The Young Chelsea Bridge Club is pleased to announce that we are arranging a 48‑deal (two‑session) online matchpointed pairs tournament on Saturday 11 April. The tournament will take place on BBO.

There will be two sessions: 1.00pm–4.00pm and 5.00pm–8.00pm. Open to both YC members and non-members.

Cost: £10 per person for YC members and £15 per person for non‑members.

You can register via the website, or by emailing either Paula Leslie or the club. Please mention your BBO IDs.

You can pay either by bank transfer or by debit/credit card via the website to get online game credit.

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Item posted 6 April 2020, author Paula Leslie

Update: 4 April 2020

BBO is heavily loaded in the evenings and sometimes you cannot log in at first and you need to keep retrying. Attempting to log in at least 15 minutes before the start time is prudent. If you are not in BBO on time we either have to proceed without you or delay the start of the tournament.

Note also that BBO’s recent actions to manage its system load have two affects on us.

• Our duplicate size is now limited to 20 tables.
• If you have not previously provided the club with your name and BBO nickname, make sure we get the information by 2.00pm on the day you intend to play.

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Update: 30 March 2020

You can now pay through the website for online membership or credit for online games.

From 6 April, the start time of Monday games moves to 7.30pm.

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The Young Chelsea is excited to announce that our usual evening duplicates on Mondays and Fridays will now be running online! They will be on BBO starting this Monday 30 March, and we do hope you’ll join us—whether you have played recently at the YC or haven’t been for a while.

Games will be on the same days as regular YC face-to-face duplicates were, but the start time on Monday has been moved back half an hour to 7.30pm. The schedule is:

• Monday at 7.30pm 7.00pm (matchpoints)
• Friday at 7.30pm (cross-IMPs)

They are open to YC members and guests playing with members, with a special online-only YC membership available for £10.00.

Cost is £4.00 for members, £5.00 for guests, and £2.00 for students/under-25s. We will shortly be taking payments through the YC website, and will let you know when this is up and running. Members will need to pay for their guests.

To play, send your name and BBO nickname to the club, and I will add you to the list. For Monday’s game, I will need this by 3.00pm on Monday, but you can be added to the list at any time and are then able to join all future YC online games.

If you have any questions about the games or how to play on BBO, then do let me know. We hope to see you online soon!

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Item posted 28 March 2020, updated 4 April 2020, author Rachel Lillycrop

Most club members will be aware that the YCBC has been operating on limited financial resources for some time. It is particularly frustrating that we are no longer able to keep going just at the time when the enormous amount of effort which has recently been put into the club was beginning to show dividends.

The Management Committee is continuing to meet (by conference call/Skype) regularly and is working to keep the club alive and solvent. It will be tough, but one way that you might be able to help is to donate to the club some portion of what you would normally have spent when visiting the club—your table money, or the cost of a pint, perhaps?

One member, Richard Bowdery, has set up a regular weekly donation to do just that, and if you would like to follow suit, it just might make all the difference. (By the way, the club, as a charity, benefits—and you do not lose out—if you have signed and returned a Gift Aid form.) To remind you, our bank details are:

• YCBC Ltd
• Sort Code: 23‑05‑80
• Account Number: 35584692

Please use the reference LOCKDOWN when you send any donations in this way, so that we can identify them separately from any other income, such as that from the online games that we will soon be arranging. And thank you so very much.

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Item posted 25 March 2020

This item is just to confirm that the 2020 YCKO is suspended for the time being. Whilst some teams might be prepared to play matches online, not all are. The event will be re‑started once we are all able to meet again. New deadlines will be published as and when this is possible.

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Meanwile, the club is planning to run online duplicates which will start soon, and it is also hoped to start a fun online club league and/or knockout competition. Check the website for more details as they become available.

Keep well, everyone, and stay safe.

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Item posted 25 March 2020, author Chris Duckworth

Sum Pledged to Date: £12,300 Target: £50,000

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Item last updated 14 March 2020

Update: 6 April 2020

Since the Young Chelsea is closed for face‑to‑face events to comply with goverment instructions to cope with COVID-19 (coronavirus), the pilot course planned for the weekend of 18 & 19 April has been cancelled.

