The new bridge season roars into action in great style, with a variety of exciting events planned, both locally and internationally.
First up, we have the inaugural Trim Bridge Bash which will take place in the Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim, Co Meath on Sunday 24 August. Huey Daly and his team will direct what promises to be a great day of bridge, 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. Pre-entry is required for all competitions and places are filling up fast. Click here to enter
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, under the stewardship of ACBL Tournament Director Donna Lombardini, in Lansdowne Football Club, Lansdowne Road, 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. You’ll find a full schedule, including an explanation of the tournament format and the entry fees, and how to enter, here. 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. Again all are welcome, and pre-entry is required by email to Rory Egan, with GMB Congress in the subject line, and stating the competition(s) you wish to enter.
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. Entry is open to all Masters and Intermediate As, and this competition, along with all the other CBAI national events between now and Christmas, is now open for entry on the relevant section of our website. The full calendar of national competitions and congresses for the entire year is also available to view, to enable you to make your plans for the season.
Moving away from Ireland, the Scottish Bridge Union will host its first ever online international bridge tournament, the Brittania Pairs Championship, online on RealBridge on Saturday 6 September, starting at 11.00, with a generous prize pool. The competition is open to all-comers, and you find full details, including the entry fee and how to enter, here.
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. The qualification phase will run from 1-28 September, qualifiers will play in a semi-final phase from 1-30 October (with non-qualifiers offered a consolation competition, e-Cup2, over the same period), and the finals will run 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. The WBF regards this as an important initiative for the future of the game, and all members are encouraged to take part. You’ll find all the details, including the entry fees and how to register, here.