Bridge underway again
Bridge has got underway again at last.
Although many players manage to have private bridge at home or on the beach for the three summer months, many players wish to play at their club as with air conditioned premises it is far more comfortable than playing outdoors!
Hopefully we will play not only on a Thursday afternoon which was started last summer, but also on a Wednesday. This is the general consensus.
The Malta Bridge Club soldiers on with Tuesday evening bridge, but unfortunately it is dwindling.
The attendance at clubs has fallen drastically worldwide. The reason is online bridge. This is very popular, mostly free, very competitive and enjoyable. They have their competitions as well.
Besides competitions you have practice sites, coaching sessions, no distractions, and you play at your own convenient time. Having said this it is totally different to playing with live competitors!!
The competitions at the Union Club have started. The Sigma pairs competition, which is played on the first Monday of the month and the Teams competition which is played on Fridays over four Fridays. The last session will be on 9 November.
Malta Bridge Club will then have its Pairs competition starting on the 13th of November, the last session will be on 25 November.
The EBL is holding its Small Federation Games from October 20 to 23. This competition will take place at Ribarsko Ostrvo Tourist Resort at Novi Sad in Serbia.
A small federation is any federation with less than 500 members. We qualify for this as we have less than 100 members. Unfortunately some very strong teams qualify as well, such as Monaco, who have a very strong team.
Four of our players are participating namely Anna Vella, Yvonne Muscat Inglott, Nathalie Marlin and Graham Penney. We wish them luck and as we say in Bridge parlance Break a Contract.
I was very sorry to read in the IBPA magazine that Max Bavin a world class Director for the EBL and WBF has passed away. He was only 65. I knew Max well and met him at nearly all the European and WBF championships I played in. The Bridge world will miss him.
Directing tournaments is very stressful, and, unfortunately in Malta we do not have enough directors to do this job. We have, what we call, playing directors. They will be competing in the events and directing as well which is a thankless job. They deserve our heartfelt thanks as you cannot have a bridge session without a director.