The 2025 edition of the Max Bavin Course took place in Warsaw, Poland, from 27 to 30 November, hosted at the Bella Vista Hotel.
The Max Bavin Course is a key meeting point for Tournament Directors to update their skills, exchange experience, and align with international standards.
Its purpose is to support NBOs by: updating and strengthening the knowledge of their senior TDs, giving NBO TDs the chance to qualify as NBO International TDs and enter the EBL TD Register, giving NBO International TDs the opportunity to qualify as EBL TDs and allowing already-appointed EBL TDs to maintain or upgrade their category.
The course gathered 51 participants and 6 observers, from 21 National Bridge Organisations across multiple WBF Zones. From Zone 1, the course welcomed attendees from: Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkiye, Wales, Estonia.
The global outreach was completed by TDs from India (Zone 4), Bermuda (Zone 5), Singapore (Zone 6), Morocco (Zone 8).
The TD course was held by Dimitris Ballas (EBL Head Tournament Director, WBF Chief TD, EBL Tournament Directors Committee Chairman), with Maurizio Di Sacco (WBF Honorary Chief TD, EBL Chief TD, WBF TDs Committee Member), Jacek Marciniak (WBF & EBL Chief TD), Rahmi Iyilikci (WBF & EBL Chief TD), Gordon Rainsford (WBF & EBL Chief TD), Jacobs Duschek (WBF & EBL Assistant Chief TD), Peter Eidt (WBF & EBL Assistant Chief TD), Henrik Johansson (WBF & EBL Assistant Chief TD), Kuba Kasprzak (WBF & EBL Assistant Chief TD) and Anna Makarewicz (EBL Secretary).
Top Results
Participants took multiple tests during the course.
The highest overall scores (A+) were achieved by:
Aleksander Krych (Poland) – 79.37%
Artur Wasiak (Poland) – 77.53%
Maria Mączka (Poland) – 75.79%
Aurelien Lecoq (France) – 72.28%
Dennis Stuurman (Netherlands) – 71.77%
Adam Magyar (Hungary) – 70.41%
Aleksander Krych, Artur Wasiak and Adam Magyar were NBO TDs and, with these results, have now been promoted to EBL TDs. Congratulations!
Maria Mączka, Aurelien Lecoq, Dennis Stuurman, John Phelan, Anna Kosiorcek, Albert Spyer, Dirk Pieters, Dror Shftan, Miltadits Koutoukogos, Andrzej Bojda, Arkadiusz Poziemski have been promoted to NBO International TDs. Congratulations to all of them as well!
The EBL President Eric Laurant addresses all participants: “I would like to congratulate all participants and thank them for their commitment throughout the Max Bavin Course.
Tournament Directors play a crucial role in ensuring the quality and integrity of our events, and it is encouraging to see such a high level of preparation, professionalism and dedication. My sincere congratulations go to those who achieved new titles and promotions.”