More Like WINneapolis for D19

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More Like WINneapolis for D19

District 19 won big at the summer NABC in Minneapolis, held July 9-19. 85 players scored over 2000 total masterpoints at the event, with a whopping 50 players placing in nationally rated events, including 9 players placing in the Youth NABC events.  Congratulations to everyone who brought home victories!

In the Youth NABC, Arjun Chaunal (Issaquah, WA) placed 5th in the Thursday AM Youth Pairs and 1st in the Thursday Aft Youth Swiss. Alexandra Deschenes (Bellevue, WA), Avery Liang (Bellevue, WA), Lanhao Zhao (Sammamish, WA), and Alex Zhu (Bellevue, WA) formed a team that took 5th in the Thursday Aft Youth Swiss. Arjun continued their success by winning the Baron Barclay National Youth Open Pairs and was joined by Nathan Kasperkiewicz (Redmond, WA) placing 6th in the event and partnership Leyi Chen (Bellevue, WA) and Jessica Yao (Bellevue, WA) placing 8th. Derek Deschenes (Bellevue, WA) scored a win in the Saturday Aft Youth Open Swiss Teams.  Wrapping up the Youth NABC, Nathan took 2nd with his team in the National Youth Open Swiss Teams, followed closely by Arjun in 3rd and partnership Lanhao and Alex in 5th.

In the GNTs, D19’s Flight A team consisting of John Aslin (Seattle, WA), John Krah (Seattle, WA), Aaron Mohrman (Seattle, WA), and David Taylor (Seattle, WA) made it to day 2 but unfortunately was then eliminated by the D14 team.  

In the von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs, Victor Chubukov (Seattle, W) took 21st. Partnership Tom Carmichael (Marysville, WA) and Dan Jacob (Vancouver, BC) took 27th. Tracy Brines (Richland, WA) placed 34th.  Partnership Michael Christensen (Seattle, WA) and T Brian Zaugg (Burien, WA) took 57th. Michael Gamble (Shawnigan Lake, BC) took 62nd. Partnership Kim Eng (Issaquah, WA) and Eric Sieg (Issaquah, WA) took 77th.

Xiaojing Deng (Richmond, BC) and Xiaoming Shen (Richmond, BC) placed 22nd in the NABC+ Open Pairs.

In the David Bruce 0-6000 Life Master Pairs, Brian Koblenz (Leavenworth, WA) finished 4th. 

John Schermer (Seattle, WA) finished 17/32 in the Spingold Knockout Teams.

Michael Gamble (Shawnigan Lake, BC) took first in the Truscott/USPC Senior Swiss, and Dan Jacob (Vancouver, BC) took 10th.

Jenni Carmichael (Marysville, WA) finished 5th in the Freeman Mixed Board-a-Match.

Nine players placed in the Wernher Open Pairs. Victor Chubukov (Seattle, WA) took 21st. Partnership Tom Carmichael (Marysville, WA) and James Holzhauer (Seattle, WA) took 22nd. Partnership Michael Christensen (Seattle, WA) and Ray Miller (Seattle, WA) took 32nd. Close behind, Steve Beatty (Mill Creek, WA) took 35th. Douglas Kuschner took 38th. Partnership Kim Eng (Issaquah, WA) and Eric Sieg (Issaquah, WA) took 59th.

In the 10K NABC Pairs, Barry Balof (Walla Walla, WA) and Claire Valente (Walla Walla, WA) won the event. Shelley Burns (North Vancouver, BC) placed 10th. Shelley also went on to place 3rd in the 10K Mixed Swiss.

Finishing up the event, John Krah placed 5th in the Bean Red Ribbon Pairs, and, in the Roth Open Swiss, John Schermer (Seattle, WA) placed 8th.

A full list of the masterpoint winners from D19 follows.

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Spring and Fall NABCs – A New Model and FAQ

JC Chupack Governance, Tournaments
Spring and Fall NABCs – A New Model and FAQ

Editor’s Note – The following content was provided to us via Tim White, our representative to the ACBL Board.  Note that the Seattle Fall NABC in 2027 precedes these proposed changes; it will not be impacted by this structure/model.

Welcome to the New NABC!

Transforming the Tournament Experience Starting Fall 2028

Starting with the Fall 2028 NABC in Austin, TX, we are reimagining our Spring and Fall NABC schedules around two continuous, structured tracks: the Championship Track and the Signature
Track. This new format ensures every player—from rising contenders to world champions—has a clear path to compete for and win an official NABC title.

Updated hotel and venue criteria expand our options for great host cities—bringing favorite locations and exciting new destinations within reach! By prioritizing exceptional playing space
right inside host hotels, we ensure everyone enjoys top-tier playing conditions paired with seamless “stay upstairs, play downstairs” convenience.

Two Tracks to a National Title

  • The Championship Track: The ultimate arena for world champions, top experts, and
    ambitious challengers. Compete at the highest level for our most prestigious NABC
    titles in traditional qualifying and knockout formats.
  • The Signature Track: Built for balanced, peer-level competition, this track uses
    bracketed fields so you can compete directly against others at your level. Whether you
    begin here or pivot from the Championship Track, you stay in the chase for an official
    NABC title.

Key Highlights

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Thanks for joining us in Penticton and Anchorage!

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D19 had two regionals in June, in Penticton, BC and in Anchorage, AK. Thank you to everyone who put in work to make these regionals happen and to everyone who came out to both events!

