Hi

I have been co-opted to help Judy Mitchell as Competition Secretary for the county, and would want to draw your attention to the following;

Championship Pairs

This is the primary Pairs Competition in the county and is played for the Bearn Trophies. (Current Holders are Kath Adams and John Hartley.) This will be held at 11 am on the 16th of March, at Newcastle Under Lyme Bridge Club. The competition itself be around 6 hours duration, with two typically size sessions, either side of a substantial lunch break.

The cost per pair, including lunch is £34. Full details are on the website but email me tonytog@outlook.com, with your pair names and EBU numbers, and I am happy to pass on any further details.

Unfortunately, this competition, like many of the Staffs competitions is only open to County Members, (that is members of an affiliated club) or direct EBU Members.

The winners will receive free entry to the National Final, (Corwen Trophy) and reduced entry fee to the same, for the next two runners-up places. The Corwen Trophy will be played online on RealBridge. For those interested in such things, the top 50% of the field will be credited with green points.

National Grading Scheme

As you will probably know, every session of EBU affiliated bridge is recorded and our individual scores influence our position on the National Grading Scheme*, this gives us our ngs rating. Bridge is of course, a game for all regardless of our rating, and it is therefore appropriate that opportunity is given for participation, nationally, for all abilities.

*(Your NGS grade history can be found on the EBU website, under MY EBU. You will need your EBU number to log onto this. Other option is to go https://www.ebu.co.uk/ngs/STA and use search box top right to see current grade.)

9 High Champions Pairs on 2nd March

To widen the scope of players, the EBU has invited each County to host an event for their members whose NGS rating is no greater than 9, with the winning 2 or 3 pairs to be invited to play in the Final 9-High Corwen on-line on Saturday 31st May. You will need to check your NGS number if you wish to take part in the 9-High Champions Pairs. Or you can email Judy Mitchell who has the official list from the EBU of those who qualify to play in this event.

Our County will be holding a qualifying heat for this event, and of course to be our county 9 High Champions. This will be online and will be played on Sunday 2nd March. However, please note that the deadline for this event is fast approaching. Details are on the website, but you can also contact Judy, (mitchellmj@btinternet.com)

County Games

While I have your attention, please allow me a little more time to keep you abreast of more things happening in the County Bridge Scene. We have of course our county teams. I know our county captain Paul (paulcutlersscba@yahoo.co.uk) likes to, quite rightly, restrict this to regular partnerships, but there is no reason why your partnership can’t be considered to represent the county. These games are of 32 boards duration on a Sunday afternoon, 2pm to 6.30 with a 30-minute break around 4 o’clock. Let Paul know of your interest.

There are 3 teams, 1st team in the Dawes, 2nd team in the Porter, and the 3rds compete in the Markam. Last weekend (Sunday 9th), we won all three matches against Nottinghamshire, 1sts 15-5, 2nds 18-2 and 3rds 12-8. Well done all.

County Pairs (Weds)

As a county we also run, a club session each Wednesday night on BBO. Currently this is around 5 tables of a reasonable standard, starting at 7pm, around 22 boards and finishing a little after 9pm. Table Money is £2.30, although you do need to register your interest in advance. This only needs to happen once and is simply to restrict entry to county members. Again refer to the county website, link below.

Championship Teams / Pachabo

Looking further ahead we will hold the Bearn equivalent for teams of four, on Sunday May 18th at Newcastle Bridge Club.. The winners of this will represent the county in the Pachabo. This is also a national final: the teams equivalent of the pairs’ Corwen. Again, our championship final will be face to face, and the Pachabo itself will also be face to face – in Milton Keynes on 14th & 15th June. This is open to any team of four (County and EBU affiliated, as before) and not simply those teams who are competing in the Staffs League.

County Mixed Pairs on Sunday 8th June in Radbrook Community Hall in Shrewsbury, for County members

For this, and other events, I will bring further reminders nearer the time.

Although, it is not too early to think about getting a team together for the League which will again be starting in September, this is a very convenient online game. I am happy to act as a broker, if you are in a pair, and are looking for another pair for a team. Remember the league games are online, so geography shouldn’t be an issue.

Another game that might be of interest, is the Handicap Teams in Newcastle. Although strictly a Newcastle event, this is open to all, handicaps are determined by ngs and is played f2f. This is one of the highlights in my bridge calendar, although as reigning holders, that might be slightly colouring my view.

Looking further afield and on behalf of the county I am looking into Real Bridge as an optional platform. We certainly need this functionality in the county to host the County games, but it may bring other benefits to county bridge moving forward.

Anyway, that’s it for now, I trust this intrusion hasn’t been too onerous, and I look forward to brining you up to speed, next month, after the next county match, with all things, county competition bridge wise.

Thank you

Tony 07932 017689