"Bridge is such a sensational game that I wouldn't mind being in jail if I had three cellmates who were decent players and who were willing to keep the game going 24 hours a day."
- Warren Buffett
What is Bridge?
Bridge is a MIND SPORT, part of the International Mind Sports Association along with Chess, Go, Draughts and similar sports. Bridge is played with a pack of regular playing cards and four players as two partnerships. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. For casual players, Bridge is a brain workout to the level you would like to take it which comes with the cameraderie of that comes with social companionship of three others at the table. For those who play the game at its higher levels, Bridge poses challenges of various difficulty levels which could involve logic, analysis, quantitative maths, communication, visualisation, strategy, psychology among other areas. Bridge is a game that has an ever learning curve, one that you can learn thruout your life, bettering oneself at it teaches one to be of a tougher mindset, to use one's intellect to maximum capacity, communicate effectively and to pursue self-improvement diligently. Of course, bridge is also very popular online and there are popular sites which enable you to play virtually from home with people across the world.
Why play Bridge?
Research has found that playing bridge has several advantages.
- Improves mental sharpness
- Strengthens communication and teamwork skills
- Provides meaningful social interaction
- Boosts immunity to ward off illness
- Helps strengthen communication skills, patience and teamwork
- Has strong use of memory, visualization, imagination and sequencing
How popular is the game of bridge?
Bridge is extremely popular across the world. There are hundreds of thousands of active Bridge players in every country. There are several prominent people across the world who play this game. Bill Gates & Warren Buffet being examples of leading lights in the Corporate world who have taken to the game of Bridge.
How can we help you introduce the game of bridge?
Bridge in India is organized by the Bridge Federation of India. The Karnataka chapter is run by Karnataka State Bridge Association.
And we are very eager to popularise the game of Bridge for all the obvious benefits that it provides.
A good beginner’s course in Bridge takes about 8 weeks of 2 sessions of two hours each. We have a World Bridge Federation approved coaching programme with highly experienced instructors (page down to see more details).
Where can I learn about the various programs KSBA offers?
This website has a comprehensive list of the various training programs that we offer. You can see the details in the relevant page.
- If you are completely new to the game and start from the basics, we would recommend that you start with "Mind your Cards" - This program is a relaunch of our flagship offering - “Bridge the Virus – Introduction to Bridge” which was an extremely popular way during the virus isolation – For more details, Click Here
- If you have some understanding of the game or have attended the program listed above, you may be interested in our program “Game for Life – Igniting Minds”. For more details, Click Here
- If you know the basics of bidding and playout and want to advance in your quest for more advanced techniques in bidding, playout and defence, you will be interested in the program called “Game for Life – Wings of Fire”. Click Here for more details
- And if you have done all of the above, we offer a program for you which will complete your bridge education. A program called “Game for Life – Luminous Sparks”. You can find the details of that program here - Click Here
- We also have a special offering for the very young (10 – 16 years of age) who want to take up this game – we call it "Learn for Life". If you are interested and want more details, Click Here
If you are interested in any of the above and want more information beyond what is in the website, please send an email to ksbalearning@googlegroups.com
About Us
Karnataka State Bridge Association (KSBA) – We are a non-profit sports body affiliated to the Sports Authority of Karnataka and is the apex body for administration of the game of Bridge within Karnataka. KSBA membership has a wide spectrum of intelligentsia from Bangalore and Karnataka including scientists, doctors, professors, teachers, bankers, armed forces personnel, IAS, IPS, officers from I-Tax, Electricity boards, homemakers, industrialists, businessmen among others. We have programmes which are approved by the WORLD BRIDGE FEDERATION to introduce Bridge to children, families, working professionals and the elderly thru schools, apartment associations, clubs/social organisations, workplace HR initiatives, hobby clubs and consulates among others. For more details visit us as http://www.ksbabridge.com
About KSBA Learning Team
The team led by Manoj Kumar K ably assisted by Godwin Jayaseelan, Girish Bijoor, Dinkar Sirsi, SL Sharma, Krishna Kumar, Sharat Koushik, Kunal Jaiswal and many others have been doing a tremendous job over the years.
Just to illustrate the impact KSBA Learning has had on the bridge community, here are some numbers
- Involved for more than 20 years in training bridge players
- More than 1000 aspiring bridge players have been trained by the KSBA Learning team
- Over 20,000 hours of instructor training from some of the best instructors in India
- First adopter of online training for Bridge classes, started March 2020!!!
- Currently over 200 active students undergoing online training
- Have adopted a high touch training program which provides the personal touch to make the training more effective.
- Over 45+ batches so far, 100+ new members added to KSBA from the teaching initiative.
- The methodology has won commendation from many quarters including the World Bridge Federation.
- Continuous mentoring - regular free 1 hour POWWOW sessions on various topics of interest.
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