Welcome
You'll find information and links further down this page about recent and forthcoming events at the club. There is also a Calendar page, giving information about regular games and this year's special events, which can be accessed from the menus on the left and at the bottom of each page on this site.
Although, as its name suggests, the Young Chelsea is particularly welcoming to young players, we have many older members, some of whom have belonged since the club began in 1968. There is no upper age limit - you are never the wrong age to play at the YC! It offers one of the strongest club bridge games in Europe, yet is also a great place to learn and improve your game. Daily bridge games are available for members and visitors. There are also regular lessons for beginners and improvers. Click the links to the left, or scroll down this page to find the information you are looking for.
The Young Chelsea is also home to other Bridge Clubs who welcome visitors to their regular sessions. The French club meets on Monday mornings, Tuesday afternoons and Saturday afternoons (jointly with the YC). The International American Club (ACBL affiliated) meets on Thursday afternoons. Rubber bridge, for a stake of 20p a hundred, is available on Monday, Thursday and Friday afternoons.
News
40th Anniversary
The club celebrated its 40th anniversary on Thursday 8th May with a Swiss Pairs
which attracted 17 tables, and was won by Gad Chadha & Brady Richter with 79 VPs. Simon Cochemé had donated a cake baked by his daughter,
which Ian Payn and Chris Duckworth are pictured cutting. Ian has issued a message of thanks to the members to mark the anniversary.
"Play With An International"
As part of our 40th Anniversary celebrations,
we have a special event on May 15th when 26 club members who have represented
their countries will partner those who won tickets in the raffle which was
drawn prior to the special 40th Anniversary Swiss Pairs.
Over £700 was raised for the Alzheimer's Society and a similar amount
for the club. We will be contacting the lucky raffle winners to tell them who their partner is, but the full draw
is also available here online.
International players who have agreed
to play in the event are David Bakhshi, Keith Bennett, Sally Brock, Brian Callaghan, Heather Dhondy, Jeremy Dhondy, Stelio Di Bello, Espen Erichsen, Tommy Garvey, David Gold, Gunnar Hallberg, Richard Hillman, Margaret James, Dafydd Jones, Gary Jones, Roger Mapp, Martin Nygren, Bill Pencharz, David Price, Andrew Robson, Neil Rosen, Nevena Senior, Victor Silverstone, Cameron Small, Nicola Smith, Tom Townsend.
For those who have not won a partner in the raffle, we will be holding a heat of the EBU Spring Simultaneous Pairs
on the same night. Both games start at 7.30pm, though it is suggested
that prize-winners arrive by 7pm to have an opportunity to discuss their system with their partners.
Moza Panahpour
We are sorry to report the sad news that Moza Panahpour died at the weekend after a long illness. Moza was a great supporter of the club, a quiet and charming gentleman, and we shall miss him greatly. Our sympathies go
to Lila, and to all the rest of their family and friends.
Jersey Double
Olivia & Alan Woo won the Swiss Pairs at the Jersey Lambourne Congress on April 26th-27th, and have followed it up by winning the Swiss Teams on May 3rd-4th! Well done to them.
Punchdrunk
Congratulations to Michael Ranis & Roger Mapp who were in the team that won the Punchbowl at the
EBU Spring Foursomes. We also had members of the club
in three of the four teams who have made it through to the final day of the gruelling main event, though none in the team that finally won.
YC Knock-Out Cup 2007-08
All but one of the third-round matches have been played. The next round
is the semi-final, for which matches of 32 boards need to be played by the
middle of June, and the final will be played in July. The
draw and current position are available together with the regulations.
Novice Duplicates
We run a novice duplicate on the first Thursday of every month.
It starts at 7pm with wine and cheese, followed by a gentle duplicate with a friendly director, for an all-in charge of £10 per player (£5 for bone fide students). Master points are issued, so this could offer a first opportunity for you (or a less experienced friend) to shine! Please let anyone know who you think might be interested - they don't need to come with a partner.
