World Bridge

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Eric Kokish News FEBRUARY 2009 THE OFFICIAL MEDIUM OF THE WORLD BRIDGE FEDERATION We did it! Now it’s up to you …

Finally, the dream became a reality. The World was really a showcase with advanced technology Mind Sports Games took place in Beijing last and magnificent opening, closing and medal cere- October and I believe we achieved at least three of monies on a par with those of the Olympic Games. our main goals. Certainly, there was no better occasion on which to Firstly, as you know, I have said many times that it celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the World Bridge is essential to make Bridge come alive for young Federation, with a retrospective of past events and people. We are delighted to report that it seems plans for the sport’s undeniably bright future. we managed to convince the National Bridge Federations to pay special attention to this vital All that would not have been possible without sector of our sport. Of course, it is easier for the the tremendous support we received from the larger Federations than the smaller ones, and so we Chinese Authorities and our great friends from the invested heavily in helping all of them; we are proud of the Chinese Contract Bridge Association. On your behalf, I want to result. 110 Youth teams enjoyed their trip to China and gave us thank all of them very warmly, and I also thank all of you - real pleasure and hope. not only the youth, but every player who came to Beijing - for your participation. Secondly, World Mind Sports Games needed to advance public awareness through media coverage. This was accomplished Naturally, we are now going to proceed with a joint debriefing through many press conferences which were attended by hundreds when the International Mind Sports Association meets with GAISF of journalists and many television stations. Far more matches than and the IOC on the occasion of Sportaccord, which will be held in ever before were broadcast live or retransmitted with access to any Denver (USA) in March. We will no doubt learn how we can national channel through satellite and Internet links. improve on certain aspects of the organization and the promotion, and we are going to decide where and when the The third idea was to show the General Association of second edition of the WMSG will take place. International Sports Federations (GAISF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that we are true sports deserving of But, in the meantime, everything depends on you, the NBOs, special status and recognition in order to facilitate the access of to follow up and take advantage of what - according to the our NBOs to their own National Olympic Committees. This could spectators, players and the press - we can consider to have been mean not only more financial benefits, but also, perhaps even a great success. It’s up to each country to use all the material we more importantly, a new image for Mind Sports and especially have provided to increase the numbers of your young, active Bridge. This will enable our teachers to go into schools or univer- players through marketing and recruitment campaigns. Certainly sities to attract more young active players. In that respect, Beijing I hope you will consider uniting all the mind sports in a National Association in which you can help each other flourish. The future will be bright only if everyone is aware that the job is not • THE WORLD COMES TO BEIJING ...... Page 2 finished, but has only just begun. • 1st WORLD YOUTH BRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIPS ...... Page 19 • WORLD WIDE BRIDGE CONTEST ...... Page 20 • WORLD COMPUTER BRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIPS ...... Page 20 • THE WBF WOMEN’S COMMITTEE ...... Page 21 • 2009 CALENDAR ...... Page 21 • 2008 WORLD RANKING ...... Page 22 • SÃO PAULO 2009 ...... Page 23 José Damiani, WBF President

Official WBF Site : www.worldbridge.org REPORT BY ERIC KOKISH Beijing, China, 3-18 October, 2008

BeijingThe world comes to

The 29th Summer Olympics in August and the 13th Paralympics that followed in September demonstrated that China and the city of Beijing were willing and able to accommodate in incomparable style the world’s finest athletes in a complete spectrum of sporting disciplines. The venues and infrastructure were brilliantly conceived, allowing participants to better focus on their events, and anyone not impressed was simply not paying attention.

But China was not yet finished playing With roughly 2,000 players from 92 unique position to make things happen, host to the rest of the world in 2008: at countries participating, Bridge was the and his influence with the media was the beginning of October the stage had main event at the WMSG, though Chess vitally important to the success of the been cleared for the first edition of the was also particularly well represented. WMSG. José Damiani, as President of the World Mind Sports Games (WMSG), The tireless efforts of Liu Siming, Vice World Bridge Federation and also the a gathering of some 3000 people President of the Chinese Contract Bridge International Mind Sports Association from over 140 countries and regions Association (CCBA), in bringing Bridge (IMSA) was uniquely placed to work competing in one of five disciplines: and Chess together in the WMSG earned closely with CCBA and the National Bridge, Chess, Go, Xiangqi (Chinese him the Alan Truscott Memorial Award, Bridge Organizations to make it possible Chess) and Draughts. Media coverage, which is given for some special service to for a record number of countries to send perhaps building on the standards Bridge that would appeal to Alan. participants to Beijing. established at the Olympics and Truscott, who loved Chess almost as Paralympics, was extensive, with nightly much as Bridge, would have been The first WMSG incorporated under the Chinese TV broadcasts and daily news- delighted.Mr Liu, as Director General aegis of the International Mind Sports paper reports. Administrator of Sport in China, was in a Association the former World Teams The world comes to Beijing

Team four teams for the Round of 16, the win- photos include ner of each group earning the privilege of the names of all choosing its opponent from the third- and team members but fourth place finishers in its companion do not attempt to group (A with B; C with D). Once those identify specific selections were made, the rest of the players entire draw was filled in according to a pre-determined formula, so winning the Norway: group was, at least in theory, a significant Open Team perk. If each of the favorites won its Bronze Medalists group the possibility of their surviving to Terje Aa the semifinals was higher, but while no Glenn Groetheim one would question the inclusion of Italy Geir Helgemo (A), Norway (C), and USA (D) in this group, Tor Helness with the Netherlands and China the Jorgen Molberg Ulf Tundal morningline choices in Group B perhaps a npc: Sten Bjertnes notch below, there were only a few addi- coach: Inger Hjellemarken tional teams (Brazil, England, France, Poland, Russia) considered legitimate Olympiad Open and Women’s series WBG players to watch the WMSG or threats to win the event if they found under the new title of the World Bridge mingle with and support the young their best form. Given the possibility that Games (WBG), which also included three Bridge players. That might give you any of those teams and a few other solid Youth events: U28 Teams, U28 Pairs, and some idea of how difficult it was to teams (Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, U28 Individual. In addition, two Master stage an event of this size. Although India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, South Individual events (Men’s and Women’s) both venues were not far from the Bird’s Africa, Spain and Sweden) might some- were held for a number of invited play- Nest and Water Cube, it was not always what randomly finish first or second in ers who believed their participation easy to arrange visits or to travel from their group and affect the theoretically would not reduce their team’s chances one playing area to the other, and, optimal pre-seeding, the battle for one of to do well in the main events. Outside remarkably, many taxi drivers were the places in the Final Four was remark- the formal IMSA structure but under the unfamiliar with the Olympic area, ably wide open, given the strength and auspices of WBF were four more events: which produced some unexpected road history of success of the top teams. two more Youth events -the U26 and adventures for those interested in U21 Teams; the Senior Teams with the seeing more of Beijing. same format as the Open and Women’s THE ROUND ROBIN events; and the World Transnational Mixed Teams (WTMT), which started In Group A Italy had established an in the second week and was open to OPEN TEAMS unassailable lead with one round to go, everyone not involved in the quarter- but Brazil and upstart Estonia, signifi- final stage of the three parallel major cantly behind Italy, were nonetheless in teams events. The Open, Women’s and Senior events commanding positions for qualifying commenced with six days of round robin spots, more than half a match ahead of The numbers were so large that two competition (16-board matches, IMPS fifth. Canada, on 278, was fourth, but venues were required to accommodate converted to VP) in seeded groups of Ireland (270), France (269.5), Romania everyone, which had the unfortunate 16-18 teams to qualify 16 teams for the (268.5) and Denmark (266.5) were still effect of separating the WMSG events knockout stage. The 71 teams in the Open very much in the picture. Romania was from the WBG (and Senior and WTMT) series (one short of a perfect 72) were due to score 18 for its bye, but it did so there was no effective way for the seeded into four groups, each producing not seem that their posted 286.5 would

3 The world comes to Beijing

give them much of a chance from the clubhouse, as each of their rivals was matched up against a team that had been out of contention for most of the event, and rated to win comfortably. Really, it seemed a question of whether the Canadians would earn the 18 VP required to shut the door behind them. And if Canada faltered, at least one of the other contenders seemed certain to record a big win. But here’s what happened: Canada did not get 18 or anything close, bowing to Trinidad and Tobago 7-23, leaving that allegorical door open; Ireland, next in line, lost to Pakistan 13-17; France didn’t do very well either, but defeated China Macau 17-13, dropping 5 IMPs for an 800-point set on the final deal; Denmark got a Austria, just behind Sweden, and India still mathematically in touch. Spain, decent win against Kenya, 20-10. The Portugal, not too far behind. Hungary heavily favored against Singapore, lost net effect of all those exchanges was lost a close match to Latvia, 14-16, while 10-20 to kill its hopes for qualification; that Romania’s 286.5 had held up, both China and India won blitzes to Belgium got the job done with a 24-6 leaving a tie between Romania and secure their places in the knockout conquest of Chile, which meant that France. The first tie-breaker was IMP stage. Sweden and Russia (who bowed New Zealand’s winning draw against quotient rather than the head-on match to Jamaica 10-20 and beat Korea only Bangladesh made no difference. The between the teams (though Romania 18-12 on the last day), both expected to late collapse of Spain and New Zealand’s won that one also) and Romania be serious contenders, but disappointed. Round 16 blitz at the hands of Bulgaria prevailed. Rumor has it that both teams were the two most visible disappoint- were visibly stunned. Rankings for Group B ments in this group, but the poor show- ings of Iceland and Egypt, neither of Rankings for Group A 1 ISRAEL 343.0 whom was ever a real factor, were also 2 NETHERLANDS 329.0 surprising negatives. 3 CHINA 314.0 1 ITALY 337.0 4 INDIA 313.0 2 BRAZIL 304.0 5 Hungary 307.0 Rankings for Group C 3 ESTONIA 302.0 6 Sweden 293.0 4 ROMANIA 286.5 7 Austria 275.0 1 NORWAY 346.5 5 France 286.49 8 Russia 271.0 2 POLAND 331.5 6 Denmark 286.0 9 Argentina 266.0 3 BULGARIA 316.0 7 Finland 284.5 10 Portugal 259.5 4 BELGIUM 293.0 8 Ireland 283 11 Latvia 251.0 5 Spain 282.0 9 Canada 281.5 12 San Marino 238.0 6 New Zealand 280.5 10 South Africa 260.5 13 China Hong Kong 228.0 7 Ukraine 276.25 11 Pakistan 245.0 14 Scotland 204.0 8 Guadeloupe 267.0 12 Japan 242.0 15 Jamaica 179.0 9 Iceland 245.5 13 China Macau 232.5 16 French Polynesia 174.5 10 Egypt 245.0 14 Slovakia 211.0 17 Mexico 151.0 11 Chinese Taipei 244.0 15 Trinidad & Tobago 182.0 18 Korea 128.0 12 Bosnia & Herzegovina 230.5 16 Kenya 160.0 13 Georgia 226.0 14 Bangladesh 222.0 17 Albania 117.50 Norway and Poland opened a significant 15 Singapore 191.5 lead in Group C and were both home 16 Bermuda 180.5 It would have been difficult to match and dry with one round to go. Bulgaria, 17 Chile 180 the drama of Group A, but there was after blitzing contending New Zealand 18 Morocco 159.75 some lastround excitement in each of in the penultimate round, was also safe. the other qualifying groups. Spain had started the last day in fourth USA, England and Germany were place (just ahead of New Zealand and expected to be the class of Group D, In Group B Israel had locked up a spot magnificent Guadeloupe) and was due with Indonesia, Turkey and Australia the early, and on the strength of two decent to play three lowranking teams coming main contenders for the final qualify- wins the Netherlands was also safe with down the home stretch, but after win- ing spot. Germany enjoyed a 23-VP a round to go. Hungary was third on ning a blitz in Round 15, Spain bowed 9- lead at the top of the table going into 293, 4 ahead of China, 5 ahead of India, 21 to Bosnia & Herzegovina, and with the last day, but had to face both 15 ahead of Sweden, who had to play one round to play enjoyed a narrow 2 England and Turkey. USA, second, Israel). Hungary was due to face Latvia, VP lead over recently-striving Belgium; would face Lebanon, Thailand - both a second-half team, while China drew New Zealand, 11 VP behind Spain, was doing quite well - and contending

