CONGRATULATIONS TO JLALL6 WINNERS - FERRO
After an exciting Final match that ended in a tie, requiring a 6-board playoff, FERRO (Ferro-Holtz, Gumperz-Rathi, Ornstein-Rogoff) defeated LALL (Lall-Clayton, Bramley-Woolsey) by 7 IMPs. Congratulations! The Playoff boards are not yet available on the RealBridge kibitz site, but they are available here.
JLall7 will be this fall, after the Summer NABC and the World Championships - as soon as we have dates and format available, we'll post information. Meanwhile, if you've played in a JLall event, you will get a link to a poll about future JLall events - we'd appreciate your feedback.
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2023 USBCs format
The USBF Board has decided to hold the face to face stages of the 2022 Junior USBC and the 2023 USBCs using LoveBridge. Given the positive response in 2021 and 2022, the USBF foresees using an electronic environment for a minimum of another year. We will be working with LoveBridge to solve some of the problems players have encountered, and welcome your suggestions for improvements.
Some things we have already done are:
- Arranged for the hotel to provide larger, taller tables in all of the playing rooms.
- Arranged for LoveBridge to improve the method of entering explanations, including developing a method for players to save frequently used explanations so they can just click once to repeat an explanation.
- Started to explore the use of Chromebooks instead of tablets. If that is not possible, we will have external keyboards and mice for all players.
- Started work on a revision of the Time sections of the General Conditions of Contest to clarify the use of electronic timing. We may ask LoveBridge to change some of the details of time-keeping, probably allowing some time to be "neutral," not assigned to either pair.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO SPECTOR USA1 FOR THE 2023 BERMUDA BOWL
After a hard-fought Final match in the 2022 Open USBC, SPECTOR (Warren Spector-Gavin Wolpert, Kevin Bathurst-John Hurd, Vince Demuy-John Kranyak) had a blazing finish to defeat NICKELL (Nick Nickell-Ralph Katz, Eric Greco-Geoff Hampson, Bobby Levin-Steve Weinstein) 224-192. SPECTOR will be USA1 for the 2023 Bermuda Bowl and Nickell will have another chance in the 2023 Open USBC, which will select USA2.
Spector Team
John Hurd, John Kranyak, Gavin Wolpert, Warren Spector, Kevin Bathurst, Vince Demuy. Photo by Stan Subeck
GOOD LUCK in Marrakesh!!
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2023 USBCs Scheduled
The face to face stages of the 2023 Open, Mixed, Senior and Women's USBCs will be held from May 1 to May 25, 2023.
Here's the calendar for face to face play:
If more than 16 teams enter the Open USBC, there will be an online Round Robin to reduce the field to 16 for face to face play, which will probably start on March 31st. If more than 8 teams enter the Mixed USBC, there will be an online Round Robin to reduce the field to 8 for face to face play, which will probably start on April 13th. If more than 8 teams enter the Senior USBC, there will be an online Round Robin to reduce the field to 8 for face to face play, which will probably start on April 25th. If more than 4 teams enter the Women's USBC, there will be an online Round Robin to reduce the field to 4 for face to face play, which will probably start on April 25th.
Players may enter any event for which they are eligible and may compete in more than one Round Robin. A player who qualifies for the World Championship in face to face play may not play in any subsequent USBC. For example, a player may enter both the Mixed and Senior USBCs and compete in both Round Robins. But if that player's Mixed team qualifies for the World Championship, the player must withdraw from their Senior team. Teams can replace players who have to withdraw for this reason or because they have died with any other eligible player, including one who played in the Round Robin for the same event but did not qualify for face to face play. Teams that wish to replace players who played in the Round Robin and have withdrawn for any other reason may do so only with permission of the USBF Board. No players may be added to teams between the Round Robin and face to face play.
Entries for all of the 2023 USBCs will open in July, and will close as follows:
Open - March 14;
Mixed - March 21;
Seniors & Women's - March 28;
In all cases, additional teams will be accepted for about a week after the close of entries if they would improve the format of the event.
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