DISTRICT 24 Newsletter                   Alvin Levy, District Director                                   2008.3
published after each NABC

Contents:

1st World Mind Sports Games, Beijing, China October 3-18, 2008

Report on the Boston NABC

2009 Goodwill and Charity Committees appointments

 

1st Mind Sports Games, Beijing, October 3-18, 2008

Background:  The newly formed International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) is composed of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), the World Chess Federation, (FIDE - Fédération Internationale Des Echecs), the World Draughts Federation (FMJD - Federation Mondiale du Jeu Dames) and the International Go Federation (IGF).  José Damiani, president of the WBF, is president of the IMSA.

The IMSA staged the 1st World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) in Beijing, the summer Olympic city, with xiangqi (Chinese chess), joining bridge, chess, go and draughts.

The Chinese organizing committee (under the patronage of the IOC) included a dozen sports administration departments in China.  There was major financial support from China and Air China as well as sponsorship from many Chinese companies.  “Civilizations varied, wisdom unbounded” was the slogan of the 1st WMSG.

More than 2700 players from 143 countries competed for medals in five sports, bridge, chess, draughts, go and xiangqi.. It is difficult to determine the extent of the worldwide exposure of these games, but it is estimated that more than 10 million TV viewers per day watched glimpses of the games.

Special events included the heart warming opening ceremony, with the flags of the nations on display, held at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium.  The overall awards were presented at an outdoor closing ceremony.  There were two press conferences; one near the beginning of the games and one near the end.

Articles of interest include:

Should Chess (and Bridge) be an Olympic Sport? www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1827716,00.html

Beijing hosts first ‘Mind Games’ news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7651145.stm

The First World Mind Sports Games Under Way in Beijing english.cri.cn/4406/2008/10/09/1122s412982.htm

You can google a hundred-plus Internet articles, including those at bridge, chess, go and draughts web sites.

World Bridge Federation Bridge Championships

 This was the 50th anniversary of the World Bridge Federation.  The WBF games included the Men and Women World Individual Masters, Open Teams, Women’s Teams, Senior Teams and Mixed Transnational Teams, along with under-21, under-26 and under-28 Teams, Youth Pairs and Youth Individual.  There were 71 teams in the Open Teams, 54 teams in the Women Teams and 32 teams in the Senior Teams.  There were 18 teams in the under-21 teams, 18 teams in the under-26 teams and 73 teams in the under-28 teams.

In the Open Teams USA lost in the quarterfinals to Poland.  The Canadian team lost its qualifying position in the last match of the round robin. Italy beat England for the gold medal. In the Women’s Teams the USA team lost a close semifinal match to China. England defeated China in the final by 1 Imp, and USA defeated Turkey for the bronze medal.  In the Senior Teams USA took the silver medal, losing to Japan by 2 Imps in the finals. Canada lost in the quarterfinals to Hungary.

New Laws of Duplicate Bridge

The 2007 edition of the Laws of Duplicate Bridge is now available.  The new Laws come into effect from January 1, 2008, but NBOs have until September 30, 2008 to bring them into force. All World Bridge Federation events will be conducted under the new Laws as from January 1, 2008.
For the new Laws, click here

Boston Fall NABC

The Boston NABC had everything...great playing space, first-rate Hotels, wonderful restaurants, and GREAT shopping.  It was hard to get from the Westin to the Marriott without buying something.  The table count was only 10,636, 2,000 less than expectations (there were 12,749 tables at the 1999 Boston Fall NABC).  For all the results, click here

Top 20 District 24 players in NABC+ event

Bobby Nail Life Master Open Pairs: Robert Levin, 4th; Michael Massimilla, 5th.

Helen Sobel Smith Life Master Women’s Pairs: Susan Picus, 8th; Susan Wexler, 10th; Judi Radin, 18th.

Victor Mitchell Open Board-A-Match Teams: Zia Mahmood, WINNER; James Cayne, 3rd; Debbie Rosenberg - Michael Rosenberg, 5/6th; Roy Welland - Brian Glubok, 8th; Michael Moss, 9th; Scott Levine, 13th; Michael Massimilla - Adam Wildavsky, 15th; Richard Schwartz - Bjorn Fallenius, 17th; Christal Henner-Welland - Uday Ivatury, 19th.

Marsha May Sternberg Women’s Board-A-Match Teams: Valerie Westheimer, 2nd; Jenny Wolpert - Judi Radin, 5th; Sylvia Moss, 6th; Jill Levin, 7th;  Jacqui Mitchell - Lynne Tarnopol, 8th.

Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs: Adam Wildavsky, 3rd; Glenn Milgrim - Robert Levin, 8th; Aaron Silverstein - Andrew Rosenthal, 11th; Zia Mahmood, 16th; Martin Fleisher, 18th; Gavin Wolpert, 19th.

