Source: Bridge FeedDon’t forget – you can still enter for the 6th World Youth Open Bridge Championships being held in Croatia from 20 – 29 August.
A team of players from Beijing won the National Youth Swiss Teams. Yuchen Xu, Yufan Liao, Baozhuo Jiang and Yuqui Wen finished 2.48 victory points ahead of the team captained by Harrison Luba of Lynnfield MA. Luba played with Michael Xu, Arthur Zhou and Michael Hu, all from California’s Silicon Valley, and Canadians Olivia Laufer and Albena-Maria Vassileva.
Yufan Liao, captain Yuchen Xu, Baozhul Jiang and YuQi Wen
The winners have all been playing around eight years. Jiang came to the 2012 YNABC and in 2014 Wen played in the Cardrook Pairs. It’s the first time at a YNABC for Xu and Liao. They’ve never played as a team before.
Arthur Zhou, Michael Xu, Albena-Maria Vassileva, captain Harrison Luba, Olivia Laufer and Michael Hu.
The Luba team led after the qualifying session with a carryover of 20 VPs, about 12 ahead of the Chinese team. “In the morning we didn’t play so well, but in the afternoon we were more focused,” Jiang said.
“We had to win our match against them to catch up,” Yuchen Xu added. “I think we all did well today, especially in the afternoon.
The team will receive $4000 in college scholarships.
Youth Pairs
On Friday two members of the second place team – Hu and Zhou – won the Baron Barclay National Youth Open Pairs, a day after placing 55th in the Wernher Open Pairs. They’ve been playing together for four years, but it’s their third Youth NABC because Zhou didn’t go to Atlanta. They won the National Youth Swiss Teams two years ago in Toronto.
“I feel like in the final session, the first three rounds weren’t very good,” Zhou said. “And then Michael helped us regroup.”
Hu agreed it was a rocky start. “This dude [indicating Zhou] gave us a zero on the first board,” he said.
“At one point we doubled them, and it looked like it was making,” Zhou said. “Declarer went down. That was the turning point.”
Baron Barclay provides a $2000 college scholarship to the winning pair.
Don’t forget – you can still enter for the 6th World Youth Open Bridge Championships being held in Croatia from 20 – 29 August.
