Medal Winners

Bermuda Bowl

Gold — Boye Brogeland, Glenn Groetheim,
Geir Helgemo, Tor Helness, Erik Saelendsminde,,
Ulf Tundal. Non-playing captain: Sten
Bjertnes. Coach: Vegard Brekke.

Silver — Steve Garner, George Jacobs,
Ralph Katz, Zia Mahmood, Michael Rosenberg,
Howard Weinstein. Non-playing captain: Jan Martel.
Coach: Chip Martel.

Bronze — Ton Bakkeren, Huub Bertens, Sjoert Brink, Bas
Drijver, Bauke Muller, Simon de Wijs. Non-playing captain:
Eric Laurant. Coach: Anton Maas.

Venice Cup

Gold — Jill Levin, Irina Levitina, Jill Meyers,
Hansa Narasimhan, Debbie Rosenberg,
JoAnna Stansby. Non-playing captain: Gail
Greenberg.

Silver — Anja Alberti, Daniela von Arnim,
Sabine Auken, Barbara Hackett, Pony Beate
Nehmert, Mirja Schraverus-Meuer. Non-playing captain:
Bernard Ludewig. Coach: Michael Yuen.

Bronze — Ling Gu, Yi Qian, Ming Sun, Honli Wang, Wenfei
Wang, Yalan Zhang.

Senior Bowl

Gold — Roger Bates, Grant Baze, Bart Bramley, Rose
Meltzer, Alan Sontag, Lew Stansby. Non-playing captain: Kyle
Larsen. Coach: Patty Magnus.

Silver — Henky Lasut, Anindara Lubis, Eddy Manoppo,
Denny Sacul, Munawar Sawiruddin, Ferdinand Waluyan.

Bronze — Dan Gerstman, Gaylor Kasle, Dan Morse, Ron
Smith, John Sutherlin, Bobby Wolff. Non-playing captain:
Donna Compton.

World Transnational Open Teams

Gold — Michel Bessis, Thomas Bessis, Fulvio Fantoni,
Franck Multon, Claudio Nunes, Pierre Zimmermann.

Silver — Cezary Balicki, Alexander Dubinin, Andrei Gromov,
Victoria Gromova, Tatiana Ponomareva, Adam
Zmudzinski.

Bronze — Tomasz Gotard, Jacek Lesniczak, Josef Piekarek,
Alexander Smirnov.

11th World Computer Bridge Championships.

4-9 October, 2007 during the World Championships. Shanghai, China

2007 Entry List
Official Website

The ‘robot’ World Championship ended yesterday with WBridge5 from France soundly defeating Bridge Baron 206-101 in their 64-board final KO match. Congratulations to Yves Costel, the developer of Wbridge5. For more information on Wbridge5 see Yves’s website at www.wbridge5.com.

The championship started with eight robot teams competing in a 32-board round robin to determine the four semi-finalists. WBridge5 finished first, winning all its matches except for a tie with Bridge Baron, followed by Jack from the Netherlands, Bridge Baron from the USA and Q-Plus Bridge from Germany. Ousted, in their order of finish, were Micro Bridge from Japan, Shark Bridge from Denmark, RoboBridge from the Netherlands and TUT Bridge from Tokyo University, Japan.

In the semi-final KO matches, WBridge5 defeated Q-Plus Bridge, 278-165, and, in an upset, Bridge Baron defeated defending champion Jack, 190-153.

Finals
1-16 17-32 33-48 49-64 Total
WBridge5 41 53 26 86 206
Bridge Baron 45 12 32 12 101

CHAMPIONSHIPS BLOGS

Lots of excellent discussion, stories and hands from each day of the championship can be found on these blogs!

Worldbridge Blogspot - David Stern, captain of the Australia Open Team.

Korbel Bridge Adventures - Daniel & Susie Korbel, Canada.

BridgeBlogging.com - Ray and Linda Lee

Mark Horton - Watch for daily news from this well known bridge editor and author.

Spanish Blog - We are translating Mark Hortons notes...in daily bulletins in spanish www.confsudbridge.org Fernando

Nikos Sarantakos' posts articles about hands from the Championships. Also his vugraph archvies can be found here.

Send your Championship Blog info to jude06@greatbridgelinks.com

The 2007 World Bridge Championships, comprising the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, Seniors Bowl and Transnational Open Teams competitions, takes place in Shanghai, China, 29 September to 13 October 2007.

The Opening Ceremony took place on Saturday 29 September 2007, at the invitation of the Chinese Contract Bridge Association. Above, Li Lanqing and WBF President Jose Damiani share a hug after Li received a special award. See Daily Bulletin One for more.

The Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup and Senior Bowl Round Robin will start on Sunday 30 September and finish on Saturday 13 October, with the final knockout stages starting on Sunday 7 October.

In these three events, the Quarterfinal will end before the start ot the GENERALI Transnational Open Teams on Monday 8 October, allowing people who want to play this event to be able to do so.

The Closing Ceremony, which will include the prize giving followed by a Victory Banquet or Cocktail, will take place on Saturday 13 October.

In accordance with the provisional schedule, play will start daily at 10.00 to 10.30 and finish at 19.30 to 20.30, except on Monday 8 October when play will be extended to 23.00 to 23.30 hrs.

The Bermuda Bowl is the symbol of world supremacy at bridge. It is awarded to the winner of the open teams competition between the representatives of the WBF geographical zones. Since its inauguration in 1950, the competition had been played 37 times. So far, the United States of America were victorious 17 times, while their European rival, Italy, prevailed 14 times. The other titles were won by France (twice), Great Britain, Brazil, Iceland and The Netherlands.

The Venice Cup is awarded to the winner of the zonal competition for women players. It was established in 1974 and until the 37th World Bridge Championships, held in Estoril, only four countries had won it. The United States of America lead the race with 9 titles, while Europe follows with six successes achieved by Great Britain (twice), Germany (twice), The Netherlands and France, the reigning champion.

The Senior Bowl is a new competition for senior players (58 years of age or older). Representative teams from all zones are invited to participate. The only winners in the competition so far have been the United States of America. They won the inaugural event, in 2001 in Paris, France; in 2003, in Monte Carlo, Monaco; and in 2005, in Estoril, Portugal.

The World Transnational Open Teams Championship came into being in 1997 in Hammamet, Tunisia. It is contested by teams nominated by the NBOs without nationality or other restrictions. The first winners were the team led by Leandro Burgay of Italy, while the last event held in Estoril, Portugal 2005, was won by the Schneider team, comprising two Polish players and two players from the U.S.A.

This text courtesy of the World Bridge Federation