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
Mark Gurney
We are sorry to report that club member Mark Gurney has died on August 7th while on holiday in Thailand. We offer our sympathy to his wife Anna and to the rest of his family and friends.
Brighton Winners
Numerous club members did well in the
EBU Summer Meeting at Brighton, including Ian Draper who was in the winning team of the "A" final,
and Nick Irens, Espen Erichsen and Norman Selway who were in the second-placed team. Anthony Golding, Francis Morton and Alan Kay won the "B" final of the teams,
and Mike Scoltock was in the second-placed team. Peter Czerniewski was in the winning team of the Swiss Teams. David Ewart and Andrew McIntosh came second equal in the Swiss Pairs,
Mike Hill was in the winning team of the Seniors Congress, and Karen & Malcolm Pryor won the GCH Fox Trophy.
Director Distinctions
Five members of the club took the four-day Club Directors' course at Brighton and all five were awarded distinctions! Well done to
Dan Cardnell, Paul Huggins, Paul Lamford, Jon Lillycrop and David Schiff.
Trials Winners
Congratulations to Nick Sandqvist, Artur Malinowski, Jason and Justin Hackett who won the latest series of trials at Brighton by a huge margin, and so will be going to Beijing in October for the World Mind Sports Games.
Club Championship Pairs 2008
Michael Clark and Luke Porter won the latest game of the 2008 Championship Pairs with a score of 73.95%, which is the largest single score of the event, and puts them in second place over all.
Full results for this July 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 Ranis & Roger Mapp
won the March and April games to put them in the lead in the current standings.
BGB Simultaneous Pairs
Our local heat of the Sim Pairs, on Tuesday 29th August, attracted 16 pairs and was won by the first-time partnership of Michael Ranis & Tom Gunn
with 67.86% locally. Michael & Tom are also currently lying fifth in the national rankings, with 68.53%.
Open Teams Challenge
For the last few years we have held an annual Open Teams Challenge, aiming to appeal mostly to stronger players, but open to everyone.
This year it will be held on the weekend of September 20th-21st, and will be sponsored in memory of Peter Hecht-Johansen, with a trophy in his name
for the winners. Fuller details are on a separate page of this website.
First Regular Individual Duplicate
Following the huge success of our annual individual competition for the Keith Loveys Cup, we decided to hold a regular monthly individual on one Thursday of each month.
The first of these, on Thursday 17th July, was a big success attracting 41 players and creating a friendly atmosphere. It was won by Brian Callaghan with 62.44%.
The use of a Rover player gave our scoring software problems, and so the final scores were rather delayed, but Stephen Bligh of Scorebridge kindly worked on extracting the data to produce the final combined result, and it is now available - final results, results from the first session, results from the second session and hands from the second session.
In future the individual will continue to be held on the third Thursday of each month (not August because of the Brighton Congress) - on
September 18th,
October 16th,
November 20th.
- 7.30pm start
- approximately 24 boards of duplicate bridge
- No partner to arrange!
- Default system to avoid the need for detailed discussions
Ladder winner
There was almost no movement in the final game of the club's Spring Ladder, and so Ross Harper, who has led the competition from the start, is the winner with 62.05%, just ahead of David Gold and David Ewart. Three members - Renata Beauchamp Kerr, Warwick Pitch & Gordon Rainsford - managed to play their ten best games with ten different partners!
The ladder ran 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.
Swiss Pairs
The latest of our monthly Swiss Pairs events, on Thursday 10th July was won by Chantal Girardin & Carol Regulski with 75 VPs, while Ruth Henig & Jack Johnstone were second and Maureen Carrington & John Sheppard (who had led for most of the event) third.
The Swiss Pairs are usually held on the second Thursday of each month (but please note IT WILL BE A WEEK LATER IN AUGUST, because of the Brighton Congress), and feature 5x5-board rounds with current assignments using Bridgemates. They
attract players from across the full spectrum of abilities of our membership (and a few visitors), and have proved to be a popular innovation of the last couple of years.
Young Chelsea Knockout winners
Mike Scoltock, Cameron Small, Jon Cooke & Frances Hinden became our new Young Chelsea Knockout winners when Alan Kay, Jerry Cope, Francis Morton & Tony Golding conceded after 40 boards in the final, which for the first time was shown on Bridgebase Online so that it could be watched at home by computer. The
draw and final position of the YCKO are available on this site together with the regulations.
Old Chelsea!
Congratulations to Vivian & Tony Priday who won the A final Pairs at the EBU Seniors Congress at Bournemouth on July 4th-6th, and to Maureen Dennison who was in the second-placed pair. Well done also to Sheila and Bryan Peers who were fourth in the Swiss Pairs at the congress.
