Story 4

¡PLAYING BRIDGE IN CUBA! By Elaine Jarchow

I was privileged to attend the XIV International Bridge Festival in Havana and Varadero, Cuba, from December 2-11, 2016.  I traveled with my

partner, Sue Bruggen. We signed affidavits stating that our purpose for travel to Cuba was to engage in non-athletic competition. Americans must sign these affidavits and choose one of twelve acceptable reasons for travel. One of these is NOT tourism. We booked an ABC Charters flight to Havana from Miami.  As it turned out, American Airlines began to fly to Havana a week before our flight, so our “charter” was the regularly scheduled American Airlines flight. The flight cost $197, and we used miles to get to and from Miami. The cost of the Festival was $1290/person for four nights at the Melia Cohiba, Havana, five nights at the all-inclusive beach resort Sol Palmeras in Varadero, airport welcome and transfers, two dinners, all breakfasts, a Havana nightclub show, and Havana city tour. 

The daily bridge games – four pairs and five teams – cost $215. We paid in cash upon arrival.  It’s still difficult to use credit cards.

The Festival was held under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation’s (WBF) Central American and Caribbean Bridge Federation. There were over 50 players from Canada, Norway, Cuba, Spain, Costa Rica, Trinidad, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Brazil, Argentina, and the US(CO, NY, KY, NC, and CA). Not all players played in both the pairs and teams sessions. A Canadian couple, our first opponents, told us to leave our convention cards in our room and “have fun.”

We certainly had fun, but noted a very wide range of player ability. We were told that Diego Brenner played on the Italian team and that Jacek Pszcola and Justin Lall were world ranked. In addition, Dave Caprera (playing with wife Anne Brenner) coaches the US Junior Team, on which Isaac Stefani played. For the team games, we were assigned players from Argentina and Spain. All of the players were gracious and willing to offer helpful advice. The young Cuban players (pictured left) were a delight. A self-taught older gentleman had given them bridge lessons and they played in their homes. They are holding the ACBL decks that I gave them. I wish we could sponsor four of them to attend the Flying Pig regional. Bridge is allowed in Cuba because Fidel Castro’s sister Emma played bridge. She convinced Fidel that playing bridge is like playing chess – not like gambling, which he hated. Emma played in an earlier Cuba Festival and some of the players we met remembered her.

Of course, there are challenges playing in a country where one does not speak the language. I insisted that there was a malfunction in my BridgeMate.  When I entered four hearts, I saw 4C  on the display screen. The kindly director told me there was no malfunction since heart in Spanish – Corazon - does begin with a C!!!! (¡ and exclamation points begin and end the sentence!)

Some things I learned include the following:

-          The WBF’s Continuous VP (logarithmic) Scale which we used was also used at the recent Orlando Nationals and will soon be featured in our regionals. Flying Pig? [Ed: Not yet, but D11 does use this scale for the D11 GNT District Finals]

-          The WBF is divided into eight geographic zones. The website (www.worldbridge.org) is certainly worth a look if you are traveling and want to attend a bridge festival. For example, there is one in the Canary Islands from March 26-April 1 and a 7 day Caribbean cruise from Havana and five night all-inclusive Cuba beach resort from May 20-31.

-          Some ACBL understandings may not be shared by the WBF and its affiliates. For example, the Multi two diamonds, limited by the ACBL to mid-chart events, is played throughout the world. Players in the Netherlands believe that all unnatural bids (like Michaels) must be alerted.

-          In a team game, half the tables are “closed” and no kibitzing is allowed.

-          In a Festival, the movement is apt to be a Howell so all can play each other.

In the Netherlands and Belgium, a bridge pub/café crawl on a Saturday offers fee paying players an opportunity to move about six cafes, have a drink or lunch, play 6-8 boards and assemble in a theater at end of day to learn the results. Anyone up for trying this in OTR or Covington’s Mainstrasse?Visiting Cuba was a terrific experience. The hotels and food were good. Our first two days overlapped with the final two days of the mourning period for Fidel Castro.

We saw a shrine in the hotel lobby; there was no music in the squares and there were many photos in the newspapers. We met Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the first female chair of the African Union; she attended Castro’s funeral. The people were very welcoming; they have waited a long time for their neighbors to visit. I’d love to return and see more cities. My hope for 2017 is that the new administration continues President Obama’s efforts to open Cuba to all of us.

Participation Prizes                            Elaine Following Hemmingway's Footsteps

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson