This
new event, inaugurated in Tunisia in 1997, offers a week of top
level Swiss Teams competition in the exciting milieu of the Bermuda
Bowl/Venice Cup. This is a multinational event, which means that
team members do not have to come from the same country. Participants
can look forward to a traditionally warm Bermuda welcome!
Format
The World Transnational Open Teams event will be played during the
second week of the Orbis World Bridge Championships in Bermuda.
The qualifying stages will be held from Sunday to Thursday of the
second week with the top teams qualifying for the knock out phase
to be played on the Thursday and Friday.
The
Tournament is likely to be Swiss type, but with semi-finals and
a final being played in order to determine the Gold, Silver and
Bronze Medallists. The Bronze Medal will be awarded to the losing
semi-finalist which finishes with a higher placing in the Swiss.
It
is probable that sixteen 10-board matches of Swiss will be played
to qualify for the semi-finals and two more matches will be played
to determine the final standings from the 5th place on. The semi-finals
are likely to be played in 32-board matches and the final as a 48
board match; the knock-out stage - if possible - will be played
simultaneously with, and will use the same hands being played at
that time in the Bermuda Bowl/Venice Cup. The winner of the Swiss
will have a free choice of opponents for the semi-final match from
amongst the other three qualifying teams.
There
will probably be alternating starting times, one day 11:00 am the
next 2:00 pm and so on, with four matches per day. This will give
all players some mornings and some evenings free for other activities.
Systems
This Championship will be designated as a WBF Category 3 event,
which means that no brown sticker conventions and complicated systems
will be permitted. Additional Systems information will be published
as soon as it is available.
Who
can enter?
Teams will consist of 4, 5 or 6 players from the same or different
NCBOs.
Participants
in the Bermuda Bowl or Venice Cup who are eliminated in the quarter-finals
or earlier will be eligible to enter the World Transnational Open
Teams event.
Other
teams, whether national or Transnational, who wish to participate
in this exciting new event will be able to do so (subject to approval
by the WBF Credentials Committee), by contacting their NCBO and
requesting nomination.
There
will be separate classifications for mixed teams and women's teams
and, if there are at least 20 teams made up of Seniors players,
a separate event for Seniors will also be organised. Otherwise there
will be a separate classification for the Seniors within the field.
How to enter
Each player must be approved by their NCBO of origin and entries
must be submitted to the WBF Credentials Committee. Contact your
NCBO for further details (each NCBO will receive entry forms prior
to the event). For details as to how to contact your NCBO of origin,
click here.
Past Winners
YEAR |
VENUE
|
WINNER |
1997 |
Hammamet,
Tunisia |
Burgay
- Italy/Poland |
Members
of the first winning team were Leandro Burgay, Dano de Falco, Marcin
Lesniewski, Krzysztof Martens & Franco Mariani.
|