Everything is in place for the weekend’s Men’s and Women’s Pairs and Teams competitions in Clane. Hopefully, the weather conditions will improve in those parts of the country still struggling with ice and snow – there are currently no major issues in Clane itself, as we understand it, and they expect everything to be clear for the weekend – but if you do need to cancel, you can do so via the website online entry system until Friday at 17:00. If you need to cancel after that, please text either Dermot O’Brien on 087-9075663 or Fearghal O’Boyle on 086-2652871 and ask for confirmation that your cancellation has been received. The competitions “hotline” number referred to in some old documents, and on the online entry system, is no longer operational.
The meal breaks will be from 16:45 until 18:45 on Saturday, and from 14:00 to 15:00 on Sunday, and a carvery will be available within the hotel on both days. If you have played in Clane previously, and are a coffee or tea drinker, you will recall that the small coffee shop at the entrance to the hotel gets very busy, and wait times can be long. We have reviewed this with the hotel, and they advise that the number of staff deployed makes little difference to throughput, as the main impediment is the length of time it takes to make “specialty” coffees. We have therefore asked the hotel to make “regular” tea and coffee available in urns in the bar area immediately behind the coffee shop before the start on both days. If that’s what you want, you should have no need to queue; if you want something more exotic, you may have to wait.
Our EBL Women’s Bridge Co-Ordinator, Joan Kenny, has asked us to remind all our women players that the next EBL Women’s Online Training session is on RealBridge on Monday, January 13 at 18:30. The guest coach this time is Per-Ola Cullin, a very well-known professional bridge player from Sweden. If you wish to register a team for the coaching session, please contact Joan by email.
And a reminder to our senior players (born in 1960 or before) that a new online EBL Seniors’ Championship will take place on RealBridge between 27-30 January and 3-6 February and all are welcome to play (on a transnational basis). You’ll find full details here and entries close on 25 January.
In mentioning RealBridge as the “venue” in both the above notices, it seems an opportune point to congratulate the developers and proprietors of the RealBridge platform, Graham Hazel, Shireen Mohandes, and Andy Bowles on being jointly selected as the International Bridge Press Association Personalities of the Year for 2024, in recognition of their services to bridge through the development of this platform. There is no doubt that the effective integration of microphones and cameras into the playing platform was transformational for online bridge, in terms of both security/integrity and enjoyability, making it more like “real bridge”, as the name chosen for the platform suggests. This has been something of a labour of love for the RealBridge trio, and their charges remain extraordinarily moderate for the services provided. They have also been most helpful and supportive in introducing additional features, or enhancements to existing ones, in response to demand, and have maintained close contact with the CBAI as with other national bridge bodies. The platform now offers a teaching facility, and MiniBridge, in addition to a wide variety of playing offerings. It is also used extensively to allow people to watch (or “kibitz”) major tournaments, including the home international competitions in which the CBAI teams participate. You’ll find the citation for the award to RealBridge in this document.