Masterpoints or master points are points awarded by bridge organizations to individuals for success in competitive bridge tournaments run under their auspices. Generally, recipients must be members in good standing of the issuing organization. At the international level, competitions and point awards are administered by the World Bridge Federation (WBF); its affiliates at the multi-national level, such as the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), also issue points as do more local organizations such as the English Bridge Union (EBU), and the Deutsche Bridge Verband (DBV) and independent ones such as the American Bridge Association (ABA).
Duplicate bridge is the most widely used variation of contract bridge in club and tournament play. It is called duplicate because the same bridge deal is played at each table and scoring is based on relative performance. In this way, every hand, whether strong or weak, is played in competition with others playing identical cards, and the element of skill is heightened while that of chance is reduced. Duplicate bridge stands in contrast to rubber bridge where each hand is freshly dealt and where scores may be more affected by chance in the short run.
The Baseball-Bundesliga is the professional elite competition for the sport of baseball in Germany. In it, the men's German championship is determined annually. Like most European sports leagues, the Bundesliga uses a system of promotion and relegation. The highest division of the Bundesliga currently consists of sixteen teams in two divisions, with each team playing four games against each other team. The league is regulated by the German Baseball and Softball Association (DBV).
The triple crown of bridge is a career achievement in duplicate bridge, namely winning the three marquee Open world championships conducted by the World Bridge Federation. The Bermuda Bowl is now contested by national teams in odd-number years. The Olympiad Open Teams, contested by national teams in Olympic years, has been incorporated in the World Mind Sports Games (WMSG). The Olympiad Open Pairs, now World Open Pairs Championship, is contested in non-Olympic even-number years.
The German Open is an annual Badminton tournament held in Germany since 1955 and organized by German Badminton Association or Deutscher Badminton Verband (DBV). The tournaments were not held in the year 1970, 1979 and 1998.
Altonaer FC von 1893 (AFC) is a German association football club based in the Altona district of the city of Hamburg. The football team is a department of a larger sports club which also offers handball, karate, table tennis, and volleyball.
Kit Woolsey is an American bridge and backgammon player. He was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2005.
North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven days. They comprise both championship and side contests of different kinds in many classes of competition. Host cities in the United States and Canada are selected several years in advance.
Barry Crane was a prolific television producer and director, and a bridge player who "won more titles than anyone else in the history of the game". According to the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), he was "widely recognized as the top matchpoint player of all time" —the tournament format commonly played in private clubs.
The World IMP Pairs Championship is a contract bridge competition established in 1998 by the World Bridge Federation. Since then it has been a major side event in the quadrennial meet that is now called the "World Bridge Series Championships", "World Bridge Series", or "World Series".
The World Mixed Teams Championship is a bridge competition for teams of mixed pairs. At every table, two teams are always represented by a mixed pair, one man and one woman.
The North American Pairs (NAP) is a set of annual North American championships for pairs contested over two days at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championships (NABC). The events are restricted to pairs that have qualified through local, regional and district levels within their ACBL Districts.
The Jacoby Open Swiss Teams national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Grand National Teams (GNT) national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
Mark Howard Horton is a British bridge journalist and expert player, as well as a former lawyer and chess champion. He has been the editor of Bridge Magazine since 1995. He currently lives in Bath with his partner Liz.
The European Bridge League is a confederation of National Bridge Federations (NBFs) that organize the card game of contract bridge in European nations. In turn the EBL organizes bridge competition at the European level. It is a member of the European Olympic Committee and of the World Bridge Federation, where it constitutes one of eight "Zones" in world bridge.
Sabine Auken née Zenkel is a German bridge player. She has also played as Sabine Zenkel. Sometime prior to the 2014 European and World meets, she ranked 24th among 73 Women World Grand Masters by world masterpoints (MP) and 4th by placing points that do not decay over time.
Marion Susanne Michielsen is a Dutch-Swedish professional bridge player. At the annual World Bridge Federation (WBF) meet in October 2014, she played on teams that won two world championships. Thus she became a World Women Grand Master.
German Badminton Association is the national governing body for the sport of badminton in Germany. The association consists of state badminton associations from 16 states of Germany.