4 The world comes to Beijing

With Italy, USA and Norway all in the top half of the bracket, it was apparent that we would not see two of those teams meet in the final. In fact, if the original top seeds all held serve Italy and USA would meet in R8 with the winner to face Norway in R4, which serves to underscore the difficulty in trying to project a scenario in which the top seeds Great Britain: Open Team would reach the final. A trick or two Silver Medalists over the course of the round robin might have swung one or two VP and David Gold, altered the face of the bracket signifi- Jason and Justin Hackett, Artur Malinowski, cantly. Although the two halves of the Nicklas Sandqvist, bracket were far from balanced (consid- Tom Townsend, er that not one team in the bottom half npc: Phil King, of the bracket would trade places with coach: Simon Cope Poland, which finished second in Group Indonesia. England, 7 VP behind USA in C), everyone had started the event with third place, had two matches against THE KNOCKOUT an equal opportunity, and a random non-contenders. Turkey, just 1 VP Round of 16 element would always be present with behind England, would also play Serbia (56 boards) this type of qualifying format. and dangerous but inconsistent Australia, while Indonesia, 9 VP behind The diagram below shows the draw for These were the R16 results: Turkey, would face Thailand and R16, with the “1” matches reflecting the Switzerland before meeting USA in the choices made by the group winners. Italy 135 - India 69 final round. With one round to go, Poland 127 - USA 100 Turkey had solidified its qualification A1. Italy v India position by beating Germany and C2. Poland v USA China 134 - Brazil 125 Serbia, and moving into a tie with Norway 145 - Turkey 84 England within 1 VP of USA, who had A2. Brazil v China been crushed by the youthful Thai C1. Norway v Turkey Romania 170 - Israel 102 team 3-25. Germany was out of reach England 143 - Bulgaria 98 and Indonesia, after losing to both B1. Israel v Romania Thailand and Switzerland, was 18 VP D2. England v Bulgaria Netherlands 99 - Estonia 89 out and hardly ready to manhandle an Germany 210 - Belgium 89 American team that was licking its B2. Netherlands v Estonia wounds from the Thai debacle. USA D1. Germany v Belgium As in Istanbul at the 2004 Olympiad a won 21-9, but England beat Serbia strong American team bowed out in the 23-7 to slip into second. Turkey defeat- For successive rounds Group A winners first round of the knockout, but this ed Australia, but only 17-13 to finish and runners-up were paired with their time it was not mighty Italy that dis- fourth. That left these rankings: Group C counterparts, as were B and D. posed of USA. Poland, without aces

Rankings for Group D

1 GERMANY 353.0 2 ENGLAND 324.0 3 USA 323.0 4 TURKEY 318.0 5 Indonesia 290.0 6 Thailand 281.0 7 Greece 272.0 8 Belarus 258.0 9 Jordan 256.0 10 Lebanon 253.0 11 Australia 246.0 12 Switzerland 233.0 13 Serbia 231.0 14 Lithuania 206.0 15 Philippines 195.0 16 Reunion 189.0 17 Botswana 157.5 18 Venezuela 140.1

5 The world comes to Beijing

THE SEMIFINALS (96 boards)

As Italy has traditionally fared poorly Italy: against Norway in head-on matches in Open Team the past dozen years or so, avoiding such Gold Medalists confrontations has been a well-known Italian strategy. Giorgio Duboin, Fulvio Fantoni, Lorenzo Lauria, In Beijing, where both teams followed Claudio Nunes, the script and retained their seed, they Antonio Sementa, were booked to meet in the Round Alfredo Versace, npc: Maria-Theresa of Four. Italy made a strong statement Lavazza, in the first set that things would be coach: Massimo different this year, outscoring Norway Ortensi 65-17 in the first set. Two more positive sets for Italy built a commanding Balicki / Zmudzinski on the roster, did THE QUARTERFINALS halftime lead of 79 IMPs, 138-59. When enough good things to build a 37-IMP (96 boards) Norway could make no inroads in lead through three quarters and hung Sets 5 and 6 to trail by 99, the on to most of it down the stretch. At the halfway mark in each match the Scandinavians resigned. team with the better seed was ahead China-Brazil was expected to be a tight and the second half did not feature any That Germany deserved its current suc- match, but it wasn’t, despite the close changes of direction. Germany vs cess was confirmed by the Butler scores: score. The first half was all China, includ- Netherlands was the closest match at all three German pairs were in the top ing a 67-1 second quarter. Brazil, down 80 the half and remained that way until the 16. Italy was the only other team to with 28 to play, nearly pulled off a sensa- end. Poland stayed in touch with Italy accomplish that. Halfway through its tional comeback, gaining 45 IMPs in the but the winners had too much firepow- match with England, Germany led 91-83; third quarter and 26 in the fourth. “64 er with three superb partnerships in each segment had been close. That boards, no?” inquired Gabriel Chagas. good form. would change on the second day of the “Sorry, not today,” replied Jie Zhao, wip- match, as England won Set 5 by 37 IMPs, ing a drop of perspiration from his brow. China had been the last non-European 67-30, and Set 6 by 45 IMPs, 65-20. With team standing, so Norway’s victory guar- England ahead by 74 with 16 to play, the Israel dominated Group B in the round anteed that all the medals in the Open Germans did not resign. robin. Romania had emerged from the Teams would be flying home with their ashes of Group A on the wings of angels. owners over continental Asia. Although However, after a series of poor results Easy pickings for the Israelis? Not at Romania lost heavily to England, the (which would prove to be a further 60 all. The circumstances eerily paralleled team’s remarkable showing in Beijing IMPs) at their table caused at least in England vs Pakistan in Istanbul. would be something for the players to part by their deteriorating behavior, one remember fondly for years to come. of the German pairs left the table toge- Estonia’s Cinderella run very nearly con- ther and unilaterally conceded the tinued against a strong Dutch team, but THE R8 RESULTS match, an unprecedented action in like Brazil Estonia ran out of boards. World Championship history. Italy 210 - Poland 173 The other four matches were not close, Norway 214 - China 159 THE R4 RESULTS though Belgium led Germany by 22 after the first quarter. The lopsided final England 267 - Romania 146 Italy 210 - Norway 111 score includes a 79-0 third quarter. Germany 217 - Netherlands 196 England 277 - Germany 143 The world comes to Beijing

Rankings for Group E

1 ENGLAND 356.0 2 USA 337.0 3 POLAND 295.0 4 ITALY 292.5 United States: 5 BRAZIL 291.5 Women’s Team 6 Japan 289.0 Bronze Medalists 7 Norway 274.0 Mildred Breed, 8 China Hong Kong 253.0 Marinesa Letizia, 9 Portugal 251.0 Sylvia Moss, 10 Belarus 242.75 Judi Radin, 11 India 226.0 Janice Seamon- 12 Egypt 225.0 Molson, 13 Trinidad & Tobago 223.0 Tobi Sokolow, 14 Lithuania 215.0 npc: Sue Picus, 15 Reunion 212.50 coach: Eric Kokish 16 Palestine 192.0 17 Guadeloupe 191.0 18 Thailand 170.0 THE FINAL THE LAST RESULTS (96 boards) Final Italy 200 - England 170 Although Japan lost tough matches to Playoff Norway 93 - Germany 56 Poland and USA in the last two rounds A high-scoring first set gave Italy to just miss out on fifth place, their score (Giorgio Duboin / Antonio Sementa, was good enough to give them hope to Lorenzo Lauria / Alfredo Versace, Fulvio WOMEN’S qualify as the leading sixth, but that Fantoni / Claudio Nunes, npc: Maria- didn’t happen, as we’ll see in a moment. Theresa Lavazza; coach: Massimo TEAMS Ortensi) a 16-IMP lead, but the second The leading French women competed in set was much more dynamic: Italy won it the Open Trials this year but the Beijing 46-4 to lead by 58 one-third of the way The 54 national women’s teams were team was still very competitive. They had through the match. seeded into three groups, with the top their hands full in Group F, however, five in each 18-team group qualifying for where at least half the teams could enter- The young English team (Jason and the knockout stage; the “best” 6th-place tain serious thoughts of surviving to the Justin Hackett, Nicklas Sandqvist / Artur finisher (i.e. the team with the highest knockout stage. With three matches Malinowski, David Gold / Tom VP total) would be the 16th qualifier. remaining, China led the group with Townsend, npc: Phil King; coach: Simon Although the currently strongest coun- Finland and France not far behind, but Cope) fought back with two good sets tries (France, USA, Germany, China, seventh-place Scotland was only about a of their own to cut the deficit to 20 with England, Netherlands, Denmark, Russia, match out of first; no one was safe. The 32 to play. Italy gained 15 IMPs in Italy, Sweden) were entered, the field group was still up for grabs with one Segment 5, and gave back only 5 IMPs dropped off quite precipitously once past match to play and there were still chances over the final 16 boards to win the first a small group of mid-level teams. While for several teams. Group F was the only WBG Open Teams under the WMSG the medals figured to go to three of one of the 9 in play in the WBG to feature umbrella, effectively defending the those favorites, there would be plenty of five teams with over 300 VP (and a sixth Olympiad Open Team title earned in opportunities for less heralded teams to with nearly that benchmark total). Istanbul in 2004. The final margin in the earn a place in the knockout. wellplayed final was 30 IMPs. THE ROUND ROBIN Rankings for Group F Norway (Geir Helgemo / Tor Helness / 1 FINLAND 328.0 Glenn Groetheim / Ulf Tundal, Terje Aa / In Group E, USA and England were as close 2 RUSSIA 318.0 Jorgen Molberg; npc Sten Bjertnes; to sure things as any betting person could 3 FRANCE 313.0 coach: Inger Hjellemarken) and hope for, The other main contenders were 4 CHINA 304.5 Germany (Michael Elinescu / Entschow Italy, Poland, Norway, Brazil, Egypt, Japan, 5 DENMARK 303.0 6 SPAIN 297.0 Wladow, Joséf Piekarek / Alexander Belarus, and China Hong Kong. England 7 Scotland 289.0 Smirnov, Michael Gromoeller / Andreas and USA, strong throughout, stood a cou- 8 Indonesia 280.5 Kirmse, npc: Helmut Hausler) agreed ple of matches clear of the trailing field 9 Venezuela 275.0; that 32 boards were sufficient to deter- with one day to play. Italy, Poland and 10 Canada 263.0 mine which country would claim Japan were neck-and-neck in the next 11 Philippines 261.0 12 Australia 255.0 the bronze medals. Germany, leading three spots, with Brazil a half-match 13 Jordan 201.0 42-39 after the first half, might have behind, Norway and China Hong Kong 15 Estonia 198.0 preferred a 16-board match. Norway another halfmatch back. The battle for 15 Serbia 197.0 won the second set 54-14 and the play- third through fifth and the potential best 16 Argentina 191.0 off 93-56, adding to its remarkable sixth was fierce over the last three 17 Bermuda 137.0 18 Kenya 85.5 collection of medals. matches. It ended this way:

7 The world comes to Beijing

and rode that set into the quarterfinals; an upset of sorts, but not a major one.

