SiVY Bridge Participants Have Fun, Make Friends and Win Masterpoints

2018 Youth North American Bridge Championships, Atlanta

The twenty-one youth players from Silicon Valley had a great time at the August, 2018 Youth North American Bridge Championships (YNABC) in Atlanta. Every single SiVY player either qualified for one or both final sessions in the Championship Events or won in a Consolation Event, bringing home both master points and great memories.

The 35 table National Youth Open Pairs, contested Friday, had eight SiVY players placing in the overalls. Four more players placed in the 13 table Consolation Pairs that day. In the championship, Michael Xu placed 6th, Rory Xiao and Jonathan Yue came in 9th, Sarah Youngquist and Cornelius Duffie were 10th, Brent Xiao was 11th, and Nathan Gennaro and Jonathon Youngquist were 15th. In the consolation, Kayden Ge and Charlie Chen were 4th and Ezra Mowbray and Ariel Flaster were 5th.

The 34 table National Youth Swiss Team, contested Saturday, had nine SiVY players in its overall winners. Rory Xiao, Jonathan Yue, and Michael Xu were on the third place team; Brent Xiao and Sarah Youngquist were on the fourth place team, and Ariel Flaster, Ezra Mowbray, Benjamin Darnell, and Alex Zheng took home seventh place. This last team was particularly pleased to place well as they qualified to the final because a higher-ranking team chose not to play. Going into the last round, they were in third place and ended up in the overalls. This is particularly impressive given that one of their pairs, Ben and Alex, had only just me the prior week!

A SiVY team placed first in their Strat in the Consolation Teams: Ryan Tock played with big brother Brandon Ge, while his fourth grade little brother, Kayden Ge, paired with third grader Charlie Chen.

In the Consolation Swiss Jonathan Shi, Lucas Huang, Olivia Schireson, and her partner Avery placed first.

SiVY players also participated in many of the Regional and National events open to players of all ages at the North American Bridge Championships (NABC). They dominated the Midnight Team games and did exceptionally well in several National events. Michael Xu, playing with his partner for the upcoming USBC U16 events Harrison Luba, finished 19th in the Wernher open pairs - about a board ahead of Michael Xu's mentor Michael Rosenberg and Roger Lee!

In total approximately 240 youth under age 19 attended the three day YNABC in Atlanta. They came from all over the U.S., Canada and Bermuda. The 21 sponsored by Silicon Valley Youth (SiVY) Bridge were provided help with partnerships, training and mentoring, and financial support. Generous donations from bridge players in both the Silicon Valley and around the country helped pay for the scholarships. District 21 of the ACBL also provided financial support. Thank you to all the donors, youth players, parents, and volunteers!