Mini Blue Ribbon Pairs: Otto Adamec - Greg Reich, 8th; Susan Jackowitz - Lew Walter, 16th; Estelle Margolin, 17th.

Senior Knockout Teams: Sam Lev - Fred Chang, WINNERS; :Melih Ozdil, 3/4th; John Solodar, 9/16th.

Reisinger Board-A-Match: Zia Mahmood, WINNER; Roy Welland - Brian Glubok, 2nd; Debbie Rosenberg - Michael Rosenberg, 3rd; Richard Schwartz - Bjorn Fallenius, 5th; Glenn Milgrim - Jared Lilienstein - Barry Rigal, New York - John Solodar, 12th; Margie Gwozdzinsky, 14th.

Ethel Keohane North American Swiss Teams: Joe Grue, WINNER; David Maidman - Marin Marinov, 4th; R. Jay Becker, 6th; Andrew Rosenthal - Aaron Silverstein, 7th; Melanie Tucker - Erez Hendelman -New York - Melih Ozdil, 8th; Glenn Eisenstein, 11th; Paul Bethe, 15th; Michael Moss, 17th; Sandrea Friedman - Michael Rosen - Jane Dillenberg, 18th; Gavin Wolpert - John Hurd, 19th.

ACBL State-of-affair

Membership
Membership has increased this year by 1,200, to approximately 159,250.  Membership has been increasing by approximately 1,000 per year, over the past four years.

Finances
The 2008 budget was originally set to produce a yearly surplus of approximately $500,000, and is expected to end higher, at $800,000.  The final 2007 results showed a surplus of $1,750,000.  Some highlights for the large 2007 surplus include: increased membership dues due to increased membership; higher sanction fee revenue due to increase table count at Regionals, Sectionals, and online bridge; increased income from the sale of the ACBL Product Store inventory and sale of the Memphis headquarters building; decrease in staff salaries, due in part to two major vacancies, a marketing Director and a CFO; and a decrease in marketing programs.  Due to recent surpluses, the 2009 budget has a $250,000 deficit.  Salaries are going up 4%.  Medical costs and the recent pension shortfall will be significant.

In 2009, there will be no increases in: membership dues or sanction fees.  NABC entry fees were increased by $2 per player per session for NABC+ events and $1 per player per session for all other events.

New NABC+ event
A new NABC+ event has been approved.  The Platinum Pairs, a six-session Open event, will be open to members who have 50 or more platinum masterpoints in the three years prior to the event, or 200 Platinum masterpoints for a life-time. The event is scheduled for the first weekend of the spring NABC.

Club Games
STaC fees
were altered slightly.  The 2009 charges for our area, which combines Units from Districts 3, 24 and 25, will be approximately $3.65/table based on 4,000+ tables for each STaC.  Units running under the same sanction will be allowed to score overall awards separately.

When a sectional (excluding STaCs) or higher rated event is being conducted within 25 miles of a club game's playing site, the club is permitted to hold only regularly club masterpoint games, i.e., no special games.

Youth and Junior Bridge
A new web site has been established for  the 'Bridge Teachers for Youth' (www.btfy.org).  This web site consolidates all youth information under one roof.

The ACBL redefines the Youth Division and Junior Division.  The Youth Division will be for players under 20 years of age and the Junior Division will be for players under 26 years of age.

The first Youth NABC, held in Atlanta in July, 2008, was a great success.  The second Youth NABC is scheduled for Washington, D.C., as part of the summer 2009 Washington D.C. NABC.

New ACBL Headquarters
The ACBL recently sold its headquarters building in Memphis and is discussing building a new ACBL headquarter building in the Memphis area.

Online Bridge
Currently, BridgeBase Online, OKBridge and Swan Games run approximately 35,000 table per month of sanctioned bridge.  Most of the games are 12-board events.  A new Online Bridge committee (which I chair) has been working to expand online bridge, giving our players an alternative bridge experience, and financially benefiting the ACBL as well as the online clubs.

In Boston, a motion to allow online bridge clubs to run Club Championships under similar conditions as face-to-face clubs, was approved. Online Club Championships must be at least 18-board events.  All masterpoint awards will be non-pigmented and the maximum overall award is set at 3.90 masterpoints.  One open club championship may be awarded, per quarter, for sessions 1 – 12 (Monday – Thursday).

No Lawyers at Disciplinary Hearings
The Board of Governors voted, in Las Vegas, to have the Board of Directors reverse a previous motion that bars a person who holds a law degree and/or is licenses to practice law in any jurisdiction, from representing a client, in person, at an ACBL disciplinary hearing.  The BoDs voted against reversing its previous decision. 

2009 ACBL Goodwill Committee and Charity Committee Appointments

Congratulations to District 24 recipients.  The lifetime appointments are well deserved.

ACBL Goodwill Committee
Alan Sontag
August Boehm
John Clancy
Michael Stanley

ACBL Charity Committee
Jesus Arias
Saundra Jones