The most recent one, on Thursday May 1st, was won by John Evans & Emma
Hartt with 66.67%. The full results can be found here.
The next novice duplicate will be on June 5th.
Club Championship Pairs 2008
Michael Ranis & Roger Mapp won the April game of the 2008 Championship Pairs with a score of 62.60%.
Full results for the April game are available.
The Championship Pairs is on the last Thursday of each month.
The format and prize structure are the same as last year, except that all pairs (other than those with mobility problems) are required to draw for starting positions in all games.
Last year's Championship Pairs winners Heather Dhondy and Rob Cliffe have so far this year
won both the January and the February games, while Michael & Roger won the March game as well as this most recent one.
Ladders
Ross Harper is the only person to have played in all of the first ten games of the Spring Ladder, winning the first game with Andrew Thompson and the second with Martin Hoffman, and averaging an impressive 59.20%. However, Ross will be away in Australia for much of the remainder of the ladder, so there is still plenty of opportunity for others to overtake him.
The ladder runs for 40 games, starting on Mon 7th April and ending on Fri 11th July. We are also intending there to be an Autumn Ladder running from
Fri 5th September to Fri 5th December. Each ladder will have the same format as last year, but the prize structure has been adjusted
slightly in the light of the recent increase in membership fees, so that the total value of prizes remains the same.
Garden Cities Heat
Six teams of eight competed in the LMBA's Garden Cities Heat at the Young Chelsea on Thursday 17th April. It was won by a Young Chelsea team captained by Fiona Hutchison (Mark Lehto, Dom Goodwin, Brian McGuire,
Tim Gauld, Dimitre Stoev, Paul Martin & John Pemberton), who now go on to play in the Regional Final in the summer.
Lady Milne
Congratulations to Audrey Hartley & Stefanie Rohan who were in the England team which won back the Lady Milne Trophy from Scotland.
BGB Simultaneous Pairs
20 pairs played in the Spring Green-Pointed Simultaneous Pairs on Tuesday 8th April, and our heat was won by Chris Duckworth & Simon Cearns with 66.96%, though in the national rankings Ian Payn & Michael Ranis overtook them to achieve 12th place with 67.13%.
Our Tuesday duplicates are now usually be held on the ground floor where access is better
for those with mobility problems, and are run by the club manager Gordon Rainsford, who is available to discuss hands after the duplicate with any players who are interested.
Keith Loveys Cup
116 players, rather more than anticipated, played in the YC Individual competition for the Keith Loveys Cup on Sunday 6th April, which was won by Paul Lamford with 67.05%.
The bridge was followed by a wonderful buffet supper, all organised by Debbie Sandford.
Devonshire Cup Winners
Young Chelsea members Carmel Wood & Brian Ransley won the Devonshire Cup at the RAC Club.
April Newsletter
The Management Committee has sent out a newsletter to all members for whom we have an address or email address.
A PDF version of the newsletter can be viewed here.
Seniors
Congratulations to Paul Hackett's team, including YC members Ross Harper, Peter Czerniewski and Gunnar Hallberg, who won the second stage of the English Seniors Trials at the Young Chelsea with +123 IMPs.
GW Arnott Davidson Trophy
Well done to Pip Railing who was in the South West team which won the GW Arnott Davidson Trophy (Junior Inter-Regional Teams-of-Eight Championship) at Easter.
Easter Winners
congratulations to Brian Callaghan & Michael Ranis who won the "A" flight Swiss Pairs at the EBU Easter Congress in London,
to Sarah Dunn & David Gold,
Liz Clery & Ryan Stephenson who won the "A" flight Swiss Teams, and to Brian Senior who won the Mixed Pairs.
Manchester Match
As part of our 40th Anniversary celebrations, and to mark Manchester Bridge Club's 30th anniversary, we had an exhibition match played on Bridge Base Online on Sunday 9th March, after the LMBA's Green-Pointed Swiss Teams, which Manchester Bridge Club won by 6 IMPs.
Spectators watched in the club bar, where Heather Dhondy & David Gold gave a commentary while playing, and others went home to watch online.
