Dear Member,

The primary purpose of this email is to invite you to the Annual General Meeting of the CBAI, which will take place in the Castle Arms Hotel in Durrow on Saturday 27 June at 2 p.m. There will be the usual charity bridge game afterwards for anyone wishing to play.

As you may be aware, the CBAI is in discussions with our counterparts in Northern Ireland, the NIBU, in relation to a possible amalgamation, to form a single 32-county bridge federation for the island of Ireland. It is anticipated that a resolution from the Governing Council on that matter will be put to this year's AGM. We have to plan for next season on the basis that an amalgamation may not take place, of course, so all the normal preparatory work for next season is going ahead, including the nomination of officers for the AGM. A full communication on the amalgamation proposals will be issued to members shortly.

Secondly, for those of you interested in online bridge, the territory continues to develop apace. Our partners 52 Entertainment, who own both the BBO and Funbridge platforms, have recently announced the launch of a new website, bridge.com, which they hope will become the go-to repository for all things bridge-related. There is already a good deal of information on it, and national federations are being encouraged to set up their own hubs for members on the site. The CBAI is currently reviewing this idea; obviously we need to consider the role of our own website in how we offer our services and supply information. So watch this space, and in the meantime, please take a look at the site and see what you think of it. We'd welcome any general feedback.

You still have time (just! - it starts on 1 May) to enter the second e-Bridge Cup, on either Funbridge or BBO. This time, while the qualifying phases will be online as before, the finals will be held face-to-face in Katowice, Poland, in August as part of the World Bridge Series. There are lots of nice prizes, including WBF, platform, and federation masterpoints. Any CBAI members qualifying for the semi-final stage will earn a minimum of 0.5 National Points. We generate a (small) fee from Irish participation, so by playing you are contributing to Irish bridge.

BBO has also announced the launch of BBO Trainer, a bridge training app with daily challenges, helpful analysis of your bidding and play, and global rankings. You'll find it in your relevant App Store.

Finally, although we are coming to the end of the current season, we still have quite a bit of live bridge to offer:

• First up is the IBU Pairs*, with separate sections for Intermediates/Novices and for Masters, in Templeogue on 9 May with a 12 noon start.
• For Area Masters and Intermediate As, the confined pairs and teams championships (for the Lambert* and Cooper* Cups respectively) will take place in the Loughrea Hotel & Spa on 16 and 17 May, starting at 1.00 p.m. on the Saturday and 11.00 a.m. on the Sunday.
• Saturday 16 May will also see the JJ Murphy Trophy* (national novice championship) in the same venue, with one session starting at 1.00 p.m. All novices are guaranteed a warm welcome, and a suitably sympathetic Tournament Director to guide them through what for many of them will be their first "outside" competition.
• The very popular 4Fun Teams Chmapionship (each team consisting of a Master, Novice, Intermediate A, and Intermediate B) will take place in Westmanstown on Saturday 23 May, again with a 12 noon start. Entries for this competition are co-ordinated regionally, so if you'd like to play, or better still would like to enter a full team, just contact your Regional Secretary. 
• The Junior Committee and Peter Pigot are running another fundraising event* for junior bridge on Sunday 31 May in Templeogue, with two standalone sessions at 10.30 a.m. and 2.45 p.m. All are welcome.
• Finally, we have two superb summer congresses, in Sligo* (5-7 June) and Killarney (12-14 June) to close off the season.
• (All competitions marked with an * are open for entry on our website.) 

We hope you'll find at least one event of interest in this list, and that the CBAI has served you well in season 2025/26. Thank you for your support to the Association during the season, and I hope to meet you at what will potentially be a very significant AGM.

Yours sincerely,

Dermot O’Brien

Chief Executive, CBAI

Dear Member,

I hope you have enjoyed our lovely summer, but that your mind is now turning back to bridge. The new season kicks into action in great style, with a variety of exciting events planned, both locally and internationally, in the next few weeks.

First up, we have the inaugural Trim Bridge Bash which will take place in the Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim, Co Meath on Sunday 24 August, with a two-session pairs competition (11.00–14.30 and 15.30–18.00) and single-session open pairs at 11.00 and 15.30. 

Then in the week of 1-4 September, Ireland has the privilege of hosting the first-ever ACBL Sectional Event to be held outside North America, in Lansdowne Football Club, Dublin 4. All CBAI members are welcome to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to play and mix with American bridge players of all levels. The competitions will be run by the ACBL under their rules, which means commemorative awards rather than cash prizes, and play during the daytime only, although ancillary events have been organised for the evenings.

The ACBL Sectional will be closely followed by the Grand Master Bridge Congress, organised by Grand Master Bridge to give our American visitors a taste of bridge Irish-style, so with cash prizes this time! The Congress will run from 5-7 September, with Mixed Pairs and Novice Pairs competitions in Lansdowne Football Club on Friday night at 19.30, two-session Pairs competitions for all grades in the Templeogue Bridge Centre on Saturday at 13.00, and two-session Teams competitions for all grades at the same venue on Sunday at 11.00. 

Then we have our President, John Phelan’s, Duais an Uachtarain (President’s Prize) to be held over three sessions in the Tower Hotel, Waterford on 13-14 September, with entry open to all Masters and Intermediate As. This competition, along with all the other CBAI national events up to Christmas, is now open for entry on our website.

Moving away from Ireland, the Scottish Bridge Union will host its first ever online international bridge tournament, the Brittania Pairs Championship which is open to all comers, online on RealBridge on Saturday 6 September, starting at 11.00, with a generous prize pool offered.

Finally, continuing the online theme, the World Bridge Federation has announced an exciting new initiative, the e-Bridge Cup, created in collaboration with the BBO and Funbridge platforms. For the first time, players of all levels will have the chance to compete globally in an online format, playing individually with and against robots, over several phases, culminating in a grand final. The first qualification phase will run from 1-28 September, and the finals from 17-30 November. In each phase, contestants will be offered a large number of tournaments to play at their leisure on both BBO and/or Funbridge, with each participant's best 10 scores determining the qualifiers, and the best average score in the finals the overall winners. A prize pool of $15,000 dollars is offered, and both the WBF and national federations will award masterpoints for the leading players who qualify for the later stages.

You'll find full details on each of these events, including how to enter (pre-entry is required in all cases) here. 

Finally, we hope to see you at some of our national competitions and congresses during the season. There are competitions for every grade, and you'll be made very welcome. The full schedule of events for the entire year is on our website, to enable you to start making your plans for the season.

As always, if you need any further information on anything raised here, or have any ideas or suggestions for the CBAI, please don't hesitate to contact us.

With best wishes for an enjoyable, competitive, and sociable bridge season 2025/26,

Dermot O’Brien

Chief Executive, CBAI