World Bridge

EXECUTIVE EDITOR News JANUARY 2011 THE OFFICIAL MEDIUM OF THE

In the world bridge community, we are fortunate to have access to a vast pool of volunteers with the strengths and skills to fill the positions and pro- Dear Friends vide the services essential to the smooth functioning of our organization. However, at this time we need to ensure that roles are clearly defined, that It is an honor and privilege to write an official appointments and assignments are well balanced, and that responsibilities message as President of the World Bridge do not overlap. To do our jobs properly and to ensure progress in the orga- Federation. nization, it is vital that lines of communication remain open: free speech, innovative thought and frank debate are essential ingredients. It is not an easy task for me to take this chair after the “giants” who preceded me, to carry Another guiding principle is absolute respect for the rules that we already forward the vital work that they have done. I have in place and, naturally, for any new rules that we will formulate as take the occasion to thank once again Jaime Ortiz- time passes. The rules must be the same for everyone and must be seen to Patiño, Ernesto d’Orsi, and José apply everywhere. If the rules are wrong or inadequate, they must be Damiani: for giving me the opportunity to work with changed, but while they are in place their spirit and intent must be applied them and to learn so much from them. I aspire to be considered a good without exception. Only by being servants of the Law can we be free. pupil. Many focal points have to be examined and discussed in depth by the Looking back over the past years, my first thought goes to José Damiani Executive Council to find the right solution, finalized to make our because of the extraordinary job he did in developing bridge and consoli- Federation and our discipline even stronger. We are already working on dating the WBF, before passing the baton to me to continue the relay, them and I hope and believe that we will be equal to this task. which links our past, present and future. This year we have two great events that offer the opportunity to enjoy our We are all grateful to José for the solid heritage that he has left us, even beloved sport and enhance its image: in the last ten days of August, we are more impressive when we consider the great difficulties he had to face in staging the World Youth Congress in Opatija, Croatia; and in the second the last few years, due to the major economic crisis, the instability and inse- half of October, we are organizing the , , d’Orsi curity which trouble the world and the changes that are affecting our soci- and the World Transnational Open Teams Championship in ety and lifestyles, directly influencing and interfering with our organization Veldhoven, The . and the bridge- playing world. I am sure that on both these occasions we will be able to celebrate once As it seems unlikely that the societal trends for the immediate future will again a memorable event, thanks to the warm welcome from the towns change dramatically, it is essential to focus on the conditions that influence and their people, and the dedication of the organizers, who are already bridge activity; we need to analyze them in detail in order to develop a working hard in order to offer the best possible services to the participants. realistic program for the future. Although we live in a difficult period, we Above all, however, I know we can look forward to a strong turnout and must continue to work with passion, dedication, enthusiasm and great opti- enthusiastic participation by bridge players from all over the world. I will be mism, in order to achieve our goals. happy and proud to be there with my colleagues to meet with you. I am confident that I will enjoy your friendship, cooperation, support and The next four years should mark the definitive consolidation of the WBF, its assistance; together we will realize our dreams. structure and organization. It should create a solid and unshakeable base from which we can operate without undue short-term pressure. Un abbraccio Gianarrigo Rona, WBF President BIOGRAPHY Gianarrigo Rona was born in Rome, 18 November 1940, and cur- tion through 2009. During his Presidency, FIGB was recognised by the rently resides in with his wife, Cippi, and stepdaughter, Italian National Olympic Committee. Rona served as NPC of the Carlotta; he has two grown-up children, Claudia and Gianmatteo, Italian Open Team from 1984 to 1986, Chairman of the Organising from a previous marriage. A practising lawyer (the third in a family Committee of EUBL Championships in 1979 and 1998, the European of lawyers, now in its fourth generation) until 2002, he was for 20 Open Pairs Championships in 1989, 1991 and 1995, the European years a Member of the Order of Lawyers and for eight years – Junior Teams Championship in 1982, the European Open and first as Administrator and then as President Vicarious – involved with Women’s Teams in 1985, and the Olympiads of 1988 and 1992. the operations of the National Lawyers’ Pension Fund. In addition, Elected to the EBL Executive Committee in 1995, Rona served as he was a member of the Association of Lawyers of Italy and America. Treasurer from 1997 to 1999, then as President from 1999 to 2010. Rona played basketball in the Italian First Division. He was a During his Presidency, EBL approved the new Statutes, introduced member of the Technical Commission for the Italian Motorboat the Disciplinary Code and the Official TDs Register, and instituted the Federation (1982/83). He was a member of the National Council of European Bridge Champion’s Cup, the European Open the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) since his election in 2005, and Championship and the European Girls Bridge Teams Championship. was re-elected for the legislature 2009/2013. In 2006 he was award- Rona has been a member of the WBF Executive Council and ed by CONI the Sportive Merit Gold Star. In 2001 he received from Management Committee since 1999, 1st Vice President since 2006, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch the IOC Golden Diploma. was elected President in Sao Paulo in 2009, and took the chair in Rona has played bridge at the international level and ranked in 2010, succeeding José Damiani, at the conclusion of the World the highest Italian category. He was elected to the Board of Directors Bridge Series in Philadelphia. of FIGB in 1979, became President in 1986, and retained that posi-

Official WBF Site : www.worldbridge.org Thanks to instrumental in getting the game “During the last 16 years I have explore the world: (twice), approved as an official sport by the endeavored to drag the WBF into the Rhodes, Hammamet, Lille, Bermuda, IOC, and there appeared to be ade- 21st century, making full use of all the Maastricht, Paris (moved from Bali at quate support for getting bridge into new technology that is now available the last minute in September, 2001), the Games in some fashion. However, to us: first-class bridge tables with full Montreal, Monte Carlo, Istanbul, Estoril, when the positively-inclined Juan screens, bidding boxes, symmetrical Verona, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Philadelphia. Antonio Samaranch stepped down as“playing cards, virtually perfect com- That José has invariably managed to find IOC President, his successor, Jacques puterized deal duplication through the right blend of desirable venues, first- José Damiani class playing conditions, professionally Rogge, ruled against including bridge Duplimate machines, instantaneous WBF President 1994-2010 in the Olympics, a disappointment for scoring with the implementation of staged events, luxury and budget accom- José and for bridge. In addition, the Bridge Mates, advanced modations to satisfy the requirements WBF is now a member of ARISF capability through Bridge Vision, and and tastes of active players in 125 mem- n 1990 at the Geneva World increases that propelled to lead- (Association of the IOC-Recognized even computerized lineup submis- ber nations is no small feat. Championships, the World ing roles in the European and interna- International Sports Federations) and sions and postings. I Bridge Federation (WBF) tional bridge communities. José joined SportAccord, the biggest international With the support of UNESCO, José has had Executive Council, in an the (EBL) sport organization, bringing together “By the next WBF Team Champ- success in introducing bridge as a curricu- unprecedented move, offered the presi- Executive Committee in 1979, became all (about 100) Olympic and non- ionships in the Netherlands in October, lum subject in some European nations, dency to Ernesto d’Orsi and Bobby First Vice President in 1981, and was Olympic International Federations. In 2011, development will be completed and initiatives are projected in Asia, Africa Wolff, each of whom would serve a two- elected EBL President in 1987. He was re- 2005, José created the International for an automated recording system and the USA (with the support of Bill year half term as designated successors elected in 1991 for a second four-year Mind Sports Association (IMSA), which with web cam and an electronic read- Gates and Warren Buffett). Convinced of to Denis Howard. That was a turbulent term. By the time he stepped down in held its first er that will allow every match to be the importance of getting more young period in WBF’s history, with strained 1995, he had succeeded in raising the in Beijing in 2008. As IMSA was success- broadcast on the Internet, creating players into the game, Damiani has always international relations all too prevalent. membership considerably and in safe- ful in finding sponsorship and signifi- many new options for spectators. The stressed that while the WBF can provide However, at the 1994 World Champion- guarding the league’s financial health cant funding, WBF was able to invite emerging technology will create com- leadership in this area the national feder- ships in Albuquerque, after first d’Orsi by doubling the number of registered and cover expenses for nearly 110 plete and accurate records of the bid- ations must be willing to follow up and and then Wolff had restored some peace members, by nearly doubling the num- youth teams and 25 women’s teams. ding and play, eliminating the need put in the required effort. and stability through their distinctive ber of member national federations, The current plan is for the second edi- for recording personnel and inevitable Successfully managing an organization leadership styles and ideas, the and by securing sponsorship support tion of WMSG to be held in human error. of diverse personalities and nationalities Executive Council elected José Damiani that created a valuable reserve. While Manchester, , after the 2012 has been challenging, but José takes of France the WBF’s ninth president for José was in office, many development- Summer Olympics in London. “Though programs pride in having maintained an effective a traditional four-year term. sensitive areas, including bridge educa- were only the germ of an idea in the dynamic with so many caring people - tion, women’s bridge and youth bridge, In 2010, at the conclusion of the World early nineties, the 14th edition of the members of the Executive Council, pro- Damiani, born in 1939, learned bridge surpassed expectations and flourished. Bridge Series in Philadelphia, after an World Computer Bridge Champion- fessional tournament and support staff, while studying law and economics at the unprecedented four terms at the helm, ships in Philadelphia revealed just and countless volunteers - who have University of Paris, but, after graduat- Damiani’s first participation in WBF Damiani officially turned over the how far this domain has progressed.” worked in harmony for the good of ing, had little time for the game, devot- activities came in 1983 as an EBL repre- Presidency to Italy’s Gianarrigo Rona. bridge for all these years. ing most of his time to his career and sentative, and he became more inti- Damiani has always been a “players’ Damiani says he intends to remain heavi- more physical sports. From 1962-69, he mately involved as First Vice President in Damiani has safely shepherded WBF president,” keeping in mind the comfort ly involved in the organization, and plans worked in the energy industry, and then 1986, gaining valuable experience that through some difficult times, during and well-being of the players while also to participate in future world champi- started his own water treatment busi- prepared him for his election as which the world has changed signifi- trying to make the image of bridge onships, perhaps more frequently as a ness before turning to public relations President in 1994. His initiative, wide- cantly and yet the game has developed more dynamic. Pursuing his belief that player; his passion for all aspects of the and company consultancy in 1977; run- that won the 1992 World Championship ranging contacts, and ability to build dramatically and thrived on many differ- bridge“ should be a celebration for all game has not diminished. ning a successful sports marketing com- and the non-playing captain of the consensus made him an easy choice for ent levels. To lead, build and maintain who love the game, he has created and pany provided a strong foundation French women’s team that earned the re-election in 1998 and again in 2002 consensus in an organization as diverse developed new events, like the On behalf of bridge players everywhere, when bridge organization became his European title in 2010. and 2006, which made him the longest as the WBF for 16 years is in itself a Transnational Teams and additional this is the right time to say, central focus. serving President in the history of the remarkable achievement, but José has mixed, senior, and youth championships, Though José might have advanced even WBF. also rapidly and efficiently moved the to encourage not only the elite players “Thank you, José, When a sports injury made it impossible further as a player, it quickly became He pursued the same goals for bridge organization forward technologically but also those who have not (yet) ” for him to fully enjoy tennis and skiing, apparent that he had a special aptitude development, but also devoted a lot of and logistically, helped to keep it afloat achieved that status. thank you very much José directed his attention to bridge. He for bridge administration, and that energy to building a case for having with innovative sponsorship initiatives, joined the French Bridge Federation aspect of the game soon dominated the bridge acknowledged as a sport. During increased the number of member By making the World

his term, the WBF was accredited by the th (FFB) in 1970, and his play improved time he was able to devote to bridge. He National Bridge Organizations, regis- Championships accessi- • THE 9WORLD BRIDGE SERIES CHAMPIONSHIPS . . . Page. . . . 4. . . . quickly after returning to the game: started as President of his local club in International Olympic Committee (IOC) tered players, and participants in WBF ble to many more play- • 2nd WORLD YOUTH BRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIPS ...... 23. . . . . Page three years later he had reached the first 1972, was elected President of his dis- first as a Recognized Sport Organization events, added a new WBF Zone (Africa, ers, José has been able division and by the late eighties he had trict in 1975 and President of FFB in (1995), then as an International Sports Zone 8), and improved bridge’s image to advance his goal of • 2011 CALENDAR ...... 23...... Page won five national championships and 1978, a post he held until the end of Federation (1999), which was the final on the world’s sporting stage. “Bridge for Peace.” A • THE 2010 BUFFET CUP CHALLENGE CUP ...... 24 . . . . . Page had represented his country internation- 1983. Those were the most dynamic six prerequisite for formal consideration as list of the sites for the • THE WBF WOMEN’S COMMITTEE ...... 25...... Page ally several times, earning three medals years in FFB history: membership rose an official Olympic Games sport. Bridge Of all his accomplishments as president, WBF’s annual World • WORLD WIDE BRIDGE CONTEST ...... 25...... Page in European competition. A World from 20,000 to 44,000, while restructur- had a strong ally in the late Damiani is especially proud of the tech- Championships reads • 2010 WORLD RANKING ...... 26...... Page International Master, José was non-play- ing and the implementation of innova- of Switzerland, a bridge player and IOC nical advances he has helped to bring to like a travelogue for • 40th WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS ...... Page. . . . . 27 ...... ing captain of the French open team tive policies set the stage for continued Vice President whose efforts were the sport of bridge: bridge players to

