DISTRICT 24 NEWSLETTER
Alvin
Levy
Volume 03.2
Long
Beach, CA was an excellent site for an NABC.
Two of the three host hotels were adjacent to the Convention Center
playing area and the third host hotel was a short walking distance away.
While having all the hotel rooms and playing areas in one hotel is
generally best, an exception occurs when the playing area is easily accessible
and very well lit, as was the case in Long Beach.
The weather was perfect for swimming, eating outdoors, or just taking a
leisurely walk to and from the playing area.
Attendance was 12,246.5 tables, well below the expected 14,000 tables.
Last summer’s attendance at the Washington, D.C. NABC was also below expectations. Hopefully next
year’s summer NABC in NYC will break that trend, but it may be that the summer
is no longer as attractive a tournament time as the Spring and the Fall.
The
District 23 sponsoring organization had a variety of fun late night activities
and excellent free food. There
were a variety of restaurants nearby with two or three excellent ones.
The waterfront attractions were charming and fun and had
reasonably priced outdoor restaurants. Long Beach was a charming NABC and a prelude to the Fall
NABC in New Orleans, which promises to be one of the best NABCs ever. Treat
yourself to a special bridge experience…join us in New Orleans.
District 24 players always have a good showing in NABC+ events, and the summer 2003 NABC was no exception.
In the Grand National Teams, Flight B, Thomas Rubin, Rick Baraboo, Mika Lido, Paul Fran, Paul Winston and Ted Mao finished 5/8.
A big win for Nick Nickell (unofficial District 24 member) in the prestigious six-sessions LM Pairs. Michael Rosenberg was 2nd, David Berkowitz-Larry Cohen placed 3rd, Jill and Bobby Levin were 13th.
In the 0-5000 LM Pairs Elliot and Aver Grubman finished 9th.
A big win for Debbie Rosenberg in the
Wager Women’s KO Teams.
Valerie Westheimer-Judi Radin finished 3/4th and Laurie Vogel-Jacqui
Mitchell-Amalya Kearse-Gail Greenberg also finished 3/4th.
Bobby Levin was in the winner’s circle in the IMP Pairs.
Martin Fleshier was 4th, Jill Fish-John Gassenheimer placed 6th,
Joe Grue-Michael Moss placed 7th.
Roy
Welland-Bjorn Fallenius-Zia Mahmood-Michael Rosenberg won the Spingold KO Teams. Nick
Nickell's squad was 3/4th, Richard Schwartz- David Berkowitz-Larry Cohen, 5/8th,
Brian Glubok-Adam Wildavsky, 5/8th, Winthrop Allegaert-Jaggy
Shivdasani, 9/16th, James Rosenbloom-Christal Henner-Welland 9/16th
and
Michael Moss-Joe Grue, 9/16th
In the Mixed-Board-A-Match Teams Jill and Bobby Levin finished 7th
and Robb and Linda Gordon, 9/10th.
In the Fast Pairs, Martin Fleshier-Chris Willenken finished 7th.
Long Beach
Happenings
There
were some famous people playing bridge at the summer NABC in Long Beach.
Wes Parker, the Los Angeles Dodger first baseman from 1964 to 1972 played
in Long Beach.
In an interview Wes mentioned some of the early Dodgers who he played
bridge with on his long airplane flights…Wally Moon, Jim Gilliam and Don
Drysdale. Wes stopped playing
tournament bridge in 1970 because the smoke bothered him and returned to
tournament play a few years ago because of the changes in the smoking
regulations.
Louis Sachar, author of some two dozen books for children including the very popular book “Holes,” which was recently adapted to the big screen, also played in Long Beach. Peter Lynch, financial guru and legendary ex-manager of the Fidelity Magellan Mutual Fund played during the week along with his wife Carolyn.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffet played in the NABC+ Mixed Board-a-Match Teams. Gates and Buffet took part in an open interview at the viewgraph show on the last Saturday.
The Hall of Fame banquet honored six new inductees. The inductees were Fred Hamilton, our own Jacque Mitchell and Steve Robinson, and the late Ed Manfield, as well as Henry Francis, winner of the Blackwood Award, and New Yorker Tobias Stone, better known as "Stoney", winner of the von Zedwitz Award.
At
the banquet, District 24’s Larry Cohen was presented with the Lazard
Sportsmanship Award.
Board of Directors Meeting
This
was my second Board meting as president. As
in the spring, I called the meeting for three days rather than the traditional
four days. This put a little
pressure on the Board members but they rose to the occasion by extending two
committee meetings until the early evening.
The Board was efficient, actually ended its meetings early, and
productive, as it covered a particularly large number of important items.
Bruce
Reeve was elected as the 2004 ACBL president.
I
presented a President’s Mid-Year Report.
This is the first such report and I suggested that one be submitted every
year. I will submit an end-of-year
report.
An
annual Regional was given to the Canadian Bridge Federation to raising funds for
the CBF’s International Fund.
A
request to allow any well-defined defense to a 1NT opening, as a
general chart convention, was denied. A
request to move the Mid-Chart convention whereby the responses of 1S and 1NT to a
1H opening are reversed in meaning, was denied.
Under
certain conditions new ACBL members with international experience may receive
waivers to play in the NABC+ Life Master pairs, Blue Ribbon Pairs, Red Ribbon
Pairs and Silver Ribbon Pairs.
To
be eligible to receive overall awards in a Swiss Team event a player must play in
at least 50% of the matches or play in the last 50% of the matches rounded down
or play in the last three matches of an eight round two-session Swiss when the
second session consists of three matches. For
example, in a seven round Swiss a player must play a minimum of any four matches
or the last three matches in order to receive an overall award.
If a player plays in only the last three matches of a seven round Swiss
the player will receive 50% of the overall award.
In a two session Swiss with five matches in the first session and three
matches in the second session, a player playing in only the three matches of the
second session will receive 50% of the overall award.
In all other cases a player receives the overall award times the fraction of matches that the player has played in.
A
motion to reduce the field in the qualifying sessions of the Life Master Pairs
and Blue Ribbon Pairs to 40-45% from the current 50% in order to produce 2-4
thirteen or fourteen table sections for the final day was not passed on a 12-12
vote with one absentee.
The
ACBL Mid-Chart was amended to allow weak openings at the two level and higher
that show hands with two suits of no less than 5-4 distribution.
Methods
of deciding ties in KO Team matches were revised.
The
Condition of Contest for Sectional Tournaments at Clubs that require a minimum
of ten pairs to be included in the championship session was modified to allow
this restriction to be modified or waived, prior to the start of the tournament, at the sponsoring organization’s
option.
The
Regional Allocation formula was amended to give a District with 9,000-12,000
members one additional Regional a year (changed from 10,000 to 15,000).
Also, two additional
Regionals will be given to a District with 12,001 to 15,000 members and three additional
Regionals to Districts with more than 15,001 members.
This latest change will give District 7 and District 9 one additional
Regional.
A
motion to raise the playing age in Senior Events to sixty years old from 55
years old was defeated 18-6 with one absentee.
Management
is authorized to experiment with 10am and 3pm starting times during an upcoming
NABC, only with the approval and cooperation of the local sponsoring
organization. [The 2004 summer
NABC
executive committee is considering having the Spingold at 10am and 4pm.]
Currently,
funds raised at bridge clubs to support Junior teams participating in
International competition are divided between Canadian and USA teams based on
the moneys raised by Canadian and USA bridge clubs, respectively.
A motion to disperse the money equally between all Junior teams,
regardless of the country they represent, was defeated.
Starting
next summer at our New York NABC a Junior Pairs Event will be run on the first
Sunday. Scholarships will be
awarded to several winning pairs, the number to be determined.
A
one-session game for the benefit of the International Fund will be held in the
afternoon of the first day of each NABC, starting in the spring of 2004.
