Bridge At Its Best ....
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Fontaine earns 10,000th MP Walter Fontaine, a veteran player from Rhode Island, passed the 10,000 masterpoint mark Saturday at the Summer NABC. The North Providence resident is retired from the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, where he worked in research and publications. The former president of the Rhode Island Bridge Association is also a former member of the ACBL Board of Governors. He now teaches and directs bridge games. Summer NABC turns 76This is the 76th annual Summer North American Bridge Championships – and there have been many changes in this time. These championships, usually the largest of the three annual competitions, were originally held under the auspices of the American Bridge League. Since 1938 they have been held by the American Contract Bridge League. In the Thirties the championships were played at Asbury Park NJ and lasted eight days. In post-war years, the program was gradually enlarged to nine days. In 1969, the NABC became a 10-day tournament and in 1979, a pre-tournament Charity Gala was added. In 2002 in Washington DC, 276 pairs played in the Educational Foundation Stratified Open Pairs, 55 pairs played in the Educational Foundation Stratified 299er Pairs and 74 teams competed in five brackets of the Educational Foundation Bracketed Knockout Teams. In 1930 the Knockout Team event (now the Spingold Master Knockout Teams) attracted an entry of 16 teams and 22 |
pairs entered the Master Pairs to play for the von Zedtwitz Gold Cup. In DC, 103 teams entered the Spingold and 504 competed in the Life Master Pairs. The earlier competitions were held in Asbury Park NJ, New York City and Chicago. Since 1950, however, the NABC has been held in a different city: Columbus, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Miami, Los Angeles and Denver, among others. Play for a world title in Transnational Mixed TeamsFor most world championships, it is necessary to qualify in your home country to take part. In the last few years, the World Bridge Federation has offered expanded opportunities for world championship play. Such an event is the third World Transnational Mixed Teams Championship, scheduled to take place during the World Bridge Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 23 through Nov. 6. The Mixed Teams will begin Nov. 2 and will be played in 15 rounds of 10 boards each to qualify teams for the semifinal and final rounds. The event was first played in Rhodes, Greece, in 1996, and repeated in Maastricht, Netherlands, in 2000. Teams can be made up of any combination of countries, with at least two men and two women playing in mixed partnerships. Entry fees are $800 for new teams, free for players eliminated from the Olympiad. If a team is composed of players from the Olympiad and new players, the players who have not competed will be charged $150 per person for a team of six, $200 per person for a team of 4. |
ACBL members who wish to enter should e-mail International Events or call (901) 332- 5586 and ask for International Events. Entries are due by Aug. 15, although late entries may be accepted if there is sufficient space at the venue. The World Bridge Olympiad and concurrent events will be held in the heart of Istanbul at the Grand Cevahir Hotel and Convention Centre, which combines a state-of-the-art convention center with an extremely comfortable hotel. Accommodation will also be available in hotels nearby, which will include 2- and 3-star hotels as well as the more expensive 4- and 5-star hotels, so that as wide a range of rates as possible can be offered to players coming to the championships. Benson climbs over 10,000 barrier Dick Benson of
Leroy IL topped the 10,000-point mark
in masterpoints
recently. He is the
second in his
family to do so. His
son-in-law, Ralph
Katz, is a Grand
Life Master with
more than 15,000 “Sam beat me in the Flight A Knockouts at the Green Bay Regional. That’s a point of pride for both of us,” said Benson. “Sam usually goes to NABCs, but he couldn’t come this time – he’s playing in the state high school baseball championship in Illinois.” Benson was a counselor for at-risk high school
kids – he got them jobs – but he retired about eight
years ago. He was chairman of a highly successful
Team Trials in Milwaukee in 1972. |