We had 2119½ tables of play at Penticton.  We were up from last year’s iteration, though the schedule was also different this year, with more days of events offered. As for masterpoints, a whopping 15398.77 points were earned by 952 total players. We had a three-way tie for the masterpoint winner at Penticton; congratulations to Jacob Morgan (Madison, WI), Kevin Dwyer Rimstedt (Jupiter, FL), and Shan Huang (Jupiter, FL)!  Joan Millens (Kingston, NY) took fourth and Ming Sheng (Los Altos, CA) took fifth. Jennifer Hong of Burnaby, BC was the top NLM earner with 46.23 points total at the tournament. You can see the details on attendance and masterpoint winners on McBruce’s site.

In Anchorage, we had 139 tables of play, down slightly from last year’s 146 tables. 726.31 masterpoints were earned by 67 players at the event. Congratulations to G S Jade Barrett of Elk Point, SD and Donna Lombardini of Alcester, SD for being the overall masterpoint winners of the event.  Francis Wallis (Anchorage, AK) came in third.  Richard Kelly (Newport, WA) finished fourth. Martin Hrachovy (Houston, TX) finished fifth. You can see the details on attendance and masterpoint winners on the ACBL results site.

Our next regionals – Penticton & Anchorage!

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D19 has two great regionals coming up in June!

Photograph of Penticton featuring mountains, hotels, and lake coastline, with the word Penticton and the dates June 15-21 overlaid in yellow text

Come enjoy the Okanagan sunshine at the Penticton regional, held June 15-21 at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre. Our flyer and schedule are posted on the website at pentictonregional.ca. Recommended accommodations are also included on the flyer. We have lots of great activities to enjoy as well as a full schedule of Bridge, including a Bridge workshop, the Welcome Buffet, morning walks, and a Wine tour!  Pre-registration is required for many activities, so sign up now on the Penticton regional website.

Questions?  Contact the tournament chair, Dave Johnson.

Need a partner?  Contact the partnership coordinator, Robert Wahl.

Photo of the Anchorage skyline with mountains and marshland and water visible and the words Anchorage and June 23-28 overlaid in yellow

Join us at the Midnight Sun Regional in Anchorage, where every session is a daylight session!  Events are held June 23-28 at the Anchorage Bridge Center. See our flyer for a list of nearby hotels and the full schedule.

Questions? Contact the tournament chair, Kathie Hoehne.

Need a partner? Contact the partnership coordinator, Mary Knopf.

Thanks for joining us in Leavenworth!

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Thanks for joining us in Leavenworth!

It was great to see so many of you at our first tournament of 2026 in Leavenworth. We had 358 tables of play at the Leavenworth regional this year, held April 13-19. At our last tournament in November of 2025 (Whistler), there were 757½ tables total.  In October 2023 in Leavenworth, there were 414½ tables, so we’re down around 13.5% versus that iteration.  For full details, check out McBruce’s Table Counts page!

2417.68 total masterpoints were earned by 183 players over the course of the event. Congratulations to John Adams (Cheney, WA) who was our overall masterpoint winner of the event with 85.74 masterpoints earned.  Dave Westfall (Spokane, WA) came in second with 70.56 points earned, and Paul Martin (Duvall, WA) and Ray Miller (Seattle, WA) tied for third and fourth with 61.33 points earned. We also want to recognize Juan Xu (Coquitlam, BC) who was our masterpoint leader among the non-life masters for Leavenworth, with 15.95 points earned.  (Juan was also the NLM masterpoint leader for Whistler!)

See how you finished in the rankings.

Overarching Success for D19 in St. Louis

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Overarching Success for D19 in St. Louis

 

District 19 had another successful showing at the St. Louis NABC. 73 players scored over 1450 total masterpoints at the event, with 24 players placing in nationally rated events.  Congratulations to everyone who brought home victories!

In the North American Pairs (NAPs), Christine Chai (Redmond, WA) and Hugh Hendrickson (Renton, WA) placed 11th in the Golder B flight, while Shawn Abernethy (Seattle, WA) and Oyvind Tafjord (Seattle, WA) placed 16th in the same event. In the President’s Cup C flight, Yiyang Zhao (Redmond, WA) and Zhenghong Sun (Kirkland, WA) placed 5th, and Arjun & Mudit Chaunal (Issaquah, WA) placed 9th. These teams qualified at our D19 events; keep an eye on your email and this website for the next NAP qualifiers so that you can see your name here for Spring 2027 in Dallas!

Dan Jacob (Vancouver, BC) and Tom Carmichael (Marysville, WA) had a sweet placement of 16th in the Norman Kay Platinum Pairs. We love seeing D19 partnerships that cross the border!

Jeffrey Ford (Redmond, WA) placed 23rd in the NABC+ Open Pairs. Cindy Oishi (West Vancouver, BC) and Kevin Cline (Seattle, WA) placed 29th in the same event (another lovely cross-border partnership).

Ben Tucker (Vashon, WA) ranked 39th in the Leventritt Silver Ribbon Pairs.

In the Rockwell Mixed Pairs, we had five players in the rankings: Julie Smith (Vancouver, BC) & Dave Westfall (Spokane, WA) ranked 23rd; Shawn Abernethy (Seattle, WA) ranked 44th; and James Holzhauer (Seattle, WA) & Jenni Carmichael (Marysville, WA) ranked 68th.

Michael Gamble (Shawnigan Lake, BC) and Steve Beatty (Mill Creek, WA) ranked 18th and 57th respectively in the Silodor Open Pairs.

In the 0-3000 Pairs, John Krah (Seattle, WA) came in 10th.

Julie Smith (Vancouver, BC) and Cindy Oishi (West Vancouver, BC) took 9th in the Smith Life Master Women’s Pairs. Becky Stevens also placed with a ranking of 13th.

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