2 3 The 9th World Bridge REPORT Series Championships BY ERIC KOKISH October 1-16, 2010 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Board 2 i K 5 North led the fJ, a Dealer East clear choice but MIXED PAIRS North-South Vul. h K 6 3 g K 7 6 5 one that facilitated 432 pairs entered the first major event. It was refreshing to see f J 10 8 2 the play for declar- so many young players in the Mixed Pairs doing rather well at er. South won the i A Q 9 8 3 2 i 7 6 4 various stages of play. N ace and continued h 8 5 h Q 10 9 W E the suit. Fantoni, in g Q 9 S g A 10 4 2 The format was three qualifying sessions followed by a three- an attempt to f K Q 4 f 753 session 156-pair final, with no carryover (a somewhat contro- build a heart trick versial issue, especially in events where there were no drop-in i J 10 for a diamond dis- pairs). The overnight event leaders by a wide margin were h A J 7 4 2 card, led a low Americans Laurie and John Kranyak, a mother/son combina- g J 8 3 heart, North rising tion, but they were unable to finish what they’d started when f A 9 6 with his king to Laurie had to be hospitalized (she was much improved by the lead a third club. end of the tournament). Declarer, still hope- West North East South Fantoni Compton ful, played a sec- The leaders after the three-session qualifying stage: — — Pass Pass ond heart but the 1i Pass 2i All Pass ten lost to the jack. To hold declarer to 1 • Joan LEWIS - Robert HOPKINS 60.97 eight tricks, South th 2 • Jovanka SMEDEREVAC - Sascha WERNLE 60.73 had to shift to a , but it seemed natural to continue with Philadelphia 2010 3 • Shaohong WU - Jia Hong ZHOU 60.25 The 9 World Bridge Series Championships the hA. That allowed declarer to complete an elimination he 4 • - Peter FREDIN 59.74 could not have arranged on his own; he ruffed, cashed the iA, 5 • - Steve SANBORN 59.53 and led a second spade. North won the king but was forced to 6 • Pamela GRANOVETTER - Ishmael DELMONTE59.16 lead away from the gK (the poison he chose) or to lead a club 7 • Sally WHEELER - Buddy HANBY 58.91 to concede a -and-discard. Plus 140 was worth 128.7 mps 8 • Dana BERKOWITZ - Adam KAPLAN 58.83 on a top of 154, 32.5 more than plus 110. 9 • Sandra RIMSTEDT - Shane BLANCHARD 58.82 10 • Kalpana MISRA - Anil PADHYE 58.60 ACBL has staged its North American Championships many times in Philadelphia, a popular venue featuring superb playing conditions at the Marriott Hotel With one session remaining, Kerri/Steve Sanborn led the field with 59.43%; second, with 59.16%, were Debora and the adjoining Philadelphia Convention Centre, Campagnano/Marco Parrella; and third were Himani/Rajeev Khandelwal, with 58.34%. Those were big scores, and any of ample accommodation to meet differing budgets, them would have been good enough to win if they could have and easy access to excellent dining been nearly sustained for one more session, but in the end the medals went to pairs that started the session 6th, 29th and Jose Damiani, (including the spectacular diversity offered by the Reading Terminal 27th respectively. In fact, the silver medalists were in a position Bill Pollack, market facility) and tourist attractions. to win “from nowhere,” but had two bad boards on the last Jaime Ortiz-Patino; round. The winners, who were very close to missing the cut for Mixed Pairs Gold: the final, moved up through the standings throughout the With a comprehensive schedule of events that catered to all traditional medal presentation format was not in the cards. final day, and timed their ascension to first place immaculate- demographic sectors, organizers had hoped for strong atten- Philadelphia was an impeccably staged showpiece tournament, ly with a finishing kick at the very end. dance from foreign players and ample support from the bridge with vast amounts of accurate information being available communities in the eastern and central states, but the turnout almost immediately; the technological advances and advan- Mixed Pairs Silver: 1 • Donna COMPTON - Fulvio FANTONI USA-ITA 57.71 proved disappointing. With the Orlando NABC less than two tages in staging this type of multi-tiered tournament were Kismet FUNG 2 • Kismet FUNG - Brian GLUBOK CAN-USA 56.84 months ahead, some were faced with choosing between the clearly demonstrated, the jury is out on whether we will again Brian GLUBOK 3 • Joan LEWIS - Robert HOPKINS USA 56.55 two major tournaments for family vacations; others were see stand-alone World Junior Championships. 4 • Robin TAYLOR - USA 56.45 impacted by visa complications; still others were affected by 5 • Maija ROMANOVSKA - Karlis RUBINS Latvia 56.36 adverse economic conditions. The Official Sponsors of the WBSC were the 6 • Emanuela CAPRIATA - Nino MASUCCI Italy 56.34 Bridge Federation/American League and the 7 • Victoria GROMOVA - Andrey GROMOV Russia 56.24 The World Bridge Series with all events except the World Junior Generali Group (a major European Conglomerate and longtime 8 • Kathy SULGROVE - Joaquin PACAREU USA-CHI 56.14 and World Youngsters Championships open with no geograph- “friend” of bridge), but this excellent tournament would not 9 • Debora CAMPAGNANO - Marco PARRELLA Italy 56.12 ical restrictions featured an ambitious program that included have possible without the efforts of Joan Gerard and her 10 • Ruth STOBER - USA 55.60 open, women’s, mixed, senior and youth events; in addition a American Organizing Committee. Outgoing WBF President parallel Regional was available to those wishing to practice or José Damiani had every reason to be proud of this final World fill in some idle time. The sheer number of events dictated that Championship under his stewardship. On this deal from the second session of the Mixed Pairs final, each event have its own awards presentation, so the Fulvio Fantoni took advantage of a small slip in the defense to Mixed Pairs Bronze: earn a valuable overtrick in a normal contract, the sort of quiet Robert HOPKINS play that wins pairs tournaments. Joan LEWIS O FFICIAL S PONSOR

5 The 9th World Bridge The 9th World Bridge Series Championships Series Championships

Some groups were inevitably quite a bit stronger than others, scalp in this round, eliminating Berg, 147-100, after dispatching Robinson 67.5 13 18 23 121.5 MIXED PAIRS (Consolation) PLATE and although most of the top two seeds in each group survived Bilal (Bilal, Abedi, Ter Laare, Mohiuddin, Aksuyek, Hakim), a Robinson Fredin 27.5 26 17 25 95.5 (213 pairs, three sessions) to the knockout stage, there were a few casualties in that elite surprise group winner, in the round of 64. group. In the round of 64, though most of the top seeds pre- 1 • Jing Rong RAN - Zijian SHAO China 60.40 vailed, there were some fiercely contested matches between Only nine of the original top 16 teams had protected their seed Robinson (Robinson / Boyd, Woolsey / Stewart, Doub / 2 • Leslie PARYZER - Stephen GOLDSTEIN USA 58.32 strong teams randomly drawn against one another after the into the third knockout round. Though seven of the eight Wildavsky), the 2009 US Trials winners, may have been slight 3 • Shannon CAPPELLETTI - George COLTER USA-CAN 58.12 field was re-seeded on the basis of the round robin results. matches were reasonably close, not all of them were tight underdogs against Fredin, but a 40-IMP first quarter proved A prime example: Berg (Berg / Mohan, Muller / de Wijs, Bertens/ affairs throughout. conclusive for Robinson. Bakkeren) defeated Schwartz (Schwartz / Granovetter, van Prooijen/ Verhees, Rubin/Ekeblad) 110-82 in a match between US spon- Zimmermann 52 25 42 47 166 Martens 56Martens 21 11 23 111 Nickell 20 29 22 47 118 sored teams featuring three different front-line Dutch pairs. O’Rourke 99 39 16 25 19 99

Then there was Ireland’s potent Green Machine (Hanlon / McGann, Zimmermann (Zimmerman / Multon, Helgemo / Helness, Fantoni/ Second seeded Nickell (Nickell / Katz, Meckstroth / Rodwell, Mesbur / Fitzgibbon, Garvey / Carroll vs British Lions (Punch / Rees, Nunes) won all four sets from O’Rourke to win big, the major Hamman / Zia) immediately fell behind Martens (Martens / Goodman / Ash, A and P Gipson), an unseeded UK team that had move coming in the final stanza. Jassem, Kopecky / Kurka) by 36, and with eight boards left were won its group: the Irish won a derby of sorts 128-83 after falling 40 IMPs behind and in need of a miracle finish. Nickell scored 47 behind early. Consus Red Poland 8 19 42 38 107 unanswered IMPs over that stretch to win 118-111. Just another Strul 42 26 41 24 133 day at the office for a team that so often lives on the edge and Gordon (Gordon / Rajadhyaksha, Cheek / Grue, Aa / Molberg) survives. vs China Open (W Wang / Z Zhang, Hou / J Li, J Liu / M Shi) was The Cinderella Polish team got off to a poor start against Strul an unlucky draw for two genuine contenders: China won (Strul / Becker, Brogeland/ Saelensminde, Garner / Weinstein) and Though all four quarterfinal matches figured to be competi- 102-76 with a big final quarter. could make little headway in the second half, bowing out after a tive, only one really met expectations. nice run. Mixed Pairs Plate Gold: Bulgaria’s Vito (Popov, Skorchev, Rusev, Trendafilov, Zimmermann Zimmermann34 26 37 19 116 Zijian SHAO Karaivanov) bested Group winner Deutsch (Deutsch / Chang, China Open 45 13 57 7 1* 123 Strul 23 16 14 16 69 Jing Rong RAN Karakolev / Danailov, Gold / Townsend 127-78, Deutsch being Vito 61 34 2 25 7* 129 with Ernesto d’Orsi able to plead that perhaps he needed more than his two Though there were no lopsided sessions in Zimmermann vs Mixed Pairs Bulgarians to overcome Vito’s five. In a wild encounter, China Open and Vito were tied at 122 Strul, Zimmermann won all four of them en route to a 116-69 Plate Silver: after 56 boards, but Vito won the four-board playoff 7-1 (*) to victory. Leslie PARYZER Pinot Noir (M and T Bessis, J Gaviard / Ventin, Chagas / Levy), reach the quarterfinals. Stephen GOLDSTEIN fell to Austria’s Alizee (Fischer / Saurer, Jokisch / Kasimir) 95-116. Vito 3Vito 7 16 -- 26 Diamond 21 39 38 23 121 Diamond 61 31 51 -- 143 Koneru (Koneru / Chorush, D Wolpert / Korbel, L’Ecuyer / Demuy) Lavazza 38 9 20 29 96 bested Budimex Poland (Zawislak, Starkowski, Wojcicki, Pazur, Diamond, with three well-rested partnerships, demolished the Janizewski, Golebiowski) 83-74 in a low-scoring match, thanks to An inevitable effect of making the World Bridge Series tiring five-man Vito team, with Vito scoring less than a half IMP a 28-8 fourth stanza. transnational is that sponsors are able to sign up their favorite per board and resigning after 42 deals. Mixed Pairs Plate Bronze: pairs so that in many cases national teams are not in a position Shannon CAPPELLETTI Canada (N and J Gartaganis, Klimowicz / Campbell, Willis / Thurston) to retain the services of their leading lights. Which is how it Wolfson 44Wolfson 22 30 12 108 George COLTER led Fredin (Fredin / Fallenius, Nystrom / Bertheau, Zagorin / Bathurst) came to pass that the Lavazza team (Duboin / Sementa, Fleisher 11 40 18 23 82 after three quarters but a 56-25 final set won it for Fredin. Bocchi / Ferraro, Sadek / El Ahmady) in Philadelphia included two Egyptian stars. The Diamond team (Diamond / Platnick, After a big first quarter, Wolfson saw a big chunk of its lead The round of 32 featured one-sided wins by most of the top seeds Gitelman / Moss, Hampson / Greco), five of whose members wiped out in the second set before building the lead to 27 and only a few close matches. One of the more interesting pitted had represented USA and Canada in the 1991 World Junior after three. Fleisher came back but could not overcome its OPEN TEAMS O’Rourke (O’Rourke / Jacobus, Bates / Wold, Drijver / Brink) Championships, continued its strong 2010 run by trading on deficit against a team in good form. against Meltzer (Meltzer / Larsen, Sontag / Berkowitz, Jansma / excellent second and third quarters to eliminate Lavazza. The of 144 teams was considerably short of the 173 that Paulissen): though Meltzer, whose ranks included three of the RobinsonRobinson 8 10 34 13 65 turned out in Verona. The top four teams from each of 16 defending champions, took a substantial lead in the first quarter, Nickell 39 29 29 35 132 seeded groups would qualify for the 64-team knockout phase the rest of the match was all O’Rourke, who won 139-115. Cayne 28 13 1 50 92 Wolfson 28 31 40 8 107 after three days of internal round robins of 16-board matches, Cayne In a showdown between the two teams that represented USA deals duplicated across the field. In China Open vs Mahaffey (Mahaffey/ Cohler, Lev / Pszczola, Fu/ in the Sao Paulo Bermuda Bowl, Nickell had much the best of Zhao) the defending World Open Pairs champs had to face their Cayne (Cayne / Seamon, Lauria / Versace, Balicki / Zmudzinski) it, keeping Robinson in check. The top 16 seeds in the knockout phase would be assigned on colleagues on the Chinese national team and were obliged to fell far behind Wolfson (Wolfson / LN Cohen, M Rosenberg / the basis of the average WBF master point holdings of each congratulate them after Mahaffey bowed out 86-108. Willenken, Ginossar / Pachtmann) after three sets, but rallied And then there were four: team’s three “top” players, but the rest of the draw would be in the fourth only to run out of boards. based on teams’ rankings within their group during the round The closest match was between Vito and Josef and Cards ZimmermannZimmermann 37 8 22 20 87 robin phase; thus, there was at least a theoretical reward (Piekarek / Smirnov, S Auken / von Arnim, R and C Welland): Vito Alizee 2Alizee 39 37 32 110 Diamond 40 42 31 34 147 for 48 teams for a strong performance over the first three trailed by 22 going into the last set but won it 40-14 to pull out Fleisher 34 8 53 25 120 days. Through the round of 16, the knockout rounds would the match 126-122. Though three of the four quarters were close, Diamond won all feature 56-board matches, but the quarterfinals and semifinals Alizee and Fleisher (Fleisher / Kamil, Levin / Weinstein, Stansby / of those and rode a big second quarter to a convincing would cover 60 deals and the final 64; boards duplicated Consus Red Poland (Beling, Filipowicz, Lewaciak, Nowosadzki, Martel) traded dominant quarters but the Americans hung on to 60-IMP win over the top seed. across the field. Walczak, Zadroga), originally unseeded in its group, took another end the Austrians’ hopes.

