DISTRICT 24 NEWSLETTER…….Alvin Levy……………………Volume 2007.2
Published after each NABC
Nashville summer NABC
Many who attended the Nashville NABC visited The Grande Ole Opry. It
was a wonderful show and made the trip to Nashville memorable. Nashville
offered other nice tourist attractions and the usual assortment of fine dining
and local eateries. For country music fans there were many local run-down smoked-filled bars/establishments to
visit within walking distance of the playing area. The main
Hotel was under renovation and the elevators were a problem. On the plus
side, the playing area was adjacent to the main Hotel and the playing rooms were
well lit and spacious. The locals put on a show almost every evening along
with a late night snack. However, the players at the 10 am/3 pm games
weren't treated to
any snacks. The table count of 12,879 was as expected.
Hall of Fame
Banquet
The Hall of Fame inducted three popular living members during Thursday's Hall of Fame dinner.
The
honorees were
Alan
Sontag, Zia Mahmood and Kerri Shuman.
Alan and Zia are members
of the GNYBA and Kerri is a member of neighboring Unit 106. In addition to
the inductees, Seymon S. Deutsch was
honored as the recipient of the Sidney H. Lazard Jr. award for
sportsmanship. We should be particularly proud of those who pass through our
District on their way to fame.
Zia Mahmood at Hall of Fame ceremony Alan Osofsky introduced longtime friend and partner Alan Sontag Kerri Sanborn
Grand National Teams:
One of the best overall District GNT results
ever.
Open Flight: Glenn Milgrim - Chris Willenken - Roy
Welland - Bobby Levin, 2nd.
Flight A: David Gurvich - Michael
Lipkin - Sorin Pleacof - Ljudmila Kamenova - Valentin Carciu, 2nd.
Flight
C: Hagai Rifkind - Jess Jurkovic - Rick Walker - Gary Bagley, 3/4th.
Ljudmila is from Stony Brook, LI
Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs (six sessions): Zia Mahmood, Winner; Russell Samuel, 4th; Adam Wildavsky,, 9th; John Kranyak - John Hurd, 11th; Michael Polowan, 19th.
LM winners, Chip Martel and Zia Mahmood
Young LM 0-1500 Pairs: Igor Savchenko - Alison Wilson, 3rd.
Truscott Senior Swiss: Jeffrey hand, 2nd; Glenn Eisenstein, 6th.
Wernher Open Pairs (4 sessions): Leslie Paryzer, 11th; Louis Lessinger, 19th.
Fast Pairs: Bobby Levin, Winner; Michael Lipkin - Joseph Byrnes; 16th; John Fout, 18th.
Winners of the NABC+ Fast Pairs were Robert Levin and Geoff Hampson.
Chicago Mixed Board-A-Match Teams: Leslie Paryzer, 2nd; Kevin Bathurst - Winthrop Allegaert - Judith Bianco, 3rd; Martin Fleisher, 5th; Zia Mahmood, 10/11th; Sylvia Moss - Judi Radin - Barry Rigal - Susan Picus, 10/11th; Susan Wexler, 19th.
Wager Women’s KO Teams: Jill Levin - Debbie Rosenberg, 2nd.
Mini Spingold 0-5000: Kelley Hwang, 3/4th.
Open Swiss Teams: Alan Sontag, 3rd; John Hurd, 5th; Mark Feldman, 6th; David Maidman - Marin Marinov, 7th; Martin Fleisher, New York NY; Adam Wildavsky, 9th; Sam Lev, 20th.
Spingold KO Teams: Christal Henner-Welland - Roy Welland - Chris Willenken, 3rd; Brad Moss - Joe Grue 5/8th; Bjorn Fallenius, 5/8th; James Cayne 9/16th; Alan Sontag; 9/16th; Michael Moss, 9/16th; James Rosenbloom - Brian Glubok, 9/16th.
Board Actions
Dan Morse, representing District 16, was elected ACBL President for 2008.
NABC Site Selections:
The future may bring our NABCs to more exciting cities. The Board passed a motion last year (sponsored by me) that made the attractiveness and popularity of a city a top priority for NABC site selection. Finally, it appears that this will be implemented. With the goal of maximizing the prestige, excitement and fun of our NABCs, 12 to 18 top cities will be selected with the idea that these cities will be visited every 6 to 12 years. NYC will be included, so we won't have to wait another 30 years to have an NABC in great our town.
The Code of Disciplinary Regulations was modified, in part, to read,
2.1.7 Except for CDR 2.1.1 (d) [cheating or serious breaches of ethics] and 2.1.6 [administrative matters], Units, Districts and the ACBL have no jurisdiction over behavior at club sponsored games.
Changes in Masterpoint Awards: Every five years the masterpoint schedule is reviewed and changes are considered. Changes were approved at this meeting with final approval to come at the next Board meeting.
Changes
related to clubs include:
eliminating the Super Club Championship, effective 1/1/09;
replace all Unit games, including Unit-Wide Championships, with one class of Unit
Championship. Increase the number of these games from 16 to 24 with a sanction fee of
$1.25/table. Effective 1/1/09;
increase the maximum
overall award at an open club rating-point game to 2.5 at 0.10 per table. Section awards are still
limited to 1.5. This applies to overall awards for games of 16 or more tables. Effective 1/1/08;
cap all special
Fund/Foundation games at 6.0 masterpoints, effective 1/1/08.
Changes for NABC+
events include:
The first two qualifying days to the finals of 3-day Open Championships and the Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs will have the field reduced to between 40-50% (changed from 50%).
A
motion to set a Maximum Number of Fund Games a Club may hold failed. The
motion read:
Except for the three designated months: Junior Fund month (February), Charity Fund
month (April)
and International Fund month (September), no club may hold more than 25% of its
sanction games, held in any one month, as these Fund games. Motion
failed 17-8. The Board of Governors voted to have the Board of Directors
reconsider this motion at its next meeting.
A motion to sever relations with the World Bridge Federation failed. 14-6-5
Bracketed Round Robin Team Events:
From now until June 2009, sponsoring organizations are not limited to the current guidelines for these events, and can try different ways of bracketing the field. The ACBL Director in Charge will have final say as to what bracketing may be used.
Electronic Devices:
Management will develop a plan for banning all non-medical electronic devices from the rooms, hallways contiguous to and bathrooms on the floors in which any events are being held at NABCs.
Youth North America Bridge Championship
On an experimental basis management in conjunction with one or two areas shall plan and implement a championship for players under the age of 19. The first championship will be held in Atlanta during the summer of 2008 or 2009.