The Irish Bridge Union is sending three teams to the World Bridge Games in Buenos Aires, from 22 October to 3 November. As this is the second major international event this year, funds are stretched and the IBU has not been able to offer as much financial support as it would have liked, which means the players will be meeting the vast bulk of their costs personally, as well as taking holidays from work, where relevant. A lot of bridge players are surprised to learn that our international teams have to meet most of their own expenses when representing us.
We have already written to all members for whom we have an email address to inform them that we have combined with BBO and Funbridge to offer an opportunity to support these players by playing some bridge. We’re offering a daily daylong 20-board tournament on both platforms priced at BB$10 (BBO) or 190 Diamonds (Funbridge) every day from Monday 7 October to Sunday 13 October, with the proceeds being used to supplement the grants to these players. The games will be played mainly for bragging rights (we’ll publish the winners on our website); if entry levels permit we’ll provide some modest prizes to the winners, and some spot prizes among the rest of the field.
If you haven’t played in a daylong tournament before, you play the tournament individually with a robot partner, against two other robots. You can play the 20 boards at any stage that suits you over a 24-hour interval, and you can leave and re-enter the tournament if necessary; you just pick up where you left off. Just log on to BBO and/or Funbridge as you usually do and you’ll find the tournaments under “Competitive/Daylong Tournaments” (BBO) or “Federation Tournaments” (Funbridge). Just look for “Ireland” or “Irish” in the title of the tournament. BBO is offering you the normal BBO US-style robot partner and opponents (5-card majors and strong no-trump) on the Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, and an Acol-playing robot partner and opponents (4-card majors and weak no-trump) on the Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On Funbridge, it will be 5-card majors and strong no-trump throughout the week.
Please support these daylong tournaments if you can; your contribution will go to a good cause. (We have already received notification of some generous donations – thanks very much to those concerned.) We are also grateful to 52 Entertainment, which runs both BBO and Funbridge, for keeping their charge for these tournaments to a minimum, which means that the vast majority of the funds raised will go to support our international players. Thanks in advance for your support, and best wishes to the three Irish teams heading to Argentina!
Finally, just a quick reminder about upcoming CBAI national competitions. We have the Spiro Cup (National Mixed Pairs Championship – Masters and Intermediate As) on Sat 12 October, the Coen Trophy (National Mixed Teams Championship – Masters and Intermediate As) on Sun 13 October, and the Master Pairs (Master players only) on Sat/Sun 14/15 December. All in Templeogue, and all now open for online entry.