CONGRATULATIONS TO WORLD BRIDGE GAME MEDALISTS

NATIONAL TEAMS

The USA Senior team (Reese Milner, Hemant Lall, Bobby Levin, Eric Rodwell, Michael Rosenberg, Zia Mahmood, Jacek (Pepsi) Pszcola NPC, Joyjit Sensarma Coach) won the gold medal, and the Women's team (Lynn Baker, Olivia Schireson, Jill Meyers, Kerri Sanborn, Cecilia Dwyer Rimstedt, Sandra Rimstedt,  Joe Stokes NPC, Sam Dinkin Coach) won the bronze medal in the 2024 World Bridge Games. Three members of the Senior team (Reese Milner, Hemant Lall, and Zia Mahmood) were defending their 2016 gold medal (the World Bridge Games are held every 4 years, but were not held in 2020); one other player from the 2016 gold medal Senior team, Chip Martel, played in Buenos Aires, his Open team lost to Switzerland in the Quarterfinal. Kerri Sanborn won gold in 2016; sadly, two of her teammates (Lynn Deas and Beth Palmer) are no longer with us; two others (Janice Molson & Sylvia Shi) played in the Mixed event in Buenos Aires, losing to silver medalist China in the Quarterfinal.

GOLD MEDALIST SENIOR TEAM ON THE MEDAL STAND

2024 Senior Gold

Reese Milner, NPC Jacek (Pepsi) Pszcola, Bobby Levin, Hemant Lall, Eric Rodwell, Coach Joyjit Sensarma, Zia Mahmood, Michael Rosenberg, photo by Chrissie Albice.

Senior Team at Playing Site
2024 Senior Gold no trophies

Coach Joyjit Sensarma, Hemant Lall, Zia Mahmood, Reese Milner, Michael Rosenberg, Bobby Levin, Eric Rodwell

BRONZE MEDALIST WOMEN'S TEAM ON THE MEDAL STAND

2024 Women's Bronze medal team

Olivia Schireson, Lynn Baker, Sandra Rimstedt, Kerri Sanborn, NPC Joe Stokes, Jill Meyers, Coach Sam Dinkin, Cecilia Dwyer Rimstedt; photo by Constance McAlvoy.

NATIONAL PAIRS

Congratulations to Joel Wooldridge and Kent Mignocchi who won gold in the National Open Pair competition and to Mike and Allison Cappelletti who won bronze in the National Mixed Pairs.

Open Pairs Gold Medalists

 2024 Open Pairs Gold

Joel Wooldridge and Kent Mignocchi. Photo by Lynn Baker.

Mixed Pairs Bronze

2024 Bronze Mixed Pairs

MIke and Allison Cappelletti. Photo by Lynn Baker.

Transnational pablo lambardi teams

Congratulations to the Shourie team (USBF members Rajath Shourie, Gavin Wolpert, Vince Demuy, and John Kranyak, with Norwegians Tor Elvind Grude and Geir Helgemo) who won gold in the Pablo Lambardi teams, and to the US Mixed team (Susan Zhang, Eddie Wold, Sylvia Shi, Daniel Korbel, Janice Molson, Geoff Hampson, NPC Bob Morris) who won bronze.

Gold Medalists

2024PLTOT Gold

Vince Demuy, Rajath Shourie, Tor Elvind Grude, Geir Helgemo, John Kranyak, Gavin Wolpert. Photo by Boye Brogeland

Bronze Medalists

2024 Transnational Bronze

Geoff Hampson, Janice Molson, Eddie Wold, Susan Zhang, Sylvia Shi, Dan Korbel, NPC Bob Morris.

Details

CONGRATULATIONS TO USBF YOUTH MEDALISTS

Seven young USBF players earned medals in events at the 8th World Youth Transnational Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.

U16 GOLD - Teams

JACK, an all-US team, led the medal parade with GOLD in the U16 event. The team name is based on the players' first names:

J for Jeff Xiao, 12,
A for Andrew Chen, also 12,
C for Charlie Chen, the senior member of the team at 14, and
K for Kyo Chen (not related to brothers Andrew and Charlie) who becomes the youngest player ever to win a World Championship, at 10 years old!

 2024 Youth Transnationals U16 Gold (2)

Coach Steve Chen (father of Andrew & Charlie), Charlie Chen, Andrew Chen, Kyo Chen, Jeff Xiao

U21 Bronze - Teams

13-year old Brian Zhang, joining with friends from China, won the U21 bronze medal. Brian is still under 16, but chose to play in the U21 event.

2024 U21 Bronze medal team

Feng Zhu, Bruce Wu, Yuekei Yang, Brian Zhang, Ziao Wang, Hanxi Ma, Coach Jichao Hu

U21 Bronze - Pairs

Brian Zhang repeated his bronze medal in the Pairs event, this time with fellow American Kayden Ge, who is 14-years old. Both Brian and Kayden are a part of Silicon Valley Youth Bridge as players and volunteers.

U21_Bronze_Pairs.jpg

Brian Zhang and Kayden Ge

BAM Gold - U21/U26/U31

Adam Kaplan, playing on a truly Transnational team with top players from Canada, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway, earned Gold in the BAM event, which was open to all of the teams that didn't qualify for the KO stages of the U21, U26, and U31 events (there was a separate BAM for U16). 2024 Youth Transnationals BAM Gold

Sibrand van Oosten (Netherlands), Coach Charlotte Baumgart (Germany), Matthew Brown (New Zealand), Christian Bakke (Norway), Jacob Freeman (Canada), Giovanni Donati (Italy), and Adam Kaplan (US).