The other top seeds won in some com- fort, though England could not have been satisfied in turning over 122 IMPs to Singapore in their victory. China: Women’s Team Silver Medalists China, in excellent form, scored early and often en route to a 136-IMP Ling Gu, win over Poland. Yi Qian Liu, Ming Sun, Hongli Wang, The other three matches were every bit as Wenfei Wang, tight as expected. Denmark built a Yalan Zhang, 22-IMP lead at the half and gave back only npc: Chuancheng Ju, coach: Ya Fu Lin 10 over two low-scoring second-half sets to win by 12 IMPs. Bad luck for the Dutch Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands the other groups (i.e. there were no to face an opponent in such fine form. were the favorites in Group G, but picking immediate rematches with co-qualifiers); the other qualifiers would be a daunting USA, as the best-scoring second-place It was a matter of “last man standing” in prospect. With one day remaining, team, joined the group winners in earn- France v Sweden. France won the first Germany was two matches clear of the ing a selection privilege. set 70-15 but gave all save one of those field, but the Netherlands, in second, was 55 IMPs back in the second quarter, 1-55. more than a match ahead of third. Seven THE R16 RESULTS Momentum did not mean much in this other teams were still breathing, with match, however, as France recovered to Turkey, Sweden and Hungary occupying 1. Germany 158 - Brazil 32 win the third quarter 45-12 to lead by the qualifying slots. The top four teams 8. China 176 - Poland 40 34. Sweden held France to just 6 IMPs in had a good final day and qualified in the fourth quarter but scored only 24 to comfort. Fifth place went to Singapore 4. USA 161 - Spain 73 lose an exciting match by 16 IMPs. who moved up from 8th going in - a best- 5. Denmark 98 - Netherlands 86 ever showing for the Pacific Asian nation Russia won each of the first three in women’s competition. 2. England 175 - Singapore 122 quarters against Italy to build a 47-IMP 7. France 122 - Sweden 106 lead, but scored only 5 IMPs in the Rankings for Group G fourth quarter. Fortunately for Russia, 3. Turkey 144 - Finland 126 Italy ran out of boards and gained back 1 GERMANY 372.0 6. Russia 118 - Italy 97 only 26 to lose by 21. 2 NETHERLANDS 331.0 3 SWEDEN 294.0 While the four teams granted a choice 4 TURKEY 288.0 5 SINGAPORE 276.0 of opponent must have seemed fairly THE QUARTERFINALS Morocco 264.0 content with their selections going in, (96 boards) Hungary 263.5 most of the other matches were more South Africa 261.0 typical of intense semi-final matchups. Could anyone beat cruising Germany? Chinese Taipei 248.0 Well, yes! Germany led by 22 at the half, Mexico 244.0 New Zealand 238.0 Although Turkey Ireland 234.0 was the logical Barbados 228.0 selection for Fin- Greece 228.0 land, the Group F Latvia 214.0 winner, neither Korea 209.0 Pakistan 206.0 nation had been Jamaica 125.5 a late-stage con- tender at a world championship, so THE KNOCKOUT their success in the Round of 16 round robin sug- (56 boards) gested that both had found their In the schematic draw below, the high- best form. Three lighted teams selected in numerical order of the four quar- (matches 1-4) from among the worst ters were close but third (where available), fourths, fifths Turkey gained 29 and the only sixth (where available) of IMPs in the other

8 The world comes to Beijing but China gained 16 in the fourth stanza, semifinal, USA would be in the final. The Perhaps that was not a significant factor then 8 in the fifth to take a 2-IMP lead. first segment suggested that the visitors in the first day’s results, but China lost all With the match on the line the home side still had the home team’s number, as three sets convincingly and trailed at the held its opponent to just 2 IMPs while USA won it 47-3. halfway mark by 83 IMPs, 58-141. scoring 48 to win going away. USA led by With China so far behind now, expecta- 16 at the half but Denmark cut its deficit However, China rallied strongly, winning tions had inevitably changed, and so to 2 IMPs in the fourth set. USA won the the next sessions 33-13 and 54-20, and at had the pressure. Able to relax a bit and fifth set 40-17 to lead by 25, and protect- the half China led by 6 IMPs, 86-80. A play their game, the Chinese players ed the lead to reach the semifinals with a night’s sleep seemed to do the came out fiercely in the fourth set and 24-IMP win. England led by 44 at the half Americans more good than their oppo- took a 47-IMP chunk out of the English against France, then consolidated its posi- nents: USA won the fourth set 34-21 and lead. 36 IMPs down - that was more like tion in the fourth and fifth sets to lead by the fifth 33-16 to lead by 24 with 16 to it. Could China maintain its momentum? 55. France recouped only 9 IMPs in the play. The final set was a thrilling experi- England (Sally Brock / Nicola Smith, final segment and England won by 46. ence for the Chinese supporters as their Heather Dhondy / Nevena Senior, team held mighty USA to just 7 IMPs Catherine Draper / Anne Rosen, npc: Was there another dance left on while scoring 38 of their own. China Martin Jones, coach: Sandra Penfold) Cinderella’s dance card? Indeed there won by 7 IMPs to reach the final. recovered nicely by winning Set 5 by 11 was, but it was not a waltz. Turkey England v Turkey was all one-way traffic IMPs, building its lead to 47, 190-143. stormed out to a 26-IMP lead over Russia, on the first day, England leading by 63 the winner at the previous Olympiad in at the half. Turkey gained a few IMPs in China scored the first 33 IMPs of the last Istanbul (of all places!), in the first set, Set 5 but was never in the match, as set; suddenly just 14 IMPs behind. Then and retained a 15-IMP lead at the half. England won by 107 IMPs to earn a date the teams started trading swings until, Both the fourth and fifth sets were close, with the host nation’s favorite daugh- with two deals to play China trailed by Turkey tacking on another 6 IMPs. The ters on the morrow. 11. Board 95 was an honorable push 21-IMP lead held up, Russia recouping 16 that featured some interesting declarer in the final stanza to fall just short. THE R4 RESULTS play. On Board 96 both N/S pairs fetched Turkey was in the Round of 4. up in 3NT (3♦-3NT uncontested) with China 161 - USA 154 the singleton ♥4 in dummy facing ♥Q2. THE R8 RESULTS England 304 - Turkey 197 Both West players led their fourth-best heart from K10853. East won the ace China 198 - Germany 150 from AJ976 and returned her original USA 200 - Denmark 176 THE FINAL fourth-best seven (the “standard” card, (96 boards) but with the Rule of Eleven revealing England 189 - France 143 only one card higher than the five in the Turkey 169 - Russia 164 This is a match that will be discussed for closed hand probably the wrong “help years. Who knows how great the pres- partner” card). Hongli Wang got it right sure was on the Chinese women (Ling from here, taking the queen with the THE SEMIFINALS Gu / Yalan Zhang, Ming Sun / Hongli king and continuing the suit for one (96 boards) Wang, Yi Qian Liu / Wenfei Wang, npc: down. Heather Dhondy judged it more Chuancheng Ju, coach: Ya Fu Lin) to win likely that her partner had started with If China’s world championship record the World Championship on their home A76, as Nevena Senior might well have against America were all that mattered turf, with the greatest national media returned the ♥J from her actual hold- in determining the outcome of their coverage the sport had ever received? ing, and so ducked the queen, allowing an overtrick. So who won? Fortunately for England N/S were not vulnerable, so the swing was 10 IMPs and not 12. England by 1! USA (Sylvia Moss / Judi Radin, Mildred Breed / Marinesa Letizia, Janice Seamon- Molson / Tobi Sokolow, npc: Sue Picus, coach: Eric Kokish) defeated Great Britain: Women’s Team Turkey (Filiz Uygan Erdogan / Hatice Gold Medalists Erbiz, Mine Babac / Dilek Yavas, Belis Atabey / Irem Ozbey, npc: Serhan Sally Brock, Antalyani) by 46 IMPs over 48 boards to Heather Dhondy, Catherine Draper, earn the bronze medals. Anne Rosen, Nevena Senior, THE LAST RESULTS Nicola Smith, npc: Martin Jones, Final England 223 - China 222 coach: Sandra Penfold Playoff USA 134 - Turkey 88

9 The world comes to Beijing

THE IMSA YOUTH EVENTS

THE U28 TEAMS Under-28 Teams winners, Really, this was the centerpiece Bridge Norway: event for the 5-discipline inaugural WMSG with 74 national teams entered, Sverre Johan Aal, Erik A. Eide, which included 433 players. A few of Jorn Arild Ringseth, these teams (notably USA and Poland) Steffen Fredrik Simonsen, included players who were already npc: Lars Eide successful professionals or who had made their reputations in open competition. THE KNOCKOUT aged to regain 50 IMPs of their deficit. Other highly-regarded teams were Poland wins! Not at all: their Round 17 France, England, Israel, Norway, Belgium, QUARTERFINALS (48 boards) Swiss match made all the difference Turkey, China, Australia and the because Norway carried 4.7 IMPs into the Netherlands, but with little known about That was a wise (non-) choice for Poland final. Norway, by the margin of 2.7 IMPs, is so many of these young players there was as Norway had found its best form and the first winner of the newest every chance that new star players and in the event upended Belgium in the Championship, the WMSG U28 Teams - powerhouse teams would emerge on the only match in which a top-four team lost thanks to the carryover! world stage at these championships. The to a 5th-8th team. Carryover did not affect In the playoff for third, China (Xin Li, format was a 17-round Swiss of 16-Board the outcome in any of the matches. Jing Liu, Yinghuo Liu, Ming Sheng, matches to qualify only eight of the Zhenguo Wu, Yizhuo Zhang, npc: Jie original 74 teams for knockout play. THE R8 RESULTS Liu) defeated France (Olivier Bessis, Jérôme Grenthe, Paul Seguineau, The Swiss Qualifying Stage Poland 124 - Chinese Taipei 65 Godefroy de Tessieres, Adrien Vinay, France 108 - England 58 Frédéric Volcker, npc: Gilles Pere) by 25 1 Poland 320 IMPs over 48 IMPs 2 France 307 Norway 112 - Belgium 71 3 Belgium 305 THE LAST RESULTS 4 China 297 China 145 - Israel 61 5 Israel 297 Final Norway 118.7 - Poland 116 6 England 296 Playoff China 107 - France 82 7 Chinese Taipei 294 8 Norway 289 SEMIFINALS (48 boards)

