13th World Bridge Series Championships / Introduction

... And the winner is... USA!

The 13th edition of the World Bridge Series Championships, the world’s biggest and most complex bridge competition, held quadrennially, was held in Philadelphia, PA, USA, 1-16 October 2010, and proved an entirely American affair! With the sole exception of the World Women Knockout Teams, where China captured the McConnell Trophy, American players collected gold medals in all main competitions of the championships! It was, of course, an unprecedented triumph, and USA fully deserved the Solomon Trophy awarded to the most successful country at the championships. Europe had to be content with two gold medals won jointly with American players in the World Senior Teams and the World Mixed Pairs.

Open	Women	Seniors	Mixed

DIAMOND (USA) winners of the Rosenblum Cup	CHINESE LADIES (China) winners of the McConnell Cup	HACKETT (England-USA) winners of the Rand Cup	HINZE (Canada-USA) winners of the Mixed Swiss Teams

Weinstein-Levin (USA) winners of the Open Pairs	Palmer-Dias (USA) winners of the Women Pairs	McDevitt-Demartino (USA) Winners of the Hiron Trophy	Compton-Fantoni (USA-ITA) winners of the Mixed Pairs

Pure American combinations won the Rosenblum Cup (Open KO Teams) with the DIAMOND team, and the GENERALI World Open Pairs with Bobby Levin (who still holds the record of the only Junior to have won a Bermuda Bowl - 1981) and Steve Weinstein. Runners up in the Rosenblum Cup was another American team, reigning Bermuda Bowl holders NICKELL, while the bronze went to the Franco-Italian-Norwegian combination ZIMMERMANN. Sweden's Fallenius-Fredin and Germany's Piekarek-Smirnov took the other medals in the Pairs.

In the Women, the McConnell Cup was clearly won by CHINA, followed by the NETHERLANDS and the very international team FIREMAN (France, Russia, USA). However, the GENERALI World Women Pairs title went to USA's Lynn Deas and Beth Palmer. Canadians Culham-Fung were second and Dutch stars Arnolds-Vriend third.

In the Seniors, ACBL President Rich Demartino and Patrick McDevitt won the Hiron Trophy (World Senior Pairs), while the Rand Cup (Senior KO Teams) was captured by HACKETT's Anglo-American squad. For Paul

Hackett and his English countrymen this was the second victory in the event, after Verona '06. In the Pairs, runners up were Japan's Ohno-Yamada, followed by USA's Assemi-Wojewoda. In the Teams, the silver medal went to TEAM MARKOWICZ (Poland, Netherlands, USA), while the bronze was captured by the exclusively-Indonesian squad GABRIAL UI.

Finally, North Americans won all medals in the Mixed Swiss Teams, with HINZE (Canada, USA), HANSA NARASIMHAN (USA) and STEELERS (USA) taking the top three positions. In the World Mixed Pairs the gold went to Donna Compton (USA) and Italy's Fulvio Fantoni. The other two medals were taken by Fung (Canada)-Glubok (USA) and USA's Lewis-Hopkins.

Despite its complexity, the 13th World Bridge Series Championships was a great organizational success thanks to the WBF's experienced international team joining forces with the local volunteers. The friendliness of the local people and Philadelphia, itself a most attractive city, contributed in the hundreds of guests having a great time irrespective of the results at the bridge table.

... BUT EUROPE TAKES REVENGE with THE YOUTH!

Juniors	Youngsters	Young Ladies

ISRAEL winners of the Ortiz-Patiño Trophy	POLAND winners of the Damiani Cup	POLAND winners of the Rona Cup

The World Youth Team Championships also took place in Philadelphia, at the same time as the second half of the World Bridge Series Championships. Normally, the youth championships comprise two series, Juniors (for players up to 26 years) and Youngsters (former Schools, for players up to 21 years), both open to national teams representing the WBF zones, and competing for the Ortiz-Patiño Trophy and Damiani Cup respectively. However, in Philadelphia, a new series was introduced for Young Ladies (Girls - female players up to 26 years old, also for zonal teams); having the Rona Cup at stake.

If the Americans were clear winners in the World Bridge Series Championships, at least the same must be said of the Europeans who triumphed in the World Youth Teams Championships. They won all gold and all silver medals, while they shared the bronze medals with China!

Prime contributors to the European success were ISRAEL and POLAND. ISRAEL won the Ortiz-Patiño Trophy, symbol of supremacy at world youth bridge, beating FRANCE in an all-European final of the Junior series. The bronze medal went to CHINA.

POLAND took both the Damiani Cup and the Rona Cup, finishing first in both the Youngsters and the Young Ladies series! Runners up in the Youngsters were ENGLAND, while FRANCE took another silver medal in the Young Ladies series. CHINA also doubled their medals, ending up third in the Young Ladies. The NETHERLANDS won third place in the Youngsters.

• For a comprehensive list of the medal winners click here.

The World Bridge Series Championships is the biggest competition staged by the World Bridge Federation. It is held quadrennially, in the even-numbered non-leap years. The 13th edition of the Championships (formerly known as 'World Bridge Championships') was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 1-16 October 2010 and comprised tournaments for pairs and teams in various categories (open, women, seniors, mixed) competing for many world titles. The Championships were open to all bridge enthusiasts, with transnational entries permitted in all events. In addition, to attract players of varied skill levels, Regional Championships were staged throughout the tournament, awarding both WBF and ACBL master points.

The World Bridge Series Championships came into being in 1962, under the name of World Pair Olympiad which comprised the World Open Pairs Championship and the World Women Pairs Championships. At the same time, the inaugural World Mixed Teams Championship was also held. Pierre Jais and Roger Trézel of France were the first Open Pairs champions, while in the Women event, Rixi Markus and Fritzi Gordon from Great Britain prevailed.

The second such tournament, held in 1966 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, had a new competition added to the programme: the World Mixed Pairs Championship, won by USA's Mary Jane Farell and Ivan Erdos; however, the World Mixed Teams Championship was not held. The same programme applied to the third event, organized in 1970 in Stockholm, as well as the fourth one held in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain, in 1974, except that the World Mixed Teams Championship was again added after 12 years.

An important change took place in the 1978 Championships, held in New Orleans, USA, which saw the inauguration of the World Knockout Teams for the Rosenblum Cup, named in honour of the former WBF president who had died five months earlier. First holders of the Cup were Poland.

The World Mixed Teams Championship was once again discontinued (it was re-instituted in 1996, and since then it is played together with the World Team Olympiad on leap years). The programme of 1978 was applied in the next two editions, held in 1982 in Biarritz, France, and in 1986 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.

The 8th edition of the series, organized in 1990 in Geneva, Switzerland, saw the introduction of the World Senior Pairs Championship; this was won by Albert Dormer and Alan Hiron of Great Britain. Four years later, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, the popularity of the World Open Knockout Teams led to the inauguration of two more team competitions: the World Women's Knockout Teams for the McConnell Cup, won by the United States; and the World Senior Knockout Teams, won by Rohan's transnational squad. The same programme applied to the next three editions, held in 1998 in Lille, France; 2002, in Montreal, Canada; and 2006, in Verona, Italy.

At the13th edition, held in 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, the event assumed a new name: World Bridge Series Championships, and a new competition was added to the programme: the World Mixed Swiss Teams.

At the same time as the 2010 World Bridge Series Championships, the World Youth Team Championships also took place in Philadelphia. Until 2010, this comprised two series, Juniors (for players up to 26 years) and Youngsters (former Schools, for players up to 21 years), for teams representing the WBF zones, competing for the Ortiz-Patiño Trophy and Damiani Cup respectively. In Philadelphia 2010, a new series was introduced for Young Ladies (Girls - female players up to 26 years old), also for zonal teams); having the Rona Cup at stake.

• For a complete list of the previous events, their venues and winners, click here.

14th World Computer-Bridge Championship
10 - 15 October 2010

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