{"id":121479,"date":"2025-12-14T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/?p=121479"},"modified":"2025-12-10T12:12:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T11:12:50","slug":"champions-cup-2025-ella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/en\/champions-cup-2025-ella\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Champions’ Cup in Jurmala"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The 2025 Champions’ Cup<\/strong> was held in Jurmala<\/strong>, just outside Riga<\/strong> in Latvia<\/strong>. I have now been there three times, and I always look forward to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, our team, the Danish Champions<\/strong>, consisted of Leise Hemberg<\/strong> (team captain), Katrine Martensen Larsen<\/strong>, Julie Marina Sigsgaard<\/strong> and me. Katrine, Julie\u2019s mother, and Leise had just begun their first season together as a partnership<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are 12 teams<\/strong> in each category. Besides our category \u2013 the Women<\/strong> \u2013, there is also an Open category<\/strong>. This year, Denmark only had us women representing the red and white colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Women\u2019s category is a bit special as it is not the top 12 countries from the previous European Championships which qualify, unlike in the Open category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, a lot is being done to promote women\u2019s bridge<\/strong>. Three years ago, this tournament started with just 8 teams<\/strong>. This year, there were 12<\/strong>. Participants were the top 8 countries<\/strong> from the European Championships, the host nation<\/strong> (Latvia this year), as well as the gold, silver and bronze<\/strong> medallists from the online European Women\u2019s Championship<\/strong>. The online EC is also an initiative meant to strengthen women\u2019s bridge in Europe. It is held every year \u2013 next time 9-11 January<\/strong><\/strong> \u2013, and can even be played from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I encourage all women who have the opportunity to gather a team and participate. It is important to support women\u2019s bridge, all the more since the prize is a place in the Champions’ Cup<\/strong>, which I can warmly recommend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The atmosphere at this tournament is always quite special. It is a relatively small event with only 2 categories<\/strong> and 12 teams in each<\/strong>, and big efforts are made to hold the event in smaller towns in the host nation. At the same time, it is incredibly cosy. Most people stay at the same hotel, eat at the same restaurants, and know each other from previous years and other tournaments. In that way, it feels both intimate<\/strong> and familiar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tournament lasts three days<\/strong>. On the first two days, everyone plays each other in a round robin<\/strong>, with one match against each team. This time, the matches consisted of 10 boards<\/strong>. On the third day, we were divided into semi-final groups<\/strong> so that teams ranked 1-4, 5-8 and 9-12 would meet each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A good board played by Katrine<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The contract was 4♠<\/strong> by South, and the auction went as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n