North American Pairs

The North American Pairs (NAP) is a set of annual North American championships for pairs contested over two days at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championships (NABC). The events are restricted to pairs that have qualified through local, regional and district levels within their ACBL Districts.

Three fields or "Flights" compete on the same schedule:

Flight A, open to all players, is formally the Baldwin North American Pairs.
Flight B, restricted to players with 0 to 2500 masterpoints, is formally the Golder North American Pairs.
Flight C, restricted to players who have not yet become Life Masters and have fewer than 500 masterpoints, is formally the President's Cup North American Pairs.

Each competition is a four-session matchpoint pairs tournament with two qualifying sessions on the first day and two final sessions on the second.

History

Flight A

Play for the Baldwin North American Pairs (Flight A) begins each summer at the local level and concludes at the North American Bridge Championships in the following Spring. Qualifiers at the club level advance to unit competition and those qualifiers advance to district finals. Three pairs from each district – more, depending upon attendance – qualify for the North American final.

At inauguration, the open pairs contest was named the Grand National Pairs with 61,000 starting pairs participating in the initial local stage in August 1978[1] - the ultimate winners arising from the 1979 Spring NABC. The contest was renamed the North American Pairs in deference to the participation of all country members of the ACBL.

Winners have their names inscribed on the Baldwin Trophy and also receive certificates of recognition. The trophy is presented in memory of Col. Russell J. Baldwin (1889–1969), a U.S. Army officer and expert on tournament procedure who was ACBL Honorary Member of the Year in 1943. Baldwin was active as an organizer from the earliest days of contract bridge. He became a director of the American Bridge League and its treasurer shortly after its founding in 1927. He was a member of the ACBL Laws Commission and was primarily responsible for the first Duplicate Code (Laws specifically for duplicate bridge) issued in 1935. Baldwin was active as a tournament director from 1927 until 1941. After service in World War II, he was ACBL business manager from 1946 until 1951. He was recalled to military service at the outbreak of the Korean War and retired from the U.S. Army in 1957. He rejoined ACBL in 1958 and was in charge of tournament scheduling until his retirement in 1963.

Flight B

Known as the Golder North American Pairs - Flight B, the first stage of the event is also conducted at the local club level with qualifiers advancing to unit competition. Those qualifiers then advance to the district finals where three pairs – more, depending upon attendance – qualify for the North American final. The inaugural event was held at the 1992 Spring NABC.[2]

Winners have their names inscribed on the Golder Cup and will also receive a certificate of recognition. The trophy is presented in memory of Benjamin M. Golder (1894–1946) of Philadelphia, who died the day before the close of his term as 1946 ACBL president. He was named ACBL Honorary Member of the Year for 1947. His widow Peggy Golder, later Solomon, was an ACBL Hall of Fame player.

Flight C

Players in the North American Pairs - Flight C, compete for the President's Cup. The inaugural event was held at the 1987 Spring NABC.[2]

The trophy was presented in 1942 by Morgan Howard, ACBL president that year. For many years it was awarded to the winners of the President's Pairs, a standalone event at the Summer NABC. As in the other two flights, Flight C competition begins each summer at the local club level and qualifiers advance to unit and district competitions with three pairs from each district – more, depending upon attendance – qualifying for the North American final.

