Panos Gerontopoulos, Youth Committee Chairman

Table of Contents Page Let the games begin 1 Welcome from the Youth Committee Chairman 2 Blast From The Past 3

More than 75 million people are active participants in the greatest of all the mind sports. As a simple comparison, in Chess, only the top two or three players in the world can now compete on an equal footing against the best computer programmes, but in Bridge there is still no sign of anyone producing a programme that can approach the capabilities of today's champions.
A brilliant mind is not the only characteristic required for success in Bridge. In the pressure of a major event stamina, fitness, concentration, endurance, coolness under pressure, teamwork and competitive fire, all Olympic virtues, play a part, with many of the top stars using rigorous schedules for both mind and body. International teams are frequently accompanied by technical and physical trainers, and even sports psychologists.