The period after World War I brought significant social changes in this area as well. The role of the nobility and gentry decreased and the role of the middle class increased. Sports that were considered "gentlemanly," such as tennis, horseback riding, bridge, rowing, and sailing, became increasingly accessible to people without noble titles. So by the 1920s, salon and coffee house companies representing a wide range of social classes were "playing the cards" and the popularity of auction bridge spread rapidly. Auction bridge was the direct precursor to the contract bridge played today - it was gradually replaced by the more interesting contract bridge in the early 1930s. All newspapers in Budapest had a regular bridge column.
As a result of these events, it was time for the Hungarian Bridge Association to be established and for a trade magazine to be published. The association was formed in the spring of 1931 and the first issue of Bridge Magazine was published in December. The first president of the Hungarian Bridge Association was Gyula Huszár, but he was soon replaced by Tibor Kállay, a retired minister.
The first bridge magazine quickly went bankrupt, and in April 1933, the more successful A Magyar Bridge magazine set off on its journey. However, the storms of World War II, along with the federation, swept it away. The communist regime did not support the sport of bridge, which was considered an aristocratic sport. Nevertheless, in 1953, the Hungarian championship system was restarted through private organizations. A publication called Versenytájékoztató (Competition Information) informed players of important news and in 1959, it became a monthly magazine called Bridzsélet (Bridge Life), which was published until 2010, and since then it has been available on the federation's website in an online format. In 1963, the Budapest Bridge Association was founded, which essentially functioned as the federation on a national level. Its first president was Dr. Miklós Kádár, a law professor. In the 1960s and 1970s, Hungarian bridge began to develop, it became a popular pastime on universities and the generation that grew up during this time still makes up a significant proportion of competitive bridge players today.
In 1983, the situation was right for the re-establishment of the Hungarian Bridge Association. The association's president was nominally Béla Csikós Nagy, the head of the Price Office, but in practice, one of the vice presidents, Géza Szappanos, the director of the National Translation Office, carried out the leadership tasks. In 1989, he officially became the president and remained in that position until 2002. Even under his leadership, in 2001, as a result of the new sports law, it succeeded in becoming an officially recognized and supported sport in Hungary, although it is considered an Olympic sport by the International Olympic Committee, but it does not appear on the Olympic program.
In 2002, Tibor Nádasi succeeded Géza Szappanos in the presidency, and in 2014, Géza Homonnay became the president of the association. Zsigmond Járai was president between 2020 and 2022, and the association is currently lead by Péter Talyigás.
