SiVY Players Shine in Youth Championship in Chicago

The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) sponsors an annual Youth North American Bridge Championship (NABC) in conjunction with the Summer NABC. This year's event was held from August 6 through August 8 in Chicago. SiVY offered stipends to help offset the cost of the event, and fourteen young players received them. Eleven of those players also received matching funds from ACBL District 21.

One major purpose of the Youth NABC is to give young players from all over the country a chance to meet and play with and against each other. The event was a great success from that perspective. For example, Olivia D'Arezzo said, "My favorite part was meeting all the other youth bridge players from around the world. The majority of us did not know many other youth players prior to the YNABC, and meeting more than a hundred other youth who shared a love for bridge was amazing." In their reviews, almost every SiVY participant mentioned meeting and playing with people their own age as one of the highlights of their experience. Max Krawczyk emphasized how much fun he had: "Contrary to what the name of 'North American Bridge Championship' sounds like, the whole event is very casual and very fun-oriented. Many of the bridge players, even the older ones with lots of experience and bridge background, were still very gregarious and friendly, and even able to crack good jokes at the table. The other players at the YNABC looked like they could be part of any high school or middle school...."

When asked whether they would want to attend future YNABCs or NABCs, everyone said Yes (or even Yes!). Several mentioned that they already plan to attend next year's tournament in Washington, D.C. In addition, five of this year's SiVY players are now planning to travel to Atlanta in December to participate in the 2015 Junior U.S. Bridge Championship (USBC) Under 21 Team Trials, hoping to qualify to represent the USA in the 2016 World Junior Championships.

In addition to having a great time, nearly all of the SiVY players achieved success in a least some of the Youth NABC events. The SiVY team of Brent Xiao-Rory Xiao (Fremont, CA), Michael Hu (San Jose, CA), and Kevin Huang (Palo Alto, CA) finished second in the final event of the YNABC, the national youth swiss team championship. In the opening single-session youth pairs event, SiVY players captured both of the top placements: Brent Xiao and Rory Xiao were first, and Kevin Huang and Michael Hu were second.

Several SiVY players could also point to important achievements in the regular NABC. For example, fifth-grader Rory Xiao had two 60+% games in the Gold Rush Pairs. Sixth-grader Michael Hu won 54.72 masterpoints in Chicago. Ninth-grader Brent Xiao was fifteenth in the Red Ribbon Pairs (an event open only to players with fewer than 2500 masterpoints who have finished first or second overall in a regional event of at least Flight B status).