World Open Pairs Championship

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The World Open Pairs Championship is a contract bridge competition initiated in 1962 and held as part of the World Bridge Series Championships every four years. Open to all pairs without any quota restrictions on nationality, the championship is widely regarded as the most prestigious pairs competition in contract bridge. In its present form, the competition lasts eight days.

Contents

Results

World meets commonly run for 15 days on a schedule whose details vary.

In 2006 the Open Pairs played Saturday to Saturday, the 8th to 15th days of the meet, with five qualifying, five semifinal, and five final sessions. At the start of qualifying, 32 teams remained in the knockout stage of the marquee teams competition for the Rosenblum Cup. During qualifying sessions for the pairs, the Rosenblum teams were reduced from 32 to 8. There were some provisions for late entry to the pairs by players knocked out of the teams at a late stage. There were 392 pairs in the qualifier, 193 in the semifinal, and 72 in the final. [1]

United States pairs have won four of 14 tournaments through 2014, Brazil two, Poland two, and six other nations one each. (The tournament is "open" in several respects including the registered nationalities of partners but no transnational pair has won any of the 42 medals.) Marcelo Branco of Brazil is the only two-time champion.

Year, SiteEntriesMedalists
1962 [2]


Cannes, France

1. Flag of France.svg Pierre Jaïs Flag of France.svg Roger Trézel
2. Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Terence Reese Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Boris Schapiro
[lower-alpha 1] 3. Flag of France.svg René Bacherich Flag of France.svg Pierre Ghestem
1966 [3]


Amsterdam, Netherlands 

1. Flag of the Netherlands.svg Hans Kreijns Flag of the Netherlands.svg Bob Slavenburg
2. Flag of the United States.svg John Fisher Flag of the United States.svg Jim Jacoby
[lower-alpha 1] 3. Flag of the United States.svg B. Jay Becker Flag of the United States.svg Dorothy Hayden
1970 [4]


Stockholm, Sweden

1. Flag of Austria.svg Fritz Babsch Flag of Austria.svg Peter Manhardt
2. Flag of Italy.svg Benito Garozzo Flag of Italy.svg Federico Mayer
[lower-alpha 1] 3. Flag of Italy.svg William Saulino Flag of Italy.svg Italo Zanasi
1974 [5]


Las Palmas, Spain

[lower-alpha 2] 1. Flag of the United States.svg Bob Hamman Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Wolff
2. Flag of Italy.svg Adriano Abate Flag of Italy.svg Leandro Burgay
3. Flag of Italy.svg Federico De Paula Flag of Italy.svg Italo Zanasi
1978 [6]


New Orleans, USA

1. Flag of Brazil.svg Marcelo Branco Flag of Brazil.svg Gabino Cintra
2. Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Eric Kokish Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Peter Nagy
3. Flag of the United States.svg Roger Bates Flag of the United States.svg John Mohan
1982 [7]


Biarritz, France

1. Flag of the United States.svg Chip Martel Flag of the United States.svg Lew Stansby
2. Flag of the Netherlands.svg Anton Maas Flag of the Netherlands.svg Max Rebattu
3. Flag of Brazil.svg Gabriel Chagas Flag of Brazil.svg Roberto Mello
1986 [8]


Miami Beach, USA

1. Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Meckstroth Flag of the United States.svg Eric Rodwell
2. Flag of Austria.svg Heinrich Berger Flag of Austria.svg Wolfgang Meinl
3. Flag of Australia (converted).svg Steve Burgess Flag of Australia (converted).svg Paul Marston
1990 [9]


Geneva, Switzerland

1. Flag of Brazil.svg Marcelo Branco Flag of Brazil.svg Gabriel Chagas
2. Flag of the United States.svg Ralph Katz Flag of the United States.svg Peter Nagy
3. Flag of Poland.svg Cezary Balicki Flag of Poland.svg Adam Żmudziński
1994 [10]


