Tournament Committee Update
by Andrew Petrie
Great Northern Swiss Pairs (GNSP)
Yorkshire offered to run this event on behalf of the EBU, and it was a great
success for which I would like to both congratulate and thank the YCBA Committee
and other volunteers. They managed to attract 57 tables which were significantly
more than the last time the event was run. Feedback from participants was extremely
positive.
Northern Easter Festival
The EBU Easter Festival has over a number of years performed very badly on our
rating system, and the decision was made to discontinue the event organised
out of Aylesbury. A number of Northern Counties were asked whether, individually
or in partnership, they wished to run the event on behalf of the EBU as had
occurred with the GNSP. Only one county, Yorkshire, have offered to do this
and they are planning in 2012 to hold the event in what I think will be a great
location – York. The event will therefore not take place in Easter 2011.
EBU Autumn Congress
As a trial, in 2009, we moved the EBU Autumn Congress to a prestigious hotel
near the NEC in Birmingham. Unfortunately, this has not worked well, and entries
this year are very disappointing. Max Bavin has been able to secure the Holiday
Inn in Stratford upon Avon for 2011, so hopefully this will give one of our
most prestigious and long standing events a new start.
Bridgemates
A number of members have written about Bridgemate procedures and etiquette and
requesting written guidelines to be available at the table. The TC did not think
this was the best approach in that this would slow play significantly and, in
any case, many players would not read the guidelines. Instead we shall publicise
the main headlines, which are very simple:
• At EBU events only the table score and (where possible) an overall %age
will be displayed
• North is responsible for entering the scores but he/she may delegate
this to South
• East is responsible for checking the entry – again he/she may
delegate this to West
• The other players may request to see the overall %age (if displayed)
• There should be no further debate about the score
EBU Tournament Directors will be asked to ensure these headlines are announced
at the start of an event.
EBU Simultaneous Pairs at Morning and Afternoon club sessions
There are an increasing number of affiliated clubs playing in the morning or
afternoon, and the TC had been requested to allow these clubs to enter EBU Simultaneous
events. This was agreed so long as such clubs undertook to ensure their members
were aware they could not play in another event that day nor communicate details
of any of the hands to other people.
Results
Some criticism had been made regarding the time it took to get results from EBU events on to the website. A solution has been found that will use Bridge Webs which will mean results should be available online immediately after a session has been scored. However, we are still dependent on internet access issues.
MP Promotions in English Bridge
Because of the large increase in MP promotions through Universal Membership, we decided to only publicise Landmark promotions in English Bridge (EB) – a magazine consisting mainly of promotion lists being not desirable. Various people have expressed concern over this policy, and I am very grateful to the Editorial Board of English Bridge who will discuss this matter at their next meeting.
National Women’s Teams
This event has struggled over a number of years, and the TC has taken the decision
to discontinue the event in its present form run out of Aylesbury. This event
will therefore be offered to counties in the Midlands to run on the EBU’s
behalf. If there are no takers, then it will not take place in 2011.
Best Behaviour at Bridge
Finally, a reminder to all players that we have a behaviour code that applies
at all EBU events (details on the EBU Website). Tournament Directors have been
asked to take this issue very seriously but they can only do so if they are
advised of a problem at the time it occurs and not later.
Andrew Petrie
EBU Tournament Committee Chairman