6 7 The 9th World Bridge The 9th World Bridge Series Championships Series Championships

Hampson/Greco stopped at 5i after RKC revealed that the Wolfson 42 22 11 28 103 Wolfson trump queen was missing, and made six, aided by a 3f over- Nickell 37 27 25 18 107 call from Zia, whose bid contributed to declarer guessing the iQ correctly: +480. Meckstroth/Rodwell reached 6i when a This one was close all the way, tied at the half, Nickell ahead by different sort of asking sequence did not focus on the trump 14 with one set remaining. It looked bleak for Wolfson, down 26 queen. Moss, who had perhaps serendipitously remained with four to play, but the trailing team gained 22 IMPs over those silent over a strong club with 1=3=2=7 shape, neither side vul- deals and very nearly pulled out the exciting match. As Wolfson’s nerable, led gA, and after much thought, a second diamond. guys will tell you, it was there to be won at the very end. Meckstroth played two high trumps and went down one: -50. Those 11 IMPs got Diamond off to a positive start, and soon The 64-board final featured two of the leading American thereafter came another slam deal where the teams chose dif- teams in recent years, the Diamond team coming off a win in ferent levels... the 2010 , Nickell a win the 2009 Bermuda Bowl. The Rosenblum Silver: Rosenblum Bronze: , , Eric KOKISH (coach), Franck MULTON, Pierre ZIMMERMANN, match was characterized by an unusually high number of slam Board 52 i Q J 4 2 Dealer West Donna COMPTON (npc), , , , zone swings that could have gone either way, several of them All Vul. Boardh 8 3 52 and Fulvio FANTONI, involving dramatic play and defense. g Q 8 7 6 5 Pretty as that line of play was, South could have created a los- clubs, so neither could guard spades, and the 6 took the thir- f 9 8 i Diamond Diamond34 42 14 31 121 ing option for declarer by means of an unusual gambit of his teenth trick. Moss’s gave him +2210 and 13 IMPs i K 8 i A 6 3 Nickell 39 17 13 9 78 own (mentioned by IBPA Bulletin Editor John Carruthers): “An where he would have lost 17 had he gone down in 7h, a mere h A 10 7 6 5 4 N h K J W E interesting defense would have been for Hampson to discard his 30-IMP swing. Diamond led 118-70 IMPs with 12 deals to play, It must be said that Diamond’s troops ( / Brian g J 9 S g A K 4 2 last spade on the third diamond, then to ruff the fourth dia- and on this occasion, Nickell was fresh out of miracle finishes. Platnick, / Brad Moss, / Eric f A 7 5 f K 4 3 2 mond with the nine of hearts, keeping all his clubs. Zia over- ruffs with the ten and must guess whether the remaining hearts In the 32-board playoff for third, Zimmermann (Pierre Greco) played some wonderful bridge and were full value for i 10 9 7 5 their win, holding the mighty Nickell team (Nick Nickell / Ralph are two-two, in which case he must play trumps from the top, Zimmermann / Franck Multon, Geir Helgemo / Tor Helness, h Q 9 2 Katz, Jeff Meckstroth / Eric Rodwell, Bob Hamman /Zia or three-one with North, in which case low to the jack is the per- Fulvio Fantoni / Claudio Nunes) bested Wolfson 98-46 to earn g 10 3 Mahmood, Donna Compton, npc, Eric Kokish, coach) to less centage play. On the existing layout, if he exits with a club after the bronze medals. than an IMP and a quarter a board on a collection of lively deals. f Q J 10 6 over-ruffing, he is down by force on a when Hampson plays that jealously-husbanded fourth club, the eight Zimmermann Zimmermann61 37 98 Open Room With one session remaining, Diamond was 21 IMPs ahead, and the of trumps playing a crucial role.” Wolfson 12 34 46 West North East South first deal was yet another close slam decision, 6i requiring trumps Zia Greco Hamman Hampson Closed Room to come in missing Q973 and no diamond ruff on a nine-card ft 1h Pass 2f Pass West North East South missing the ace (though 6g would have been a better proposition). 2h Pass 2NT Pass Closed Room Moss Rodwell Gitelman Meckstroth 3f Pass 3h Pass 1h Pass 2NT Pass Board 49 i K 10 6 5 4h Pass 6h All Pass Dealer North 3h Pass 3i Pass THE McCONNELL CUP None Vul. Boardh 5 4 3 49 4h Pass 4NT* Pass g K 10 5 Six hearts is where you’d like to be, and at first glance it would 5h Pass 5i Pass WOMEN’S TEAMS f A 10 6 appear that declarer needs to find the queen of trumps 5NT Pass 7h All Pass (though there may be some squeeze chances). North led the 31 teams entered this event. They were divided into two seed- i 7 i Q 9 3 iQ and declarer won in hand, played a diamond to the ace, On board 32, Diamond had gained 10 IMPs when Hampson / ed groups to play complete internal round robins of 10-board h Q 9 2 N h J 10 8 7 6 W E cashed the iA, and ruffed a spade. A diamond to the king was Greco had been permitted to make an anti-percentage 7g while matches, with the top eight in each group to qualify for the g A 4 g 3 2 S followed by a diamond ruff, South innocently discarding a Nickell / Katz had stopped at 6h. Now, 20 boards later, Diamond’s 16-team knockout stage. In other respects, including re-seeding f Q 9 8 5 4 3 2 f K J 7 club. Declarer cashed two clubs, ending in dummy and played charges were again in a questionable grand slam where their for the knockout, the McConnell paralleled the Rosenblum. i A J 8 4 2 a diamond, ruffing when South parted with his remaining counterparts stopped more reasonably a level lower. Moss’s 3h spade. Down to A107 of trumps and a losing club, Zia exited was supposed to be a slam try, so when he denied the Q in The qualifying round went largely according to form. The first h A K h with a club and showed his hand; whoever took the trick response to RKC, Gitelman placed him with at least a seventh knockout round in the McConnell was the round of 16, with g Q J 9 8 7 6 would be endplayed; he had made his slam in elegant fashion, heart, and after unearthing the iK (the 5NT response to the 5i the same potential for arbitrary matchups as in the Rosenblum. f - without having to guess which opponent held the hQ. specific-king ask), bid 7h, expecting a trump lead most of the time that North did not have the queen. How’s that for planning Moss 52Moss 40 23 18 133 the play in the bidding? Glasson 4 14 52 49 119

Perhaps Moss was so relieved to see Rodwell’s lead of the h3 that Moss (Moss / Radin, Quinn / Zur Campanile, Brock / N Smith) vs he erred by playing the jack from dummy: assuming North would Glasson (Glasson / L Berkowitz, Wheeler / Bernstein, Picus / Greenberg) not lead from the hQ against seven, playing the king gains rather was a match that would usually take place deeper in an American dramatically when South has been dealt the singleton queen, a knockout event. Moss took a huge first-quarter lead and piled it on in lively possibility. However, Moss survived on the actual lie, taking the second, but Glasson fought back fiercely only to run out of boards. Rosenblum Gold (with Joan Gerard): the queen with the ace. He crossed to the hK, came to hand with Eric GRECO the iK, drew the last trump, discarding a club, and led the gJ, EisenbergEisenberg 22 71 16 19 128 John DIAMOND winning the ace when Rodwell did not cover. King of diamonds, Fireman 12 30 52 52 146 Fred GITELMAN diamond ruff revealed the layout of that suit. Moss cashed a Geoff HAMPSON heart, discarding another club, and played fK, fA, and his Eisenberg (C Goldberg / J Sprung, L Lewis / R Pollack, Bjerkan / Brad MOSS remaining trumps. Rodwell had to guard diamonds, Meckstroth P Wittes, Billy Eisenberg, npc) built a handsome 53-IMP lead at the

8 9 The 9th World Bridge The 9th World Bridge Series Championships Series Championships half but could not hold it against Fireman (Fireman / S Cappelletti, included three seasoned partnerships. Laurie Kranyak, still in hos- ter by 22 IMPs and tacked on 27 in the fourth to win the D’Ovidio / Gaviard, Gromova / Ponomareva), who won the second pital, was the honorary npc of the American / Canadian team bear- McConnell Cup final by 41 IMPs, 134-93. China (Ming Sun, Hongli half 104-35. ing her name (L McGarry, E Hanlon, K Nathan, Savko, Habert / Wang, Ling Gu, Yan Lu, Xuefeng Feng, Yanui Sun, Chuancheng Ju, S Caley). The match was close much of the way before the npc, Jihong Hu, coach) fielded three seasoned veterans and three The other matches in the round of 16 were not as close. Netherlands steamed away to a 53-IMP victory. new faces, providing the world with a glimpse of the depth in the emerging Chinese expert sector. Netherlands ( / Carla China Women China41 Women 19 35 68 163 Italia 17Italia 37.5 17 22 93.5 Arnolds, Martine Verbeek / Wietske van Zwol, Jet Pasman/ Sombra…fresca 9 14 11 20 54 Full Spectrum Options 56 41.5 54 8 159.5 Anneke Simons, Alex van Reenen, npc, Hans Kelder, coach) con- tinues to add World Championship and European Championship China’s national team (M Sun / H Wang, Gu, Y Sun, Feng, Lu) Full Spectrum Options, ’s American team (Baker / medals to its collection, with very few changes in personnel at the scored early and often against Sombra e agua fresca (Dossena, McCallum, Sanborn / Levitina, Deas / Palmer), got off to a great top level of its women’s program. Though the USA has many more Severnigni, Gentili, Soresini, Preve, Colombo Brugnoni) an start against Italia (Manara, Ferlazzo, Olivieri, Rosetta, McConnell Cup Silver: world-level players and partnerships than any other country, the unseeded Italian team. Vanuzzi, Golin) and salted away the match in the third set. The Hans KELDER, coach; A. van REENEN, npc; reality of professionalism rarely leads to six of those players being final margin was 66 IMPs. Martine VERBEEK; Anneke SIMONS; Bep VRIEND; Carla ARNOLDS; in a position to form a team to contest the Olympiad or Venice Wietske van ZWOL; Jet PASMAN; with José Damiani Westheimer Westheimer6 56 42 56 160 Cup or even the McConnell. Though many of the American spon- Can/USA 22 11 19 15 67 All four quarterfinal matches figured to be close, but it didn’t sors are good players in their own right, their partnerships are usu- turn out that way. Two of the semifinalists were captained by American sponsors, ally a cut below those of their professional teammates. In Westheimer (Westheimer / Eythorsdottir, Breed / Letizia, but neither survived to the final. P Andersson / C Rimstedt) vs Can/USA (Winestock / Mancuso, Bryant/ China Women China31 Women 27 60 25 143 Though there was some confusion about the correct results on K Sulgrove, Eaton / Griffey), Westheimer was the favorite, but not Moss 23 10 26 34 93 China Women China64 Women 16 26 31 137 boards 33 and 49 of the final, China led by 16 going into board 51. by much. Westheimer fell behind early, but dominated the next Fireman 6 15 47 28 96 Board 51 i A 9 8 three sets to win in comfort by 93 IMPs. China led by 25 at the half and iced the match by gaining 34 Dealer South more in the third quarter on the way to a solid 50-IMP win A huge first stanza by China put Fireman in a deep hole, and EW Vul. h J 9 Joel over Moss’s veteran internationalists. despite a nice third quarter, there was too much ground for g K Q 10 9 7 5 Joel 35 69 20 31 155 the trailing team to make up; China won by 41 IMPs. Indonesia Djarum 17 39 43 15 114 f K 9 WestheimerWestheime 25 28 3 13 69 i K 7 5 i Q J 6 2 The Indonesian national team, sponsored by Djarum (Bojoh, Fireman 50 22 35 29 136 HamptonHampton 5 16 15 -- 36 h 10 7 N h A 6 4 3 Mandolang Tueje, Dewi, Murniati, Andhani, Ariyani) has done Netherlands 64 8 61 -- 133 W E g J 8 6 4 3 2 S g - well in recent years, but faced a tough draw in Joel (USA): Joel / Fireman had much the best of the first quarter, gave back a Q 8 J 10 7 4 2 Sokolow, Seamon-Molson / D Rosenberg, Meyers / J Levin). Down few IMPs in the second, and held Westheimer to just 16 IMPs Remarkably, Netherlands, like China, put up 64 IMPs on the score- f f 48 at the half, Indonesia got back 23 in the third set, but could in the second half to coast home by 67 IMPs. board in the first set with about as much resistance from i 10 4 3 make no further inroad to the American lead. Hampton as China encountered from Fireman. Hampton stopped h K Q 8 5 2 Joel 58Joel 5 44 0 107 the bleeding in the second set, but the third was nearly as disas- g A Sweden 19Sweden 58 19 7 103 Hampton 35 30 29 53 147 trous as the first. Down 97 with 15 boards to play, Hampton f A 6 5 3 Hampton 6 38 55 40 139 waved a white flag and everyone retired to an early dinner. After some heavy exchanges in the first three sets, Joel led by Open Room Sweden (Larsson, Sjoberg, S Rimstedt, K Bertheau) had the best of 13 IMPs. 107-94, but all the traffic went one way in the fourth The 64-board final featured two of the top teams entered West North East South the first two sets vs Hampton (Hampton / J Wolpert, B Cronier / quarter, Hampton putting 53 unanswered IMPs on the score- and there was no clear favorite, although China had won Simons Lu Pasman Gu Willard, Michielsen / Dekkers), but Hampton’s front four dominat- board to win going away, 147-107. the previous World Championship in Sao Paulo with a 1h ed the second half en route to a 36-IMP win. slightly different lineup. Pass 2g Pass 2h Netherlands Netherlands42 22 29 37 130 Pass 2NT Pass 3f Netherlands Netherlands23 36 42 31 132 Full Spectrum Options29 9 36 20 94 China 37China 7 31 59 134 Pass 3g Pass 3h Kranyak 14 36 21 8 79 Netherlands 23 29 9 32 93 Pass 4h All Pass All four quarters were relatively close, but Netherlands won The Dutch national team (Arnolds / Vriend, M Verbeek / van Zwol, the three biggest ones by enough to make the final 36-IMP China took a 14-IMP lead in the first quarter, but dropped 22 in Closed Room West North East South Pasman / Simons) is always a serious contender, and in Philadelphia margin over Full Spectrum Options look fairly convincing. the second to trail Netherlands by 8 at the half. The second half Wang Verbeek Sun van Zwol was all China, however. The PABF champions won the third quar- 1h Pass 2g Pass 2h Pass 3g Pass 3NT All Pass

José Damiani, Both 2g responses were game-forcing, but the North players Guangsheng FAN, CCBA; preferred different rebids. In the Open Room, Simons had a shrewd idea that spades was the weak spot for N/S, and led McConnell Cup Gold: the i5 against Gu’s 4h. Declarer took dummy's ace and start- Xuefeng FENG Yanui SUN ed on diamonds to try for spade discards. Had East ruffed in, Ming SUN the contract would have failed before declarer could catch her Chuancheng JU, npc breath, but Pasman discarded a spade and the gA won. Gu Ling GU crossed to the fK to play the gK, ruffed low and over-ruffed. Yan LU McConnell Cup Bronze: Daniele GAVIARD; Phyllis FIREMAN; Hongli WANG Shannon CAPPELLETTI; Catherine d’OVIDIO; Victoria GROMOVA; Declarer continued with fA, club ruff and the gQ. When East Jihong HU, coach Tatiana PONOMAREVA (missing Paul FIREMAN, coach) discarded (somewhat curiously), Gu threw a spade, ruffed the