Master Points lists
The annual EBU master points lists are now
available on their website. Congatulations to long-time club member David Bakhshi who is ranked number 1 in the Gold Point listing, to Jeremy Dhondy who is number 4, and to Alexander Allfrey who is number 10.
Beginners' Classes
We have a new information sheet available for the next YC bridge course for beginners, which starts on
Thursday 15th May and for the improvers course which starts on Tuesday 1st April. All club members are urged to pass on a copy to a friend/colleague etc who might be interested in learning or improving their bridge. Note that there is a money-back offer which enables potential learners to try the first lesson for free, which should encourage those who are not sure if bridge is really for them.
Young Chelsea Bridge Sub-Committee
The minutes
of the latest meeting of the Bridge
Sub-Committee on Thursday 17th January are now available to
be downloaded.
Library
The new club library has been widely welcomed by our members, and we have had so many donations of books and magazines that we are
having to add more shelves. So, we are now asking for no more donations for the moment, unless you have something that you think the club really shouldn't be without. We would also welcome the assistance of
volunteers to organise the shelves, sort the books and magazines, and keep the library in order. Are there any retired librarians (or anyone else) out there with time on their hands, who would be willing to help with this?
Room Hire
All of the club's playing rooms are available for hire
when they are not being used for bridge. At present they are under-utilised, and the club would welcome the extra income,
so if you are involved in any organisation or business that rents rooms in the area, please suggest to them that they consider using our space.
Convention Card
The Young Chelsea Standard convention card can be downloaded from this website as a Word document.
Bridge Hands
We have had a fair amount of publicity for the club in the press recently, and would like to maintain that position. Several bridge columnists have expressed their willingness to feature the club if we can provide them with interesting hands that have been played here. If you have noticed an interesting hand at the Young Chelsea, in which your partner, opponents or you yourself have done something skillful or instructive, do send us an email with all the details and you may find yourself in the news!
Archive page
There is an archive page on this website for
those of you who enjoy looking at old results and notices. It's simply a
collection of links to pages that would otherwise be deleted. It'll continue
to be added to as information on the other pages is updated, but it won't
be maintained in any other way.
Students are free!!
The scheme for students to have free membership and pay no table money
applies to all regular club duplicates. This is only for bone-fide full-time
students.
Room Hire
Please remember that the club's various rooms are available for hire when not being used by the club. They are also suitable for meetings, seminars, auditions, interviews and receptions, as a cost-effective alternative to the impersonality of hotel meeting rooms.
Game Times
Mondays 7.00 PM ................................................... Tuesdays - Fridays 7.30 PM
If you want to play, just turn up! It's as simple as that. If you'd like to speak to us first, you can phone 020-7373 1665. Times of play are as above, and more details can be found on our timetable page. If you don't have a partner, don't worry: we'll always find you one.
Learning Bridge
Absolute beginners....improvers....refreshers....advanced... supervised practice.
We are lucky to have the teaching programme at the YC managed by Chris
Duckworth, who was formerly in charge of the EBU Teachers' Association and who teaches many of the classes herself.
The next Beginning
Bridge course will start on Thursday 15th May 2008, and there is a Continuing
Bridge course (the next stage) beginning on Tuesday 1st April 2008.
The courses are based on the English Bridge Union's 'Bridge For All' syllabus.
We also have weekly Supervised Practice sessions on Monday evenings from 7.30pm till 10pm, aimed at those who have just progressed from our classes,
those who are returning to bridge after a gap, and those who wish to build up their confidence in a relaxed environment, and we have a monthly Novice Duplicate with wine and cheese
on the first Thursday of each month.
Further details are available on the teaching
page.
The Bar
The club has a well-appointed bar: drinks, snacks, and light refreshments are always available. Smoking is no longer allowed in the bar, and an effective air-conditioning system ensures a pleasant environment for all.
Subscribe
Don't forget you can subscribe to our electronic mailing list. Just click here, and type "Subscribe" in the subject line. An email newsletter is sent to subscribers periodically.