The 14th World Youth Team Championships will be held in Taicang, a historic port city near Shanghai, China, from 25 July to 4 August 2012.

This is the world's flagship bridge competition for young people, played among qualified teams representing the eight geographical zones of the WBF. It comprises three series - for Juniors (up to 25), Youngsters (up to 20) and Girls (up to 25).

• For detailed information and registration click here.

The 2nd World Mind Sports Games will be held in Lille, France, August 9-23, 2012. Bridge, chess, droughts and xianqi (chinese chess) are included in the Games, as usual.

The World Mind Sports Games incorporate the 14th World Bridge Games (former World Team Olympiad), comprising Open, Women and Senior (national) team series, and the 5th World Transnational Mixed Teams competition.

Lille was the venue of the 1998 World Bridge Series Championships, which was played at the Lille Grand Palais. The same venue will be used for this year's competitions.

• For detailed information, a list of hotels and team registration, click here.

The 5th Women's Online World Bridfe Festival, held worldwide, 16-22 April 2012, turned out to be a great success, attracting a total of 305 tables.

This led to the introduction of a daily online individual tournament, exclusively for women, on Bridge Base Online (BBO), starting at 10.10 am EDST (New York), 16.10 hrs CEST (Paris), 02.10 am Australian EST (Sydney).

• For detailed information click here.

Hans Kreijns (1928-2012)

Hans KREIJNS of The Netherlands, a former world bridge champion, passed away on 4 April 2012, at the age of 84.

In a bridge career that spanned over half a century, Kreijns won numerous titles. He became world champion, winning, with com­patriot Cornelis (Bob) Slavenburg, at the 2nd World Pairs Olympiad (today's World Open Pairs Championship), held in Amsterdam, 1966. As a member of the Dutch national team, Kreijns was runner up at the 24th European Team Cham­pion­ships (Ostend, 1965) and won the bronze medal at the 6th World Team Olympiad (Valkenburg, 1980).

In the 80s, he coached the Dutch Junior team, and spotted the taleneted Enri Leufkens and Berry Westra who became world champions themselves, winning the Ortiz-Patiño Trophy (World Junior Championship) in 1987, and the Bermuda Bowl (World Zonal Team Cham­pion­ship) in 1993.

Hans Kreijns was a honorary member of Nederladse Bridge Bond (NBB) and topped the Dutch Master Points list until his death. He was widely known for his charming character, always being a pleasant partner and opponent.

The Netherlands, current world champions, and the United States won gold medals in the teams competition (men's and women's series) of the inaugural Sport Accord World Mind Sports Games, held in Beijing, China, 9-16 December 2011.

In the pairs, the men's series was won by China's Xu Hou and Miao Shi, while USA took first place in the women with Lyn Deas and Beth Palmer. Finally, in the individual, USA won both series, thanks to Chris Willenken and Janice Seamon-Molson.

The competitions got under way after a spectacular opening ceremony, and continued in the spirit of excellent organization and warm hospitality which left all athletes most satisfied. There was an enormous television and internet coverage of the various sports involved, which is expected to boost the resuts of their promotion efforts.

Featuring the world's top athletes in the respective fields, the inaugural SportAccord World Mind Games took place in in the Beijing International Convention Center, in Beijing, China, 9-16 December 2011.

Five mind sports participated in the SportAccord World Mind Games: Bridge, Chess, Draughts, Go and Xiang Qi (Chinese chess).

Some 150 top athletes com­peted in the event which was presented by IMSA and was accompanied by a cultural program. Winners, medallists and players received attractive prize money according to their results.

IMSA is the International Mind Sports Association. SportAccord is the umbrella organisation for all (Olympic and non-Olympic) inter­national sports federations as well as organisers of multi-sports games and sport-related international associations.

IMSA and WBF officials had the opportunity to visit one of China's most prominent schools where bridge is taught extracurricularly with great success.

International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) President José Damiani and World Bridge Federation (WBF) President Gianarrigo Rona headed a group of dis­tin­guish­ed guests for a visit to RDFZ, the High School Af­fil­i­at­ed to Renmin University of China. This is a most ex­clu­sive educational institution for about 4,000 boys and girls 13-18 years old.

During the visit, WBF officials José Damiani, Gianarrigo Rona, Patrick Choy and Chen Zelan presented the winners of a recent in-school competition with their prizes, and expert teacher Philippe Cronier of France conducted a class of minibridge for some 50 very young bridge beginners. Several bridge deals were then played, with WBF officials taking part in the com­pe­ti­tion together with RDFZ pupils.

• For additional information and pictures from the visit click here.