Winners
North American Pairs, Flight A[3]
YearDistrictWinnersRunners-up
1979 25Arthur Moore, Eric Robinson Steve Landen, Larry Mori
1980 Bob Feller, Jeffrey Hall Larry N. Cohen, Ron Gerard
1981 Helen Blakey, Robert Blakey Mark Feldman, Chip Martel
1982 Bill Nutting, Ivan Scope Richard Pavlicek, Cliff Russell
1983 Jim Felts, John Griscom Ron Gerard, Stephen Sanborn
1984 25Steve Sion, Harold Stengel Marty Bergen, Larry N. Cohen
1985 6Peter Boyd, Steve Robinson Peter Pender, Hugh Ross
1986 Drew Cannell, Ganesan Sekhar Craig Cordes, Tom Daniel
1987 Jan Janitschke, Dick Reed Judi Cody, Ron Sukoneck
1988 21Chip Martel, Jan Martel Mark Cohen, Stasha Cohen
1989 11David Caslan, Dennis Clerkin Dan Morse, Bobby Nail
1990 Sidney Lazard, Jack LaNoue Mark Stein, Boris Baran
1991 1Boris Baran, Mark Stein,   Steve Landen, Pratap Rajadhyaksha  
1992 Jim Krekorian, Rick Zucker 2/3. Robert Crafton, Howard Weiner
2/3. Joe Jabon, Harry Steiner
1993 James Griffin, Kenneth Schutze Iftikhar Baqai, Mitch Dunitz
1994 James Griffin, Kenneth Schutze Ralph Cohen, Reece Rogers
1995 David Berkowitz, Lisa Berkowitz Gary Cohler, Jerry Goldfein
1996 Marshall Tuly, James Cunningham Gary Cohler, Jerry Goldfein
1997   Aidan Ballantyne, Gordon McOrmond   JoAnna Stansby, Lew Stansby
1998 6Bill Cole, Ron Sukoneck James Cunningham, Marshall Tuly
1999 James Griffin, Kenneth Schutze Tom Kniest, Karen Walker
2000 Kevin Collins, Patty Tucker Victor King, John Stiefel
2001 25Doug Doub, Frank Merblum Ed Davis, Jill Meyers
2002 21JoAnna Stansby, Lew Stansby Joseph Godefrin, Ed Schulte
2003 Steve Landen, Michael Zerbini Doug Doub, Franklin Merblum
2004 Henry Lortz, Wayne Ohlrich Glenn Milgrim, Chris Willenken
2005 13Nikolay Demirev, David Yang Dan Jacob, Bryan Maksymetz
2006 Gordon Campbell, Piotr Klimowicz Henry Lortz, Wayne Ohlrich
2007 6Dave Abelow, Dick Wegman Glenn Milgrim, Chris Willenken
2008 13Xiaodong Shi, David Yang Chuck Said, David Siebert
2009 Jim Krekorian, John Rengstorff Bob Heitzman, Jonathan Weinstein
2010 25Doug Doub, Frank Merblum Michael Polowan, Jared Lilienstein
2011 24Shane Blanchard, Joe Grue Kevin Bathurst, Joel Wooldridge
2012 2Jordan Cohen, Barry Senensky Bill Pollack, Rozanne Pollack
2013 9Kevin Dwyer, Gavin Wolpert Jim Munday, Richard Oshlag
2014 10Bryan Howard, Terry Spector Doug Doub, Frank Merblum
2015 25Mark Aquino, Shome Mukherjee[4] Jim Munday, Richard Oshlag
2016 6Peter Boyd, Steve Robinson Bart Bramley, Ira Hessel
2017 6Peter Boyd, Steve Robinson Michael Gill, Noble Shore
2018 25 Adam Grossack, Zachary Grossack Joel Wooldridge, Kent Mignocchi
2019 9Matthew Weingarten, Jeff Edelstein Jim Munday, Larry Sealy


