We knew it first!

Beautiful summer weather prevailed at the Désert Dessert 2026 open-air classic, held in the oasis, which, together with the wonders of Qatar, illuminated the 113th Smoking Cat tournament.

The first classic was hosted, in lovely if slightly cramped premises and at the last minute, by the Žižkov pub U sadu. River Cat classic traditionally draws the strongest line-up of players. It’s hard to say why that is so, since the material prizes here usually don’t stand out from the average and a classic played in May then means a long card-playing fast, but this year too, many experienced great guys and players in superb current form gathered here.

The jubilee tenth Team Championship moved after two seasons from Únětice to Prague, specifically to Úl, the hive in Ďáblice, which brought a higher turnout of teams than last year. And we could just about end the news there, because otherwise this year’s edition was quite similar to the last year’s.

The last National of the 2026 season—the Bolivian Fiesta Praga Olé!, again held at Cafe Míšeňská, albeit with a new organising team—carried only echoes of its first edition. The quality of the entrants, however, was fantastic.

The seventh Copo do Monteiro, for the seventh time at the vegan burger joint Belzepub, opened the second half of the National Tour. The traditional technical problems are being minimised, and with the whole starting field rarely punctual, the tournament began practically without delay just after half past six, so it was due to finish reasonably comfortably a little after ten in the evening. Such was the tournament plan,…

The 8th AfroCat at Kladno Castle hit the first day of spring, and the traditionally best-funded tournament of the whole season drew delegations from Nepal, Mongolia and Great Britain, plus the Vinohrady player Schrott. The home side fielded a complete five-player squad, and the registered eleven was rounded out by Paczessa, playing with no claim to points.