Albuquerque, USA

1. Flag of Poland.svg Marcin Leśniewski Flag of Poland.svg Marek Szymanowski
2. Flag of the United States.svg Bob Hamman Flag of the United States.svg Michael Rosenberg
3. Flag of the Netherlands.svg Eric Kirchhoff Flag of the Netherlands.svg Anton Maas
1998 [11] [12]


Lille, France

1. Flag of Poland.svg Michał Kwiecień Flag of Poland.svg Jacek Pszczoła
2. Flag of the United States.svg David Berkowitz Flag of the United States.svg Larry N. Cohen
3. Flag of Sweden.svg Peter Fredin Flag of Sweden.svg Magnus Lindkvist
2002 [13] [14]


Montreal, Canada

3271. Flag of Italy.svg Fulvio Fantoni Flag of Italy.svg Claudio Nunes
2. Flag of the United States.svg Zia Mahmood Flag of the United States.svg Michael Rosenberg
3. Flag of Brazil.svg Diego Brenner Flag of Brazil.svg Gabriel Chagas
2006 [15] [16]


Verona, Italy

3921. Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg FU Zhong Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg ZHAO Jie (Jack Zhao)
2. Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Levin Flag of the United States.svg Steve Weinstein
3. Flag of Italy.svg Fulvio Fantoni Flag of Italy.svg Claudio Nunes
2010 [17] [18]


Philadelphia, USA

3131. Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Levin Flag of the United States.svg Steve Weinstein
2. Flag of Sweden.svg Björn Fallenius Flag of Sweden.svg Peter Fredin
3. Flag of Germany.svg Josef Piekarek Flag of Germany.svg Alexander Smirnov
2014 [19]


Sanya, China

200 [lower-alpha 3] 1. Flag of Israel.svg Ehud Friedlander Flag of Israel.svg Inon Liran
2. Flag of Poland.svg Jacek Kalita Flag of Poland.svg Michał Nowosadzki
3. Flag of France.svg Thomas Bessis Flag of France.svg Cédric Lorenzini

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 [ citation needed ] The WBF currently lists only the winners and runners up, neither third place nor the size of the field.
  2. For 1974 to 1998 the WBF currently lists at least three leaders (3 in 1974; 72 in 1998) without the size of the field. Some of those listings may enumerate the finalists.
  3. There were 200 initial entries in 2014, excluding drop-ins from the teams. [19]

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References

  1. Results (linked schedule), 12th World Bridge Championships, 2006. WBF.
  2. Results & Participants, 1st World Open Pairs Championship, 1962. WBF.
  3. Results & Participants, 2nd World Open Pairs Championship, 1966. WBF.
  4. Results & Participants, 3rd World Open Pairs Championship, 1970. WBF.
  5. Results & Participants, 4th World Open Pairs Championship, 1974. WBF.
  6. Results & Participants, 5th World Open Pairs Championship, 1978. WBF.
  7. Results & Participants, 6th World Open Pairs Championship, 1982. WBF.
  8. Results & Participants, 7th World Open Pairs Championship, 1986. WBF.
  9. Results & Participants, 8th World Open Pairs Championship, 1990. WBF.
  10. Results & Participants, 9th World Open Pairs Championship, 1994. WBF.
  11. Results & Participants, 10th World Open Pairs Championship, 1998. WBF.
  12. 1998 World Bridge Championships contemporary coverage, 1998. WBF.
  13. Results & Participants (Open series), 11th World Championship, 2002. WBF.
  14. World Bridge Championships contemporary coverage, 2002. WBF.
  15. Results & Participants, Open Pairs, 2006. WBF.
  16. 12th World Bridge Championships contemporary coverage, 2006. WBF.
  17. Results & Participants, Open Pairs, 2010. WBF.
  18. 13th World Bridge Series contemporary coverage, 2010. WBF.
  19. 1 2 "The results from the Red Bull World Bridge Series". WBF. October 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-12.