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FISU World University Championship Team USA

Congrats to Team USA for participating in the 2024 FISU World University Championships for Mind Sports! This competition featured both Bridge and Chess and took place from June 23rd to June 30th in Entebbe, Uganda. Team USA achieved 7th place in the competition. 

Team USA included players Alan Yeung, Aaron Balleisen, Brennan Easton, Kunal Vohra, Isaac Stone, and Kai Eckert (from left to right in photo) and coaches Sharon Beynon and Alex Kolesnik (left most and right most of photo).

The team was organized by the USBF and primarily supported with a grant from the ACBL Educational Foundation.  

Find more information here: https://mindsport2024.fisu-events.com/

Kai_and_isaac.jpeg

aaron.jpeg

 

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2025 USBCs Scheduled

The 2025 USBCs will be held at the Hyatt Regency, Schaumburg, IL, from April 24th through May 26th. Each of the four USBCs will select 2 teams for the 2025 World Championships, the date & location of which has not yet been announced. The player eligibility rules have been modified for next year to a compromise between the rules in 2021 and the rules in 2023 & 2024 (in 2022 there was only an Open USBC). In 2025, players may enter more than one event and if they do so, they must declare which event they will play in if they qualify for more than one (including second choice if they enter 3 events). A player who qualifies for the event they have designated as their preferred World Championship event is not eligible to play in a subsequent USBC. If a player has entered 3 events and qualifies in their second choice event, they are not eligible to play in their third choice event.

In addition, the Board slightly modified the rule regarding when a team that qualified in a USBC is eligible for the World Championship. That rule has been that 4 players from the USBC team must play in the World Championship. For 2025, 4 players from a 5 or 6 person qualified team must playin the World Championship, but a 4 person team needs only 3 continuing players to be eligible for the World Championship.

The Open USBC will start on April 24, 2025 and end on May 5, 2025. Face to face stages will be USA1 Round Robin or Round of 16, Quarterfinal, Semifinal, and Final, and USA2 Stage 1, Stage 2, Quarterfinal, Semifinal, and Final. The losing USA1 Finalist will drop into the USA2 Semifinal and choose their opponent for the Semifinal. All stages will be 2 days long. If more than 16 teams enter, there will be an online stage among some number of the lowest seeded teams to reduce the field to 16 for face to face play. All face to face teams will play for at least 4 days.

The Beth Palmer Women's USBC will start on Wednesday, April 30th if 3 or 4 teams have entered, or on Monday, April 28th if 5-8 teams have entered. If there are 3 or 4 teams, face to face stages will be 2 day USA1 Semifinal (KO or RR); 2 day USA1 Final and USA2 Semifinal (if only 3 teams entered the event this stage won't take place); 2 day USA2 Final. If there are 5-8 teams, the first 2 days will be a Round Robin to qualify 4 teams; the next 6 days will be the same as for 4 teams.

The Mixed USBC will start on Wednesday, May 7th and end on Friday, May 16th. Face to Face stages will be USA1 Round Robin or Round of 16, Quarterfinal, Semifinal, and Final, all 2 days long. USA2 stages will be Stage 1 (2 day Round Robin or KO opposite the USA1 Quarterfinal), Stage 2 (1 day KO opposite first day of USA1 Semifinal), Stage 3 (1 day KO opposite day 2 of the USA1 Semifinal), Quarterfinal (1 day KO opposite day 1 of the USA1 Final), Semifinal (1 day KO opposite day 2 of the USA1 Final), and Final (2 day KO). The losing USA1 Finalist will drop into the USA2 Final. If more than 16 teams enter, there will be an online stage among some number of the lowest seeded teams to reduce the field to 16 for face to face play. All face to face teams will play for at least 4 days.

The Senior USBC will start on Saturday, May 17th and end on Monday, May 26th. Face to Face stages will be USA1 Round Robin or Round of 16, Quarterfinal, Semifinal, and Final, all 2 days long. USA2 stages will be Stage 1 (2 day Round Robin or KO opposite the USA1 Quarterfinal), Stage 2 (1 day KO opposite first day of USA1 Semifinal), Stage 3 (1 day KO opposite day 2 of the USA1 Semifinal), Quarterfinal (1 day KO opposite day 1 of the USA1 Final), Semifinal (1 day KO opposite day 2 of the USA1 Final), and Final (2 day KO). The losing USA1 Finalist will drop into the USA2 Final. If more than 16 teams enter, there will be an online stage among some number of the lowest seeded teams to reduce the field to 16 for face to face play. All face to face teams will play for at least 4 days.

For those of you who think a picture is worth 1000 words, here'a a calendar of the full tournament:

 Face to Face Calendar 2025

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  1. CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM LALL, USA FOR THE WORLD BRIDGE GAMES SENIOR TEAMS
  2. CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM BAKER, USA FOR THE WORLD BRIDGE GAMES WOMEN'S TEAMS
  3. CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM ZHANG, USA FOR THE WORLD BRIDGE GAMES MIXED TEAMS
  4. CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM FLEISHER, USA FOR THE WORLD BRIDGE GAMES