10 11 The 9th World Bridge The 9th World Bridge Series Championships Series Championships next diamond, ruffed her last club in dummy and led another Hackett 42 9 51 diamond through East, losing only one spade and two trump RAND CUP SENIOR TEAMS Capital Gang Hackett27 5 32 tricks when West scored the h10 on a trump promotion on the fifth round of clubs: +420. The short event, played over four days, called for a two-day,10-round Swiss Qualifying stage of 10-board matches, with 24-board quarterfi- With three members of the English team that won the Seniors In the Closed Room, Verbeek’s 3g left van Zwol with an awk- nals and semifinals on the third day, and a 48-board final on the fourth. Bowl in Sao Paulo, Hackett (Hackett, Holland, Hallberg, ward third bid, and she guessed to gamble 3NT with no spade Although only 34 teams participated, the field was remarkably Hayden, Milner) had realistic hopes of duplicating that success, guard. Wang found the best lead of a low spade, and declarer deep. In fact, the list of non-qualifiers was almost as strong as with the addition of Hayden, one of the most successful ducked two rounds before taking the ace at Trick 3. Van Zwol the teams that made the cut. These were the qualifiers: American seniors, and Milner. Capital Gang (USA): Abelow, crossed to the gA, learned of the bad break when East threw a Bragin, King, Hand, Ruderman, Wegman, stayed in touch club, and led a heart to dummy's jack. Ming Sun took her ace, 1 • Gabrial UI 194 throughout, but Hackett prevailed. Rand Cup Silver: cashed the long spade, and shifted to a low club to the queen 2 • Japan Yamada 179 Victor MARKOWICZ; Salek ZELIGMAN; (José Damiani); Victor MELMAN; Jerzy RUSSYAN; Roald RAMER; Julian KLUKOWSKI; (Ernesto d’Orsi ) and king. On the gK, Sun threw a club, and on the gK a heart. 3 • Capital Gang 176 Markowicz Markowicz36 15 51 Declarer, with a club entry to hand, needed to take a trick with 4 • Markowicz 174 Tulin 20 11 31 5 • Tulin 167 the h8 in the four-card ending. She knew West’s shape was 6 • Cohen 164 finish, Cohen fell to Markowicz by 4 IMPs, setting up a either 3262 or 3163, and if she believed West’s play of the fQ 7 • McGowan 162 Team Markowicz (Markowicz, Russyan, Ramer, Klukowski, rematch between Hackett and Markowicz in the final. on the first round and East’s two club discards before parting 8 • Hackett 161.21 Melman, Zeligman), with three silver medalists from the Polish Sao with a heart, perhaps the first combination was more likely. Van Paulo Seniors Bowl, vs Tulin (Tulin / Kasle, Schermer / Chambers, Zwol reached a different conclusion, however, and passed the Just missing out by 0.15 VP was one of the pre-tournament Casen / R Smith), with an all-star American cast, figured to be the THE FINALS h9 to go two down: -100. China gained 11 IMPs and led by 27. favourites, the primarily Israeli Kaminski team (Kaminski, Sheinman, closest match of the day. Markowicz won both sets and survived Had 4h been beaten and had 3NT been made, the Netherlands Birman, Schwartz, Romik, Levit), and .05 behind Kaminski was a to the semifinals. Hackett 72Hackett 39 44 155 would have gained 10 and reduced the deficit to just 6 IMPs. solid Australian team, True Blue (Lavings, Neill, Kanetkar, Markowicz 11 39 33 83 Krochmalik). Also on the sidelines were the following teams who Cohen Cohen38 21 59 In the 32-board playoff for third, Fireman (Phylis Fireman / would have surprised no one by winning a medal: Lynch (Lynch- Japan Yamada 44 12 56 This time the final lacked the drama that it had in Sao Paulo. A Shannon Cappelletti, Catherine D’Ovidio / Daniele Gaviard, Passell-Sutherlin, Ozdil / Lair); Sternberg (Sternberg, Hamilton, huge first set by Hackett (Paul Hackett, John Holland, Gunnar Victoria Gromova / Tatiana Ponomarava, Paul Fireman, coach), Fisher, Solodar, Sundelin); Lavazza (Lavazza, De Falco, Mariani, Cohen (Cohen / Satten, Poe / Weik) vs Japan Yamada (Yamada / Hallberg, , ) left Markowicz (Victor defeated Hampton 86-51. Cedolin, Mari); Canada (Carruthers / Silver, Ohno, Hirata / T Yoshida) was another difficult match for the Markowicz,Salek Zeligman, Victor Melman, Julian Klukowski, Gowdy / Kirr, Baran / Schoenborn; Schaffer (Schaffer / Vernay, L and line-makers, and it lived up to its billing, Cohen’s US team Jerzy Russyan, Roald Ramer) 61 IMPs behind with 24 to play, G Bart); Tornay (G and C Tornay, Garozzo / Dupont); DeMartino (De eking out a narrow victory. and when the trailing team made no headway in the second Martino, McDevitt, Stiefel, Brod), and - stunningly - Wolff (Wolff / segment, Hackett cruised home with a comfortable 72-IMP win. SWISS PLATE Morse, Gerstman / Finkel, D McGarry / Levine), 33rd of 34. THE SEMIFINALS Gabrial UI (Henky Lasut / Eddy Manoppo, Denny Sacul / Munawar TEAMS CONSOLATION Sawiruddin / Michael Bambang Hartono) beat Cohen 101-32 for THE QUARTERFINALS Gabrial UIGabrial 0 UI 30 30 the Bronze. (43 teams) Hackett 35 21 56 The leading qualifiers could select their quarter-final oppo- nents from the teams finishing 5th-8th in the Swiss, which led to In one semi-final, Hackett came out with guns blazing and RAND CUP SENIOR TEAMS This was a one-day Swiss event, scored at Victory Points, open these match-ups and results: shut out the Indonesians 35-0 over the first 12 boards. Gabrial PLATE (Consolations) I and II to teams that did not qualify in the round robin and round of UI recovered a few IMPs in the second half, but Hackett moved 64 of the Rosenblum and the round robin of the McConnell. Gabrial UI Gabrial26 UI 55 81 on to the final on the long end of the 56-30 score. These two one-day Swiss events, scored at Victory Points, fol- McGowan 9 1 10 lowed the same format as the other Teams Plate. Edition I The medalists were: Markowicz Markowicz20 25 45 attracted 23 teams, Edition II only 10. The top three in each Gabrial UI (Lasut/Manoppo, Sacul-Sawiruddin-Hartono), Indonesia’s Cohen 27 14 41 event were: 1 • 116 VP Villa Fabbriche (Italy) sponsored senior team, was a tough draw for McGowan Dario ATTANASIO / GUISEPPE, Mario D’AVOSSA / Riccardo INTONTI, (McGowan/Liggat, D and S Fraser), a Scottish/Canadian foursome, It’s tough to live on the edge, and perhaps the tension of their PLATE I Alberto GULLOTTA / Stefano SABATTINI, Filippo PALMA, npc but the lopsided score was not what the line-setters had in mind. morning match took its toll on Cohen. In another nail-biting 1 • 114 VP PRI Investments (Poland/Sweden) 2 • 112 VP China Nangang Power (China) Jacek ROMANSKI / Apolinary KOWALSKI, Josef BLASS / Jerzy ZAREMBA, Lixin YANG, Jia Xiang SHEN, Bangxiang ZHANG, Xinli GAN, Anders MORATH / Sven-Olaf FLODQVIST, Jacek PSZCZOLA, npc Qiang ZHANG, Sheng Hong CHEN, Rui WANG PLATE2 • 112 I VP Sternberg (USA) 3 • 112 VP Texan Aces (India) Jim STERNBERG, Fred HAMILTON, Arnie FISHER, Gopal VENKATESH / Jyotindra SHAH, John SOLODAR, PO SUNDELIN Ramratnam KRISHNAN / K Raman VENKATARAMAN, S SUNDARRAM / Padmanabhan SRIDHAR, 3 • 111 VP Capital Gang (USA) Maddhav PRABHU, npc David ABELOW, Barry BRAGIN, Fred KING, Jeff HAND, David RUDERMAN, Richard WEGMAN

Rand Cup Gold: Rand Cup Bronze: Gabrial UI: Garey HAYDEN; John HOLLAND; Gunnar HALLBERG Munawar SAWIRUDDIN; Henky LASUT; Eddy MANOPPO; Reese MILNER; Paul HACKETT Michael Bambang HARTONO; Denny SACUL

12 13 The 9th World Bridge The 9th World Bridge Series Championships Series Championships

a truly brutal cut which left several pairs who had averaged Recording a com- The leading pairs after five-session semifinal stage were: PLATE II Board 24 i 7 3 2 over 51.5% on the sidelines. This is such a great event that it Dealer West plete top on a deal Neither Vul. h 10 9 2 1 • 112 VP Tulin (USA) deserves to stand on its own, perhaps with fewer sessions and in the final of an 1 • Angela DOSSENA - Luigina GENTILI 56.15 g 5 4 PLATEStanley II TULIN / Gaylor KASLE, / Neil CHAMBERS, a tournament schedule that allows the semifinals to begin elite 72-pair field is 2 • Susan CULHAM - Kismet FUNG 55.52 K J 8 7 4 Drew CASEN / when the Rosenblum finishes. Perhaps moving the Mixed Pairs f no mean feat, par- 3 • Brenda BRYANT - Kathy SULGROVE 55.30 to the end would provide that flexibility. i Q J 10 9 6 4 i A K 8 5 ticularly when it’s 2 • 108 VP Cassini (Finland) 4 • - 55.20 K J 5 7 N Q 8 4 3 h h not by dint of col- 5 • Georgiana GATES - Pat NORMAN 54.27 Pirja JUURI-OJA, Seppo KASTREN, Matti SIHVOLA, Vaino KELHA, W E Eeva PARVAINEN, Erkki JUURI-OJA With one session remaining in the final, there were three g Q 10 S g J 9 2 lecting a huge pe- drop-in pairs in the top ten. Looking particularly strong were f 9 5 f 10 3 nalty or setting a Five pairs qualified for the final with less than 50%, but the low 3 • 103 VP Shane (USA) the leaders, / (USA), whose record silly contract. Freshly qualifying score was a more respectable 49.18%. Five pairs Steve SHANE, Ahmed HUSSEIN, Gene DAVIDSON, in pair games has been something special; with a significant i - crowned Rosenblum dropped into the final, in theory joining the top 31 qualifiers Ed and Diane LAZARUS lead, they would be tough to catch. Meanwhile, the defend- h A 7 6 champs John Dia- from the semifinals. An issue that will need to be addressed in ing champions from China, Zhong Fu/Jie Zhao, after qualifying g A K 8 7 6 3 mond and Brian the future is the fact that not everyone eligible to play in the comfortably, were a disappointing 61st, with 46.89%. f A Q 6 2 Platnick accomplished next stage of an event elects to do so and the numbers would that in the third logically be made up from the next willing non-qualifiers; unfor- The last time this event was held, Levin / Weinstein had to set- session of the tunately, with staggered start times, a next-in-line pair might GENERALI OPEN PAIRS West North East South tle for the silver medals, but this time, the Americans took the Prabhakar Diamond Tewari Platnick Generali Open Pairs reasonably enter a conflicting but less prestigious event before it The centerpiece of the World Bridge Championships is the 15- lead early and kept it to win by more than two tops. Silver went 3i Pass Pass Double final by bidding was clear that a spot had opened up for them in the main event. session Open Pairs, which attracted a starting field of 248 to Sweden’s Bjorn Fallenius / Peter Fredin, with / Pass 4f Pass 4i and making a solo pairs. After five sessions, the top 182 of those pairs would Alexander Smirnov of Germany earning bronze. Pass 6f Pass 7f grand slam on this After four of the five final sessions the leaders held an advan- qualify for the five-session semifinal, and somewhere between All Pass deal: tage of (an average of) more than 2% per session. Americans 50 and 60 of their number would be joined by a number of 1 Bobby LEVIN - Steve WEINSTEIN USA 57.58 Lynn Deas/Beth Palmer, both of whom had come close in this pairs dropping in from the late stages of the Rosenblum teams 2 Bjorn FALLENIUS - Peter FREDIN Sweden 55.86 Even if your partner is prone to eccentric (as Honey event before, would be very tough to catch. And so it proved: 3 Josef PIEKAREK - Alexander SMIRNOV Germany 54.94 to create a 72-pair, five-session barometer final. There would Prabhakar’s 3i opening would seem to indicate) it’s even more eccen- 4 Vladimir MIHOV - Jerry STAMATOV Bulgaria 54.55 be no carryover from either the qualifying stage or the semifi- 5 Fulvio FANTONI - Claudio NUNES Italy 54.27 tric not to raise, and Rajeshwar Tewari paid heavily for his strategy 1 • Lynn DEAS - Beth PALMER USA 57.10 nal, so the key would be survival, aiming for average-plus in 6 Eric GRECO - Geoff HAMPSON USA 53.85 when his opponents had just enough room to locate the club fit, invite 2 • Susan CULHAM - Kismet FUNG Canada 54.21 Stage One, rounding into form for Stage Two, with a strong 7 Ricco van PROOIJEN - Louk VERHEES JR Netherlands 53.78 slam, accept, and shoot out a grand slam that would have been a con- 3 • Carla ARNOLDS - Bep VRIEND Netherlands 53.65 finishing charge in the final. Easier said than done, of course. 8 Martin FLEISHER - Mike KAMIL USA 53.66 siderably better contract had one of them had an extra trump. On a 4 • Ling GU - Yan LU China 53.58 5 • Georgiana GATES - Pat NORMAN USA 53.15 9 Lixin YANG - Ban Xiang ZHANG China 53.25 not-so-unlikely heart lead, declarer effectively needs two-two 10 John HURD - USA 53.20 6 • Xuefeng FENG - Yanhui SUN China 53.14 That there would be no carryover from one phase of the event to trumps and three-two diamonds, and even on a spade lead he 11 Taufik G. ASBI - R. Parasian TOBING Indonesia 52.99 7 • Ping WANG - Shaohong WU China 52.85 the next was bad news for the leaders of the first stage, who were: 12 Bob HAMMAN - USA 52.66 needs some luck. Though Diamond might have been broke and 8 • Lynn BAKER - Karen MCCALLUM USA 52.61 9 • V. GROMOVA - T. PONOMAREVA Russia 52.41 13 Honey B PRABHAKAR - R. TEWARI India 52.37 shorter in clubs for his minimum response to Platnick’s double, his 10 • Sylvia MOSS - USA 52.18 1 • Jessica HAYMAN PIAFSKY - Nicolas L'ECUYER 57.57 14 Jan JANSMA - Gert Jan PAULISSEN Netherlands 52.31 jump to slam was somewhat aggressive; what he needed in his 2 • Taufik Gautama ASBI - Robert Parasian TOBING 56.87 15 Gheorghe SERPOI - Calin STIRBU Romania 52.12 arsenal was a 4NT bid, but lacking that cooperative 3 • Dawei CHEN - Kazuo FURUTA 56.58 16 Tim COPE - Glen HOLMAN S Africa 52.10 mechanism, he believed he had too much to sign off. Whether it’s Deas/Palmer, multiple medalists in WBF events, added the Women’s 17 - Howard WEINSTEIN USA 51.93 4 • Thomas CHARLSEN - Thor Erik HOFTANISKA 56.56 more difficult to reach six or stop there is an interesting question. Pairs gold to their impressive collection. Kismet Fung/Susan Culham, 18 Dawei CHEN - Kazuo FURUTA Japan 51.83 fixtures in recent Canadian Women’s teams, were second, Fung win- 5 • Sunit CHOKSHI - Subhash GUPTA 56.42 19 - SWE-USA 51.68 6 • Michal KWIECIEN - Wlodzimierz STARKOWSKI 56.29 20 Marc BOMPIS - J-Christophe QUANTIN France 51.46 ning her second silver (she was second in the Mixed Pairs with Brian 7 • Rajesh DALAL - Anil PADHYE 56.20 Gubok) of the tournament. Carla Arnolds/Bep Vriend (Netherlands), who won this event in 1994, earned the bronze. 8 • Ai-Tai LO - Alan SCHWARTZ 56.12 GENERALI WOMEN’S PAIRS 9 • Boguslaw GIERULSKI - Jerzy SKRZYPCZAK 55.92 The Women’s Pairs, which attracted a starting field of 58 10 • Andrew STARK - Franco BASEGGIO 55.83 Generali Open Pairs Gold: Generali Women’s Pairs Robert LEVIN pairs, would also be played in three stages: a five-session Gold: Steve WEINSTEIN qualifying stage to send 46 pairs to the five-session semi-final, Lynn DEAS-Beth PALMER And even worse news for the leaders after the semifinals, and a five-session barometer final expected to be comprised Below,on the left: Below,on the left: who were: of 36 pairs, with an unspecified number dropping in from the Generali Women’s Pairs Generali Open Pairs Silver: late stages of the McConnell Teams; a lot of bridge to elimi- Silver: Bjorn FALLENIUS 1 • - Jacek PSZCZOLA 60.58 Susan CULHAM Peter FREDIN nate a small percentage of pairs at each stage. Again, there 2 • Ricco van PROOIJEN - Louk VERHEES JR 59.68 would be no carryover. Kismet FUNG 3 • Xinli GAN - Qiang ZHANG 57.87 Below,on the right: Below, on the right: 4 • Vladimir MIHOV - Jerry STAMATOV 56.18 Generali Open Pairs At the end of the qualifying stage, the leading pairs were: Generali Women’s Pairs 5 • Honey B PRABHAKAR - Rajeshwar TEWARI 55.86 Bronze: Bronze: Alexander SMIRNOV Bep VRIEND 6 • Brian GLUBOK - Philip GORDON 55.72 Josef PIEKAREK 1 • Margie GWOZDZINSKY - Cathy STRAUCH 57.73 Carla ARNOLDS 7 • Tom HANLON - Hugh MCGANN 55.39 2 • Valerie BLOOM - Ora LOURIE 55.70 8 • Gheorghe SERPOI - Calin STIRBU 55.08 3 • Gen GEIGER - Gigi SIMPSON 54.76 9 • Alexander DUBININ - Andrey GROMOV 55.06 4 • Maud KHOURI - Nada WATTAR 54.15 10 • Piotr GAWRYS - Piotr TUSZYNSKI 55.06 5 • Aida SALDZIEVA - Betty SPEELMAN 53.82

