SiVY B Wins in Croatia

The World Bridge Federation held its 6th World Youth Open Championships in Opatija Croatia in August. As it’s an “odd” year, the United States Bridge Federation (USBF) does not sponsor a USA team, so teams must find their own funding. Fairly last minute, with generous support from Max Schireson, Cadir Lee, Marty Fleisher and a fourth unnamed person, plans were put in place for team “SiVY B” to attend and compete as a USA entry. This team ultimately brought home the Gold Medal for the U26 teams!

SiVY B members were long time SiVY players and teachers Kevin Rosenberg, Sarah Youngquist, and Cornelius Duffie (“SiVY”) teamed with Ben Kristensen (“B”).

The path to the gold medal began with a Swiss Team qualifying event, where they finished third. This enabled the team to move to the quarter-final against Poland and the semi-final against the Natt team from England, matches they won easily.

The final against the Netherland started as smoothly as the previous 2 matches and the team was up 37 imps after the first 14 boards. Then they encountered some setbacks and the lead was cut down to 6 imps. However in the last set, with a combination of playing a bit better and a bit of luck the team was able to rattle off the first 39 imps, and despite losing a few imps near the end, held on to win the match by 28 imps.

Kevin Rosenberg said in his article on Bridge Winners, “I'm thrilled to have been a part of this team, and I just want to thank you guys, my partner and teammates, for being there with me. It was great hanging out and talking bridge with all of you. I also want to thank the people who funded us one more time - Max, Cadir, Marty, and unnamed funder, you helped make this possible.”

Debbie Rosenberg, founding president of SiVY and Kevin’s proud mom, dug up a fun photo from the 2014 SiVY Bridge Summer Camp, where Kevin coached a group that included Cornelius. Now five years later they won a world championship as teammates!