Play started in the 2017 IMSA Elite Mind Games in Huai'an, China, on Dec. 9th. The event concludes on Dec. 15th. Those dates are in China, which is a day later than in the US. USBF is represented by Open and Women's Teams.

In the team event, the USA Women's team finished third.

Women's Team

NPC David Sokolow, Tobi Sokolow, Joanne Weingold, Janice Seamon, Kerri Sanborn, DIsa Eythorsdottir, Shannon Cappelletti,

Photo by Francesca Canali

Open Team

Brad Moss, Jacek "Pepsi" Pszczola, May Sakr, Justin Lall, Shan Huang, & Kevin Dwyer

Photo by Francesca Canali.

The tournament website has links to information about the event, including results and Daily Bulletins. The IMSA Elite Mind Games will be shown on BBO Vugraph each day. If I've figured out the time difference correctly, BBO coverage starts at 5:30 Pacific time, 8:30 East Coast time.

The US team for the 2019 Hua Yuan Cup will be:

Cheri Bjerkan	Rozanne Pollack
Irina Levitina	Kerri Sanborn
Janice Seamon-Molson	Sylvia Shi

Good luck to them in Beijing in October!

Players Eligible to Rank Women's Slate

Statement from USBF President re Buffett Cup

This statement is in response to recent correspondence about the role of the USBF in the 2014 Buffett Cup. Bob Hamman has been the US organizer of the Buffett Cup since its inception. Last year, Bob asked the USBF Board to take over organizing the Buffett Cup, including funding and team selection. The Board indicated it would seriously consider this, and George Jacobs, then USBF President, asked non-Board members Jill Levin and Warren Spector to investigate what would be involved and report back to the Board.

This March, Bob, Jill & Warren asked the USBF Board to fund the US team’s business class air travel to the 2014 Buffett Cup. On March 13th the Board agreed to fund these expenses only if we had material input on team selection. George Jacobs appointed two Board member representatives to meet with Jill and Warren to discuss team selection.  Despite Bob, Jill, and Warren's considerable efforts, it quickly became clear there had been a major communications disconnect between them and the USBF Board when, at a telephone meeting on March 16, our Board representatives were told the team had already been chosen with no Board input. On March 18, a second telephone meeting was held but the original committee and the USBF Board representatives could not reach agreement.

The Board’s issues were with the process of team selection. Attempts to find a solution amenable to all parties, including the top pairs, failed, and on April 10th, the USBF Board rescinded its March 13th resolution to provide funding to the Buffett Cup team. The Board’s April 10th resolution has been posted on our website for the last two months.

Less than one month passed from the time we voted to fund business class airfare until the time we formally rescinded that funding. The potential for funding withdrawal was communicated to Bob within a week after initial funding was approved, and well before the formal rescission of funding.

Howard Weinstein

President, USBF

Note:  In his e-mail response to Paul Hackett, Jean-Charles Allavena made reference to (Monaco) being victimized yet once again by the USBF. It is unclear what he is referencing, but it may include the Vanderbilt ruling from a couple of years ago and/or the issue with entry deadlines from last summer's Spingold. The USBF had absolutely nothing to do with these perceived affronts to Monaco. Also, any Buffett Cup issues from two years ago had nothing to do with the USBF, which had no role in the event. If there is another affront which may actually be attributable to the USBF, hopefully Jean-Charles will enlighten the USBF.

At the recently completed Hua Yuan Cup Elite Bridge Tournament, the prize fo the best-defended hand went to Irina Levitina & Kerri Sanborn for a thoughtful defense that prevented declarer from making her 4 heart contract. The tournament bulletin, on p. 6, described the hand:

Board: 7 Vul: both Dealer: South West (Kerri Sanborn)	North   J 4   T 9 8 7 6 3 2   K T 9   2	East (Irina Levitina)
K Q 8 7 6    5    Q J 6    K 6 5 3		9 5   Q J 4   2   A J T 9 8 7 4
	South   A T 3 2   A K   A 8 7 5 4 3   Q

Bidding

S        W         N       E      
1*   1      3     P
4   All Pass
^{* Strong}

It was a repeat pairs victory for Janice Molson as she and Sylvia Shi ran away with the Hua Yuan tournament pair competition, finishing far ahead of the field. Janice was the fist person to win the pairs in back to back Hua Yuan tournaments, having won 2 years ago with Lynn Deas. Tournament bulletin article.

USBF members Susan Zhang, Sylvia Shi, Jill Meyers, and Kerri Sanborn teamed up to play in the recently concluded WBF Women's Online Team event, and won convincingly, over 13 Victory Points ahead of second place (the WIMPs, also from the US).

USA Wins Silver Medal in 3rd World University Games

The United States team, John Barth-Joel Wooldridge and Jason Feldman-Ari Greenberg, with NPC Ron Smith have finished in second place in the FISU World Games in Tianjin, China. The host China A team from Tianjin Normal University won Gold, leading from wire to wire and playing extremely well. The USA team also played well throughout and finished well ahead of third place Poland B, whom they defeated in the final match of the tournament.

Barth and Greenberg are both graduates of Stanford University, Barth in 2005, Greenberg this year. Feldman attends the University of San Diego Law School, Wooldridge Buffalo State University. To compete in the FISU event, each player must be between the ages of 17 and 28 and either currently enrolled in a University or have graduated last year.

The tournament website has complete Victory Point scores as well as Daily Bulletins with interesting hands and articles about the event.

USBF is sometimes informed of foreign tournaments other than World Championships, and posts links to information about those tournaments here. USBF does not have any connection with these tournaments unless that is stated below.