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 July 3rd, was won by fourteen year-old Theo Morris-Clarke & his mother Deborah Morris with 55 IMPs. The full results can be found here.
The next novice duplicate will be on August 7th.
Changes to Membership Regulations
A number of regular players at the club have expressed concern at the recent changes, announced in the April newsletter, that required visitors to join the club after playing here three times. In the light of this feedback, the committee has decided to relax that requirement, and now players who don't attend frequently enough to make it worth their while joining the club are welcome to come and play here as often as they like by paying the visitors' table money rate.
Furthermore, anyone who ensures that we have their current email address will continue to be sent information about the club events, in the hope that they still feel part of the club even if they don't maintain their annual membership. We want to welcome as many players as possible to all of our games, and we leave it to them to decide for themselves whether it suits their circumstances to join or not.
Calendar Change
The YC Summer Party in Barkston Gardens Square, which had been listed for Saturday 19th July but which is now postponed until early September. Further details will be announced as soon as they are known.
London League Winners
Congratulations to Brian Callaghan's team (YC1) who won the first division of the London League this year, and to YC 2 who won the second
division. Well done also to August Blue who won the newcomers division - they aren't a Young Chelsea team, but they are one of many who regularly use the YC as their home venue for matches.
Inter-National Teams
Eighteen teams from thirteen countries played on June 21st in the qualifying event for the
Inter-National Teams, which is part of our 40th Anniversary
celebrations, from which the top eight teams qualified to play in the main final on June 22nd. A further three trans-national teams
joined the subsidiary Trans-National teams event which was played at the same time.
The highest score in the main final was achieved by
Great Britain (a guest team composed of
YC members born around 1968 when the club began) but since they were playing without standing, Poland were awarded the winners' place.
The subsidiary event was won by a trans-national team - Maxine Etkin, Tuana Tan, Simon Catherall & Florian Herold. Full results as well as
a detailed breakdown of the results are available.
Prizes were
also awarded for their costumes to the Dutch team, the Polish team, the USA Stars team, and Florian Herold!
The Laws of Duplicate Bridge 2007
About every ten years the Laws of Duplicate Bridge are revised and updated, and the latest version comes into force in the EBU on August 1st. The
full version of the new laws can be downloaded from the Ecatsbridge website.
For players who are interested
in the changes, and for directors, the EBU has also produced a
Guide to the 2007 Laws which is available on their website.
The EBU will be
organising a series of One Day Regional Club TD Seminars on the New Laws, one of which will be held at the Young Chelsea on the 4th October - booking is throught the EBU.
Senior Camrose Winners
Congratulations to Ross Harper & Gunnar Hallberg who were in the England Seniors team who won the Camrose by 50 VPs.
Corwen Winners
David Gold & Susannah Gross won the Corwen Trophy on May 31st-June 1st. Well done to them.
London Champions
Well done to club members Nick Irens, Espen Erichsen, David Bakhshi & Andrew Robson who have qualified to represent London in the
Pachabo Cup by winning the London Championship Teams of Four.
Bournemouth 1-2-3
Congratulations to the following club members who did well at the EBU Bournemouth Congress on May 24th-26th:
Alan Kay won the main Pairs Championship;
Paul Martin & Gordon Rainsford were second in the secondary pairs event;
Sarah Dunn & David Gold were third in the secondary pairs event;
Nick Irens & Nick Boss, Tommy Garvey & David Bakhshi were third in the "A" flight Swiss Teams.
"Play With An International"
As part of our 40th Anniversary celebrations,
we held a special event on May 15th when 26 club members who have represented
their countries partnered those who had won tickets in the raffle which was
drawn prior to the special 40th Anniversary Swiss Pairs.
£800 was raised for the Alzheimer's Society and a similar amount
for the club. The game was won by Fiona Hutchison & Cameron Small (pictured, photos courtesy Peter Hasenson), 6% clear of the field with 65.71%. Full results are available.
International players who played in the event were 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 hadn't won a partner in the raffle, we held a heat of the EBU Spring Simultaneous Pairs
on the same night, which was won by Mary Marshall & Lotti Masterton.
Crockfords Winners
Congratulations to club member Alexander Allfrey whose team, including David Bakhshi & Andrew Robson, won the EBU's premier knockout teams competition, the Crockfords Cup at the weekend.
LMBA Newcomers Pairs
Shelley Evans & Leszek Lubaszewski won the NS prize with 70.83% in the LMBA's Newcomers Pairs at the Young Chelsea on
Sunday 11th May, while the EW top spot was shared between Jan Holman & Ian Stewart, and Mala Lever (playing with Ned Paul) on 60%.
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.
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.
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 Tuesday 16th September 2008, and there is a Continuing
Bridge course (the next stage) beginning on Thursday 27th September 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.