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India Leeming

Athena Chow

Louise Selway

We are very pleased to announce an exciting new project aimed at recruiting new, younger members. We will primarily be targeting university students in London, and the aim is to offer to teach every single one how to play bridge. That’s a pretty massive task, as there are 375,000 of them! The project is being driven forward by a YC Youth Committee comprising three of our younger members—the YCYC chairman is India Leeming who is working alongside Athena Chow and Louise Selway.

It is envisaged that the first courses will be held early in the next academic year, but there is much to be done now in order to reach out and contact potential new players. And importantly, once basic tuition has been provided, new players will need mentoring through further lessons and supervised play etc until they are able to develop further without assistance. Then the plan is to run parallel student duplicates, organised alongside the regular Monday‑ and Friday‑night games, so that in time those who are keen can graduate to the main duplicates.

As a first step, and to pilot the new programme, we will be running a course for chess players—many of whom are young—over the weekend of 18 & 19 April. David Parry, previously a professional bridge teacher will be helping with this, along with Chris Duckworth. We have good contacts with the chess community through the Hammersmith Chess Club who now meet regularly at the club, and expect a healthy turnout for this.

Although teaching for the first courses will be provided by volunteers, there will be significant costs associated with the youth project as a whole. Students will be charged only a heavily subsidised rate for the course, but publicity costs will be substantial and teachers will need to be paid later. So we are launching an appeal to members to help raise funds.

The aim is to raise £50,000 to support this initiative, and we are confident that there are many YC members who will want to help out with donations for this important work. All donations will be ring‑fenced for the Youth Project, and because this is part of our work as a registered charity, donations can be made subject to Gift Aid, which makes them worth more. If you have not already signed a Gift Aid form, supplies are available at the club or you can download one from the Gift Aid tab on the left of the website homepage.

Members can also help by recommending the course to young people that they know—it doesn’t need to be exclusively for university students. All of you must know someone you could encourage to learn to play—sons or daughters, grandchildren, nephews or nieces, brothers or sisters, boyfriends or girlfriends, younger employees, a friend with young relatives etc.

Donations are best made by bank transfer, using “YOUTH” as a reference (or “YOUTH ANON” if you don’t want your name publicised). The account details are:

• YCBC Ltd
• Sort Code: 23‑05‑80
• Account Number: 35584692

We are delighted to say that we have just received our first donation of £5,000—made anonymously! Thank you very much for this—let’s hope it will be the first of many to help us reach our goal.

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Item posted 22 February 2020, updated 6 April 2020

Bernard Teltscher circa 2009

We are sad to report the death of  Bernard Teltscher, president of the London Metropolitan Bridge Association and sponsor, as well as winner of, the prestigious Lederer (held at the YC for many years before its move to the RAC) and Teltscher trophies.

EBU Chairman, Ian Payn said “Not only was Bernard a fine player, but also a great patron of the game he loved so much and played so well. He was President of the London Metropolitan Bridge Association and a deserved first recipient of the EBU’s Tony Priday Award. Our condolences to Bernard’s family and friends.”

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Item posted 29 February 2020

Congratulations to team BLACK (Andrew Black, Phil King, Andrew McIntosh, Gunnar Hallberg) for winning the YCKO 2018 final. (This is the previous season’s event, not the one currently under way.) Behind team TELTSCHER (Victor Silverstone, Tom Townsend, Alex Hydes, Stelio di Bello) after 48 deals, BLACK as undefeated team used the right to play an extra eight deals and edged in front by 2 IMPs at the end.

Committee member Brian Callaghan (left) presents team BLACK players Andrew McIntosh, Phil King,and Andrew Black with their YCKO 2018–2019 winner’s prize

Tom Townsend from team TELTSCHER accepts the YCKO 2018–2019 runner‑up’s prize

The prizegiving took place at the club on Wednesday 5 February. BLACK received the £1,000 first prize and TELTSCHER got £400 as runner‑up.

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Item posted 28 January 2020, updated 6 February 2020

The brand‑new YC Super League started on 22 January. An amazing 21 teams have signed up for our top‑class competition—the giants of Division One will play for the honour of becoming the first ever YC Super League champions (and the big money prize of course), while the up‑and‑coming teams in Division Two will fight for promotion (and their own money prize). More details…

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Item posted 14 January 2020