North American Pairs, Flight B[5]
YearDistrictWinnersRunners-up
1992 Peter Worley, Kevin Young   Kathie Blumenthal, Patricia Goldfein  
1993 Robert Sewell, Paul Janicki Lawrence Gibbons, Gregory Jecker
1994 Brendan Dempsey, Ian Crowe Jack Kilby, Ernest Lambertsen
1995 Jay Levy, William Rushmore Bill Archambo, Richard Bender
1996 Robert Johnson, David Rosenstein Daniel Levi, Samuel Ehrlichman
1997 Bill Drewett, Kirk Twiss David Green, Donald Tofte
1998 Adam Beneschan, Brian Gilbert Mark Burkhammer, Brian Zajac
1999 Andy Kaufman, Greg Burch Patricia Griffin, Stephen Wood
2000 6Hal Hindman, Mark Chen Tien-Chun Yang, Fang Wu
2001 25Walter Lee, Jonathan Weinstein Mike Ralston, Mahesh Rathi
2002 Wieslaw Kalita, Marian Krasowski Robert Stayman, Frank Sensoli
2003 23Jordan Chodorow, Harvey Katz Frank Sensoli, Michael Alioto
2004 Jim Alison, Dayn Beam Jacqueline DeRouin, Jan Garthe
2005 Pete Whipple, Jamie Radcliffe Joon Pahk, Samuel Ieong
2006 6Fletcher Thompson, Bruce Todd B. J. Trelford, Chris Buchanan
2007 Mark Golding, Rob Kitchen Bijoy Anand, Earl Brown Jr.
2008 3Sidney Kanter, Ron Nelken Ron Fertig, Dayou Zhou
2009 25Robert McCaw, Lewis Gamerman Jon Brandon, Harley Bress
2010 Dian Petrov, Fred Schenker John Kozero, Gary Robinson
2011 Philippe Galaski, Roger Webb Brad Bartol, Matt Cory
2012 14Joseph Rice, Bjorgvin Kristinsson Jay Anderson, Michael Moulding
2013 16Daniel Jackson, Bill McCarty Weishu Wu, Xiao-Yan Gong
2014 2Aleksandar Vujic, Miroslav Kovacevic Wieslaw Kalita, Romuald Mindak
2015 7Andrew Jeng, Richard Jeng[4] Kamal Gupta, Malik Magdon-Ismail
2016 11Ryan Schultz, A.J. Stephani Mike Ma, Steve Moese
2017 23Murat Veysoglu, Kevin Lane Bob Enenstein, Alan Wood
2018 Jeff Dater, Scott Nason
2019 25Yin Yichen, Chang Liu Mark Golding, Robert Kitchen
North American Pairs, Flight C[5]
YearDistrictWinnersRunners-up
1987 1/2. Leo Austern, Bernard Pollack
1/2. David Deaderick, Bill Thomas
1988 Brad Moss, Aaron Silverstein Geoffrey O'Connor, Charles Bilick
1989 Warren King, Jeffrey Brown Sylvian Descoteauz, Guy Belisle
1990 Philip Leung, Moske Harel Deborah Hart, Nate Ward
1991 Eric Greco, Philip Greco Bruce Graff, Steve Castellino
1992 Gail Joelson, Alan Kasner J. Greg Fowler, Don Herring
1993 21Mark Michele, Everett Boyer Gabrida Rabiega, Leszek Rabiega
1994 Weizhong Bao, Jingdong Guo Duane Tilden, Grace Jeklin
1995 21Edward Lee, Brett Roby Philip Feng Lu, Xiaodong Zhang
1996 Yue Zuo, Ruoyu Fan Carlos Bichara, Rita Bichara
1997 21Thomas Franklin, Michael Corker Weiming Hu, Alex Lo
1998 21Tien-Chun Yang, Fang Wu Matt Just, Paul Coulter
1999 James Gunn, Harry Shaffer Norman Cannon, Judith Hallowell
2000 Meredith Beck, John Johnson Rachel Chittaro, Edward Nield
2001 6Hailong Ao, Jian-Jian Wang David Pettit, Doris Suojanen
2002 Jacek Leznicki, Jerry Owczarek Kevin Jones, Daniel Kenney
2003 6John Christensen, Robert Wissman Lester Gottlieb, Richard Avazian
2004 24Daniel Wilderman, Ryan Connors Jacek Leznicki, Jerry Owczarek
2005 21Jiang Chen, Nongyu Li Inger Lise Blount, Jeanette Hughes
2006 13Stanislaw Kolesnik, Vladimir Reznik   Mike Develin, John Barth
2007 22Jon King, Dayou Zhou   Chong Zhao, Narayanan Ramabhadran  
2008 9Abraham Pallas, Dimitri Bourilkov Kaiyu Qian, Jiawei Luo
2009 21Michael Bodell, Elenalani Lam Alex Lovejoy, Argenta Price
2010 Vladimir Oudalov, Stanley Weiss Lisa Kuo, Murat Veysoglu
2011 15Rajeev Bansal, Michael Hughes Guillaume de Decker, Ajit Thyagarajan
2012 5Jeffrey Tsang, Chase Bonnette Reid Barton, Emily Shen
2013 12Julie Arbit, Jordan Kaye Reid Barton, Emily Shen
2014 9Sharlene Tyler, Donald Richards Luen-Jyh Luo, Tsao-Tung Tsai
2015 6Adam Gann, Blake Schwartzbach Xiyuan Ge, Benjamin Kompa
2016 7Benjamin Kompa, Robert Thorstad James Herchenroeder, Laurie Herchenroeder
2017 12Yanping Zhang, Henry Zhang John Hindle, Jeff Gosman
2018 12Yanping Zhang, Henry Zhang
2019 9Sheila Cesarano, Terry Jonas Ilgaz Ciftci, Arda Kabaca
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See also

References
  1. "Grand National Pairs". Francis, Henry G.; Truscott, Alan F.; Frey, Richard L.; Hayward, Diane, eds. (1984). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (4th ed.). New York: Crown Publishers, Inc. p. 164. ISBN 0-517-55272-8. LCCN 84001791.
  2. Francis, Henry G.; Truscott, Alan F.; Francis, Dorthy A., eds. (1994). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (5th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. p. 779. ISBN 0-943855-48-9. LCCN 96188639.
  3. List of previous winners and history for Flight A, Page 4. Daily Bulletin (PDF), 52–1, March 13, 2009
  4. ACBL Daily Bulletin, 2015
  5. List of previous winners and history for Flights B and C, Pages 9, 10. Daily Bulletin (PDF), 52–9, March 21, 2009
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