51st European Team Championships

Sources: EBL    

Program: Click Here    Participantes: Click Here   Official Site: Click Here  The Draw: Click Here   All the Systems: Click Here

The 51st edition of the European Bridge Team Championships will be held in Citywest Hotel, Dublin, Ireland, from 12 to 23 June 2012. As usual, the Championships comprise three series for Open, Women and Senior national teams.

Since the very beginning, the Championships have been played as a single Round Robin in each series, but in Pau, France, 2008, a new format was introduced: in the Open series, teams were split in two groups and played a round robin qualifier within each group; the top teams then joined in a second round robin qualifier from which the new European Champions emerged. In 2008, each qualifying team met again in the second round robin qualifier with the teams it had met in the qualifying round, but the result of the first match did no longer matter. However, in Ostend 2010, this did not happen. Qualified teams carried over to the second round robin qualifier the entire result of each of their qualifying matches, and these matches were not played again. Accordingly, the duration of the Championships was reduced by three days, allowing it to start on Tuesday instead of the usual Saturday. This was judged to be a successful format, and it is the one which will be applied in Dublin.

Format:

Each member country of the European Bridge League may enter one representative team in each series of the championships.

The Open Series will be played in two round robins: in the first round robin (qualifier), teams will be divided into two groups, according to their ranking in the preceding 3 European Team Championships. At the end of the qualifier, the 9 best ranked teams from each group will be determined, which will advance to the second round robin (final). The remaining teams will finish the championships at this point.

In the final round robin, it is anticipated that matches will be of 20 boards. Each qualified team will carry forward the entire result achieved against teams it has met in the qualifier, and these matches will not be played again. The final ranking of the Championships will emerge from the results of the second round robin (matches played in the qualifier and matches played in the final).

The Women Series will be played as a single complete round robin with all teams playing each other. It is anticipated that matches will be of 20 boards.

The Senior Series will be played as a single complete round robin provided that the number of participating countries is sufficient. It is anticipated that matches will be of 16 or 20 boards, depending on the number of matches to be played.

To access the program: Click Here    To access the Participantes: Click Here   To access the Official Site: Click Here

The English Bridge Union (EBU)  developed a Teams Presentation: Click Here

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