World Transnational Open Teams Championship

Summary

The World Transnational Open Teams Championship is a major side event conducted by the World Bridge Federation during the semifinal and final stages of its world championships for national teams at contract bridge—the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, and Senior Bowl. New teams may enter the Transnational, as well as national teams eliminated before the semifinals of the main events—Open, Women, and Seniors respectively. It is not required that all team members be from one country, hence the term transnational.[1] A series of Swiss matches qualifies eight teams for three knockout rounds which conclude during the finals of the main events.[2]

The 15-day "World Team Championships" meet occurs in odd years and the first Transnational Open was added to the program in 1997. The eighth rendition was held in October 2011 in Veldhoven, Netherlands.[3]

Pierre Zimmermann's professional teams have won the last two renditions and "Zimmermann" will be the favorite again. Beginning 2011, the Italian pair Fantoni–Nunes and Norwegian pair Helgemo–Helness, from the 2007 and 2009 winners respectively, have been hired to join Zimmermann–Multon full-time, under contract expiring 2016. (From 2012 all six members will be citizens of Monaco and the team will be a prohibitive favorite to represent Monaco internationally.)[4]

The 2013 edition was won by the USA's Gordon team.[5]

Results edit

The World Transnational has always been a major side event conducted alongside the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup. Recently it has been possible to enter the Transnational Teams after elimination from the main events before their semifinals.

Year, Site, Entries Medalists
1997 [6][7]


Hammamet, Tunisia

74 teams

1.       Burgay
Leandro Burgay (ITA), Dano De Falco (ITA), Marcin Leśniewski (POL), Carlo Mariani (ITA), Krzysztof Martens (POL)
2.   Jassem
Krzysztof Jassem, Ireneusz Kowalczyk, Piotr Tuszyński, Marek Witek  (Poland)
3.   Gardynik
Grzegorz Gardynik, Michał Kwiecień, Tomasz Przybora, Jacek Pszczoła  (Poland)
2000 [8][9]


Southampton, Bermuda  

73

1.     Meltzer
Cezary Balicki (POL), Rose Meltzer (USA), Alan Sontag (USA), Peter Weichsel (USA), Adam Żmudziński (POL)
2.     Milner
Fred Gitelman (CAN), Marc Jacobus (USA), Bobby Levin (USA), Reese Milner (USA), Brad Moss (USA)
3.   Mihov V.
Kalin Karaivanov, Vladimir Mihov, Ivan Nanev, Borislav Popov, Jerry Stamatov, Roumen Trendafilov  (Bulgaria)
2001 [10][11]


Paris, France

74

1.     Brachman
Diego Brenner (BRA), Gabriel Chagas (BRA), Geoff Hampson (USA), Mike Passell (USA), Michael Seamon (USA), Eddie Wold (USA)
2.   Bureau
Danièle Allouche-Gaviard, Cyril Bureau, Vanessa Reess, Philippe Selz, Patrick Sussel  (France)
3.   Grinberg
Yoram Aviram, Michael Barel, Ilan Herbst, Ophir Herbst, Doron Yadlin, Israel Yadlin  (Israel)
2003 [12][13]


Monte Carlo, Monaco

74

1.   Lavazza
Andrea Buratti, Leandro Burgay, Mario D'Avossa, Guido Ferraro, Massimo Lanzarotti, Carlo Mariani  (Italy)
2.   Zhuang
FU Zhong, SHI Haojun, WANG Weimin, Jack Zhao, ZHUANG Zejun  (China)
3.   Jansma
Simon de Wijs, Jan Jansma, Bauke Muller, Louk Verhees  (Netherlands)
2005 [14][15]


Estoril, Portugal

134

1.     Schneider
Grant Baze (USA), Piotr Gawryś (POL), Marcin Leśniewski (POL), Peter Schneider (USA)
2.   Spector
Bart Bramley, Björn Fallenius, Mark Feldman, Chip Martel, Warren Spector, Roy Welland  (USA)
3.   777
Alexander Dubinin, Andrei Gromov, Jouri Khokhlov, Max Khven  (Russia)
2007 [16][17]


Shanghai, China

148

1.       Zimmermann
Michel Bessis (FRA), Thomas Bessis (FRA), Fulvio Fantoni (ITA), Franck Multon (FRA), Claudio Nunes (ITA), Pierre Zimmermann (SUI)
2.     Russia
Cezary Balicki (POL), Alexander Dubinin (RUS), Andrei Gromov (RUS), Victoria Gromova (RUS), Tatiana Ponomareva (RUS), Adam Żmudziński (POL) 
3.     Germany Open
Tomek Gotard (GER), Jacek Leśniczak (POL), Josef Piekarek (GER), Alexander Smirnov (GER)
2009 [18][19]


