On March 15, 2026, more than 200 players took part in the first edition of the WBF Online Under 14 Championship. The event brought together young bridge players aged 5 to 13, from 15 countries and 3 continents. It was an unforgettable afternoon of play, hosted on RealBridge in minibridge format, so that even a complete beginner could pick up the rules in just ten minutes thanks to the dedicated microsite at championships.worldbridge.org/under-14, and then sit confidently at the table. We even know of players who were recruited at the last minute by their siblings or friends with no prior experience, and who now want to start learning the full version of bridge!
The WBF welcomed participants from every corner of the world. This is the first of three tournaments planned throughout 2026, each scheduled at a different time of day to ensure that no young player anywhere in the world is left out because of where the clock happens to be. And already, young players from East Asia refused to let time zones stand between them and their first international bridge experience, joining the tournament even in the middle of the night.
To prepare for this event, coordinators from across the globe worked alongside the WBF staff, and during the 10 boards of play, a dedicated team of volunteers joined them to keep everything running smoothly. What they witnessed at the tables was extraordinary: children from opposite ends of the planet, from different cultures, different schools, different languages, connected with peers they had never met, united by 52 cards. Bridge, as it always has, became a bridge.
When the last board was played, the young players moved to Zoom for a post-tournament lesson. As players joined the meeting, the screen filled with something that no official tournament report could ever quite capture: a flood of emoji and waving national flags sent by dozens of excited children who had just played their first international event. WBF President Franck Riehm and EBL President and Championship Manager Eric Laurant both admitted, with good humor, to feeling slightly outmatched in the emoji department. They greeted the players warmly before handing the floor to the session’s star guest.
Finn Kolesnik, reigning World Champion, joined to give the lesson. He is 21 years old and started playing bridge at 13, which, as was pointed out to the players, means he was already older than many of them when he began!
Finn broke down two of the hands the players had just played, explaining the key concepts with a clarity and energy that kept every young face on screen engaged. It was a masterclass in both bridge and communication.
There was, however, one small moment of gloriously chaotic improvisation. An annotation function accidentally left open gave the players a gift they were not going to ignore: the ability to draw directly on the shared screen. Within seconds, the presentation was covered in scribbles, doodles, and messages from dozens of simultaneous young artists. For some minutes, the official lesson gave way to collective, joyful disorder. Chaos and laughter, as anyone who has ever worked with children knows, are precisely where the best memories are made.
Winners were announced:
1st place
North-South: Xingjia Lyu – Yixiang Zhou (China)
East-West: Eleni Kapidaki – Maria Pastrikou (Greece)
2nd place
North-South: Lino Balestra – Simon Dupont (France)
East-West: Ryan Wolpert – Kaining Sheng (USA)
3rd place
North-South: Emilie Engebakken – Sienna Meidell (Norway)
East-West: Zachariah Willie – Nina Ke (Canada)
A heartfelt thank you goes to all the coordinators, coaches, and teachers who introduced their young students to bridge and encouraged them to take part, and to the parents who supported them, whether that meant staying up late on a school night or simply trusting that bridge could open a window to the world. You made this possible.
And then came a final surprise: a lottery among all players for 10 LEGO prize sets.
The first WBF Online Under 14 Championship is over. Two more are to come. And somewhere out there, a 9-year-old who played their first international bridge tournament on a Sunday afternoon is already spreading the word to their classmates and telling them to start learning bridge before the next one.
