REPORT 101 – LADY MILNE/SENIORS CAMROSE / TELTSCHER UPDATE

PADDY MURPHY HAS BEEN APPOINTED NON-PLAYING CAPTAIN FOR THE SENIORS CAMROSE/TELTSCHER TEAM

TONY DISLEY HAS BEEN APPOINTED NON-PLAYING CAPTAIN FOR THE LADY MILNE TEAM

ALL PARTNERSHIPS MUST SUPPLY A COMPETED CONVENTION CARD IN WBF FORMAT TO THEIR TEAM CAPTAINS BY OCTOBER 10th

THE CLOSING DATE FOR TEAMS TO BE ENTERED IS OCTOBER 17th AND WE WOULD LIKE TO BE IN A POSITION TO MAKE THE FORMAL ENTRY AS SOON AFTER OCTOBER 10th AS POSSIBLE BUT NOT LATER THAN OCTOBER 16th.

WHILST THE FINAL ONLINE PLATFORM FOR THESE EVENTS IS YET TO BE DECIDED WE SUGGEST THAT TEAM MEMBERS TRY TO PLAY A “TEST” MATCH ON THE REAL BRIDGE PLATFORM. TO DO THIS CONTACT YOUR TEAM CAPTAIN OR simon@welshbridgeunion.org

Report 100 – Camrose Online Trial

THE CAMROSE TRIAL IS STARTING TO TAKE SHAPE. WE HAVE HAD 12 PAIRS REGISTER THEIR INTEREST IN TAKING PART.

THE COST OF ENTRY INTO THE TRIAl WILL BE £30 per player / £60 per pair.

THE TRIAL WILL BE PLAYED OVER THE WEEKEND of 7 & 8th NOVEMBER. SESSION TIMES TO BE CONFIRMED LATER.

THE NUMBER OF BOARDS TO BE PLAYED OVER THE 2 DAYS WILL BE DETERMINED BY THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ENTRIES RECEIVED AND IS ANTICIPATED TO AROUND 96 BOARDS.

THE CLOSING DATES FOR ENTRIES WILL BE 12:00hrs on 31st OCTOBER 2020. NO ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THAT DATE. ALL ENTRIES MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A FULLY COMPLETED WBF FORMATTED SYSTEM CARD. FURTHER DETAILS ON MAKING A FORMAL ENTRY INTO THIS TRIAL WILL BE PUBLISHED IN EARLY OCTOBER. FOR THE MOMENT EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST IN PLAYING SENT TO simon@welshbridgeunion.org WOULD BE HELPFUL.

THIS EVENT IS A TRIAL AND AS SUCH THE SELECTORS WILL PICK TWO TEAMS PLUS RESERVE PAIRS FROM THE TRIAL ON THE FOLLOWING BASIS:-

THE PAIR WITH THE HIGHEST X-IMPS SCORE WILL BE GUARANTEED ONE WEEKEND IN A CAMROSE TEAM.

THE SELECTORS (who are not triallists) WILL DETERMINE A “nominal” PAR SCORE ON EACH BOARD.

THEN PAIRS WILL BE SELECTED BASED ON PERFORMANCE AGAINST A “nominal” PAR SCORE.
THE SELECTORS DECISION WILL BE FINAL.

There will no masterpoints or green points awarded of playing in this online trial. There will also be no prize fund.

The online platform to be used will be either Bridgebase Online OR Real Bridge. A decision on this will be made in early October.

Sarah Amos will be the Tournament Director for the Trial.

Due to the latest COVID rules, triallists will have to play in their homes (or offices).

Please make sure you have suitable computer equipment to play in long sessions covering two days play.

Any questions or further expressions of interest to simon@welshbridgeunion.org

Report 99

Lady Milne Team Confirmation 30/31 October & 1st November 2020

Gilly Clench & Maggie Pierce

Ceri Pierce & Mia Deschepper

Sarah Amos & Andrea Knox

NPC: Tony Disley

Teltscher Trophy/Seniors Camrose Team Confirmation 30/31 October & 1st November 2020

Alan Stephenson & Paul Denning

Fil & Di Kurbalija

Barry Jones & Bob Pitts

These two events will be played online. There is a possibility that the new REAL BRIDGE platform may be used. To prepare for this we hope that team members get some practice on REAL BRIDGE. To fix up practice matches please contact simon@welshbridgeunion.org.

(Also please note that detailed convention cards will need to be submitted well in advance of the event taking place).

Report No 98

REAL BRIDGE

This week we have been looking at the new “REAL BRIDGE” platform in more detail. Your selectors, the WBU President and WBU CEO played a practice match of 16 boards. First impressions are that REAL BRIDGE looks good, but is clearly still in development mode. Any Welsh team member (from selected Lady Milne or Teltscher teams) who wants a practice session on “REAL BRIDGE”  should get one or two teams together to arrange a “test” match and contact Shireen Mohandes (shireen@hartsdale.co.uk).

ONLINE CAMROSE TRIAL

We are seriously considering using “REAL BRIDGE” for our forthcoming ONLINE CAMROSE TRIAL taking place over the weekend of 7&8th November. We are now taking entries for the ONLINE CAMROSE TRIAL so please email simon@welshbridgeunion.org if you would like to participate. We are still working on the format of the trial and the exact selection process.

EBU AUTUMN CONGRESS / LADY MILNE / TELTSCHER TROPHY

“REAL BRIDGE” will receive its first test should it be chosen to host the EBU Autumn Congress (https://www.ebu.co.uk/competitions/autumn-congress). If the EBU Autumn Congress is a success, then “REAL BRIDGE” will be used to host the Lady Milne and Teltscher events. We suggest that our Lady Milne and Teltscher teams play in the EBU Autumn Congress Teams event on Sunday 25th October to practice on the “REAL BRIDGE” platform.
 

Report No. 97

The WBU Selectors met again on Sunday 23rd August.

The LADY MILNE and TELTSCHER events are now to be played ONLINE over the weekend of 31/10 & 01/11.

It is likely that the “REAL BRIDGE” platform will be used and software trials are being undertaken to assess its suitability.

The Selectors are also looking at the suitability of the “REAL BRIDGE” platform for future trials, initially the CAMROSE trial over the weekend of 7/11 & 8/11.

Any pairs interested in playing in the “ONLINE” CAMROSE trial (we anticipate 6 pairs and one reserve pair will be selected from this trial) should email simon@welshbridgeunion.org to express their interest in playing.

Further information will be posted on this blog as it becomes available.

Report No 96

We now have a new team of selectors consisting of Paul Denning, Jean Hand, Paul Gagne, Simon Gottschalk and Simon Richards.

We held our first meeting on Sunday 10th August, our immediate priority was to confirm the selection of teams for the Lady Milne and Seniors Camrose events (hosted by England) that are likely to be held between 30/10 and 01/11/2020 somewhere in the Midlands.  Those players previously selected have been asked to confirm availability.

We decided not to go ahead with the Premier League this year due to the potential disruption caused by COVID.

We are investigating the possibility of holding an online trial for CAMROSE 20/21 so more about this as plans materialise.

There is much work to do given we are also co-hosting next years  CAMROSE so watch out for more announcements on the WBU website and this blog.