The carryover made no difference (12 THE U28 PAIRS What of USA, winner of the last two for Poland, 7 for China) in either match, WYTC (U26 events) and Patiño trophies? as Poland and Norway won convincingly. This new multi-stage event, patterned They finished 9th, 1 VP behind 8th. The on the World Open Pairs, drew a field of Americans’ 8-22 loss to Poland in Round THE R4 RESULTS 266 pairs from 71 countries. The event 14 and 11-19 loss to Norway in Round 15 began with a four-session qualifying had proven too difficult to overcome. Poland 158 - France 75 stage (approximately 100 tables, two The Swiss qualifying method can pro- Norway 138 - China 91 groups based on results in the three duce some random results, especially teams events: essentially the top placers when the contenders’ scores are very starting in Group A, the rest of the field close going into the last two rounds. THE FINAL (64 boards) in Group B), which led to three-session A Norway’s 18-12 conquest of Poland in (60 tables: drop-ins from the team Round 17 was just enough for the team For the longest time it seemed that pre- events plus approximately 63 pairs from to slip into the knockout and also to tournament favorite Poland (Konrad Group A and 21 from B) and B (the dissuade Poland from choosing the Araszkiewicz, Lukasz Brede, Kryzs- remaining qualifiers) semifinals. Norwegians for the quarterfinals. France ztof Buras, Jacek Kalita, Jakub and 96 pairs contested the three-session and England had both secured knockout Kryzsztof Kotorowicz, npc: Stanislaw Barometer Final. The event was not spots when they met in the last round, Golembiowski, coach: Leszek Nowak) decided until the final round, with the but France’s 24-6 win was particularly would cruise home in the final against winners bidding and making a grand significant as France was able to select Norway (Sverre Johan Aal, Erik Eide, Jorn slam that could have been defeated to England for its R8 opponent with a Arild Ringseth, Steffen Fredrik Simonsen, claim the title by half a percentage point. 12-IMP carryover. Carryover from the npc: Lars Eide); Poland won the first three Swiss would come into play if those quarters in building a 52-IMP lead. But The 39-pair Consolation was won con- teams were to meet in the knockout. Norway rallied magnificently and man- vincingly by Russians Alexander

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Australia, with a score of 57.15%, with Richard Boyd of Under-28 Pairs winners: Ireland second with 55.37%, and Cedric Silver: Margot of Switzerland Lotan Fisher - Ron Schwartz third with 55.06%. (Israel)

Gold: Kevin Dwyer of USA Mehmet Remzi Sakirler - topped Group C with Melih Osman Sen (Turkey) a remarkable 59.28%. Bronze: Mylene Encontro of Joanna Krawczyk - the Philippines was Piotr Tuczynski (Poland) second with 58.31%, a score good enough to Solovyev / Ivan Veselov, with Andrew in the other groups would be awarded win most multi-session Individuals. Sinclair / Alexander Wilkinson of diplomas. 220 players from 71 countries Thailand’s Rujipong Sinloyma was third Scotland second and Gilad Ofir / Bar participated. with 55.84%. Tarnovski of Israel third. The results: In Group D, Anas Mestiri of Tunisia 1- Mehmet Sakirler / Melih Sen GROUP A finished first with 57.18%, George (Turkey) 179,43% (THE “MEDAL” SECTION) Trigeorgis of Cyprus second with 2- Lohtan Fisher / Ron Schwartz (Israel) 178,94% 1- Salih Murat Anter (Turkey) 58,22% 56.48%, and Niclas Raulund Ege of 3- Joanna Krawczyk / Piotr Tuczynski 2- Radu Nistor (Romania) 55,54% Denmark third with 55.87%. (Poland) 176,45% 3- Lars Arthur Johansen (Norway) 54,59% 4- Arrigo Franchi / Matteo Montanari 4- Joanna Krawczyk (Poland) 54,46% (Italy) 174,07% 5- Konrad Araszkiewicz (Poland) 54,30% 5- Michal Nowosadzki / Piotr Wiankowski 6- Lubomir Ignatov (Bulgaria) 54,24% (Poland) 173,56% 7- Artur Marek Machno (Poland) 54,04% THE WORLD 6- Frédéric Volcker / Godefroy de Tessieres 8- Martin Schaltz (Denmark) 53,89% (France) 173,01% 9- Jan Sikora (Poland) 53,48% MASTER 7- Alon Birman / Eliran Argelazi 10- Artur Lucasz Wasiak (Poland) 53,25% (Israel) 171,84% 8- Bartlomiej Igla / Artur Machno INDIVIDUALS (Poland) 170,65% Turkey won its second Bridge gold 9- Yi-Zu Lu / Chien Te Chung medal of the WMSG when Salih (Chinese Taipei) 169,17% Murat Anter won the ‘A’ section to The Individuals were small events, limit- 10- Konrad Araszkiewicz / Krzysztof Buras claim the World Junior Individual ed to 36 invited players in the Men’s and (Poland) 168,78% Championship title. After winning the 24 in the Women’s, and were played European Senior Championships last over three sessions, the first on the summer in Pau, this was a third major Friday before play began in the teams result for Turkish Bridge. With both the events, the second and third on Day Six, THE U28 INDIVIDUAL Turkish Open and Women’s teams reach- everyone else’s day off. No doubt those ing the knockout stage of their event, willing to test their stamina and The four-session, four-Group Individual the present and future seem bright for the indulgence of their teammates by provided the final opportunity for the bicontinental nation. accepting invitations to these high-pro- medals and honors in the first edition of Group B was won by You Wu of file events enjoyed themselves, and the the WMSG. The field was divided into groups of 13 tables based on their results in the Pairs. Group A, the “medal” section, was com- prised of the players who finished Under-28 Individual in the top 24 positions in the Pairs Winners: final and the top two positions of the Consolation (reserves only Silver: from the next ranked positions Radu Nistor (Romania) from the final). Each of the other groups (as far as possible) was Gold: constructed the same way, on a Salih Murat Anter 24 to 2 ratio of finalists to (Turkey) “consolationists.” The first three Bronze: places in Group A would earn Lars Arthur medals while the leading players Johansen (Norway)

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Chinese Taipei and Canada also sent WBF teams with solid experience at this level. EVENTS ROUND ROBIN

Eight teams qualified for the quarter To create a unique opportuni- finals. They were: ty for young players the WBF U26 (the World Junior 1 Poland 338 Championship for the Ortiz- 2 Denmark 303 Patiño Trophy) and U21 (the 3 Australia 300 World Schools Championship 4 Netherlands 293 for the Damiani Cup) teams 5 USA 284 competitions were exception- 6 Norway 282 ally incorporated into the 7 Chinese Taipei 264 first WMSG Games. This far- 8 Canada 262 sighted move ensured that the U28 Pairs and U28 Individual would have a large THE KNOCKOUT base of potential participants from players eliminated from QUARTERFINALS (48 boards) the “younger” teams events and also that financial support THE R8 RESULTS from the WMSG organizers Poland 120 - USA 111 would be available for airfares Chinese Taipei 136 - Australia 87 and accommodation. Denmark 130 - Canada 84 The Seniors competition for Netherlands 96 - Norway 139.7 national teams, held along the lines of the WBG Open and Poland lost 108-111 to USA at the table, Women series, and the World but nonetheless reached the semifinals Transnational Mixed Teams thanks to the 12-IMP carryover from medal winners certainly deserve recogni- championship, though not officially part of their round robin encounter. tion. However, there can be no compari- the World Bridge Games, rounded out the son with the series of magnificent extensive catalog of events for the fortnight. Denmark had less trouble with Canada, Generali Masters Individuals, all of which winning by 46 IMPs, and Norway defeat- featured very strong fields with no con- ed the Netherlands by the same margin. flicting responsibilities for the participants. THE U26 TEAMS Although the Daily Bulletin’s results RESULTS With qualification by zones, 18 teams page had Australia vanquishing Chinese OF THE MEN’S INDIVIDUAL were eligible to compete in both the Taipei 120-116 thanks to carryover while 1- Tor Helness (Norway) 58.66% U26 and U21 events, which created a reporting a narrow win for the Chinese 2- Geir Helgemo (Norway) 55.27% “perfect” complete 17-match round Taipei on its front page, the truth is that 3- Andrei Gromov (Russia) 53.75% robin. The European delegation was Chinese Taipei won all three sets en 4- Craig Gower (South Africa) 53.04% strong, as always, but Australia, USA, route to a convincing 49-IMP win. 5- Jon Baldursson (Iceland) 52.95% 6- Krzysztof Jassem (Poland) 52.32% 7- Qiao Jing Wang (China) 52.23% 8- Marcelo Branco (Brazil) 51.96% 9- Andreas Kirmse (Germany) 51.96% 10- Ishmael Del’Monte (Australia) 51.96% Winners of Men’s Individual: RESULTS OF THE WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL Gold: Tor Helness 1- Catarina Midskog (Sweden) 57.51% (Norway) 2- Anne-Frédérique Lévy (France) 57.13% 3- Ru Yan (China) 55.10% Silver: 4- Wenfei Wang (China) 53.45% Geir Helgemo 5- Gabriella Olivieri (Italy) 51.62% (Norway) 6- Elizabeth McGowan (Scotland) 51.62% 7- Sandra Penfold (England) 51.57% Bronze: 8- Hongli Wang (China) 51.57% Andrei Gromov (Russia)