With a large number of drop-in pairs (21), there were only 51 Nine pairs qualified with less than 50%, the last survivor additional places in the final available for the 182 semifinalists, recording 46.93%.

14 15 The 9th World Bridge The 9th World Bridge Series Championships Series Championships

North, Venezuela’s Board 5 i A Q 9 4 2 HIRON IMP PAIRS Dealer North Steve Hamaoui, MIXED NS Vul. h A 10 9 The 131 pairs that entered the IMP Pairs would play four qual- found himself in g K 6 3 SENIOR PAIRS ifying sessions over two days. The five-session barometer final 3NT in two bids. SWISS TEAMS would be a 72-pair affair, with most qualifiers coming from f K 10 On East’s fourth- The format was a four-session preliminary stage to qualify 28 the qualifying round, the remainder dropping in from the i K i 10 8 7 6 3 best spade lead, This event started when the four major pairs events moved into of the initial 44 pairs for a four-session barometer final. Male semi-finals of the Open and Women’s Pairs. Non-qualifiers h K Q 6 5 3 N h 8 7 2 declarer played their final stage. Seventy teams entered. The first stage was a W E non-qualifiers could enter the Mixed Teams if fortunate from all three of the parallel pairs events would be eligible to g 10 9 7 S g A J 5 2 low from dummy seven-round Swiss of 10-board matches (25 VP maximum, else enough to find some precious “loose” women (so to speak). play in the Mixed Teams, a new championship event. As in the f Q J 7 5 f 3 and had a third split 30 VP), with 24 teams to qualify for a five-match final. other pair events, there would be no carryover into the finals fast winner in the Qualifiers would carry forward their entire VP score, so in effect Americans Dan Morse/ were second after one of the IMP Pairs. i J 5 suit when the king it was a 12-round Swiss for qualifiers. The Non-qualifiers could qualifying session, but led at the end of each of the next three. h J 4 appeared. Hopeful play in the five-round Swiss Plate Consolation. The top five qualifiers: Leading the qualifiers after the four-session first stage were: g Q 8 4 that there were f A 9 8 6 4 2 many tricks on the The Hinze team held the lead through two of the five final match- 1 • Dan MORSE - John SUTHERLIN 59.16 1 • - Gunnar HALLBERG 10553.6 horizon, Hamaoui es but fell to third, eked back into second, and won the final round 2 • Julian KLUKOWSKI - Victor MARKOWICZ 56.92 2 • Joao-Paulo CAMPOS - Miguel VILLAS BOAS 8876.8 cashed the fK, and continued with the ten. East’s heart dis- 23-7 to finish 6 VP clear of second. The Top ten finishers: 3 • Bruce NODA - Mark RALPH 56.78 4 • Rich DEMARTINO - Patrick McDEVITT 56.58 3 • Willem van EIJCK - 8447.3 card was a disappointment, but declarer passed the trick to 5 • Christian MARI - Stanley WALTER 56.52 4 • Jaroslaw CIESLAK - Piotr ZAK 8167.6 West, who switched to the hK. Communications were far 1 • Hinze USA-CAN 226 from fluid, but declarer did well to the ace, calling for 2 • Narasimhan USA 220 5 • Claire TORNAY - George TORNAY 8097.7 After the first final session, New Englanders Rich DeMartino / Pat dummy’s jack. West knew the heart position and might have 3 • Steelers USA 217 6 • R Jay BECKER - Robert SARTORIUS 7375.8 McDevitt were just over average, but a 65%+ second session switched to diamonds, but he continued with a low heart. 4 • Hauge NOR-BUL 213 vaulted them into the lead, which they held the rest of the 7 • Marjorie MICHELIN - Carlos PELLEGRINI 7192.3 Declarer put in the ten and cashed the hA, East parting with 5 • Hansen AUS-SWED-BUL 208 way. With one session to play they held an almost insur- 8 • Isabella VARGAS DE ANDRADE - Stanley BARG 6881.8 a diamond in order to keep all his spades. Next came a low 6 • O’Rourke USA-NETH 207 mountable 3% lead over the field. The top 10: 9 • Bob ETTER - Bob MORRIS 6395.1 diamond, East following low. The queen won, and on the 7 • Ida USA-CAN-NETH-SWE 205 8 • India Alizee IND-AUS-ISR 203 10 • Paul THURSTON - Mike RIPPEY 5789.5 fA, declarer released a spade, leaving East with an awkward 9 • Amigos BRAZIL 201 1 • Rich DeMARTINO - Patrick McDEVITT USA 55.63 discard: as he could not afford the gJ lest declarer cash the 10 • Frind FRA-IND 198 2 • Kyoko OHNO - Akihiko YAMADA Japan 54.70 Wolfe Thompson / Marc Zwerling held a substantial lead going iJ and duck a diamond for an overtrick, East discarded a 3 • Farid ASSEMI - Edward WOJEWODA USA 54.38 into the last session, but Joao-Paulo Campos / Miguel Villas spade. Hamaoui cashed the spade and played a diamond; 4 • Julian KLUKOWSKI - Victor MARKOWICZ Poland 53.88 Boas, who had been at or near the top throughout the event, East took the jack and ace but had to lead from the ten- Hinze (Greg Hinze, Daniel Lavee, JoAnn Sprung, Connie Golberg, 5 • Roald RAMER - Jerzy RUSSYAN NETH-POL 53.77 were “momentum” players capable of a hot run. Though the eight of spades around to the ace-nine. Dale and Lynn Johannesen) was a last-minute pickup team that 6 • - Reese MILNER USA 52.78 pairs in second and third made up some ground, the leaders It was not easy for East to find the winning defense, although celebrated its joint and several first date with a serving of gold. 7 • Art GULBRANDSEN - Michael SPERO USA 51.67 8 • Robert BITTERMAN - Jerry HELMS USA 51.50 won in convincing fashion. The top 20: he might have foreseen the possibility of being endplayed; Narasimhan’s all-star team (Hansa Narasimhan, , 9 • Amilcar MAGALHAES - Pedro MANDELOTUSA 50.93 had he played the jack on the first diamond trick, West’s ten- , Ron Smith, ) had to settle for silver. The 10 • Jerry GAER - Markland JONES USA 50.85 1 • Wolfe THOMPSON - Marc ZWERLING USA 5778.2 nine would prevent declarer from ducking a diamond to East. bronze went to Steelers (Robb and Linda Gordon, Sylwia and 2 • Joao-Paulo CAMPOS - Miguel VILLAS BOASBrazil 5485.4 Mike McNamara, Jo Morse, Warren Oberfield); Morse won an 3 • Kelley HWANG - John ZILIC USA 5402.0 For DeMartino the victory was icing on the cake for a successful year earlier version of this event in 1974 in the Canary Islands. 4 • Thomas CHARLSEN - Thor Erik HOFTANISKANorway 4697.6 as ACBL President. Silver medalists Kyoko Ohno / Akihiko Yamada 5 • Ari David GREENBERG Jr - Billy MILLER USA 4448.2 of Japan, longtime weak notrumpers, have been a force in world 6 • Daniel WILDERMAN - K. ZUCKERBERG USA 4022.0 senior events since they opted out of open competition about five 7 • Gary COHLER - Eric ROBINSON USA 3916.0 years ago. Americans Farid Assemi / Edward Wojewoda were passed 8 • Waldemar FRUKACZ - K.KOTOROWICZ CAN-POL 3666.0 by Ohno / Yamada near the end and settled for bronze. 9 • Ricardo ANGELERI - Marcelo VILLEGAS Argentina 3404.2 10 • Julien GAVIARD - Juan Carlos VENTIN FRA-ARG 3177.4 Hiron Cup Gold: 11 • Michal KOPECKY - Josef KURKA Czech Rep 3014.8 Pat McDEVITT 12 • Andrew ROSENTHAL - Aaron SILVERSTEINUSA 2811.2 Mixed Swiss Teams Richard DeMARTINO, 13 • Willem van EIJCK - Nicolas HAMMOND NETH-USA 2495.0 Gold: with José Damiani. 14 • J BRYANT - Mark LAIR USA 2028.4 Lynn JOHANNESEN 15 • Bobby JONES - Jim KREKORIAN USA 1987.6 Dale JOHANNESEN Below,on the left: Connie GOLDBERG 16 • Serge BERGHEIMER - J-Cl FOUASSIER France 1934.0 Hiron Cup Silver: IMP Pairs Gold: Daniel LAVEE 17 • Judith GARTAGANIS - N. GARTAGANIS Canada 1804.0 Akihiko YAMADA Wolfe THOMPSON JoAnn SPRUNG Kyoko OHNO 18 • Boguslaw GIERULSKI - Jerzy SKRZYPCZAKPoland 1787.9 Marc ZWERLING Greg HINZE 19 • Ahmed HUSSEIN - Apolinary KOWALSKI EGY/POL 1582.0 Below,on the right: 20 • Bob ETTER - Bob MORRIS USA 1508.0 Hiron Cup Bronze: Edward WOJEWODA - Farid ASSEMI, Overlooked in the excitement was the fact that the winners with José Damiani. had struggled to qualify, finishing… 71st with a below-average IMP score. Yes, they were the last qualifiers. Thompson had given up bridge for many years and had only recently taken up the game seriously; this was the first world championship in which he had participated. Mixed Swiss Teams Bronze: Mixed Swiss Teams Silver: Robb GORDON; Jo MORSE; IMP Pairs Silver: Eddie WOLD; Irina LEVITINA; Mike McNAMARA; Of the published deals from the IMP Pairs, this one, from the Miguel VILLAS BOAS IMP Pairs Bronze: Jill LEVIN; Ron SMITH; Sylwia McNAMARA; Linda GORDON; third qualifying session, is perhaps the most interesting. Joao Paulo CAMPOS John ZILIC - Kelley HWANG Hansa NARASIMHAN Warren OBERFIELD

16 17 The 9th World Bridge The 9th World Bridge Series Championships Series Championships

