World Open Pairs Championship

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.

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, Site Entries Medalists
1962 [2]


Cannes, France

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


Amsterdam, Netherlands 

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


Stockholm, Sweden

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


Las Palmas, Spain

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


New Orleans, USA

1. Brazil Marcelo Branco Brazil Gabino Cintra
2. Canada Eric Kokish Canada Peter Nagy
3. United States Roger Bates United States John Mohan
1982 [7]


Biarritz, France

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


Miami Beach, USA

1. United States Jeff Meckstroth United States Eric Rodwell
2. Austria Heinrich Berger Austria Wolfgang Meinl
3. Australia Steve Burgess Australia Paul Marston
1990 [9]


Geneva, Switzerland

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


Albuquerque, USA

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


Lille, France

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


Montreal, Canada

327 1. Italy Fulvio Fantoni Italy Claudio Nunes
2. United States Zia Mahmood United States Michael Rosenberg
3. Brazil Diego Brenner Brazil Gabriel Chagas
2006 [15][16]


Verona, Italy

392 1. China FU Zhong China ZHAO Jie (Jack Zhao)
2. United States Bobby Levin United States Steve Weinstein
3. Italy Fulvio Fantoni Italy Claudio Nunes
2010 [17][18]


Philadelphia, USA

313 1. United States Bobby Levin United States Steve Weinstein
2. Sweden Björn Fallenius Sweden Peter Fredin
3. Germany Josef Piekarek Germany Alexander Smirnov
2014 [19]


Sanya, China

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

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 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]

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.
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