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SEMIFINALS (48 boards) Under-26 Teams winners, Poland established a big lead in the first Denmark: set against Chinese Taipei and, gave a Dennis Bilde, bit back in the second, but won in some Anne-Sofie comfort by 38 IMPs. The round robin Houlberg, winners had held service. Jonas Houmoller, Emil Jepsen, Denmark, second in the round robin, Lars Kirkegaard used a similar formula to record a con- Nielsen, vincing win over Nordic rival Norway to Martin Schaltz, npc: reach the final. Kare Gjaldbaek, coach: THE R4 RESULTS Henrik Ron Poland 144 - Chinese Taipei 106.3 Denmark 140 - Norway 69.7 Yu Gean, Chih-Hung Lin, Kun-Hung Tsai, ROUND ROBIN Po-Han Wang, Yen-Hsuan Wu, Chung- Cheng Yeh, npc: Jiun-Ming Chen, coach: Eight teams of the 18 that started the event THE FINAL (64 boards) Wei-Wei Tsao) by 31 IMPs over 48 deals to qualified for the quarterfinals. They were: claim the bronze medals. In a match featuring the top seeds, 1 England 351.0 THE LAST RESULTS the final was expected to be a close 2 France 349.0 match, but it proved to be all Denmark Final Demark 208 - Poland 116 3 Chinese Taipei 309.5 (Dennis Bilde, Anne Sophie Houlberg, Playoff Norway 126 - Chinese Taipei 95 4 China 308.0 Jonas Houmöller, Emil Jepsen, Lars 5 Bulgaria 307.0 Neilsen, Martin Schaltz, npc: Kare 6 USA 284.0 Gjalbaek, coach: Henrik Ron). Erasing THE U21 TEAMS 7 Netherlands 280.0 their significant 12 VP carryover deficit by 8 Norway 280.0 gaining a mere 50 IMPs in the first set, The 18 Zonal qualifiers also started with the Danish team added 3 IMPs in the a complete round robin, the top eight to With one round to go three qualifying second. Poland (Piotr Nawrocki, Michal qualify for knockout play. In its current spots were still at issue, with five teams Nowasadski, Przemyslaw Piotrowski, Jan incarnation the U21 teams was still very mathematically still in the hunt. USA, Sikora, Artur Wasiak, Piotr Wiankowski, much the “schools” event initiated by Norway and Netherlands prevailed npc: Marek Markowski, coach: Piotr José Damiani. Although reputations are while Poland (always a contender Dybicz) rallied in the third to cut the mar- rare with such young players, the coun- thanks to a fantastic youth program) gin to 18, but the Danes thundered home tries with established recruitment and and Singapore did not. with an emphatic 59-6 fourth quarter to development programs and Bridge as win the gold medals and the Jaime Ortiz- a curriculum option in high schools Patiño Trophy by 71 IMPs. and universities figured to be the more THE KNOCKOUT serious contenders and the teams with In the third place play-off, Norway (Erik the greatest depth - the European, North QUARTERFINALS (48 boards) Berg, Ivar Berg, Petter Eide, Espen American and PABF teams fulfilled those Lindqvist, Allan Livgard, Tor Ove Reistad, criteria, but perhaps some future stars The only close match proved to be China npc: Sven Olai Hoyland, Coach: Olav from the smaller zones would make their v Norway, which was decided by China’s Ellestad) defeated Chinese Taipei (Chia- international debut on the Beijing stage. 12-IMP carryover advantage from the teams’ round robin encounter.

THE R8 RESULTS England 142 - Netherlands 68 France 139 - USA 42 Winners of Women’s Individual: Bulgaria 111 - Chinese Taipei 61 China 102 - Norway 93 Gold: Catarina Midskog (Sweden) SEMIFINALS (48 boards) Silver: Anne-Frédérique France built on its 12-IMP carryover to Lévy (France) establish a 65-IMP lead, and then fended Bronze: off a brave comeback by Bulgaria to win Ru Yan (China) by just 17 IMPs.

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and Women’s Teams, the Senior Teams (perhaps because of those restrictions) was officially a WBF Championship and not an IMSA event. 32 teams entered and Under-21 Teams were seeded into two groups of 16, with winners, half the teams in each round robin group France: (K and L) qualifying for knockout play. Marion Canonne, Pierre Franceschetti, The field was very strong at the top with Alexandre Kilani, USA and England (professional teams Aymeric Lebatteux, most of whose members competed in Nicolas L’hussier, Cédric Lorenzini the open trials), Indonesia (leading open npc: players), England, Hungary, Australia, Christophe Oursel Poland, Netherlands, Canada, Japan, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, France and In the other match England also started THE LAST RESULTS India, all represented by teams that +12 against China, but with one set included some of their best players. remaining the teams were tied at 93. Final France 149.7 - England 125 England gave little away down the Playoff China 136 - Bulgaria 117 stretch and won by 17 to arrange a THE ROUND ROBIN “channel” date with France in the final. THE FUTURE Most of the fancied teams made it THE R4 RESULTS through, the biggest disappoints by my An interesting sidebar is the lights being Denmark and Ireland. France 149 - Bulgaria 132 story of one remarkable England 125 - China 108 youngster (he is only 15) who came, played and went Rankings for Group K home without being 1 USA 306.0 noticed… except by those who played THE FINAL (64 boards) 2 JAPAN 280.0 against him. Mirza Asfandiyar Hussain 3 FRANCE 258.0 France (Marion Canonne, Pierre from Pakistan represented his country in 4 CHINESE TAIPEI 255.5 Franceschetti, Alexandre Kilani, Aymeric the U21 Category and hit the radar gently 5 HUNGARY 247.0 Lebatteux, Nicolas L’hussier, Cédric in the Youth Pairs in Bangkok at the age of 6 ENGLAND 246.0 Lorenzini, npc: Christophe Oursel), start- 13. Born in a family of Bridge players (both 7 PAKISTAN 238.5 ing with a 5.7-IMP carryover advantage, his parents have represented Pakistan in 8 CHINA HONG KONG 212.0 got off to a poor start, dropping 27 IMPs World Championships), he has all the mak- 9 South Africa 208.0 to England (Adam Hickman, Edward ings of another Zia Mahmood style of 10 Estonia 206.0 Jones, Daniel Mcintosh, Robert Myers, player. So be warned, Bridge world, of this 11 Sweden 205.0 12 New Zealand 204.0 Benjamin and Thomas Paske, npc: new star. He has been selected for special 13 Brazil 201.0 Michael Byrne, coach: Alan Shillitoe) in grooming to become the emerging player 14 Denmark 199.5 the first quarter. But France recouped 10 from this region. 15 Wales 170.5 IMPs in the second, took the lead by 16 Kenya 124.0 winning the third set by 26, and sealed The youngest competitor in its victory by tacking on 10 IMPs in the the Bridge section was fourth quarter. France won the José Kenya’s Kush Mediratta, Rankings for Group L Damiani Trophy and the gold medals for age 10. Kush only learned its poised performance. The standard of to play Bridge around six 1 INDONESIA 291.0 play in the U21 improves with each edi- months ago and is partnering his broth- 2 AUSTRALIA 289.0 3 POLAND 271.5 tion and the 2008 championship was no er, Mohit, an old man at the age of 13. 4 CANADA 262.5 exception. While it is inevitable that most attention 5 EGYPT 245.0 will fall on those involved in the hunt for 6 NETHERLANDS 238.0 China (Chen Simin, Chen Yichao, Dong the medals, the participation of young 7 GERMANY 225.0 Chunhui, Hu Junjie, Jiang Yujie, Song Qi, players like the Medirattas is a big part 8 BELGIUM 224.75 npc: Xueming Fu, coach: Yixin Zheng) of what the Games are all about. 9 China 217.0 defeated Bulgaria (Zhivko Siderov, 10 India 215.0 Stefan Skorchev, Dean Spasov, Ivan 11 Italy 210.0 Syusyukin, Nikolai Vasilev, npc: Tony SENIOR TEAMS 12 Ireland 208.5 Rusev, coach: Velichka Dobreva Ruseva) 13 Guadeloupe 177.0 by 19 IMPs over 48 boards in the third- Although the various stages of this event 14 Finland 164.5 15 Reunion 151.5 place match to earn bronze medals for for national teams meeting the age 16 Thailand 146.0 the host country. restrictions paralleled the WBG’s Open

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THE KNOCKOUT Round of 16 (56 boards)

Senior Teams This was a more straightforward Bronze winner, crossover, with the top VP earners Indonesia: choosing in order from the teams placed 5th-8th in the other group. Michael Hartono, Henky Lasut, Eddy Manoppo, THE R16 RESULTS Denny Sacul, Munawar Sawiruddin, USA 139 - Belgium 82 Ferdy Waluyan, npc: Hungary 150 - Canada 97 Arianto Djadjanegara, coach: Australia 137 - Pakistan 120 Tanudjan Sugiarto Egypt 136 - France 135 squad that was always in touch. Down 27 segment 28-14, but Japan scored heavily Indonesia 144 - China Hong Kong 58 at the half Hungary could only chip away in the next two sets and consolidated its Netherlands139 - Chinese Taipei 50 at the lead in Sets 5 and 6, and there lead in Sets 4 and 5. Down 104 IMPs with wasn’t enough in the cards in Set 6 to 16 to play, England resigned. Japan 152 - Germany 129 give them a real shot. USA won by 24. England 107 - Poland 57 I would have made Australia a solid THE R8 RESULTS favorite against Egypt on the basis of The most interesting match was Egypt v its international experience and roster USA 222 - Hungary 198 France where the Egyptians rode a big of players still competing for open Egypt 172 - Australia 166 second quarter to a 43-IMP halftime representation, but I would have been lead only to see France claw back all but wrong. Egypt led by 20 at the half, 32 Indonesia 217 - Netherlands 159 1 IMP in the second half. after 4 sets, but only by 7 with 16 deals Japan 199 - England 95 to play. Australia could gain only 1 IMP in While on paper England vs Poland the last stanza and bowed out by 6. figured to be a mini-semifinal of sorts, THE SEMIFINALS (96 boards) the English depth and experience were Indonesia was one of the favorites going too great for the Poles to overcome; in but the players on this Dutch team had The gallant Egyptians had done very well England gained 56 IMPs in the second all done well in world senior events in the so far but they were not going to beat half to coast home with a 50-IMP victory. past and if the Netherlands had won it this powerhouse American professional would not have been much of an upset. team with a cast of skilled amateurs. Hungary v Canada was another match fea- When the Netherlands led by 20 at the Egypt trailed by 92 at the half, dropped turing two teams of open-caliber players half Indonesia was pleased to have the another 21 in Sets 4 and 5, then called it a and not an easy one to predict. Hungary evening off to stem the tide. And the sec- day; USA by 113. had much the best of it to win by 53. ond day was all Indonesia: a big Set 5 brought a significant lead that the Dutch All the Japanese players have played for could not overcome. Indonesia won by 58. their country with distinction in open THE QUARTERFINALS (96 boards) competition at the world level and know You could have made a small fortune their Indonesian opponents well from The American team had to work hard to betting on Japan against the strong years of zonal encounters, so a fierce bat- get past an experienced Hungarian English squad. England won the first tle was expected. Japan gained 29 IMPs over the first two sets and the third was flat. The lead was 34 IMPs after Set 4, but Indonesia did well in Set 5 to reduce its deficit to 9 with 16 to play. There were two key slam-zone deals in Set 6. On the first, Senior Teams Silver winner, Abe/Ino for Japan reached 7♦ USA: uncontested missing KJx while Sacul / Sawiruddin for Indonesia Grant Baze, ♦ Billy Eisenberg, stopped at 6 after a lead- Russ Ekeblad, directing 1♠ overcall of a strong Matthew Granovetter, 1♣ by Kyoko Ohno on KQ73, Sam Lev, 865432, --, QJ2. All three trumps Reese Milner, npc: Jacek Pszczola, were in front of the queen so coach: Patty Magnus both declarers took 12 tricks.