of the table. Had either of them done 1 VP better in their last interest in bridge among younger people in Europe than in MIXED SWISS PLATE match they would have qualified, but as it went they tied for other parts of the world, and/or perhaps greater financial sup- ninth, a half point behind Australia, the last qualifier. The port. The first stage was a 15-match round robin of 10-board (consolation) eight qualifiers: matches, played over four days, and the list of qualifiers for the quarterfinals cast the European teams in a most favorable light: In this event, too, teams carried forward their VP from the 1 • 307.5 2 • France 289 qualifying stage, which might explain why only 35 of the 46 1 • England 284 3 • USA1 267 2 • Sweden 260 eligible teams participated. The top three finishers were: 4 • China 264 3 • Israel 259 5 • Germany 261 4 • France 239 1 • 207 Cushing TUR-USA-BUL Justine CUSHING, Russia 261 5 • Poland 238 Matilda POPLILOV, Melih OZDIL, 7 • Sweden 259 6 • China 235 Namik KOKTEN, Tuna ALUF 8 • Australia 257.5 7 • Netherlands 233.5 8 • Hungary 229.5 Ortiz-Patiño Trophy Silver: France 2 • 197 Goldstein USA Steve GOLDSTEIN, Leslie PARYZER, For the 40-board quarterfinals, the top four round robin teams , Frédéric VOLCKER, Christophe GROSSET, Cédric LORENZINI, Sheila GABAY, John STIEFEL Quentin ROBERT, Nicolas LHUISSIER, Philippe CRONIER, npc chose from the bottom four, which set up the following matchups: China was the only team to break the European monopoly. 3 • 189.56 Willenken USA , USA1 came heartbreakingly close, missing out by half a Migry ZUR CAMPANILE, Israel 74 34 108 Israel (Eliran Argelazi, Alon Birman, , Bar Tarnovski, Victory Point. Alison WILSON, Kent MIGNOCCHI Russia 37 18 55 , Gilad Ofir, npc) took a huge lead in the first set Sweden 41 31 72 and added to it in the second and third quarters to build a 56- These were the matchups for the 40-board quarterfinals USA1 70 28 98 IMP advantage going into the final stanza, which would con- clude the event on the final morning of the tournament. England 54 65 119 WORLD YOUTH EVENTS China 66 39 105 Hungary 34 28 62 Australia 25 39 64 Apparently, the night of rest did wonders for the French ORTIZ-PATIÑO TROPHY WORLD (Thomas Bessis, Christophe Grosset, Nicolas L’huissier, Cédric Netherlands 37 74 111 Germany 27 4 31 Sweden 57 23 80 JUNIOR (U-26) TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP France 19 34 53 Lorenzini, Quentin Robert, Frédéric Volcker, Philippe Cronier, npc), who started with 15- and 18-IMP gains on the first and Israel 19 71 90 Seventeen teams representing six of the eight WBF zones Though all the top four teams won, both France and USA1 third deals and were suddenly back in the match. China 33 2 35 (Africa and CAC did not participate) made up the field, which lost one of the 20-board halves. The margin of victory for had a distinctly European flavor (eight teams). The first stage China over Australia was a surprise of sorts, as the interna- With one board remaining, France had reduced its 56-IMP Poland 52 62 114 France 24 33 57 was a round robin of 10-board matches, played over four days, tionally experienced South Pacific team was one of the medal deficit to just 4 IMPs, and that deal had the potential for a slam the odd number of teams necessitating a bye round. favorites. Rosters of the quarterfinalists: swing. When Grosset / Lorenzini emerged with +650 in 5i on a distributional hand with lots of potential to go wrong, the England had little difficulty getting past Hungary, and Israel France, Australia, Israel and both American teams included a Israel: Argelazi, A Birman, Fisher, Tarnovski, Schwartz French supporters took heart, but at the other table, held serve against China, but Sweden regretted having to face number of players clearly on the rise, but this event is often Russia: Kekrasova, Veselov, Volozhenin, Dobrin Bessis/Volcker took an advance save at 5f at favorable vulnera- Netherlands, losing by 31 IMPs. Finishing fourth was no bonus the coming-out party for players from countries that don’t get Sweden: Apslund, Fryklund, Arvidsson, Bech bility; Argelazi / Birman judged wisely to take the money, which for France, as that created a forced date with mighty Poland; much international press coverage. USA1: Fay, Fournier, R Lee, Wolkowitz, Majica, Chiu turned out to be a significant number of euros, shekels, or dol- the Polish team looked very strong in posting a 67-IMP win. China: Y Chen, J Hu, Z Lin, Y Liu, Y Shao, D Zhuo lars for the 1700-point penalty, and the Israeli camp exhaled: These were the rosters of the quarterfinalists: With two matches to play, Israel and USA1 looked safe, with Australia: A and E Edgtton, Gosney, Howard, Hung, Whibley Israel won the Ortiz-Patiño trophy by 18 IMPs. France in good shape, but there were still 10 teams separated by Germany: R Braun, Katerbau, Rehder, Weyand, Wuermseer, England: D Mcintosh, Paske,Paul, Rainforth, Robertson, less than half a match vying for the other five places in the F Zimmermann In the playoff for third place, China (Yichao Chen, Junjie Hu, S Shah knockout stage. France: T Bessis, Grosset, L’huissier, Lorenzini, Robert, Volcker Zisu Lin, Yinghao Liu, Yinpei Shao, Di Zhuo) swamped USAI 116- Hungary: Wagner, Konkoly, B Fischer, K Lazar, Ormay, 61 over 48 boards to earn the bronze medals. Szirmay-Kalos There were some exciting moments in the last two rounds. In the 56-board semifinals, the top seeds won in some comfort, Neth’lands: v Leeuwen, LLeufkens, V Nab, Philipsen, T USA1 lost 10-20 and 0-25 to contending teams, but dropped both chalking up the same number of IMPs in the plus column, Ortiz-Patiño Trophy Verbeek, Wackwitz Bronze: only one place as Israel and France closed well to leave the but Israel doing so in only 42 boards as the Americans resigned Sweden: I and M Gronkvist, M and O Rimstedt, Karlsson, pack behind. Both Canada and Netherlands, who were in the with one set to play: China: D Gullberg top eight with one round to play, faced teams near the bottom Yinghao LIU Israel: Damty, Gerstner, A Lazar, Meyuchas, Oadon, Yinpei SHAO Yichao CHEN Tusher Israel 43 48 38 -- 129 Di ZHUO China: J Mao, X Huang, Y Jiang, J Shen, K Lu, R Tang USA1 13 13 24 -- 50 Junjie HU Poland: P Jassem, Jochymski, Kazmierczak, Zisu LIN, npc China 29 22 26 52 129 Xueming FU Mroczkowski, Smieszkol, P Tucszynski Ortiz-Patiño Trophy Gold: France 53 54 29 49 185 France: Charignon, Cotreau, Codert, du Corail, Lafont, Israel Thizy The Israelis had dominated the event, but Lotan FISHER the French juniors had been nearly as DAMIANI CUP WORLD Ron SCHWARTZ Micha AMIT impressive, so the 64-board final figured YOUNGSTERS (U-21) TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP The 56-board semifinals pitted England vs Netherlands and (Chef de Mission) to be a close match. It didn’t look as if Israel vs Poland Eliran ARGELAZI would turn out that way… The Under-21 event drew an entry of 16 teams representing Gilad OFIR, npc, only five of the eight WBF zones (Africa, BFAME and CAC did Alon BIRMAN Israel 58 28 48 35 169 England 45.5 1 32 64 142.5 (Zia Mahmood, crashing!) not participate). Nine of the participating teams represented France 9 26 43 73 151 Netherlands 25 78 20 13 136 Bar TARNOVSKI European countries, adding to the evidence that there is more

18 19 The 9th World Bridge The 9th World Bridge Series Championships Series Championships

JUNIORS (U-26) handsome 70-IMP lead at the half. England (Daniel Mcintosh, Poland 41 31 59 131 Thomas Paske, James Paul, Thomas Rainforth, Graeme France 21 28 48 97 1 • 58.12 Robertson, Shivam Shah, Michael Byrne, npc, Alan Shillitoe, 2 • Haakon Bogen Norway 57.54 coach) rallied in the third quarter to cut the margin to 34, but 3 • Chun Ting Arthur Lau Hong Kong 55.80 Poland slammed the door on the way out and won the China (Xiufen Chang, Xing Li, Yanjiao Liu, Wei Meng, Lulu 4 • Prajwal Bachiraju India 55.07 5 • Raghavendra Rajkumar India 53.62 Damiani Cup by 44 IMPs. Peng, Xingxing Shan, Li Xuan Li, npc, Honghi Lu, coach) won 6 • Matthew Meckstroth USA 52.90 the third-place play-off, beating USA (Dana Berkowitz, 7 • Adam Kaplan USA 52.03 Netherlands (Rik Van Leeuwen, Lotte Leufkens, Vincent Nab, Alevtina Asarina, Asya Ladyzhensky, Anam Tebha, Belinda Gu, 8 • Hiroki Yokoi Japan 51.45 Rens Philipsen, Thijs Verbeek, Ernst Wackwitz, Monique van Argenta Price, Jan Martel, npc, Lynn Deas, coach) 114-97. 9 • Eric Arvidsson Sweden 50.87 de Sand, npc, Maarten Schollaardt, coach) defeated Israel 121- 10 • Yin Wai Leung Hong Kong 50.43 93 in the 48-board bronze-medal playoff. China 34 47 33 114 USA 28 36 33 97 Damiani Cup Gold: Poland top row: Andrzej BIERNACKI (coach); Wojciech KAZMIERCZAK; Piotr RONA CUP WORLD TUCSZYNSKI; Adam SMIESZKOL; Tomasz JOCHYMSKI; Stanislaw YOUNG LADIES (U-26) TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Golbiowski (VP PBU); Rudolf Borusiewicz (VP PBU); (with José Damiani) Junior Individual

low row: Pawel JASSEM; Mateusz MROCZKOWSKI WORLD YOUTH Gold: Dennis BILDE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP Silver: Haakon BOGEN Bronze: It’s not often you’ll see a team lose a 14-board segment 78-1 in Chun Ting Arthur LAU the late stages of a knockout, and less often that you’ll see that The final youth events in Philadelphia were two parallel team recover to win a 56-board match, but the score line of Individual championships for under-26 and under-21 play- England vs Netherlands reveals the amazing tale of their ers. There were two qualifying sessions, followed by three- In the Youngsters heat, the leader after two sessions, Italy’s encounter. England, still 45 IMPs behind with one quarter left, session finals and a two-session Plate (Consolation) open to Massimiliano Di Franco, fell on hard times in the final session, won that set by 51 to reach the final in truly remarkable fashion. non-qualifiers from both main events. 44 players entered and slipped out of the medal placings. USA’s Adam Grossack, Rona Cup Gold: Poland the Juniors tournament, 56 the Youngsters championship. second after two sessions, produced a third solid game and Israel 10 63 9 24 106 (with José Damiani, Radoslaw Kielbasilski - Pres PZBS); earned the title with room to spare. Kristoffer Hegge of Danuta KAZMUCHA; Natalia SAKOWSKA; Justyna LMUDA; Ewa GRABOWSKA; Poland 55 41 18 25 139 Magdalena HOLESKA; Joanna TACZEWSKA; Miroslaw CICHOCKI (npc); Leading qualifiers: Norway moved up to second from fifth, and Daniel Gullberg Rudolf BORUSIEWICZ, coach; (with Gianarrigo Rona) of Sweden improved from ninth to finish third. The top ten: A big first quarter got Poland off to a 45-IMP lead, but Israel JUNIORS (U-26) cut that in half by the midway mark in the match. The last two Four teams participated in this new event for women under 26, YOUNGSTERS (U-21) 1 • Raghavendra Rajkumar 57.05 sets were close, so Poland held on to win by 33 to book a date though it won’t be long before some of them are winning 1 • Adam Grossack USA 55.59 with England the next day. medals in the open competition for their age group. The teams 2 • Raja Sekhar Guthi 56.70 3 • Yanjiao Liu 56.02 2 • Kristoffer Hegge Norway 53.80 played a double round robin of 12-board matches, with the top 4 • Hiroki Yokoi 55.91 3 • Daniel Gullberg Sweden 53.39 This was the score line in the 64-board final: two teams meeting in the 48-bord final and the others playing 5 • Mohit Agarwal 55.80 4 • Richard Jeng USA 53.33 off for the bronze medals. The round robin rankings: 6 • Belinda Gu 55.68 5 • Massimiliano Di Franco Italy 53.30 6 • Yujie Jiang China 53.28 England 18 21 54 45 138 7 • Hiroaki Miura 55.45 7 • Po-Hsiang Hao Chinese Taipei 53.04 Poland 45 64 18 55 182 1 • Poland 64 Michael Bell 55.45 2 • France 50 9 • Prajwal Bachiraju 55.23 8 • Krisztina Ormay Hungary 52.03 3 • China 45 10 • Owen Lien 54.77 9 • Barnabas Szirmay-Kalos Hungary 51.68 Poland (Pawel Jassem, Tomasz Maciej Jochymski, Wojciech 4 • USA 18 10 • Chun-Yao Huang Chinese Taipei 51.51 Kazmierczak, Mateusz Mroczkowski, Adam Smieszkol, Piotr Tuczynski, Wlodzimierz Krysztofczyk, npc, Andrzej Biernacki, In the final, Poland (Ewa Agnieszka Grabowska, Magdalena YOUNGSTERS (U-21) coach) started strong and kept the pressure on to build a Holeska, Danuta Kazmucha, Natalia Sakowska, Joanna Taczewska, Youngsters Individual Justyna Zmuda, Miroslaw Cichocki, npc, Rudolf Borusiewicz, coach) 1 • Daniel Gullberg 65.14 Medalists: Damiani Cup Silver: England 2 • Yujie Jiang 62.34 won all three sets, and the first Rona Cup, 131-97. France (Marion Silver: Tom PASKE; Graeme ROBERTSON; 3 • Chun-Yao Huang 62.05 Kristoffer HEGGE; Michael BYRNE (npc); Cannone, Jessie Carbonneaux, Aurelie Thizy, Carole Puillet, 4 • Shan Huang 60.42 Gold: Shivam SHAH; James PAUL; ØClaire Chaugny, Jerome Rombaut, npc) lost the final but won the 5 • Maxim Henbest 60.00 Adam GROSSACK; Alan SHILLITOE (coach); silver medals. 6 • Danuta Kazmucha 58.75 Bronze: Daniel McINTOSH; 7 • Kristoffer Hegge 57.55 Daniel GULLBERG Tom RAINFORTH Rona Cup Silver: France 8 • Mats Eide 57.36 Jerome ROMBAUT, npc, 9 • Kevin Rosenberg 56.00 Jessie CARBONNEAUX, 10 • Manlin Luo 55.85 Aurélie THIZY, Seventeen players participated in the two-session Plate Claire CHAUGNY, Carole PUILLET, (Consolation). The top five were: Marion CANNONE Twenty-four players in each flight qualified for their final. Damiani Cup Bronze (with Gianarrigo Rona) PLATE (Consolation) Netherlands: With one session to play, the leading score in both events was Monique van de SAND, npc; a solid 57%, with many pairs in touch with the leaders. Maarten SCHOLLAARDT, coach; Rona Cup Bronze: China Rens PHILIPSEN; Lulu PENG Thijs VERBEEK; Vincent NAB; Xiufen CHANG In the Juniors, though the overall leader, Haakon Bogen of 1 • Andrew Jeng USA 59.66 Lotte LEUFKENS; Yanjiao LIU Norway had another big game, he was passed by Denmark’s 2 • Yasuaki Ii Japan 57.41 Ernst WACKWITZ; Lixuan LI, npc 3 • Mikael Rimsstedt Sweden 57.14 Xing LI Dennis Bilde, who produced a monster final session to climb to Rik van LEEUWEN 4 • Vemund Vikjord Norway 55.16 Wei MENG (with José Damiani) the top from third. Chun Ting Arthur Lau of Hong Kong 5 • Johan Karlsson Sweden 54.63 moved up from fifth to earn the bronze medal. The top ten:

