"The Connell", as this competition is colloquially known, is our premier knockout competition for teams, with green points awarded for each match won. The winners are invited to represent the county in the equivalent national championship (The Pachabo Cup).

Matches are of 32 boards and can be played online or face-to-face at any convenient agreed venue. Any team defeated in the first 2 rounds will also be entitled to free entry to the second tier event, The Cheshire Salver. (Teams can also enter the Cheshire Salver directly and more details about this will follow later this year.) We expect to have a fairly leisurely timetable for the Connell, with teams having 7-8 weeks to arrange and complete each match. Full details of the competition rules are available under "County Events" in the menu.

Please click here to download an entry form. Completed forms should be sent to Chris Raymond (drcjr56@gmail.com) as soon as possible and certainly no later than the closing date of Saturday 8th October.

The entry fee is £24 per team

For any queries about this event please contact Chris by email or telephone (0151 334 5206, 07376 618852).

The first season of the re-launched Merseyside & Cheshire Bridge League has now finished and was generally a great success with people enjoying closely-fought matches across all three divisions. Congratulations are due to the division winners:

1. PSA (Simon Edwards, John Hampson, Chris Pope, Andy Prothero and Ted Reveley)
2. Bebington (Tom Green, Calvin Konner, Mark Madeley and Jacui Theeten) and
3. Mighty Meerkats (Ian Blackhurst, Fred Dixon, Chris Hughes, Peter Hulmes, Annie Mead and Peter Zemroch).

The final tables and full results can be found on the EBU website here - you have to scroll down a bit!

Season two is just getting under way - click on "County Teams League" in the menu for details.

Congratulations to Mark Davies and Chris Randles, Deva Club regulars both, winners of The MCBA 10 High Swiss Pairs with an impressive total of 77.74 Victory Points (4 wins and one draw).

Well done also to Margaret Howe (Deva, MBC) and Frank Salt (Deva) who finished 2nd and Mike Fairclough (Merseyside BC and Wirral Duplicate) and Megan Brodie (3rd on her first day at an M&CBA event)

I am pleased to report everyone enjoyed the event and I had a very quiet afternoon directing (not one ruling required!) and we even had time for a tea break!

Daniel

The Cheshire Salver is the county’s “second tier” knockout teams event. Those teams entering the Cheshire Salver are joined by the first-round losers from the Lady Connell Cup so it works a bit like the Europa League.

The final of the 2022 competition took place on 21st July. It was an entertaining and closely contested match with the lead changing hands a few times but eventually David Stevenson, Liz Commins, Tracy Sherman and Paddy Murphy prevailed over Bob Mitchell, Sheila Banham, Bob Sneddon and Joe Przeworski by the narrow margin of 5 IMPs. Well done to all concerned!

Congratulations to Mo Borley, Phil Nuttall, Angie Pinnington and Ray Nolan on winning the Jim Davies Trophy Swiss teams competition. For more details see the Results item in the menu.

Many congratulations are due to our county representative pairs: Matt Foster & John Hampson who finished in a very creditable 10th position (out of 78) with 53.85% in this prestigious national pairs competition: and only a whisker ahead of Tracy Sherman & Paddy Murphy in 11th place with 53.72%.