São Paulo, Brazil

68

1.       Zimmermann
Cezary Balicki (POL), Geir Helgemo (NOR), Tor Helness (NOR), Franck Multon (FRA), Pierre Zimmermann (FRA), Adam Żmudziński (POL)
2.     Apreo Logistic Poland
Krzysztof Buras (POL), Piotr Gawryś (POL), Jacek Kalita (POL), Krzysztof Kotorowicz (POL), Grzegorz Narkiewicz (POL), Jacek Pszczoła (USA)
3.   Deutschland
Michael Gromöller, Andreas Kirmse, Josef Piekarek, Alexander Smirnov (Germany)
2011 [20][21]

October 15–29

Veldhoven, Netherlands

151 teams

1.   Israel Juniors
Alon Birman, Lotan Fisher, Gal Gerstner, Moshe Meyuchas, Dror Padon, Ron Schwartz (Israel)
2.   OZ Open
Nabil Edgtton, John Paul Gosney, Hugh Grosvenor, Sartaj Hans, Tony Nunn, George Bilski (Australia)
3.   Parimatch
Andrey Gromov, Yury Khiuppenen, Jouri Khokhlov, Vadim Kholomeev, Mikhail Krasnosselski, Georgi Matushko (Russia)
2013 [22]

September 24–29

Nusa Dua, Indonesia

102 teams

1.   Gordon
David Berkowitz, Jacek Pszczoła, Pratap Rajadhyaksh, Michael Seamon, Alan Sontag, Mark Gordon (PC), Susie Miller (Coach)
2.   SAIC VW
Dai Jianming, Shao Zi Jian, Yang Lixin, Zhuang Zejun, Hu Mao Yuan, Liu Yi Qian, Zhang, Jiangliang (NPC), Cai Longgen (Coach).
3.   White House
Jan Jansma, Richard Ritmeijer, Magdalena Ticha, Gert-Jan Paulissen (PC)


References edit

  1. ^ World Transnational Open Team Championship. World Bridge Federation. Confirmed 2011-07-10.
  2. ^ (directory, Sao Paulo 2009 Daily Bulletins). WBF. Retrieved 2011-07-10. (The Transnational Open structure and timing is evident in the on-site bulletins for the last six days.)
  3. ^ 40th World Team Championships (dedicated site). World Bridge Federation. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
  4. ^ "Helgeness and Fantunes Immigrate to Monaco", BridgeTopics.com 2010-12-14. Originally published in Norwegian: Alf Helge Jensen, "Helgeness skal spille for Monaco", Bridge i Norge (ed. Boye Brogeland), 2010-12-13. Confirmed 2011-08-23.
  5. ^ WBO bulletin, September 2013.
  6. ^ Results & Participants (Transnational Open), 33rd World Team Championships, 1997.
  7. ^ 1997 World Bridge Championships contemporary coverage, 1997. WBF.
  8. ^ Results & Participants (Transnational Open), 34th World Team Championships, 2000.
  9. ^ Orbis World Bridge Championships contemporary coverage, 2000. WBF.
  10. ^ Results & Participants (Transnational Open), 35th World Team Championships, 2001.
  11. ^ World Bridge Championships contemporary coverage, 2001. WBF.
  12. ^ Results & Participants (Transnational Open), 36th World Team Championships, 2003.
  13. ^ World Bridge Championships contemporary coverage, 2003. WBF.
  14. ^ Results & Participants (Transnational Open), 37th World Team Championships, 2005.
  15. ^ World Team Championships contemporary coverage, 2005. WBF.
  16. ^ Results & Participants (Transnational Open), 38th World Team Championships, 2007.
  17. ^ 38th World Team Championships contemporary coverage, 2007. WBF.
  18. ^ Results & Participants (Transnational Open), 39th World Team Championships, 2009.
  19. ^ 39th World Team Championships contemporary coverage, 2009. WBF.
  20. ^ 40th World Team Championships contemporary coverage, 2011. WBF. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
  21. ^ Results & Participants (Transnational Open), 40th World Team Championships, 2011.
  22. ^ 41st World Team Championships contemporary coverage, 2013. WBF. Retrieved 2017-11-12.

External links edit