The next edition of Cavendish will be held in Monaco from September 1- 5, 2014. We publish here the interview that Jean-Charles Allevena, President of Monaco Bridge Federation, has released to international press.
What is the latest news from Monaco regarding the Cavendish?
Well, latest news is that we do it again! The two first editions have been really successful, and year after year, we try to improve the quality of the Tournament, listening to all what the players tell us. No revolution, but small changes here or there. An important point about the entry fees for the Teams : if it remains at 7500 Euros for the “classical” Open teams, we want to encourage Ladies, Juniors, Seniors to come and play this event, and have decide to reduce the entry fee for such teams to 3500 Euros (and for the Juniors, this will include accommodation during the Teams Cavendish).
Will there be a repeat of the Ladies Cavendish this year?
Of course yes! We decided last year to create it, we started to promote it a little bit late, but we made a lot of efforts. And despite this late decision, despite many events at the end of 2013, we reached our goal, with 16 good pairs, and feedback from the players was very good. So, let’s continue, let’s work, and I believe that this year the numbers will be higher.
And what about a Seniors Cavendish?
We’ve some requests, we’re thinking of it, but it’s a little bit too early to do it.
There is a report that there are new dates for the 2014 event. Is that accurate?
Yes, this is absolutely true. You know that all the players will be in China mid-October for the Rosenblum, so we’ve been obliged to move the Cavendish to the first week of September (Teams 1-2, Open & Ladies Pairs 3-4-5, and the International Teams Tournament 5-6-7).I think that players will appreciate, because September is a beautiful month in Monaco: one more reason to come.
Who do you expect to conduct the auction this year?
My friend Zia did a great great job during the two first editions, he got a lot of money from all the bidders (more than 825000 Euros last year), and it’s clear that everybody loves the way he runs the auctions. So, if Zia confirms that he comes and plays, I hope that he will accept to work again…
Is there anything else our readers should know?
We really would like north-American players to come to Monaco and play this great event, because they were much too few until now : we know that their agenda is really overbooked, that every week they have the opportunity to play great Nationals or Regionals, but they should convince their sponsors to “try” Monaco, they will love it… And yes, a last word: great thanks to Pierre Zimmermann, because without his strong support, we couldn’t do all this.
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