The forefather of bridge is the whist which is played from the middle of the XVII. century. The whist is of russian origin. It reached Western Europe through Istanbul and Cairo, where it was mainly played in elit clubs. This game was mentioned as bridge for the first time in a brochure in 1886, which now is preserved in the British Museum. The title of this brochure: "Biritch, or Russian Whist". The first book about the whist was published in 1742. The whist become more and more popular and new books were published about this game in the XVIII. century. The authors of these books were: Cavendish and Deschapelles.

The first duplicate competition in whist was held in London in 1857 by the guide of Lord Cavendish. Here the team consisted of the players considered the more expert won the event. This proved that the whist is not a game of chance. The duplicate whist shortly conquered also the United States of America. The American Whist League was founded in 1891. The first competition between the American clubs was held in Philadelphia in 1883. The first competition between the European clubs was held in Glasgow in 1888.

A new invention was the Kalamazov-plate, which functioned as a case for the duplicated cards during a tournament. John T. Mitchell wrote the first book about the rules of a bridge competition organization. This was very important because John T. Mitchell invented the rules of moving in the course of a pairs tournament and the matchpoint counting method used since then on bridge competitions.

At the end of the last century the bridge more and more took up the role of whist. A lot of new rules was introduced in this new game compared to the whist: the declarer determines the suit; there is the possibility of double and redouble; the partner of the declarer put his cards on the table after the bidding (dummy whist)...

The main stages in the development of bridge

1925: Harold S. Vanderbilt introduce the new counting method known as the contract bridge

1929: the publication of the first bridge magazine, The Bridge World published by Ely Culbertson

1930: the publication of the Blue Book, writed by Ely Culbertson

1935: the organisation of the first Bridge World Cup

1999: The World Bridge Federation is admitted in the family of Olympic Games

2002: The Bridge was introduced on the Winter Olympic Games held in Salt Lake City