We are pleased to announce that we will be holding a Bridge for Beginners session on the evening of Thursday 3 July at our usual venue, the Willoughby Arms pub, starting at 7.30pm.
We are designing this event for beginners, but if you have not played bridge for a long time you may find it a useful refresher. The event is open to all, not just members of Kingston Chess Club, and is free.
Bridge is a classic card game in which one pair plays against another pair. The evening is your opportunity to bring along a playing partner, a friend, a relative or a spouse. You will learn the basics of the game with a focus on card play. You do not need to make any preparations. All the bridge equipment will be provided.
Bridge is a very social game. Four people play on a table and you move tables every few hands. The objective is to score more points than any other pair. Each round is shorter than a league chess game, so there is some time for chatting between hands.
Bridge has a reputation for being played by older people, which also applies to chess. Yet there is no reason why bridge, like chess, cannot be played by the younger generation.
Back in the day, when I used to play in junior chess tournaments, we played bridge in the gaps between rounds. This has been replaced by laptops and Stockfish in competition venues. Yet, bridge makes for an excellent foil to chess – it’s fun, social and challenging.
Instructors
We have arranged for two professional instructors to provide assistance. They will let us play freely and only intervene when they see something worth commenting upon.
- Rosie White is from the Young Chelsea Bridge Club, where she is active in promoting bridge
- Ned Paul ran the Kingston Bridge Club until recently
If a core of people want to continue to learn chess, then this can be arranged.
John Foley