Blog posts

Christmas is a time of year when most bridge clubs hold a special event to celebrate and perhaps enjoy a more light-hearted game of bridge than usual. This may mean no more than just savouring some mince pies and a glass of wine with the usual evening's duplicate, or it could involve some more serious fun. Even if your club is not yet meeting in person, you may still choose to hold and online video party.

There’s a special kind of joy that comes from teaching bridge. It’s not just about the cards, the bids, or even the strategies — it’s about watching connections form, confidence grow, and curiosity spark in ways that go far beyond the game itself.

As we approach the end of the Congress, it’s almost hard to believe that we’ve been here for a full week. The time has seemed to fly by. With bridge starting on Saturday earlier at 1:30, there was a little less time for swimming or walking in the morning, but everyone arrived (were we bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ?) in good time for the start of the final session.

By now, the field was split into two parts, with the leading five teams playing an all-play-all final, while the rest continued with four more rounds of Swiss Teams.

After a relaxing morning – on the beach, around the pool – or a more strenuous one – walking along the promenade to Side and back – the more serious bridge started again today.

Nineteen teams played six eight-board matches of Swiss Teams to determine the qualifiers for the final, to be played over 32 boards on Saturday. Board 2 was interesting:

You may be wondering why I’ve started with a picture of seven playing cards. Well, read on to find out what happened at one table in round 8 of the Swiss Pairs.

The Swiss Pairs is played over two days, with five eight-board matches on each day. At the end of day 1, the ranking list looked like this: