2020 Open USBC CANCELLED
The 2020 Open USBC has been cancelled because the WBF will not hold a World Championship before summer of 2021.
Location & Dates
The 2020 Open USBC will be held at the Schaumburg, IL Hyatt Regency, starting sometime. Room rate for the USBC is $136 per night, including internet; there is no early departure fee. You can make a reservation for any or all of the 2020 USBCs at our online reservation page, or by calling Hyatt at 877-803-7534 and mentioning USBF. You may be able to find a lower AAA or Senior rate on the Hyatt website. If you have any problems with hotel reservations, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and she will try to straighten things out. The cut-off date to make reservations at our rate is ???, but the online site will remain open after that and reservations will be accepted as long as the hotel has available rooms.
Entry Information
Entries are now open. To assure entry in the 2020 Open USBC, you must enter your team by June 1, 2020. Additional entries will be accepted until ??, but only if they do not change the dates of any stage of the event or cause the Round Robin to have a "bad" number of teams.
Entry Fees
There will be an event entry fee of $360 for each team, and session fees for the 2 day Round Robin of $600. In addition, each team will pay session fees for KO matches of $200 per session of play ($400 per day). $960 is collected at the time you enter the event: this is the event fee and Round Robin fee. The event fee and session fees are refundable if you withdraw from the event.
Format
There will be 4 or 5 stages, depending on the number of teams: if more than 14 total teams enter, the first stage will be a 2-day Round Robin among the non-bye teams to select the teams that will play in the Round of 16; if fewer than 15 total teams enter, the first stage will be a Round Robin to select 6 teams to join Nickell & Spector in the Quarter Final; the other stages will be 120 board Knockout matches, starting with the Round of 16 or Quarter Final and ending with the Finals;.
Seeding
The bye teams will be seeded on the basis of their bye position and then their Positioning Points, the remaining teams on the basis of Seeding Points. Positioning Point Information through 2019, which is all there is this year is now posted. Individual Positioning Point Information and Seeding Point Information will be posted shortly after entries close.
Byes
NIckell & Spector have earned byes to the QuarterFinal & Fleisher has earned a Round of 16 bye.
system forms
Each pair is required to submit a System Summary Form on or before April 21st. To create or edit a SSF, first log in to this site, then click on "Create or Edit SSF" under the User Menu, which appears in the left hand column when you log in. You can either create a new form or copy an old one. If you have any problems, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and she will try to help.
Each pair is also required to submit an ACBL convention card on or before April 21st. We haven't yet been able to set up a way for you to upload your ACBL convention card or link to a BridgeWinners card online, so please either share your BridgeWinners card with Jan or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. the "print" URL from your BridgeWinners card or a PDF or JPG version of your convention card to Jan, and she will upload and link. If you sent Jan a convention card or link last year and it's the same for this year, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let her know to copy that card or link to this year. Thanks.
If you are playing a method that is allowed under paragraph 3 or paragraph 7 of Opening Bids on the new Open+ Convention Chart, and there is not now an ACBL approved defense fo the method, you must submit a full description of the method and a recommended defense at least 4 weeks before the start of the USBC. Our software no longer allows you to create an Advance Submisstion Form online, but you can download the form as a Word document and use it as an outline of the information you should submit. Complete it, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and she will convince the website to see it as an ASF and link it to your SSF. She will also send it to the USBF Conventions Committee for review. If the committee has not rejected it within 1 week of submission, it is accepted and you may play the method and must bring the recommended defense to the table with you.
Relevant Dates
Monday, June 1st: Last day to enter for guaranteed entry.
4 weeks before start: Final day to submit Recommended Defenses for any paragraph 3 or 7 methods.
Probably about 2 weeks before start: Last day to make hotel reservations and be assured of receiving our hotel rate. The hotel may honor the rate for later reservations, but is not required to do so.
2 weeks before start: Final day to submit System Summary Form and ACBL Convention card. Penalty for late submission is loss of seating rights in one segment of a KO match (starting with the first match the team plays) per day that either the SSF or Convention Card is late. SSFs will be reviewed by a subcommittee of the ITTC and rejected if not adequate.
A few days before start: Last day for roster changes without Credentials Committee approval.
Seeding, Setting the Bracket
After entries close and we have calculated seeding points for the non-bye teams, we will post seeding point information. The teams list will continue to be in Alphabetic order and team numbers for the Round Robin will be assigned in alphabetic order. After the Round Robin, the teams will be assigned bracket positions and the teams list will be in bracket number order.
Results
When the event has started, you will be able to click here to get to the results page for the USBC. Once there, you can click on the stage of the event in which you are interested.
Available Documents
Special Conditions of Contest for the 2020 USBC in PDF format
Conditions of Play for the 2020 USBC in PDF format will be linked after entries have closed.
2020 General Conditions of Contest in PDF format.
ACBL Convention Charts in PDF Format; the Open+ Chart will apply for USBF events.
Positioning Points, Individual Positioning Points and and Seeding Points in PDF format will be linked after entries close.