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of momentum: Japan (Hiroya Abe / Masayuki Ino, Makoto Hirata / Yoshiyuki Nakamura, Kyoko Ohno / Akihiko Yamada, npc: Takashi Maeda) won set 4 and Set 5 by identical 44-12 scores to take a 21-IMP lead into the Senior Teams final stanza. Gold Winners, Japan: Early in the set USA recorded three suc- Hiroya Abe, cessive double-digit gains to reclaim the Makoto Hirata, lead, After two further lead changes Masayuki Ino, USA held a 10-IMP advantage with two Yoshiyuki Nakamura, boards remaining. Would there be an Kyoko Ohno, Akihiko Yamada, opportunity for Japan? The analysts will npc: Takashi Maeda have to decide whether the Americans opened the door or the Japanese broke That gave Indonesia the lead, which it How were those diamonds? AJ83 in North, it down. Board 95 was a deal on which held until the same two pairs had to so 6♦went down. Japan gained 13. That at five tables of six in the three parallel deal with these cards: gave the Japanese the lead, which they finals East reopened South’s 3♦ opening extended over the last six deals to win by with 3NT, which was always made. At West East 21. USA vs Japan in the final. the sixth table Ino/Abe found a way to 107 AK5 nail Eisenberg in 3♦, which cost 800 and KQ8 AJ976 THE R4 RESULTS 9 IMPs; USA by 1 IMP. KQ1064 9752 A62 8 USA 245 - Egypt 132 We’ve seen mention of Board 96 in the Japan 196 - Indonesia 175 discussion of the Women’s final, where You might not make 6♦, but it’s an excel- both N/S pairs played 3NT with singleton lent contract. Sacul/Sawiruddin coasted heart opposite doubleton queen. In the into 6♦ via Blackwood after bidding and THE FINAL Senior final both N/S pairs avoided that raising both red suits and exchanging ignominy by reaching an awkward 4♠ black-suit cue-bids; Ino/Abe stopped at So many matches are like “A Tale of with ♠92 facing ♠AJ853. The contract 4♥ after being jammed in spades. Two Cities” with shades of `the best was doomed so the match (or overtime) of times’ and the turned on the number of undertricks. `worst of times’. When I played a tournament with Billy Take this one, for Eisenberg 20 years ago he took prodi- example, in which gious numbers of tricks, scooping them highly fancied in with alacrity; I dubbed him Pacman, USA (Reese Milner/ whom he then resembled. I would not Grant Baze, Billy expect Billy to take two less tricks than Eisenberg / Sam his counterpart in any contract but that Lev, Russ Ekeblad / is what happened, -150 compared with - Matthew Grano- 50 at the other table; 3 IMPs and the vetter, npc: Jacek match to Japan, 202-200. Pszczola, coach: Patty Magnus) ca- In the bronze medal playoff, Indonesia me out of the (Michael Hartono / Ferdy Waluyan, chute like a bull Henky Lasut / Eddy Manoppo, Denny bent on wiping Sacul / Munawar Sawiruddin, npc: out anyone unfor- Arianto Djadjanegara, coach: Tanudjan tunate enough to Sugiarto) won all three sets against get in its way. The Egypt (Amr El Askelani, Mohsen Kamel, Americans won Mohamed Khalil, Marwan Khedr, Wael the first set 60-28 Wattar, npc: Lofty Samie) to win by 52 and tacked on 4 IMPs over 48 boards. and 7 IMPs in the next two to lead by 43 at the end of the first day of THE LAST RESULTS play. But the new Final Japan 202 - USA 200 day brought a Playoff Indonesia 108 - Egypt 56 dramatic change

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WORLD TRANSNATIONAL MIXED TEAMS

One hundred and twenty teams with Transnational players from 23 different countries Bronze entered the WTMT. Winners, A Evertrust The format was a 15-round Swiss of Holdings: 10-board matches to qualify 16 teams for Claudio the Knockout phase. Cuccorese, Xu Hou, Yan Huang, Gan Lin, Swiss Qualifying Rongxiang Lin, Zheng Jun Shi 1 Beijing Huayuan 292 2 Auken 275 THE R16 RESULTS THE R8 RESULTS 3 Yeh Bros 275 4 Zimmerman 264 Russia 38 - Beijing Huayuan 29 Russia 45 - Herbst 29 5 A Evertrust Holdings 259 6 Latvia 259 Herbst 57 - Chagas 46 A E. Holdings 51 - Zimmermann 45 7 Shenzhen Women 259 8 Herbst 256 A Evertrust Holdings 79 - Hanlon 34 Yeh Bros 50 - Zaleski 46 9 Hugon 256 Zimmermann 88 - Tislevoll 15 Auken 77 - Hugon 65 10 Zaleski 255 11 Zobu 255 12 Russia 254 Yeh Bros 50 - Zobu 25 13 Tislevoll 254 Zaleski 48 - Shenzhen Women’s 27 SEMIFINALS (32 boards) 14 Chagas 253 15 Beijing Hengsha 252 Hugon 43 - Latvia 32 Russia got off to a 23-IMP lead in the first 16 Hanlon 252 Auken 83 - Beijing Hengsha 51 half and held on to 6 IMPs of it in the second to earn a place in the final. Sabine Auken’s squad of Polish interna- THE KNOCKOUT QUARTERFINALS (32 boards) tionalists led Yeh Bros by 8 IMPs at the Round of 16 (32 boards) half, but the Chinese Taipei stars gained All four matches were competitive, none 18 in the second half to eliminate their A glance at the draw would suggest that more so than Yeh Bros v Zaleski, but A fancied opponents and book a 48-board the Swiss leaders did not earn the right Evertrust v Zimmerman was the wildest, match against Russia in the final. to choose their opponents, but research the former gaining 38 IMPs in the first reveals that it is true that Beijing half, the latter 32 in the second. Auken THE R4 RESULTS Huayuan selected powerful Russia with spotted Hugon 19 IMPs in the first half the first pick! How could that be? Well, but picked up 31 in the second to reach Russia 65 - A Evertrust Holdings 59 in an early Swiss match BH had beaten the semifinals. Yeh Bros 78 - Auken 68 Russia convincingly (though Gromova / Ponomareva had been otherwise occupied in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Teams) and so would enjoy a carryover advantage, and (besides) BH was not familiar with players on foreign teams, and hadn’t these Russians finished only 12th in the Swiss? If nothing else it was a sweet story of innocence. The match was low-scoring and close Transnational but the “unknown” Russian team Silver Winners, prevailed. Russia:

Anyone can lose a 32-board match and Alexander Dubinin, Andrei Gromov, eight “anyones” did just that. As space Victoria Gromova, limitations prevent us from including Tatiana the rosters of these 16 teams, let’s just Ponomareva, say that some of the leading players in Sviatlana Badrankova the event would not be appearing in the and Victoria Volina round of eight. of Belarus

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nents. Yeh Bros won all three sets, the first by 22, the others by 4 and 6. Though the Russians were always in touch, the Chinese Taipei team gave very little away and won by 32 IMPs.

The 32-board playoff for third between Transnational A Evertrust Holdings (Claudio Cuccorese, Gold Winners, Gan Lin, Xu Hou, Yan Huang, Rongxiang Yeh Bros: Lin, Zheng Jun Shi) and Auken (Sabine Fang-Wen Gong, Auken, Ewa Harasimowicz, Boguslaw Seau-Fung Hu, Gierulski, Krzysztof Jassem, Krzysztof Gloria Meng, Martens) was tied at the half but Chih-Kuo Shen, Juei-Yu Shih, Evertrust won the second half and the Chen Yeh match by 16 to claim the bronze medals.

THE FINAL (48 boards) Belarus participating only in the Swiss). Mr Yeh, who truly loves the game, THE LAST RESULTS The Chinese love a good wager and I’m sponsors and plays in an annual top class Final Yeh Bros 101 - Russia 69 sure vast numbers of them obtained invitational teams tournament and has Playoff A E Holdings 60 - Auken 44 good odds by backing the irrepressible represented his country with distinction Chen Yeh and his friends (Fang-Wen in open competition at the world level. Gong, Seau-Fung Hu, Gloria Meng, It would be easy to underestimate him, Chih-Kuo Shen, Juei-Yu Shih, Chen Yeh) but that would be a mistake, and his against mighty Mother Russia (Alexan- teammates in Beijing were all seasoned der Dubinin, Andrei Gromov, Victoria international players. The Russians, with Gromova, Tatiana Ponomareva, with strong partnerships and a great record Sviatlana Badrankova, Victoria Volina of in recent years, were formidable oppo-

The Beijing games were special, a great event that required the efforts of a vast number of volunteers to bring to fruition. It’s difficult to imagine how the second edition of the WMSG will compare with the first.

18 1st World Youth Bridge Championships Yeditepe University Istanbul – Turkey / 15-23 August 2009

Swiss-KO teams MP Pairs 15-19 August 20-23 August

Board-a-match teams IMP Pairs 18-19 August 22-23 August

Entry fee: Entry fee: 500€/team 200€/pair

NBO’s are not restricted with any quotas. Transnational teams and /or pairs are also allowed. National anthems will be played, and national flags will be raised for only teams or pairs with all players of the same nationality.

Eligibility: born on or after January 01, 1984

In case of sufficient participation in U20 teams and/or pairs, the Championship will be palyed in both U25 and U20 categories.

