22ND ANNUAL O.E.C.S BRIDGE TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN GRENADA

St. George's, July 1, 2009 -- Preparations are well advanced for the hosting of the 22nd OECS   Annual OECS Bridge Tournament which will take place at the Flamboyant Hotel, St. George's from 10 – 12 July, 2009.

The event is expected to attract bridge players from all over the Caribbean. Upwards of 70 participants are expected from Antigua, Anguilla, Barbados, Dominica, Martinique, St. Kitts/Nevis, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. The Grenada Bridge Club will register about fourteen players.

The major attraction of the Tournament will be the OECS Championship played between the OECS countries.  The defending OECS Bridge Champion is the team from Antigua, and the determination to win the 2009 trophy will be fierce.

Besides the OECS Bridge Championship, there will be several other competitions played as a part of the Tournament. including the Open Teams Championship, the Open Pairs Championship and the Swiss Championship.

The games will begin at 2 p.m. on Friday, 10th July, 2009, and the Minister of Tourism and Foreign Affairs, Hon. Peter David, has graciously accepted the Grenada Bridge Club’s invitation to welcome the players. The games will be declared open by Lady Oris Graham, the founder of the Grenada Bridge Club.
The tournament ends on Sunday 12th July with a lunch and prizegiving ceremony. Hon. Patrick Simmons, Minister responsible for Sports, will speak at this function, and together with Hon Peter David will distribute the trophies to the winners.

Contract or Auction Bridge, to give the game its formal name, is a major indoor sport played all over the world. It is derived from whist, which was the dominant trick-playing game in Europe for centuries. Bridge became popular in the United States and the UK in the 1890s. Modern bridge is based on the innovations made by the railroad heir and yachtsman, Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (1884–1970). It is believed that Vanderbilt developed the modern form of bridge while on a Caribbean cruise in 1926.

The rules of bridge are extensive and complex, but basically every game is divided into two sections: the auction and the play of the hand. Players bid in a competitive auction to decide the contract and declarer. After the auction is completed, the declarer or winner of the auction, attempts to make at least as many tricks as were contracted for; if not, the declarer incurs penalties for failing to do so.

During  the OECS Bridge Tournament, and in most competitive bridge games, duplicate bridge is played. This is an innovation whereby competing pairs play the same hands, removing the element of chance unavoidable if new hands are dealt at each game.

The Famous Bridge players of the world  include Charles Goren, Eddie Kantar, Oswald Jacoby and Omar Sharif.