Ostend to host
European Open Championships

Ostend, Belgium is going to host the 6th edition of the European Open Championships, following the very succesful hosting of the European Team Championships in 2010. The Mixed competition will be held between June 15th and 21st, while the Open, Women, and Seniors will have their turn between June 22nd and 29th.

Although the tournament registration system is not yet activated, you can already book your hotel. The main hotel is Thermae Palace Hotel (www.thermaepalace.be), but you can also book your hotel using the online reservation system:

https://secure.cubilis.eu/portal/belgie/oostende/view_packages.aspx?pid=103&lang=en

(The code is Bridge2013).

• For more information, click here
 

Wroclaw to host
24th European Youth Team Championships

The 24th Youth Team Championships will be held in Wroclaw/Poland from 11th to 20th July 2013. The venue is located in the Hotel GEM and its Recreational Centre. The Championships comprise 3 series as Junior/Girls/Youngsters and will be played as a simple Round-Robin.

All events are open to the member countries of EBL. Each country may be represented by one national team in each series.

All entries must be made electronically via this website (not by email), from 25th February and before 1st May 2013 (team registration).

• For more information (programme, entry fees, accommodation), click here

Opatija to host
12th European Champions' Cup

The 12th European Champions' Cup will be held in Opatija/Croatia from 14th to 17th November 2013. Opatija has already seen European and World championships, in the Youth and University series, and now is going to be the venue for a major European Open championship.

11th EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS' CUP

Italy, as usual!

As though winning a competition eight times were not enough to prove one's dominance, this year Italy scored one more victory in the European Champions's Cup competition, setting a record which will be very hard to break. Indeed, only two competitions between Europe's club champions have been won by non-Italians; the 2006 event won by Germany, and the 2010 competition won by The Netherlands.

Levy decorated On the occasion of the 2012 European Cham­pions' Cup, Eitan Levy, President of the Israel Bridge Federation, was honored with the EBL silver medal for his services to bridge over many decades.

As a matter of fact, this year it was not nec­es­sary to wait until the end to know the winning nation, as the two Italian teams of the competition met in the final! Defending champions GS Allegra of Torino beat six-times winners Angelini of Rome to keep the Cup in Italy, while the bronze medal went to Monaco FM, winners over Russia's BC Real in the playoff.

The winning GS Allegra team comprised Antonio Sementa, Giorgio Duboin, Agustin Madala, Guido Ferraro and Norberto Bocchi. The Angelini silver medallists were: Leonardo Cima, Valerio Giubilo, Lorenzo Lauria, Federico Primavera, Alfredo Versace and Ercole Bove (npc). The bronze medal went to the European Teams title holders Monaco FM comprising Fulvio Fantoni, Geir Helgemo, Tor Helness, Franck Multon, Claudio Nunes and Pierre Zimmermann.

The 11th European Champions' Cup took place in Eilat, Israel's picturesque Red Sea resort, from 15 to 18 November 2012. It was a splendidly organized event, thanks to the efforts and expertise of the Israel Bridge Federation and David Birman in particular.

The 11th European Champions' Cup was con­test­ed by the national team cham­pions of the top ten countries in the open clas­si­fi­ca­tion of the 2012 Euro­pean Teams Cham­pionships, plus the defending Cup holders and the host country.

• For all information, results and Daily Bulletins of the Champions' Cup, click here

Europeans triumph
in World Bridge Games

European Teams took the lion's share of the medals at the World Bridge Games, held in Lille, France, August 9-23, as part of the 2nd World Mind Sports Games. Of the 9 medals available, in three series, to 137 teams from 65 countries worldwide, Europeans took all but one, the silver medal in the seniors which went to USA.

The first gold medal for Hungary, winners of the senior series.

In the open series, only European teams reached the semifinals, from which SWEDEN beat Poland for the gold medal, and Monaco took the bronze from Ireland.

In the women, ENGLAND successfully defended their title against Russia, while Poland prevailed over France for third place.

However, there was much sensation in the seniors where tiny HUNGARY won their first ever (gold) medal in world bridge history, outscoring USA in the final. France beat Sweden in the playoff for the bronze medal.

• For detailed results and the Daily Bulletins, click here

Croatia to host
3rd European Universities Championship

Opatija, an attractive maritime resort on the Adriatic Sea, is to host the 3rd edition of the European Universities Bridge Championship, from 30 September to 6 October 2013.

The competition is open to teams representing European universities.

• For detailed information, click here.

Training for Tournament Directors

The EBL Tournament Directors' Committee has announced two events aiming at improving the standard of directing throughout Europe.

The 9th EBL Tournament Directors' Course is open to top TDs who will be invited by the EBL or recommended by the NBOs. The course will take place in Bad Honnef, Germany, from 30 January to 3 February 2013.

There will also be an EBL Regional TD workshop for TDs who wish to improve their directing skills. This will be held in Wroclaw, Poland, 25-28 October 2012.

• For further information, click on the corresponding event above.

ENGLAND TAKES WOMEN'S TITLE AND FRANCE SENIORS' WHILE

European Open Title Goes to Monaco

For the first time ever, MONACO, or a team from a small country, man­aged to win the prestigious European Open Teams champion title. This was thanks to that top French, Italian and Norwegian players re­lo­cated to the tiny principality, thus gaining the right to compete in the top European competition as representatives of their new country.

Monaco had little difficulty in outscoring teams from 33 other coun­tries, suffering only one substantial defeat in the hands or rival Italy. Current world champion holders, The Netherlands, got the silver medal, while Italy, winners of 20 (out of a total of 50) titles so far, this time had to be content with the bronze medal only.

In the women, the traditional race between Great Britain/England and France fin­ished with ENGLAND winning the European crown, and taking the overall lead over France with 14 victories over 13. England beat France in the very first round and soon afterwards took the lead which they never relinquished. Thus they ended a series of three con­secutive French victories and became European champions for the first time since 2001. The bronze medal went to Turkey, who had taken many by sur­prise when they won the women series in last year's European Open Championships.

Finally, in the seniors, the gold medal was won by FRANCE, their first after 2002. Poland, the title holders, came second, while third place went to a newcomer on the podium, Scotland.

The 51st edition of the European team Championships was splendidly organized by the Irish Bridge Union, spearheaded by president Mary Kelly-Rogers, secretary Paul Porteous and the veteran of Killarney '91, indefatigable chairman of the organizing committee Joe Moran. They headed an army of volunteers and scored a victory of their own kind in the hearts of the participants.

• For more information click here