Full board accommodation in double rooms: 45€ per person per day Registrations will be made through WBF site: www.worldwide.org

19 REPORT BY ANNA GUDGE & MARK NEWTON ECatsBridge (www.ecatsbridge.com)

WorldBridge Contest Wide

nce again, the World Wide Sandro Cabati from Italy with 73.25%. Saturday, the 6th. To enter, please contact Bridge Contest was held at Anna Gudge: the beginning of June, with The winners on Saturday were Giovanna overO 11,000 pairs from 49 countries Zara / Sandro Di Cesare from Italy with participating. 73.89%, with Pat Quinn / Enda Glynn Telephone from Ireland a close second with +44 1787 881920 On Friday the winners came from 73.66%; Javid Khalid / Saeed Akhtar Fax Germany – Mr & Mrs Bohnsack with from Pakistan were third with 71.86%. +44 870 123 1955 73.74%. They were followed by Ron & e-mail Joan Harmon from the USA with The 2009 World Wide Bridge Contest [email protected] 73.46%, and Giovanni Guglielmone / will be held in June on Friday, the 5th and

Computer-BridgeWorld Championship

Bridge Championships. Seven interna- Wbridge5 139 - Shark Bridge 121 tional software developers brought (France) - (Denmark) their robots to the team competition Al Levy and they played a round robin of presents 32-board matches, with the top four The Final trophy to advancing to the 64-board KO stage. Wbridge5 172 - Jack 157 Yves Costel

n 1996 the American Round Robin Yves Costel, developer of Wbridge5, Contract Bridge League The qualifiers were (165 maximum): accepted the trophy for the second year established an official (1) Jack 155 running. His team of robots also defeat- WorldI Computer-Bridge Championship (2) Shark Bridge 123 ed Bridge Baron’s team 206-101 at the (WCBC), to be run annually in conjunc- (3) Wbridge 5 116 World Bridge Team Championships in tion with some major Bridge event. (4) Micro Bridge 110 Shanghai, China in 2007. This championship has become a joint activity in partnership with the World Bridge Federation. Knockout For a detailed history, archived results, Semifinals and photos of the WCBC, please visit the The 12th WCBC was held in Las Vegas, at Jack 166 - Micro Bridge 112 excellent website: the 2008 ACBL Summer North American (The Netherlands) - (Japan) www.computerbridge.com.

Publishing Director: José Damiani All contents and unspecified pictures are WBF copyright. Executive Editor: Eric Kokish All rights reserved in all countries Contributors: Anna Gudge, Mark Newton, Anna Maria Torlontano World Bridge Federation © February 2009 Published by: Comm’unity • Paris Printed in 5,000 exemplars Realization: Kalevala • Paris by Vabel Impression • France

20 Women’s Committee ANNA MARIA TORLONTANO Chairman, WBF Women’s Committee

TheWomen’s CommitteeWBF

he WBF Women’s and we ask all NBOs to publicise this cities in the world while enjoying their Committee has had a event and the address of our website so favourite pastime - Bridge! This event is very productive year. that they can participate. not aimed at the top international players T Our new website at: but rather at those who do not normally www.wbfwomensbridgeclub.org November saw the launch of another have the opportunity to play in interna- was launched, and the first Online new online event - a series of Women’s tional events. Women’s Bridge Festival was held in online tournaments held every April on BBO (www.bridgebase.com). Wednesday on BBO. All women players I am grateful for the help from my This competition proved very successful, are encouraged to go to our website Committee members, especially my Vice with women from all over the world and register for these enjoyable events; Chairman, Joan Gerard. Many thanks also enjoying the chance to compete online in there are two events for both pairs and to Marijke Blanken who is responsible for a sociable and friendly environment. individuals each week in order to accom- the wonderful work done on our website. The winner of the Individual was Mrs M. modate a wide range of time zones. Dabrowska from Poland; Mrs F. Stoppini & I would like to thank our President, Mrs M. Stoppini won the Pairs and the In addition to our Online Bridge Festival José Damiani, who has given us his total Combined overall winner was Mrs J. Tahya in April, there are plans for a Women’s support. There is lots of information from Indonesia. We were all delighted “Jamboree” to be held in Rome in about Women’s Bridge on the WBF with the number of emails we had both October. Past editions of this event have Website at www.worldbridge.org - go during and after the event, telling us how been very successful, combining enjoyable to the category section and click on much the competitors enjoyed it. and challenging women’s Bridge with “women”. some relaxed tourism. We hope this The 2009 Online Women’s Bridge event will give participants an opportu- Festival will be held from 13th-19th April, nity to visit one of the most beautiful

TheCalendar 2009 2009 DATE EVENT CONTACT

May 16/24 59th South America Zonal Championships, Santiago, Chilewww.confusudbridge.org.ar 22/30 26th CACBF Zonal Championships, Gosier , Guadeloupe www.cacbf.com 23/28 US Bridge Championships (Women’s trial), Sacramento www.usbf.org 31/4 June 5th African Zonal championships, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt www.africanbridgefed,net

June 5/6 World Wide Bridge Contest, worldwide www.ecatsbridge.com 5/16 US Bridge Championships (Open Trial), White Plains, USA www.usbf.org 12/27 4th European Open Championships, San Remo, Italy www.eurobridge.org/index2.html 19/28 46th PABF Zonal Championships, Macau www.pabf.org

July 6/12 US Bridge Championships (Senior Trial), Las Vegas www.usbf.org 8/18 Youth European Championships, Poiana Brasov, Poland www.eurobridge.org

August 15/23 1st World Youth Bridge Championships, Istanbul, Turkey www.worldbridge.org 29/12 Sept. 39th World Bridge Teams Championships, São Paulo, Brazil www.worldbridge.org

21 RANKING World2008 Ranking WBF Women’s Top 50, 2008 12 Nehmert Beate Pony GER WGM 2147 32 Ponomareva Tatiana RUS WGM 1376 13 Vriend Bep NLD WGM 2144 33 Arnolds Carla NLD WGM 1374 Sabine Auken 14 Seamon-Molson Janice USA WGM 2128 34 Letizia Marinesa USA WGM 1372 15 Willard Sylvie FRA WGM 2108 35 Bessis Véronique FRA WLM 1356 First in 2008 16 Dhondy Heather ENG WGM 2077 36 Picus Sue USA WGM 1304 Women’s ranking 17 Smith Nicola ENG WGM 1981 37 Zwol Wietske van NLD WGM 1274 18 Cronier Bénédicte FRA WGM 1888 38 Allouche Danièle FRA WGM 1256 19 Sun Ming CHN WLM 1819 39 Montin Randi USA WGM 1067 Name First name NBO CAT M.P. 20 Quinn Shawn USA WGM 1717 40 Pas Marijke van der NLD WGM 1034 1 Auken Sabine GER WGM 3178 21 Rosenberg Debbie USA WGM 1698 41 Zhang Yu CHN WLM 1019 2 Gu Ling CHN WLM 2645 22 Brock Sally ENG WGM 1682 42 Radin Judi USA WGM 993 3 Levitina Irina USA WGM 2576 23 Sanborn Kerri USA WGM 1665 43 Mccallum Karen USA WGM 985 4 Meyers Jill USA WGM 2547 24 Pasman Jet NLD WGM 1648 44 Wang Liping CHN WLM 949 5 Wang Wenfei CHN WLM 2507 25 Simons Anneke NLD WGM 1638 45 Alberti Anja GER WLM 918 6 Zhang Yalan CHN WLM 2501 26 Breed Mildred USA WGM 1626 46 Senior Nevena ENG WLM 916 7 Arnim Daniela von GER WGM 2430 27 Stansby JoAnna USA WGM 1595 47 Schraverus-Meuer Mirja GER WLM 898 8 D’Ovidio Catherine FRA WGM 2307 28 Gromova Victoria RUS WGM 1436 48 Reim Andrea GER WGM 872 9 Wang Hongli CHN WLM 2303 29 Hackett Barbara GER WLM 1416 49 Brunner Michelle ENG WLM 872 10 Levin Jill USA WGM 2302 30 Liu Yi Qian CHN WLM 1404 50 Deas Lynn USA WGM 862 11 Sokolow Tobi USA WGM 2194 31 Narasimhan Hansa USA WLM 1380 WBF Grand Masters 2008 Women’s Category * Name First name NBO P.P. 19 McCallum Karen USA 24 40 Farell Mary Jane USA 15 1 Meyers Jill USA 42,5 21 Mitchell Jacqui USA 22,5 40 Zwol Wietske van NLD 15 2 Auken Sabine GER 39,5 21 Brock Sally ENG 22,5 42 Chambers Juanita USA 14,5 3 Arnim Daniela von GER 34,5 23 Letizia Marinesa USA 22 42 Arnolds Carla NLD 14,5 4 Smith Nicola ENG 33 24 Breed Mildred USA 21,5 44 Allouche Danièle FRA 14 5 Sanborn Kerri USA 32 25 Kennedy Betty Ann USA 20,5 44 Dhondy Heather ENG 14 6 Levitina Irina USA 32 25 Greenberg Gail USA 20,5 44 Stansby JoAnna USA 14 7 Sokolow Tobi USA 31 27 Palmer Beth USA 20 47 Pollack Rozanne USA 13,5 8 Deas Lynn USA 29 27 Montin Randi USA 20 48 Ponomareva Tatiana RUS 12 9 Levin Jill USA 28 29 Cronier Bénédicte FRA 19,5 48 Gromova Victoria RUS 12 10 Nehmert Beate Pony GER 27,5 30 Davies Pat ENG 19 50 Johnson Marilyn USA 11,5 10 Radin Judi USA 26,5 31 Pas Marijke van der NLD 17,5 51 Mcgowan Elizabeth SCO 11 12 D’Ovidio Catherine FRA 26,5 32 Fischer Doris AUT 17 51 Gordon Dianna CAN 11 12 Picus Sue USA 26,5 32 Rosenberg Debbie USA 17 53 Steiner Carlyn USA 10,5 14 Wei-Sender Kathie USA 25,5 34 Erhart Maria AUT 16,5 53 D’andrea Marisa ITA 10,5 14 Vriend Bep NLD 25,5 34 Weigkricht Terry AUT 16,5 53 Capodanno Luciana ITA 10,5 16 Willard Sylvie FRA 25 36 Sanders Carol USA 15,5 56 Schulle Kay USA 10 16 Quinn Shawn USA 25 36 Simons Anneke NLD 15,5 56 Osberg Sharon USA 10 16 Landy Sandra ENG 25 36 Pasman Jet NLD 15,5 19 Seamon-Molson Janice USA 24 36 Reim Andrea GER 15,5 * ranked by Placing Points WBF Open Top 50, 2008 12 Nickell Frank (Nick) USA WGM 2182 32 Fredin Peter SWE WLM 1476 13 Freeman Dick USA WGM 2176 33 Levin Bobby USA WGM 1445 Fulvio Fantoni 14 Fu Zhong CHN WLM 2019 34 Sementa Antonio ITA WGM 1434 15 Mahmood Zia USA WGM 1965 35 Tundal Ulf NOR WLM 1411 First in 2008 16 Balicki Cezary POL WGM 1964 36 Shi Haojun CHN WLM 1408 Men’s ranking 17 Chagas Gabriel BRA WGM 1953 37 Katz Ralph USA WLM 1369 18 Martel Chip USA WGM 1905 38 Weinstein Steve USA WLM 1364 19 Groetheim Glenn NOR WGM 1893 39 Martens Krzysztof POL WGM 1324 Name First name NBO CAT M.P 20 Rosenberg Michael USA WGM 1783 40 Jassem Krzysztof POL WLM 1324 1 Fantoni Fulvio ITA WGM 4210 21 Stansby Lew USA WGM 1750 41 Gawrys Piotr POL WGM 1323 2 Nunes Claudio ITA WGM 4203 22 Hackett Justin ENG WIM 1735 42 Branco Marcelo BRA WGM 1285 3 Duboin Giorgio ITA WGM 4175 23 Zhao Jie CHN WLM 1722 43 Multon Franck FRA WGM 1283 4 Lauria Lorenzo ITA WGM 4007 24 Pszczola Jacek USA WGM 1718 44 Lindkvist Magnus SWE WLM 1281 5 Versace Alfredo ITA WGM 3950 25 Gromov Andrei RUS WLM 1660 45 Sontag Alan USA WGM 1261 6 Meckstroth Jeff USA WGM 3012 26 Hackett Jason ENG WIM 1659 46 Gitelman Fred CAN WLM 1257 7 Bocchi Norberto ITA WGM 2956 27 Brogeland Boye NOR WGM 1601 47 Westra Berry NLD WGM 1228 8 Hamman Bob USA WGM 2875 28 Saelensminde Erik NOR WGM 1580 48 Kwiecien Michal POL WGM 1216 9 Rodwell Eric USA WGM 2755 29 Zmudzinski Adam POL WGM 1579 49 Muller Bauke NLD WGM 1214 10 Helness Tor NOR WGM 2663 30 Dubinin Alexander RUS WLM 1569 50 Piekarek Josef GER WIM 1187 11 Helgemo Geir NOR WGM 2577 31 Zhuang Zejun CHN WLM 1489 WBF Grand Masters 2008 Open Category * Name First name NBO P.P. 23 Rosenberg Michael USA 23,75 45 Assumpcao Pedro Paulo BRA 14,5 1 Hamman Bob USA 98,75 24 Lawrence Michael USA 23,5 47 Kantar Edwin USA 14 2 Garozzo Benito ITA 75,5 25 Perron Michel FRA 23 48 Hamilton Fred USA 13,5 3 Wolff Bobby USA 70,25 26 Balicki Cezary POL 22,5 48 Brogeland Boye NOR 13,5 4 Forquet Pietro ITA 58 26 Zmudzinski Adam POL 22,5 49 Saelensminde Erik NOR 13,5 5 Meckstroth Jeff USA 50,75 28 Ross Hugh USA 22 51 Levin Bobby USA 13 6 Rodwell Eric USA 50,25 29 Mahmood Zia USA 21,25 52 Meltzer Rose USA 12,5 7 Lauria Lorenzo ITA 44,5 30 Mouiel Hervé FRA 21 53 Bates Roger USA 12 8 Chagas Gabriel BRA 41 31 Mari Christian FRA 19,5 53 Multon Franck FRA 12 9 Versace Alfredo ITA 39 31 Sontag Alan USA 19,5 53 Pszczola Jacek USA 12 10 Stansby Lew USA 38,5 33 Lebel Michel FRA 18,5 53 Kwiecien Michal POL 12 11 Martel Chip USA 38 34 Franco Arturo ITA 18 57 Larsen Kyle USA 11,5 12 Branco Marcelo BRA 35 35 Groetheim Glenn NOR 17,5 57 Branco Pedro Paulo BRA 11,5 12 Duboin Giorgio ITA 35 35 Weichsel Peter USA 17,5 57 Muller Bauke NLD 11,5 14 Bocchi Norberto ITA 30 35 Martens Krzysztof POL 17,5 60 Rubin Ron USA 11,25 15 Freeman Dick USA 28,75 38 Gawrys Piotr POL 17 61 Lesniewski Marcin POL 11 16 Nickell Frank (Nick) USA 28,25 38 Cintra Gabino BRA 17 61 Sementa Antonio ITA 11 17 Nunes Claudio ITA 28 40 Rubin Ira USA 16,5 61 Tuszynski Piotr POL 11 17 Chemla Paul FRA 28 41 Mello Roberto BRA 15,5 64 Fonseca Christiano BRA 10 17 Fantoni Fulvio ITA 28 42 Deutsch Seymon USA 15 64 Westra Berry NLD 10 20 Helness Tor NOR 27 42 Levy Alain FRA 15 66 Kreijns Hans NLD 9,5 21 Eisenberg Billy USA 25,5 42 Passell Mike USA 15 67 Siniscalco Guglielmo ITA 4 22 Helgemo Geir NOR 24,5 45 De Falco Dano ITA 14,5 * ranked by Placing Points São Paulo 2009 THE WORLD BRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIPS São Paulo, Brazil August 29 to September 12 Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, Ernesto d’Orsi Seniors Bowl World Transnational Open Teams Championships

