GeezerVison

This Fall the USBF will conduct an election to fill 2 seats on its Board of Directors. The seats are for three-year terms commencing January 1, 2027. 

Nominees must be Active USBF members, having paid the 2026 annual active or resident member dues.

If you are interested in being nominated, email Lynn Baker, Chair of the 2026 Nominating Committee, by November 14th. Include a short statement about why you would like to be on the board and what skills and expertise you would bring to the organization. 

The USBF Nominating Committee will meet and may interview potential Board candidates. The Nominating Committee slate will be posted no later than November 24, 2024.

In addition to those candidates nominated by the nominating committee, candidates may be nominated by petition. Twenty-five or more Active or Resident Members of USBF may nominate an Active or Resident Member for a Board position. To file a petition nominating a candidate, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the name of the candidate and the names and email addresses of the people making the nomination on or before December 8, 2026. If there are no petition candidates, the candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee will either be elected without the need for an election (if there are only two nominees), or will be the entire slate of nominees for the election.

See the election timeline below for when things happen. Download the Election Procedures and Board Member Expectations for more complete information about the election.

 * BMD = Ballot Mailing Date

** Necessary only if more candidates are nominated than there are positions open.

The second week of the 2026 World Bridge Series featured the Open Teams for the Rosenblum Cup, the Women's Teams for the McConnell Cup, the Jacek Pszczola Swiss Teams, open to teams eliminated from the Rosenblum after the Swiss stage and new teams, and into which players on teams eliminated in the Rosenblum rounds of 64, 32, 16, and 8 and the McConnell KO stages could drop, and the Week 2 BAM, into which teams could drop from the Rosenblum Semifinal and after any stage of the Pszczola. There were also Open and Women's Pairs. 38 USBF players (by my possibly erroneous count) earned medals in these events:

ROSENBLUM:

GOLD went to FLEISHER, USBF players Marty Fleisher and Chip Martel and NPC Jan Martel, with Thomas Bessis and Cedric Lorenzini from France and Sjoert Brink and Sebastian (Bas) Drijver from the Netherlands.

SILVER went to ROSENTHAL, USBF players Andrew Rosenthal, Aaron Silverstein, and Chris Willenken, with by Christian Bakke and Boye Brogeland from Norway and Martin Schaltz from Denmark.

BRONZE: In this tournament there was no third-fourth playoff, the bronze medal was awarded to the 2 teams that lost in the Semifinals:
DEEP FINESSE, USBF players Bill Bailey, Josh Donn, Dan Korbel, and Roger Lee, and NPC Arti Bhargava, with Alon Birman and Dror Padon from Israel, and ZIMMERMANN, the only team in the medals which had no USBF players.

Christian Bakke, Boye Brogeland, Martin Schaltz, Andrew Rosenthal, Chris Willenken, Aaron Silverstein, Cedric Lorenzini, Thomas Bessis, Jan Martel, Sjoert Brink, Marty Fleisher, Chip Martel, Bas Drijver, Dan Korbel, Dror Padon, Arti Bhargava, Bill Bailey, Alon Birman, Josh Donn, Roger Lee. Photo by Marek Jarkulisz.

Rosenblum Winners with all of their faces reasonably visible, Photo by Andrea Bierstein:

MCCONNELL:

GOLD went to BAKER, USBF players Lynn Baker, Olivia Shireson, Cecilia Dwyer Rimstedt, and Sandra Rimstedt, joined by with Katarzyna Dufrat and Justyna Zmuda from Poland. Photo and other medalists in earlier article below.

PSCZCOLA:

GOLD went to the all-USBF SILVER SURFERS: players Mark Bartusek, Chris Compton, Kevin Bathurst, John Hurd, Vince Demuy, John Kranyak, and NPC Donna Compton.

SILVER went to a team from Poland.

BRONZE went to another all USBF team: SIMSON: players Doug Simson, Eric Rodwell, David Grainger, Joel Wooldridge, Finn Kolesnik, and Eddie Wold, and NPC Bob Morris.

Kevin Bathurst, John Kranyak, Mark Bartusek, Donna Compton, Chris Compton, Vince Demuy, John Hurd, Joel Wooldridge, Finn Kolesnik, Doug Simson, Eric Rodwell, and David Grainger. Photo by Marek Jarkulisz.

Second Week BAM:

Gold went to DEEP FINESSE: USBF players Bill Bailey, Josh Donn, Dan Korbel, and Roger Lee, and NPC Arti Bhargava with Alon Birman and Dror Padon from Israel;

SILVER went to a team from Belgium;

BRONZE went to a mostly Chinese team with one USBF player: Ming Sheng.

Alon Birman, Dan Korbel, Roger Lee, Arti Barghava, Bill Bailey, Josh Donn, Dror Padon, Photo by Marek Jarkulisz.

USBF Players also starred in the Open Pairs, which was won by a Polish pair, Piotr Lutostanski and Krzysztof Buras: Steve Weinstein and David Bakhshi from England won Silver and Adam Kaplan & Radu Nistor Bronze. 

Pictures coming as soon as I can find good ones. If you have one, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. it to me.

The Baker team (USBF members Lynn Baker-Olivia Schireson, Cecilia Dwyer Rimstedt-Sandra Rimstedt, and Polish players Justyna Zmuda-Katarzyna Dufrat) won the McConnell Cup over Jiangsu Runtai, a Chinese/Canadian team. Tied for 3rd-4th were 2 transnational teams, each of which had one US player: the Castoldi team with Lynne Castoldi and the Huang team with Nina Huang. Congratulations to all of you!

Sandra Rimstedt, Cecilis Dwyer Rimstedt, Lynn Baker, Olivia Schireson, Justyna Zmuda, and Katarzyna Dufra. photo by Francesca Canali

Mixed Team Gold went to Ticket to Ride: USBF's Adam Grossack-Emma Kolesnik and Sabine Auken-Roy Welland who are now bridge citizens of Denmark. Silver went to Yettick: USBF's Garth Yettick, Zach Grossack-Olivia Schireson, and Adam Kaplan. Garth played with Lotte DeWijs from the Netherlands, Adam with Gunn Tove Vist from Norway. Tied for 3rd-4th were Sivy B: USBF players Debbie & Michael Rosenberg & their son Kevin and daughter-in-law Amber Lin and China 2: Hang Chen, Gunfeng Ding, Linlin Hu, Weiming Huang,Ping Wang, and Yu Wu. 

Happy Winners

Adam Grossack, Emma Kolesnik, Sabine Auken, and Roy Welland with their trophies, photo by Sharon Beynon (thank you!)

Mixed Team Victory Podium

Adam Kaplan, Gunn Tove Vist, Lotte DeWijs, Garth Yettick, Zach Grossack, Olivia Schireson, Adam Grossack, Emma Kolesnik,
Sabine Auken, Roy Welland, Debbie Rosenberg, Michael Rosenberg, Amber Lin, Kevin Rosenberg. photo by Sharon Beynon.