20 21 The 9th World Bridge Series Championships 2nd World Youth The Q-Plus North Dealer North i A J 10 found the essential WORLD COMPUTER BRIDGE Both Vul. h J 10 9 lead of the iJ g K 7 6 2 Bridge Championships CHAMPIONSHIP to partner’s king; f 10 7 6 spade to the ten; The 14th championship in the series attracted seven hopeful i Q 9 8 i 7 6 4 iA, diamond to contestants and their robots. They competed in a first-stage h A K Q 5 2 N h 7 4 3 the ace; and the Opatija, Croatia / 21-30 August 2011 W E round robin of 32-board matches, followed by knockout semi- g Q 10 S g 3 de grace - the finals and final. The favorites were defending champion, Jack, f Q 9 4 f K J 9 6 4 2 thirteenth spade developed by Hans Kuijf of the Netherlands, and the 2008 to promote the THE VENUE winner Wbridge5, develop ed by Yves Costel of France. i K 5 3 2 setting trick in Grand Hotel 4 Opatijska Cvijeta and Mileny Hotel h 8 6 trumps. All that, CHAMPIONSHIPS CONTESTANTS AND WEBSITES g A J 10 8 5 and Q-Plus Bridge PARTICIPATION SCHEDULE f Q 8 has to wait until Juniors (up to 25) and Youngsters (up to 20) may participate • Bridge Baron (USA) www.bridgebaron.com next year to dis- Stephen Smith [email protected] West North East South play its talents in ACCOMMODATION 21 August 7.30pm: Opening Ceremony • Jack (The Netherlands) www.jackbridge.com Shark Q-Plus Shark Q-Plus the 15th annual (full board / per person per day): 22-23 August Swiss Teams Hans Kuijf [email protected] Pass Pass Pass championship, 24 August Swiss Teams Quarter-final and BAM Teams Qualification-1 • Micro Bridge (Japan) www.osk.3web.ne.jp/~mcbridge/ 1h Pass 1NT Pass to be held in Single Room € 93,00 25 August Swiss Teams Semi-final and BAM Teams 2NT Pass 3h All Pass T Uchida and Y Uchida [email protected] Veldhoven, the Double Room € 61,00 Qualification-2 • Moose Bridge (USA) Netherlands, as Triple Room € 51,00 26 August Swiss Teams Final and BAM Teams Pete Boton [email protected] part of the 40th World Team Championships. Quadruple Room € 46,00 Qualification-3 • Q-Plus Bridge (Germany) www.q-plus.com 27 August BAM Teams A&B Final Hans Leber [email protected] SEMIFINALS The above-mentioned accommodation rates at the Grand • Shark Bridge (Denmark) www.sharkbridge.dk Hotel 4 Opatijska Cvijeta, are valid for the participants and John Norris [email protected] WBridge5 154 Bridge Baron 123 their companions also up to one week after the event. 28-30 August Open Pairs • WBridge5 (France) www.wbridge5.com Jack 183 Shark Bridge 58 Participants are kindly requested to send their accommo- 30 August Prize-giving & Closing Ceremony dation requests to: Yves Costel [email protected] Jack defeated Shark Bridge convincingly, but Bridge Baron 123 Mrs Branka Grguric: [email protected] gave WBridge5 a tough battle. The results: ROUND ROBIN FINAL Software VP Score WBridge5 110 VP Jack 150 WBridge5 118 Shark Bridge 108 VP Jack 106 VP The final pitted the two most competitive programs on the Bridge Baron 103 VP market against one another, with Jack retaining its title after Q-Plus Bridge 99 VP a hard-fought match. Micro Bridge 74 VP Moose Bridge 6 VP

According to Al Levy, who has been the driving force in orga- nizing and promoting this event for many years, this was the closest round robin finish in its history. With one round to go, any of the top five leading teams could have been eliminated. Calendar 2010 DATETheEVENT 2011 CONTACT This time, perennial contender Q-Plus Bridge was the odd- “bot” out after bowing 6-24 to Shark Bridge in the last round. Newcomer Moose Bridge managed only 6 VPs, in what its soft- May 10/19 Zone 2 USBF Open team Trials, Las Vegas Nevada, USA www.usbf.org ware developer referred to as a ‘learning experience.” 21/28 Zone 2 (CBF) Championships, Regina, SK, Canada [email protected] 24/28 Zone 5 (Central America & Caribbean) Championships, Varadero, Cuba www.cacbf.com Computer bridge does not always conform to real-life expec- 26/2 June Zone 4 (Asia and Middle) Championships, Chennai, India not yet confirm Martin PATTENIER, Wim HEEMSKERK, Al LEVY, tations; this defense by Q-Plus Bridge might attract an inquiry Hans KUIJF (developer of Jack, the winning program in the World if it was found at the table by flesh-and-blood defenders… Computer Bridge Championship), José Damiani June 1/11 Zone 3 (South America) Championships, Asumcion, Paraguay www.confusudbridge.org 3/4 World Wide Bridge Contest, Clubs everywhere www.ecatsbridge.com 6/11 Zone 2 USBF Women's & Seniors Trials, Detroit Michigan, USA www.usbf.org World Bridge News drew extensively on material and photographs that appeared in the Daily Bulletins in Philadelphia 15/24 Zone 6 (Pacific Asia) Championships, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia www.mcba.org.my and the gracious assistance of journalists, officials and players. 17/23 Zone 8 (Africa) Championships, Hammamet, Tunisia www.africanbridgefed.net A special vote of thanks goes to Jonathan Steinberg (Toronto), 17/2 July European Open Championships, Poznan, Poland www.eurobridge.org who made available his extensive collection of photos. July 21/31 ACBL Summer NABC, Toronto Ontario, Canada www.acbl.org

Publishing Director: Gianarrigo Rona All contents and unspecified pictures are WBF copyright. nd Executive Editor: Eric Kokish All rights reserved in all countries August 21/30 2 World Youth Bridge Congress, Opatija, Croatia www.worldbridge.org Contributors: Donna Compton, Anna Gudge, World Bridge Federation © January 2010 Mark Newton, Anna Maria Torlontano Printed in 5,000 exemplars October 15/29 40th World Team Championships, Veldhoven, Netherlands www.worldbridge.org Realization: Kalevala • Paris by GRAPH2000 • France REPORT Women’s Committee BY DONNA COMPTON ANNA MARIA TORLONTANO Cardiff, Wales, September 2010 Chairman, WBF Women’s Committee

Buffett Cup2010 Challenge Match TheWomen’s CommitteeWBF The 2010 Challenge Match, he WBF Women’s Commit- Festival," staged for women players like to pay tribute to him for his remark- staged at Miskin Manor Country Hotel, Cardiff, Wales, in September, T tee, as always, has been from all over the world in Thailand able efforts for the game and its players very active, looking at new (Zone 6). This event is being organized everywhere, and especially for his strong, featured the two strongest teams to date, ways to involve women in bridge and to by the Contract Bridge League of constant support and commitment to develop women’s bridge worldwide. Thailand, and Esther Sophonpanich, Women’s Bridge. At the same time, I wel- creating great anticipation for the spectators around the world. President of Zone 6 and Chair of the come the election of Gianarrigo Rona to There are currently WBF women’s tour- Organizing Committee, with the gener- the Presidency and I know that he, too, naments played each Wednesday online ous assistance and support of the Pacific shares our aims and ambitions for the Team USA won the inaugural event in There were 198 Buffett Points available The Individual Event offered 66 BP. Each at BBO (www.bridgebase.com) – indi- Asia Bridge Federation and the WBF development of women’s bridge world- Dublin in 2006 and Team Europe won in over the three events – Pairs, Teams and player on Team USA was drawn to com- vidual and pair events, joined by women Women's Committee. Every indication wide. Space constraints prevent me from Louisville in 2008, so the NPC’s felt the Individual. The first team to obtain 100 pare with a particular player on Team from all around the world. suggests that this is going to be a very mentioning all the dedicated members of pressure to bring in the best of the best Buffett Points would win. The Pairs Europe. A player did not meet his direct- successful and enjoyable event, compris- the Women’s Committee, but I must for the third Challenge Cup. Event was first up: each of the six pairs ly-linked opponent, who was always in In April we will once again be staging the ing a Bridge Festival combined with acknowledge the immense support of my on Team USA was linked to a particular the same seat at the corresponding Online Women’s Bridge Festival in partner- some wonderful tourism. Vice Chairman, Joan Gerard and the won- pair on Team Europe; each played a table. Each player partnered the eleven ship with BBO; this has proved extremely derful work done on our website by TEAM USA’S ROSTER short match against each of the “other” other members of the team for one successful in the past two years and we However, for those who missed the Marijke Blanken. five pairs of the opposing team (but not short set, meeting various combinations hope that all NBO’s will provide informa- Thailand Festival, please be advised that David Berkowitz, Alan Sontag, Bob against their directly-linked pair, which of the opposing team. In every case the tion about this to their women players, giv- we are planning more events for the You can find our website at www.wbf- Hamman, Zia Mahmood, Bobby Levin, always sits in the corresponding seats at four individuals at one table had their ing them the address of our website at future, including Zonal Women's womensbridgeclub.org, and there is Steve Weinstein, Jill Levin, , the matching table. There were 60 corresponding opponent sitting in the www.wbfwomensbridgeclub.org, Festivals in Zones 4 and 8 and in Buenos also lots of information about Women’s Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Geoff Buffett Points offered for the Pairs same seat at the matching table. where they can find full details of this Aires in Zone 5. These events and others Bridge on the WBF Website at Hampson and Fred Gitelman, NPC phase. When the final scores were post- enjoyable event. It gives women the will be advertised on our website as well www.worldbridge.org – go to the cat- Donna Compton. ed, USA had 40 Buffett Points to Team Each individual match awarded six BP. chance to play online in a friendly and as directly to the NBOs in due course. egory section and click on “women” and Europe’s 20. At the end of five individual matches, sociable environment. Please contact our Secretary, Anna you will find it there; information about TEAM EUROPE’S ROSTER Team USA led 89-73. Focused on the Gudge, if you wish to be added to our future events will also be published on The Teams Event was second in line: goal of 100 Buffett Points – needing Although we have publicized the event mailing list to receive information direct- www.ecatsbridge.com. , , Boye each team arranged its six pairs into only 11 more points, Team USA won extensively, it is unfortunate that this ly about WBF Women’s events – you can Brogeland, Erik Saelensminde, Giorgio three teams that met each of the three each of the next three matches 4-2 and edition of World Bridge News will come e-mail her at: [email protected]. Duboin, , Fulvio opposing teams for two sets. The Team locked up the 2010 Buffett Cup out too late to provide last-minute José Damiani retired from the Presidency Fantoni, Claudio Nunes, Jason and Events, with 72 BP at stake, provided an Challenge Match with three matches details about the "First Zonal Women’s of the WBF in October, 2010, and I would Justin Hackett, Geir Helgemo and Tor opportunity for Team Europe to get to go. In the spirit of the event and Helness, NPC Paul Hackett. back into the match. At the end of the for all of the spectators around the Teams phase, Team world, Team USA and Team Europe Europe had nar- finished the remaining three matches; rowed the lead, the final score was Team USA 109 – trailing Team USA Team Europe 89. The top individual by 12 BP, 60-72. The point winners for their respective teams 2010 Buffett Cup were Bob Hamman and Claudio Nunes. Bridge Contest Challenge Match World Wide BY ANNA GUDGE & MARK NEWTON - ECatsBridge (www.ecatsbridge.com) would be decided by the Individual Event. he 2010 World Wide from Germany with 75.64%. Vital St- The 2011 Worldwide Bridge Contest will Bridge Contest was held Gelais / Huguette Dufour from Canada be on Friday June 3rd and Saturday June 4th. Gianarrigo Rona with Team USA: Hamman, Rodwell, Hampson, T at the beginning of June were third with 72.70%. All three of Sontag, Jill Levin, Bobby Levin, Compton, Meckstroth, Meyers, Mahmood, Gitelman, Berkowitz, Weinstein with over 9,500 pairs competing in the those scores were very high. two sessions from some 49 different To enter, please contact countries world wide. The winners on Saturday were John Anna Gudge: Currie / Virginia Giza from Canada with On Friday the winners came from Italy – 74.64%; second were Baneet Malhotra / tel. +44 1787 881920 Team Europe: Fantoni, Auken, Nunes, Duboin, Jason Hackett, Fabrizio Morelli / Elvio Bastardini, with Bhabesh Saha from India with 72.41%; fax +44 870 123 1955 Paul Hackett, von Arnim, Helgemo, Justin Hackett, Sementa, an amazing 78.42%. Second overall and third were Bernard Donde / Robert email [email protected] Brogeland, Saelensminde, Helness were Susanne and Henning Bohnsack Stephens from South Africa with 71.64%

