Ron Schwartz is an Israeli bridge player ranked as a World Life Master by the World Bridge Federation. [1] First appearing in international competition at the 1st World Junior Individual Championships in New York in 2004 where he placed 61st, Schwartz' bridge career progressed at the 20th European Youth Team Championships held in Riccione, Italy in 2005 where, as a member of the Israeli junior team in the Schools division, he placed second. [1] [2]
In 2008, Schwartz began a partnership with Lotan Fisher [3] which brought them progressive prominence in junior teams and junior pairs world competitions through to 2011, including several first-place finishes. In 2011, Schwartz and Fisher won the World Transnational Open Team Championship. Subsequently, they entered European-based open team competitions with continued success as members of the Israeli team, including six top ten finishes.
In May 2016, the European Bridge League imposed bans on both players for cheating; this was followed by additional sanctions by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) and the Israeli Bridge Federation (IBF). [4]
After accusations of cheating in the 2015 Spingold team event, Schwartz and his teammate Lotan Fisher were banned from all European Bridge League events in May 2016 by its Disciplinary Commission for a period of five years, and banned from playing as a partnership for life. [7] In 2017, Schwartz and Fisher were permanently banned from the Israeli Bridge Federation. [8] In July 2018, Schwartz and Fisher were expelled from the American Contract Bridge League. [9]
Mir Zia Mahmood is a Pakistani-American professional bridge player. He is a World Bridge Federation and American Contract Bridge League Grand Life Master. As of April 2011 he was the 10th-ranked World Grand Master.
Geir Helgemo is a professional bridge player who was born in Norway but is now a citizen of Monaco. Through 2012 he had won three world championships in teams-of-four competition. As of August 2018 he ranked first among Open World Grand Masters and his regular partner Tor Helness ranked second.
Fulvio Fantoni is an Italian international bridge player. He is a six-time world champion, a World Grand Master of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), and the WBF first-ranked player as of December 2011. He is one of 10 players who have won the Triple Crown of Bridge.
Claudio Nunes is an Italian professional bridge player.
Cezary Jacek Balicki is a Polish bridge and chess player. After 2014 competition, he ranked 17th among Grand Masters by World Bridge Federation (WBF) masterpoints, five places ahead of his longtime partner Adam Żmudziński. They ranked 26–27th among more than 100 all-time Grand Masters by placing points that do not decay over time. Balicki also holds the chess title of FIDE Master (FM).
Tor Helness is a Norwegian professional bridge player. He was a stalwart on Norway junior and open teams for thirty years before moving to Monaco. Through 2012 he has won four world championships in teams-of-four competition. As of October 2016 he ranks second among Open World Grand Masters and his regular partner Geir Helgemo ranks first.
Joel Powhatan Wooldridge is an American multi national champion and world junior champion in contract bridge as well as an expert foosball player. In 1990, Wooldridge broke Sam Hirschman's previous record for the youngest to achieve Life Master status with the American Contract Bridge League surpassing the mark of 11 years, 9 months and 5 days with a new record of 11 years, 4 months and 13 days. Sam's brother Dan broke Joel's record four years later. Wooldridge lives in New York City.
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Cheating in bridge refers to a deliberate violation of the rules of the game of bridge or other unethical behaviour that is intended to give an unfair advantage to a player or team. Cheating can occur in many forms and can take place before, during, or after a board or game.
Boye Brogeland is a Norwegian professional bridge player. After a successful junior career, he won three Bermuda Bowl medals with the Norwegian team, including the gold in Shanghai 2007, and several North American Bridge Championships. He came into public focus in 2015 when he led a campaign against cheating in bridge, exposing wrongdoing of several top pairs, for which he received public recognition.
Lotan Fisher is an Israeli bridge player ranked as a World Life Master by the World Bridge Federation. He first appeared in international competition at the 18th European Youth Team Championships in Torquay in 2002 where his schools division team placed first. He competed primarily in pairs and individual junior events until 2008.
Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes are professional bridge players originally from Italy, but since 2011 playing for Monaco. In 2015, they were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world respectively.
In August 2015, Boye Brogeland's bridge team lost in the quarter-finals of the Spingold knock-out team event to Jimmy Cayne's team by 1 IMP following an appeal that lost his team 2 IMPs. The appeal involved Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz, Brogeland's teammates from the previous year when they won the Spingold. Brogeland spent the following day reviewing the Vugraph records from the quarter-final and concluded that Fisher and Schwartz were cheating and later that month created a web site and publicly accused them of cheating.
Franck Multon is a French bridge player.
Krzysztof Martens is a Polish bridge player and author of multiple bridge books.
Richard Schwartz was an American bridge player.
Peter Bertheau is a Swedish bridge player.
Thomas Bessis is a French bridge player.
Steve Sion is a former American bridge player.