Source: EBL If you, like most of us, are longing to get back to playing face-to-face international bridge, you should reserve the dates 8-13 February 2021 in your calendar. Together with the Bulgarian Bridge Federation, the EBL is hoping to arrange an Open Teams and Swiss Pairs event in Sofia open to all members in good standing with a WBF NBO. Even though we would really like to bring you a quality live competition, if the Covid situation escalates, it may ultimately influence the possibility of proceeding with the event. We are aiming at a deadline of December 15 to make the final decision to go ahead. The playing environment itself will be set up in the safest way possible, with good distance between tables, private bidding boxes, full sets of boards at each table and only one person permitted to touch bridge mates. Only pre-registered players will be allowed to participate. All sessions will be of 10 boards each. The probable format will be a 3-day Open Swiss Teams, from which the top 16 teams play a full “round robin” over 3 days. The remaining players will play a MP-scored Swiss Open Pairs over those days (at which new players/pairs are welcome). Subject to certain minimum participation requirements, separate awards will be given to the best Women, Seniors, Mixed and U26 teams, but all will play together in an Open category event. Generous European Master Points will be awarded. The event microsite will soon be opened with all necessary information for registration requests, accommodation options etc. In order to keep proper distance between tables we may have to limit the number of participants, so it is imperative that you register as early as possible as requests will be accepted on a “first come first served” basis. Payments must be made in advance, but not until December 16 when the final go-ahead is given. We hope that you take this opportunity to get back to the green tables for an exciting international event!

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