The last week of 2019, juniors competed in a variety of age groups and a women's team to see who would represent the U.S. this year in Italy. We are so very proud of Minnesota's junior super star, Ben Kristensen, who will be representing the U26 team there. Team Kaplan is a powerhouse; we wish them and all the other teams the best in the competition!
We are, however, also quite proud of the other Minnesota players who competed in the junior trials. Most of our junior players do not have the experience level that some of the other juniors in the event have achieved. So, for each match that our players won and moved on to compete at a higher level, we applaud them.
Bridge is the most fascinating and fun mind game there is! Yet it is also the toughest, the most challenging and the game that can never be mastered fully. We look forward to watching the progress of our Minnesota junior players as they continue to hone their own games!
Big thanks, too, to everyone who contributed to the Junior Championships! As the saying goes - it takes a village and our village is superlative!
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The Michael Seamon Junior United States Bridge Championships (MSJUSBC) were contested in Atlanta, December 27 through December 31, 2019. Six winning teams in four categories (Under 26, Under 21, Under 16, and Women Under 26) will represent the United States in the 18th World Youth Team Championships, July 31 – August 9, 2020, in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy.
Congratulations and good luck to the winning teams!
In the U26 category, team KAPLAN (Adam Kaplan - Ben Kristensen; Arjun Dhir - Yichen Yin; Zach Grossack - Kevin Rosenberg) dominated and earned the USA1 spot. Team STEPHANI (Isaac Stephani, Louis-Amaury Beauchet, Hakan Berk, Nolan Chang, David Soukup) were victors in the highly-contested competition for U26 USA2.
Above: Team USA1 - U26 Left to right: Arjun Dhir, Zach Grossack, Yichen Yin, Adam Kaplan, Kevin Rosenberg, and Ben Kristensen. Photo by Min Bai.
Above: Team USA2 - U26 Left to Right: Louis-Amaury Beauchet, Hakan Berk, Isaac Stephani, David Soukup, and Nolan Chang. Photo by Min Bai.
The U21 USA1 is Team KOLESNIK (Finn Kolesnik - Michael Xu; Harrison Luba - Sarah Youngquist). The U21 USA2 team is Team XIAO (Brent Xiao - Richard Jeng; Cornelius Duffie - Stella Wan; and Michael Hu - Arthur Zhou.)
Above: Team USA1 - U21 Left to right: Harrison Luba, Michael Xu, Finn Kolesnik, and Sarah Youngquist. Photo by Min Bai.
Above: Team USA2 - U21 Left to right: Richard Jeng, Brent Xiao, Cornelius Duffie, Arthur Zhou, Michael Hu, and Stella Wan. Photo by Min Bai.
Team CEDRONE (Marley Cedrone - Zacharia Pasternak; Michael Haas - Sam Pahk; Arthur Gong - Eric Xiao) will be the U16 team, having won a very narrow victory over Team GE (Brandon Ge - Olivia Schireson; Charlie Chen - Kayden Ge; Ethan Xie - Brian Zhang).
Above: Team USA - U16 Left to right: Marley Cedrone, Zacharia Pasternak, Sam Pahk, Michael Haas, Eric Xiao, and Arthur Gong. Photo by Min Bai.
The team that will be representing the USA in the competition for the Rona C up includes Captain Amber Lin - Emma Kolesnik and Sophia Chang - Lucy Zhang.
Above: Team USA - Women U26 Left to right: Amber Lin, Emma Kolesnik, Lucy Zhang, and Sophia Chang. Photo by Min Bai.
All teams with fewer than six players will add others so that each team competing in the World Youth Team Championships will include six players. For more details about the MSJUSBC, including teams that entered, go to USBF.org and look for “2019 MSJUSBC” under the USBF Tournaments menu on the left. For detailed results see the various age categories under “Event Results” at the top left of the home page. Many more photos from the event can be found on the USBF Facebook page.
Thanks are due to many people who contributed to the success of the USBC. McKenzie Myers worked very long days as our Director (plus a lot of physical labor setting up and tearing down screens), with an assist from Mike Roberts, who volunteered his time to help on our busiest days. USBF volunteers Jan Martel and Joe Stokes helped plan and run the event. Julie Arbit and Christian Jolly prepared the almost 3,800 boards used during the event, Suzi and Stan Subeck provided wall posters for scoring and produced the Daily Bulletins, and Min Bai took photographs. Mentors extraordinaire Michael and Debbie Rosenberg kibitzed continually and were available to all the young players to “talk bridge.” Thanks to Joe Jones, ACBL CEO, who waived the customary director’s fees for this event.
None of this would have been possible without the generous financial help from our donors: Lynn Baker, Drew Becker, Pat and Jimmy Cayne (who contributed in honor of their friend Michael Seamon), Connie Goldberg, Vinita Gupta, Mike Levine, John McAllister, Sylvia Moss, Alex Perlin, Dan Zagorin, and the Linda and Jeffrey Wolfson Family Foundation (in memory of Billy Rosen). Their support allowed us not only to produce a great event but the provide housing and most of the travel costs for the young players. Thank you all very much.
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