♥ Club reopenings

Some of our Central Illinois clubs will be returning to face-to-face play in the near future. Clubs in Champaign, Bloomington-Normal and Springfield have plans to reopen in May and June and others will follow. Contact the club manager in your area for details on

♥ Online Swiss Teams

Our online club will be hosting three more Swiss Team events (open and 499er). All of these games offer match and overall awards with upgraded masterpoint ratings.

    ♥ Charity Week:  Friday, April 16 -- 499er at 6:30 pm, Open at 6:50 pm

    ♥ Grassroots Weekend:  Sunday, May 16 -- 499er at 6:30 pm, Open at 6:50 pm

    ♥ Silver Linings Week (silver points): Friday, May 28 -- 499er at 6:30 pm, Open at 6:50 pm

If you need a partner or team-mates, use our Signup Genius page or send a request to Ann Caparros (anncaparros@aol.com ). Starting two hours before gametime, you can also list your availability on the Partnership tab on the game registration page.

For more information about how to sign up, look for an email from Central Illinois Virtual Bridge.

♣ 2021 Ace of Clubs

Congratulations to the Unit leaders in the 2021 Ace of Clubs race. Six of our Central Illinois players have won more than 50 masterpoints in online club games in the first three months of the year:

Ron Sholes, Springfield -- 66.83

Carole Sholes, Springfield -- 63.48

Cindy Moore, Bloomington -- 63.45

Chris Benson, Leroy -- 58.70

Kevin Stewart, Champaign -- 56.62

John Seng, Champaign -- 50.86

Year-to-date leaders (January 1 through March 31, 2021) in every categoy are here.

♠ Welcome to new members: 

John Hsu, Champaign

David Long, Urbana

Maddie Michael, Champaign

Ajay Shankar, Peoria

Helen Keaton, Jacksonville

Keith Kuchenbecker, Urbana

In Memory

Delories (Dee) Boch, 81, of Champaign passed away on April 6 at Arcadia Care in Bloomington. She had surgery for kidney cancer in October and had been in hospice care in recent weeks.

Originally from Newman IL, Dee was retired from a career as a CPA with the State of Illinois and played at clubs in Springfield IL for many years. She moved to Champaign in 2002 and played often at Bridge at Ginger Creek, where she was a popular player and always a cheerful volunteer. She arrived early at every game to help the directors sell entries and stayed late to do dishes and put away supplies.

Dee's obituary is here.

Her son John wrote:
    "I want to thank everyone at The Bridge Center. That was what she lived for -- the people, the friendships and the fellowship. She made lots of good friends there and -- next to me, my wife and the grandchildren she thought she was never going to have -- you were her life for her time in Champaign. COVID was awful for taking away the in-person socialization and playing that meant so much to her. She loved you all. " 
 

Judy Feldman of Champaign passed away on March 15 at Arbor Rose Memory Care home in Monticello IL. She was 82.

Originally from Chicago, Judy and husband Victor, who died in 2018, were long-time residents of Champaign. They were active players at Bridge at Ginger Creek.

Our sympathies go out to Judy's family, including her brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Sherry Steigmann. Her obituary is here.
 

Paul Soper, age 70, died on March 12 at his home in Sierra Vista AZ. Paul was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in early January.

Paul was a regular at Bridge at Ginger Creek in Champaign for many years. He retired early from his career as a food chemist and he and his wife Joann moved to Arizona in 2001. He was co-owner of the Thunder Mountain Bridge Club in Sierra Vista and was a few points shy of making Diamond Life Master (5000 masterpoints).

Paul's regular partner, Marc Hay, posted a tribute to Paul here.
 

Central & Southern Illinois Virtual Bridge Club

Thank you to everyone who has supported their local bridge clubs by playing in our online virtual club. We're offering ten games a week on Bridgebase.com, plus free lessons and workshops on Zoom.  Here's the full schedule:
  

Open Pair Games	Limited Pair Games
Mondays:      12:10 pm   Wednesdays:   6:50 pm   Thursdays:      6:50 pm   Saturdays:    12:10 pm   Sundays:         6:50 pm     Open Pairs: 1st, 3rd & 5th Sundays     Mentor/Mentee Pairs: 2nd & 4th Sundays	Mondays    (199er):   11:50 am   Tuesdays   (499er):     6:50 pm   Thursdays  (299er):    6:30 pm   Fridays      (199er):    11:50 am                      (999er):   12:10 pm    199er & 999er: 2nd, 4th & 5th Fridays    Limited Mentor/Mentee: 1st & 3rd Fridays      Saturdays  (299er):    11:50 am   Sundays      (499er):     6:30 pm     499er: 1st, 3rd & 5th Sundays     Mentor/Mentee Pairs: 2nd & 4th Sundays
♥ Game results on ACBL Live
♥ Free lessons and workshops
Mondays, 3:00-4:30 ----- Intermediate lesson with Lori Moore.    Join Zoom meeting    Mondays, 6:30-8:00 ----- Teaching table with Karen Walker.        Join Zoom meeting   Tuesdays, 11:00-12:30 -- Beginner lesson with Lori Moore.         Join Zoom meeting    1st & 3rd Fridays, 2:15-3:00 pm  (after Limited Mentor/Mentee Pairs)   Q&A and discussion of hands with Karen Walker.                      Join Zoom meeting    By appointment: BBO training on Zoom with Ann Caparros.        anncaparros@aol.com

See our help file file for details, schedule updates and tips for playing online.

Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/ILVirtualBridge

Questions?  Click here to contact the people who can help.

Need more help to start playing online?  See the Quick Start guide for information on how to join and play on Bridgebase.com (free).