Poznań Bridge Congresses have over 60 years of tradition. Recently, they have been held in the Great May Day formula during the long weekend of Labor Day, Flag Day and Constitution Day. And, of course, they are an excellent organizational training ground before the 2025 European Championships.
One of the elements in 2024 was, for example, the Polish Open Pairs Championship. Similarly to next year’s European Championships, EVERYONE who showed up in the capital of Greater Poland on May 1 and paid the entry fee to take part in the 50-hand (OTP rank**) qualifying tournament for the MPP could play. As many as 47 pairs advanced to the Semi-Finals, scheduled for the next day. More than 100 pairs played in these, as they were joined by those who qualified from the competitions (conducted in various forms) in individual OZBSs, as well as several leading duos invited from neighboring countries (Germany, Lithuania, Czech Republic…). Finally, on May 3, the Finals took place – 28 pairs selected over three days fought for the title, medals and cash bonuses. The championship, won in Poznań in the same place exactly a year ago, was defended by the “best bridge couple in the world”, i.e. Justyna Żmuda (Bridgescanner Szlem Gdańsk), considered by many experts to be number 1 among Polish women, and Michał Klukowski (Zimmermann AZS), ranked number 2 in the world. University of Warsaw).
– The victory achieved with my wife tastes double – said the popular “Kluk” after the medals and cups presentation ceremony. – Maybe luck doesn’t play the most important role in bridge, but you shouldn’t jinx yourself either. So, just in case, we repeated the rituals from last year: the same hotel, dinner menu, arrival time at the hall and so on. And then I’m very tired again because I don’t like this format of the Finals. Countless breaks completely throw me off my rhythm and I have to concentrate again every few minutes throughout the day. But there is no need to complain, the championship was defended, and the next task ahead of me is to win the title in the European team championship in Denmark, the only title in major international championship events that I am still missing – concluded Messi, the world’s greatest bridge player.
And of course, that wasn’t all there was to the Great Bridge May Day, because on May 4, the event culminated in a great tournament from the Budimex Grand Prix Polish Pairs series, won by Bogusław Gierulski and Sławomir Henclik, who are always dangerous in the domestic field. “Along the way”, for those who failed in the subsequent stages of the MPP, there were several congress, maximum and imp tournaments, as well as cycles of the Wielkopolska Youth Championships (born in 2004 or younger) and amateur competitions (players not registered in the PZBS or those who have a maximum WK of 0.5). And on May 3, the traditional, all-day White and Red Tournament, with Finals A, B and C, also won by the Gierulski / Henclik pair.
In other words: something nice for everyone and lots of gaming during the first four days of May in Poznań! If anyone has not been here yet, it is worth coming in 2025, just to see what the conditions are like in one of the best bridge halls (or rather – halls) in Poland. The Congress takes place at the Poznań International Fair in the PCC hall – two hundred meters from the Main Railway Station. The room is huge ( approximately half a football size), well soundproofed, lit, air-conditioned, elegantly finished, with an on-site buffet and a restaurant on the floor above (cheaper sets for bridge players). And everything was organized “in the Poznań way” – in a meaning of the word similar to “Swiss punctuality” or “German order”. And the European Open Championships will be held at the turn of June and July 2025 in the same place!
