charles Dixon. Thanks to Dominic too for setting up the match and ensuring that all ran smoothly. Full results here.

We are looking for players who would like to be part of an M.C.C. team in the London League for the coming season. We need to apply by the end of this month, so if you are interested in taking part, please contact Simon (simon@alterman.co.uk) as soon as possible. All participants must be EBU members and registered in London with LMBA (not another county). Matches are played over the winter, normally at the home of one of the participants from either team. More details are in the latest LMBA newsletter here.

Congratulations to Alastair Gidman, who has achieved the EBU Master Points Rank of Grand Master in the latest landmark promotions. Alastair is the highest-ranked of our regular players. Modestly, he attributes his new status to longevity and tolerant partners, as well as skill. For whatever reason, it's a great achievement.

Club Night will be held in the restaurant on the second floor of the Grand Stand on 17th September as well as on 24th September. This is so that Club staff do not have to ferry our equipment to and from the Pavilion for just one week. We will revert to the Members' Bar from 1st October. Please remember that special arrangements are in place for parking and access for Bridge Club Nights in September due to the start of construction work on the Compton and Edrich Stands. There will be no access for cars at the Grace Gate until after close of play, which may not be until 7.00 pm.  Click here for details.

As you may have read in the recent e-mail to all Members, the start of work on the redevelopment of the Compton and Edrich stands means that pedestrian access to the Ground for the next month, and for all cricket matches played at Lord’s in September, will be via the Grace Gate only. There will be also be restrictions on parking and access through the Ground.

There are four Tuesdays in September when Bridge Club Nights will be held and cricket is scheduled at Lord’s on all of them.  Members wishing to drive a car to the Ground to play bridge and who arrive prior to the conclusion of play will need to enter via the North Gate and park near the Cricket Academy. Once play is over and the crowds have cleared, cars will be able to enter via the Grace Gate.  As you know, the nature of cricket is that it is rarely possible to predict with accuracy the close of play; it could be as early as 6 pm or as late as 7 pm.

From Tuesday 3rd September until Wednesday 25th September (inclusive) there will be no access from the Nursery End of the Ground to the Pavilion end. Therefore, those who park in the Cricket Academy car park will need to leave the Ground on foot at the North Gate and re-enter via the Grace Gate. The Club is sorry for any inconvenience caused by these arrangements. The restrictions are unavoidable due to the construction schedule.

Disabled passengers may be dropped off inside the Ground, by prior arrangement, at No. 6 Gate.  If you would like to do so, please contact the Club Facilities Department on 020 7616 8653 and they will arrange for a pass to be sent to or left at the Gate for you.  

A reminder of the venues for Club Nights in September:

Tuesday 3rd September – Members’ Bar in the Pavilion

Tuesday 10th September – Grand Stand Restaurant

Tuesday 17th September – Grand Stand Restaurant - UPDATED

Tuesday 24th September – Grand Stand Restaurant