24 25 th RANKING 40 World Team World Ranking Championships WBF Women’s Top 50, 2010 2010 ing rounds (150 boards). The Quarter Final will start on th 12 Deas Lynn USA WGM 206532 Dhondy Heather ENG WGM 1526 Thursday 27 October late afternoon, the Semi Final will be 13 Sanborn Kerri USA WGM 204433 Rosenberg Debbie USA WGM 1482 played on Friday 28th October and the Final will end on Hongli Wang 14 Levin Jill USA WGM 202934 Zwol Wietske Van NED WGM 1466 VELDHOVEN, The Netherlands 15 Sokolow Tobi USA WGM 200035 Breed Mildred USA WGM 1463 Saturday 29th October. First in 2010 16 Arnim Daniela Von GER WGM 198336 Brock Sally ENG WGM 1451 15-29 october 2011 Women’s ranking 17 Palmer Beth USA WGM 197537 Baker Lynn USA WLM 1392 The World Transnational Open Teams Championship is a pres- 18 Arnolds Carla NED WGM 195338 Letizia Marinesa USA WGM 1280 tigious and most enjoyable event. Being Transnational, it is 19 Pasman Jet NED WGM 190639 Hackett Barbara GER WLM 1229 Name First name NBO CAT M.P.20 Simons Anneke NED WGM 189840 Picus Sue USA WGM 1208 open to teams composed of players coming from different 1 Wang Hongli CHN WGM 306821 Seamon-Molson Janice USA WGM 189341 Lu Yan CHN WGM 1181 countries, nominated by their National Bridge Organisation 2 Gu Ling CHN WGM 291622 Gaviard Danièle FRA WGM 188542 Stansby JoAnna USA WGM 1171 3 Levitina Irina USA WGM 281323 Liu Yi Qian CHN WGM 181343 Radin Judi USA WGM 1136 and approved by the WBF Credentials Committee. 4 Sun Ming CHN WGM 271824 Zhang Yalan CHN WLM 180744 Mancuso Renee USA WLM 1132 5 D’Ovidio Catherine FRA WGM 264425 Mccallum Karen USA WGM 180345 Narasimhan Hansa USA WGM 997 It is a great opportunity for players to participate in a won- 6 Wang Wen Fei CHN WGM 261026 Quinn Shawn USA WGM 178846 Yanhui Sun CHN WLM 989 derful bridge tournament while at the same time having a 7 Auken Sabine GER WGM 252427 Nehmert Beate Pony GER WGM 177847 Pollack Rozanne USA WGM 912 8 Vriend Bep NED WGM 250928 Gromova Victoria RUS WGM 173448 Feng Xuefeng CHN WLM 905 unique opportunity to experience all the atmosphere and 9 Willard Sylvie FRA WGM 250029 Smith Nicola ENG WGM 166749 Moss Sylvia USA WLM 878 excitement of the final stages of the Bermuda Bowl and 10 Cronier Bénédicte FRA WGM 234130 Ponomareva Tatiana RUS WGM 161550 Fung Kismet CAN WLM 867 11 Meyers Jill USA WGM 209531 Bessis Véronique FRA WLM 1537 Venice Cup and watch some of the greatest players in the WBF Grand Masters 2010 Women’s Category * world on the first class vu-graph presentation. Players wishing to compete in this Championship should contact their NBO Name First name NBO P.P.22 Picus Sue USA 26,5 44 Erhart Maria AUT 16,5 1 Meyers Jill USA 43,5 23 Cronier Bénédicte FRA 25,5 Weigkricht Terry AUT 16,5 and request nomination by the end of September 2011. There 2 Auken Sabine GER 39,5 Wei-Sender Kathie USA 25,5 46 Sanders Carol USA 15,5 is no quota, and NBOs may nominate as many teams as they 3 Deas Lynn USA 39 25 Seamon-Molson Janice USA 25 Reim Andrea GER 15,5 4 Sanborn Kerri USA 37,5 Sandra ENG 25 48 Ponomareva Tatiana RUS 15 wish to compete in this great tournament. 5 Levitina Irina USA 37 27 Brock Sally ENG 23,5 Gromova Victoria RUS 15 Players eliminated from the Round Robin and Quarter-final of 6 Gu Ling CHN 36 28 Letizia Marinesa USA 23 Farell Mary Jane USA 15 7 Wang Hongli CHN 35 29 Mitchell Jacqui USA 22,5 51 Chambers Juanita USA 14,5 the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup & D’Orsi Seniors Bowl will be 8 Arnim Daniela Von GER 34,5 Breed Mildred USA 22,5 52 Stansby JoAnna USA 14 9 Smith Nicola ENG 34 31 Arnolds Carla NED 21,5 Dhondy Heather ENG 14 OPENING CEREMONY able to enter the World Transnational Open Teams 10 D’Ovidio Catherine FRA 33,5 32 Gaviard Danièle FRA 21 54 Pollack Rozanne USA 13,5 Championship free of charge if they enter as a complete team. 11 Wang Wen Fei CHN 33 33 Kennedy Betty Ann USA 20,5 55 Narasimhan Hansa USA 12 th 12 Vriend Bep NED 32,5 Greenberg Gail USA 20,5 56 Mcgowan Elizabeth SCO 11 The Opening Ceremony will be held on Saturday October 15 13 Sokolow Tobi USA 32 35 Simons Anneke NED 20 Gordon Dianna CAN 11 at the NH Conference Center Koningshof. The ceremony will REGISTRATION OF TEAMS 14 Sun Ming CHN 31,5 Pasman Jet NED 20 58 Lu Yan CHN 10,5 15 Willard Sylvie FRA 31 Montin Randi USA 20 Capodanno Luciana ITA 10,5 be followed by a show and by a cocktail/buffet. 16 Palmer Beth USA 30 38 Zwol Wietske Van NED 19,5 D'andrea Marisa ITA 10,5 17 Mccallum Karen USA 29 39 Davies Pat ENG 19 Verbeek Martine NED 10,5 All entries to the Championships must be submitted electron- 17 Levin Jill USA 29 40 Liu Yi Qian CHN 18,5 Steiner Carlyn USA 10,5 THE BERMUDA BOWL, VENICE CUP & ically, via the WBF website (not by email) at 19 Radin Judi USA 28,5 41 Rosenberg Debbie USA 18 63 Schulle Kay USA 10 20 Quinn Shawn USA 27,5 42 Pas Marijke Van Der NED 17,5 Osberg Sharon USA 10 D’ORSI SENIORS BOWL www.worldbridge.org/competitions/11Veldhoven/ Nehmert Beate Pony GER 27,5 43 Fischer Doris AUT 17 Information.htm * ranked by Placing Points The Round Robin for all three Championships will start Sunday by 15th June 2011. It is very important that this deadline is respected. WBF Open Top 50, 2010 16th October and finish on Saturday 22nd October, with the rd 12 Helness Tor NOR WGM 263932 Gitelman Fred USA WGM 1668 final knock-out stages starting on Sunday 23 . The Quarter 13 Bocchi Norberto ITA WGM 246033 Zmudzinski Adam POL WGM 1656 Finals for each of the events will end before the start of the REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS’ NAMES Fulvio Fantoni 14 Katz Ralph USA WGM 237434 Pszczola Jacek USA WGM 1645 First in 2010 15 Levin Bobby USA WGM 217335 Multon Franck FRA WGM 1642 Transnational Open Teams, thus enabling players eliminated 16 Weinstein Steve USA WGM 215236 Saelensminde Erik NOR WGM 1641 from the main Championships to participate Transnational Registration of players’ and NBO Delegation members’ names Men’s ranking 17 Piekarek Josef GER WLM 203637 Dubinin Alexander RUS WLM 1626 18 Fredin Peter SWE WLM 200238 Chagas Gabriel BRA WGM 1618 Championship. must be sent by 15th July 2011 via the WBF website (not by 19 Balicki Cezary POL WGM 198439 Moss Brad USA WGM 1613 Name First name NBO CAT M.P20 Fu Zhong CHN WGM 193740 Groetheim Glenn NOR WGM 1556 email) at 1 Fantoni Fulvio ITA WGM 475421 Brogeland Boye NOR WGM 190941 Zhuang Zejun CHN WLM 1530 Zonal Qualified teams for Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup & www.worldbridge.org/competitions/11Veldhoven/ 2 Nunes Claudio ITA WGM 453322 Hampson Geoff USA WGM 187342 Yang Li Xin CHN WLM 1493 3 Duboin Giorgio ITA WGM 382723 Sementa Antonio ITA WGM 184643 Gawrys Piotr POL WGM 1380 D’Orsi Seniors Bowl (in addition to the Host Teams): Information.htm 4 Hamman Bob USA WGM 374524 Greco Eric USA WLM 180644 Zimmermann Pierre FRA WLM 1338 5 Meckstroth Jeff USA WGM 373425 Gromov Andrei RUS WLM 176745 Weinstein Howard USA WLM 1306 6 Lauria Lorenzo ITA WGM 370526 Fallenius Bjorn SWE WLM 176446 Garner Steve USA WLM 1279 Zone 1 – 6 teams PAYMENT OF ENTRY FEES 7 Versace Alfredo ITA WGM 366427 Smirnov Alexander GER WLM 174947 Hackett Justin ENG WIM 1254 8 Rodwell Eric USA WGM 350828 Martel Chip USA WGM 174248 Tundal Ulf NOR WLM 1208 Zone 2 – 3 teams 9 Nickell Frank (Nick) USA WGM 294329 Zhao Jie CHN WLM 172349 Hackett Jason ENG WIM 1199 Zone 3 – 2 teams • Bermuda Bowl/Venice Cup € 3.200 before or on 1st July 10 Mahmood Zia USA WGM 293830 Rosenberg Michael USA WGM 171450 Martens Krzysztof POL WGM 1196 st 11 Helgemo Geir NOR WGM 271131 Stansby Lew USA WGM 1681 Zone 4 – 2 teams • D’Orsi Seniors Bowl € 3.200 before or on 1 July Zone 5 – 1 teams • World Transnational Open Teams € 1.200 before on 1st Sept. WBF Grand Masters 2010 Open Category * Zone 6 - 3 teams Name First name NBO P.P.24 Balicki Cezary POL 25 48 Assumpcao Pedro Paulo BRA 14,5 Zone 7 – 2 teams The entry fees must be paid by Bank Transfer to WBF 1 Hamman Bob USA 108,25 Zmudzinski Adam POL 25 Saelensminde Erik NOR 14,5 2 Garozzo Benito ITA 75,5 26 Lawrence Michael USA 23,5 50 Kantar Edwin USA 14 Zone 8 – 2 teams Bank information will be forwarded to NBOs 3 Wolff Bobby USA 70,25 27 Perron Michel FRA 23 51 Gitelman Fred USA 13,75 4 Meckstroth Jeff USA 60,25 28 Ross Hugh USA 22 52 Hamilton Fred USA 13,5 and published on the WBF and E-Cats Web 5 Rodwell Eric USA 59,75 29 Katz Ralph USA 21,25 53 Pszczola Jacek USA 13 If any Zone does not fill its quota the first berth will be offered 6 Forquet Pietro ITA 58 30 Franco Arturo ITA 20 54 Meltzer Rose USA 12,5 7 Lauria Lorenzo ITA 48,5 31 Mari Christian FRA 19,5 55 Kwiecien Michal POL 12 to Zone 1, the second one to Zone 6. Players eliminated from 8 Versace Alfredo ITA 43 Sontag Alan USA 19,5 Bates Roger USA 12 the Open, Women's or 9 Chagas Gabriel BRA 41 33 Levin Bobby USA 19 Weinstein Steve USA 12 10 Stansby Lew USA 40,5 34 Lebel Michel FRA 18,5 58 Larsen Kyle USA 11,5 THE WORLD TRANSNATIONAL Senior Teams may form 11 Martel Chip USA 40 35 Gawrys Piotr POL 18 Branco Pedro Paulo BRA 11,5 12 Duboin Giorgio ITA 39 36 Martens Krzysztof POL 17,5 Muller Bauke NED 11,5 OPEN TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP new Open teams and 13 Nickell Frank (Nick) USA 37,25 Groetheim Glenn NOR 17,5 61 Hampson Geoff USA 11,25 will receive free entry 14 Fantoni Fulvio ITA 37 Weichsel Peter USA 17,5 Rubin Ron USA 11,25 * ranked by Placing Points th 15 Branco Marcelo BRA 35 39 Multon Franck FRA 17 63 Lesniewski Marcin POL 11 The 8 World Transnational Open Teams will take place during provided no players 15 Nunes Claudio ITA 35 40 De Falco Dano ITA 16,5 Tuszynski Piotr POL 11 the second week, starting in the late afternoon on Monday who have not partici- 17 Helness Tor NOR 32 Rubin Ira USA 16,5 65 Fu Zhong CHN 10,5 18 Bocchi Norberto ITA 31 42 Brogeland Boye NOR 15,5 66 Moss Brad USA 10,25 24th October. The format will be Swiss Teams. It is normally pated in these events 19 Mahmood Zia USA 30,75 Mello Roberto BRA 15,5 67 Fonseca Christiano BRA 10 20 Helgemo Geir NOR 30,5 44 Deutsch Seymon USA 15 Woolsey Kit USA 10 played as 10-board matches (3, 4 or 5 per day) for 15 qualify- are added. 21 Chemla Paul FRA 28 Passell Mike USA 15 Westra Berry NED 10 22 Rosenberg Michael USA 25,75 Levy Alain FRA 15 70 Kreijns Hans NED 9,5 23 Eisenberg Billy USA 25,5 Sementa Antonio ITA 15 71 Siniscalco Guglielmo ITA 4 In the event that a team is made up from players who have not has also achieved world fame. Students from all corners of the participated in the three main events, with players from these globe come to study at the Design Academy and at the events added to the team, the charges will be as follows Industrial Design department of the University of Technology. • A team with 4 new players & Eindhoven is dedicated to excellence. one or two eliminated players: € 1.200 • A team with 3 new players & BRAINPORT EINDHOVEN. Top technology region Brainport up to three eliminated players : € 960 Eindhoven is a breeding ground for innovation and the home • A team with 2 new players & base for companies, and world-class knowledge and research up to four eliminated players : € 640 institutes. Brainport devises and manufactures the technology • A team with 1 new player & of the near future, the technology that contributes to a safe, up to five eliminated players : € 320 green, and caring society and to the sustainable economic development of the Netherlands. Among the numerous inno- SYSTEMS REGISTRATION vative and renowned knowledge and research institutes are: Philips, DAF, ASML, FEI Company,TomTom, University of Systems in Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup & D’Orsi Senior Bowl Technology, TNO, Design Academy, High Tech Campus. have to be registered with the World Bridge Federation Systems Administrator by 31st July 2011 at HOTEL ACCOMMODATION & BOOKING [email protected] The conditions of contest will give full details of systems regu- The Organising Committee has arranged the following special lations and registration. No HUM, or conven- rates (for participants with the Hotel (including breakfast and free tions will be permitted at any stage of the Round Robin in parking and excluding Tourist Tax € 0.60 per person per night): either the Bermuda Bowl or Venice Cup nor will they be per- mitted at any stage of the Senior Bowl. • Standard Double Room € 109 • Standard Single Room € 95 Pairs wishing to register Brown Sticker or HUM systems for • Superior Double Room* € 129 use in the KO phase must register these, together with the • Superior Single Room* € 115 relevant BS forms, by 31st July 2011. No extension to this dead- (*According to availability) line will be accepted. BS or HUM partnerships will lose their seating rights. For booking please contact: NH Conference Centre Koningshof THE VENUE Mrs. Paula Duim Tel. 00-31-(0)40-2581825 NH CONFERENCE CENTER KONINGSHOF in Veldhoven is sit- [email protected] uated in an area of natural beauty, five kilometers south of Eindhoven and near Endhoven Airport. The biggest Congress For further information about other hotel accommodation Hotel of the Benelux is situated in the beautiful surroundings please contact: of the “Brabantse Kempen” which creates a different atmo- Mr. Just van Der Kam sphere every season. Upon arrival you can immediately Organising Committe encounter the famous Brabant hospitality. NH Conference [email protected] Center Koningshop offers 509 rooms, all situated in a quiet environment and overlook the forest or the patio gardens of TRAVEL the hotel. The Koningshof has a swimming pool, sports hall, squash courts, solarium and saunas, fitness room, restaurants You are advised to book a direct flight from the major European and bars, and outdoor all-weather tennis and beach volleyball cities to International Airport Eindhoven. When you travel from court. The Genderstein golf club is just a five-minute walk outside Europe to the Netherlands it is likely you will arrive at away. The busses – which stop in front of the hotel – can bring Amsterdam Airport you to Eindhoven city center. Schiphol. Schiphol station is situated EINDHOVEN. As the largest city in the south of the directly below the air- Netherlands, the Eindhoven region has over 725.000 inhabi- port. It takes 1 hour tants. The Dutch capital Amsterdam is only 125 km away. and 32 min. from Eindhoven offers a wide spectrum of facilities in the areas of Schiphol to Eindhoven shopping, nightlife and performing arts. The cultural climate by train. in the Eindhoven region is diverse - the Van Abbe museum is internationally recognised for its modern art collection. The organisers will Eindhoven is sometimes called the ‘City of Light', that's not be happy to arrange surprising because Eindhoven is closely linked to Philips. your transfer from Eindhoven ranks among the world’s top cities in first-rate tech- Eindhoven station or nology, design, lighting and sports. A number of international Eindhoven Airport top companies work together at the state-of-the-art High Tech to NH Conference Campus, our very own Silicon Valley. Design from Eindhoven Centre Koningshof.