All
Units are permitted to run up to two International fund sessions at each
Sectional with the exception of STaCs. The
masterpoint awards will the Regionally rated silver points.
$1.00 per player will be charged to the sponsoring organization.
The $1.00 sanction fees will go to the International Fund of the country
in which the sectional was run.
The
Hall of Fame Charter was considered. Many
changes were approved. The Board of
Directors has asked the Hall of Fame Committee to submit new regulations for
electing members into the open category. Until
an approved process is in place for voting inductees into the Hall of Fame in
the Open Category, no more than two inductees may be elected.
In
order to participate in a Nationally rated event at an NABC a person must be an
ACBL member whose service fee or dues is current.
Under
current regulations, except for certain reasons specifically mentioned in our
code, namely a player’s race, creed, religion, political affiliation, sexual
orientation, national origin or his proficiency at bridge, a club may bar a
player for whatever reason it deems proper.
To bar a player the club management must notify the player in writing and
other requirements as prescribed in our code. An open club can bar players from its regular masterpoint
games, membership games, ACBL-wide games, club championships, charity and
international game fund club championships and other special events specifically
allocated to clubs.
If
a player feels that his or her barring does not comply with the regulations
prohibiting barring players as mentioned above, he or she may appeal the barring
sequentially to the Unit board, District board and the ACBL board.
Until the appeal is heard the player remains barred.
In
addition, a club may extend the barring of a player to other ACBL games such as
the Grand National Teams and North American Pairs, STaCs.
For a complete explanation consult the ACBL’s Club Department.
A
motion to require that the ACBL Board of Directors be booked through the
official ACBL travel agent, was defeated.
Providing
space and other practical considerations, ACBL Board meetings shall be
open to any ACBL member with the permission of the ACBL president.
Financial
Snapshot
The
ACBL has assets of $7.5 million, an increase of $500,000 over the past 12
months. In 2003 the Board of
Directors approved a $300,000 deficit on a $9 million budget.
There
will be no increases in tournament sanction fees or membership dues this year.
Headquarters’ staff salaries increased $53,000 in 2003, with the number
of equivalent staff remaining constant at 86.5.
Employee benefits have increased $97,000 due to higher health care,
pension and payroll tax expenses. General
insurance expenses increased by $26,000 due in part to our claim history.
There was an unexpected increase of $80,000 in the expenses associated
with the new Bridge Bulletin format due to higher printing and postage costs.
Membership
dues is $39,000 higher than last year due to the increase dues rate that went
into effect in 2001. This is due to multi-year renewals at the higher rate.
Investment income was $45,000 less than last year due primarily to an
accounting adjustment, which now accounts for our fixed income securities at
market value.
2003 Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup
The
World Championships, including the Transnational Teams, will be held in Monte
Carlo the from November 2-15, 2002.
Presidential
Activities
My
year as president continues to be a full year of travel, planning and organizing.
My goals for the year can be found in my January
Interview. I have
submitted a mid-year report to the Board of Directors.
In addition I have A Message from the President in the May,
July and
August issues of the ACBL Bridge Bulletin.
ACBL’s 7th annual World Computer-Bridge Championship
and great bridge software giveaway
In
1996, at the suggestion of Alan Truscott, I initiated an annual world
computer-bridge championship and have coordinated the event ever since.
This year’s championship was held in Menton, France as part of the
European Bridge League’s first Open Bridge Championships.
In addition…
in
recognition that bridge is a wonderful game for young people,
helping them to develop logical and analytical mental skills, discipline, ethics
and cooperation,
that will help them do better in school and in life,
the ACBL will give away many of the best bridge-playing software programs*
as well as the acclaimed Bridge Master 2000, to 150 young players from around
the world
Congratulations
to District 24’s 2003 Goodwill Committee Appointments:
Zia
Mahmood
Chris Willenken
Margaret
Suran
Congratulations
to District 24’s 2003 Charity Committee Appointments
Debra
Thaw
Carol Mathews