HEAD-QUARTERS AND PLAYING AREA: is open to teams composed of players coming from different HOTEL TRANSAMERICA countries, nominated by their National Bridge Organisation and approved by the WBF Credentials Committee. Opening ceremony It is a great opportunity for players to participate in a August 29th - to be held at the “teatro alfa” (connected to the wonderful Bridge tournament while at the same time enjoying hotel); the ceremony will be followed by a musical show at the a unique opportunity to experience the atmosphere and theatre and by a cocktail/dinner at the hotel. excitement of the final stages of the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup and watch some of the greatest players in the The Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup & Senior Bowl world on the first class vugraph presentation. Players wishing The Round Robin for all three Championships will start on to compete in this Championship should contact their NBO Sunday 30th August and finish on Saturday 12th September, and request nomination by the end of July 2009. There is no with the knock-out stages starting on Sunday 6th. quota, and NBOs may nominate as many teams as they wish to compete in this special tournament. The Quarter Finals for each of these events will end before the Players eliminated from the Round Robin of the Bermuda start of the Transnational Open Teams, thus enabling players Bowl, Venice Cup & Seniors Bowl will be able to enter the eliminated from the main Championships to participate World Transnational Open Teams Championship free of charge Transnational Championship. if they enter as a complete team. The World Transnational Open Teams will take place during the second week, starting in the late afternoon on Monday 7th The World Transnational September. The format will be Swiss Teams. It is normally Open Teams Championship played as 10-board matches (3, 4 or 5 per day) for 15 qualifying rounds (150 boards). The Quarter Final will start on Thursday The 7th World Transnational Open Teams Championship is late afternoon, the Semi Final will be played on Friday 11th a prestigious and most enjoyable event. Being Transnational, it September and the Final will end on Saturday 12th September.

23 In the event that a team is made up from players who have not REGISTRATION participated in the three main events, with players from these events added to the team, the charges will be as follows: REGISTRATION OF TEAMS • A team with 4 new players • Bermuda Bowl / Venice Cup 15th May & 1 or 2 eliminated players: $1,500 • D’Orsi Seniors Bowl 15th May • A team with 3 new players & • World Transnational Open Teams 1st July up to 3 eliminated players : $1,200 • A team with 2 new players & REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS NAMES up to 4 eliminated players : $800 • Bermuda Bowl / Venice Cup 1st June st • A team with 1 new player & • D’Orsi Seniors Bowl 1 June up to 5 eliminated players : $400 • World Transnational Open Teams 1st August REGISTRATION OF SYSTEMS PAYMENT OF ENTRY FEES • Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup • Bermuda Bowl / Venice Cup US$ 4,000 1st July & D’Orsi Seniors Bowl 7th July • D’Orsi Seniors Bowl US$ 4,000 1st July • World Transnational Open Teams US$ 1,500 1st August ENTRIES must be sent to: The World Bridge Federation Players eliminated from the Open, Women's or Senior Teams may form 40, rue François 1er new Open teams and will receive free entry provided no players who 75008 Paris - France have not participated in these events are added. [email protected]

SYSTEMS has free internet access (wifi and intranet) and offers very com- fortable, well equipped rooms, two restaurants, a bar, tennis For Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup & Senior Bowl, the condi- courts, soccer field, three-hole golf course, jogging lane, fitness tions of contest will give full details of systems regulations and center, heated pool, dry sauna and steam rooms, pool tables, etc. registration, but players should note that it will be a require- ment that all systems are registered in advance via e-mail to Anna Gudge: [email protected] HOTEL INFORMATION HUM systems or Brown Sticker conventions are not permitted in the Round Robin stage of the Bermuda Bowl or Venice Cup, HOTEL TRANSAMERICA or at any stage of the Senior Bowl. Double-room (single or double occupancy): US$180.00 Pairs wishing to register HUM systems or Brown Sticker conven- (tax included) per night, breakfast-buffet included. 3 nights payment in tions for use in the Knockout phase of the Bermuda Bowl or advance is required for reservations, refundable for cancellations only until June 30. A 5% discount is offered if reservations are made for 12 or more Venice Cup must register these, together with the relevant HUM nights, paid totally in advance, with no reimbursements in the event of an or BS forms no later than 7th July 2009. No extension to this dead- early checkout. Suites can be reserved at prices to be arranged with the hotel. line will be accepted. Teams using HUM systems or BS conventions Reservations can be made directly with the hotel: lose their seeding rights when they play against teams that do • Group Sales Department by e-mail: [email protected] not use such methods. • or phone (+55 11) 5693-4092/5693-4098/5693-4972 Hotel web-site: www.transamerica.com.br

THE VENUE Economic alternative Hotel: TRANSAMERICA FLAT NACOES UNIDAS São Paulo is one of the biggest cities in the world, having over 17 Located at 4 km (2.5 miles) distance from the main hotel (shuttles will be provided) million inhabitants, and it is the most important Brazilian city. Double-room (single or double occupancy): US$110 Quite often São Paulo intimidates people because of its size, its (tax included) per night, breakfast-buffet included. Triple room, with rollaway constant pedestrian and vehicle traffic, ethnic and cultural bed, subject to availability: US$140 (tax included) per night. 3 nights in advance required for reservations, refundable for cancellations only until June 30. multiplicity. But it is this very “city-in-a-hurry” tempo that makes the city entertaining, attractive, diversified and unique. Reservations can be made directly with the hotel To think of São Paulo as merely a business destination, • by e-mail: [email protected] although the largest in Latin America, would be inaccurate. • or phone (+55 11) 5187-2955/5693-4952 After all, what business capital has 280 movie theatres, more Hotel web-site: www.transamericaflats.com.br than 70 shopping malls and 12,000 restaurants featuring every sort of international cuisine. Feel like seeing a Broadway-style Alternatively, reservations can be made directly with the play? This is the place. Or would you rather max out your cred- organization by e-mail: [email protected] it card at some charming street boutiques? São Paulo has so many of them, from the simplest and cheapest to the most Championship Official Site: www.brazilbridge2009.com.br sophisticated and expensive. As for art - the offerings are many and varied, including Zonal Qualified teams for BB, VC and E. DOrsi SB “MASP” The Art Museum of São Paulo, the Museum of Zone 1 6 Zone 5 1 Brazilian Art, the Museum of Modern Art to name just three; Zone 2 3 Zone 6 3 in addition there are also important architectural works. Zone 3 3 Zone 7 2 The Championships will take place at the Transamerica Hotel, a Zone 4 2 Zone 8 2 wonderful deluxe five-star hotel, located near the most impor- If any Zone does not fill its quota the first berth will be offered to tant business, shopping, and gourmet areas of the city. The hotel Zone 1, the second one to Zone 6

24