History

2 May 2000

History of The Worldwide Bridge Contest

RETROSPECTIVE

Inaugurated in 1986, this is an annual Simultaneous Pairs with no limit to the number of competing centres, all playing the same deals. Play begins approximately in unison - at 8.00pm in Paris, 11.00am in Los Angeles, and so on.

The use of pre-determined match-point awards, printed on each travelling score slip, enables local winners to be determined immediately and a worldwide ranking list of leading scores to be published next day. Prizes are awarded to the leading pairs in the world rankings. Local winners receive WBF diplomas and masterpoints are awarded by most NCBOs, usually on scale appropriate to a national simultaneous pairs.

The contest is open to clubs and other organisations in the territory of every National Contract Bridge Organisation invited by the WBF to participate. Established bridge organisations in territories not yet affiliated to the WBF may be considered for invitation under special conditions.

Epson sponsored the event from 1986 to 1995.

PARTICIPATION AND WINNERS

The inaugural Epson Worldwide Bridge Contest was held on June 14th 1986. A French pair headed the field of some 67,000 players.

On May 16th 1987, 73,000 players took part. First place went to England.

June 3rd 1988, saw another increase in entries. 82,000 participants were headed by an American pair. The Soviet Union took part in an international contest for the first time, and produced the runner-up pair.

A Polish pair won the fourth Epson Pairs. Almost 83,000 took part on June 9th 1989.

The June 1990 event broke all records. 85,000 players took part from 94 countries. The Danish winners scored incredibly in excess of 88%, while the next three places went to China.

A Polish pair won the sixth Epson Pairs in June 1991, which broke to 90,000 player barrier. Collaboration with the Federation of the Highest Towers in the World and Antenne 2 for the second year led to the Epson becoming an event in pictures broadcast from the top of some of the highest towers in the world, in Moscow, Rotterdam, Paris, Montreal, Tokyo and Beijing.

The seventh Epson Worldwide Bridge Contest took place over two days, June 19th & 20th 1992. With heats available on both days the total participation reached a new record of 103,000 including a massive 13,000 from China. The winners played in Paris. A long distance match between Paul Chemla & Michel Perron in the Eiffel Tower and Andy Robson & Brian Senior in London's Post Office Tower was a novel innovation, won by the British pair.

In 1993, the winners came from China and once again the entry exceeded 100,000.

1994: for the 9th edition France Telecom was the technical partner. Victory went to New Zealander players A. Bouwer & J Russel.

1995: the 10th edition built on the success of previous years with about 90 participating countries and more than 2,500 clubs.
In Zone 1 the winners were Shaaro & Bhar from Israel.
In Zone 2 the winners were Petty & Hartmann and for the other Zones the winners were from China (Cilin & Wei).

1996: for the 11th edition Alcatel was the official sponsor. The winners were from China, Wang WD & He WD. For the first time, special rankings for Ladies, Mixed, Seniors and Juniors were introduced as well as a ranking by zone.

1997: for the 12th edition the winners came again from China: Zhang Jie & Zhao Jinlong.

GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS

In 1987, The Epson Worldwide Bridge Contest was recognised as the biggest sporting event of all time, and as such was published in the Guinness Book of Records. It was mentioned again in both 1988 and 1989.

EPSON POSTER

The poster for the third Epson Worldwide Bridge Contest in March 1988, won first prize in a major sponsorship competition, poster section.

HOW THE EVENT IS ORGANISED

The Worldwide Bridge Contest is organised on behalf of the World Bridge Federation from the Paris headquarters, France. Chairman of the Organising Committee is Jose Damiani, WBF President. Full Conditions of Contest are published annually in 'World Bridge News'.

The documentation needed to run a heat is supplied by the WBF to each centre via the NCBO. Security seals are broken only when all competitors are seated. Deals are then duplicated in the normal way, the movement being so arranged that competitors do not play the set of boards that they prepared.

When play ends, each competitor receives a Souvenier Book of Hands with expert commentaries. Included are the complete pre-determined 'frequencies' for each deal, enabling pairs to compute their scores. Each heat organiser straightaway notifies the NCBO, by telephone, telex, telefax or other speedy method, of all scores above a specific level.

For inclusion in the world rankings, NCBOs must transmit this information, aggregated from all it's heats, to Paris within a specified time.

HOW THE 'FREQUENCIES' ARE CALCULATED

Hands used in the Epson Contest are ordinary random-dealt hands from past events. Only tournaments contested by a large number of pairs, with seeding arrangements and across-the-field scoring, are drawn upon.

The use of such hands has been found to afford a satisfactory basis of pre-determined 'frequencies'. The original match-point scores are simply re-calculated with a 100 'top'.

A Frequency Chart, pre-printed on each travelling score-slip, may be consulted by the players as they enter the score.

Thus: Board 50: NS Score (Top = 100)

Example 1: NS are minus 1100. Their match-point score is 40, and the EW pair's score is therefore 60.

Example 2: NS are minus 710. Their match-point score is in between that for -690 and -800 i.e. 78 and their opponents' 22.

On each deal, when the North/South pair's result is one that appears in the Frequency Chart, the pair receives the corresponding number of match-points, from 0 to 100. When a pair's result does not appear on the Frequency Chart, an intermediate match-point score is awarded. It is based on an arithmetical formula that takes into account the number of higher and lower adjacent scores, and is not necessarily half-way between them.

MOVEMENTS

Each pair must play specifically 24 boards, and there must be at least 10 pairs. 32 deals are provided, covering movements for any number of pairs. An 'Organiser's Kit' gives comprehensive guidance.

At the level of each local heat, the contest provides no less rigorous a test of skill than a normal duplicate. As with all pairs events, however, and notwithstanding the use of duplicated boards, scores are less a reflection of absolute levels within each heat. The top pair in a strong heat, for example, may return in a lower percentage than a lesser pair in a weaker field.

Moreover, not all pairs play the same boards (a point sometimes overlooked by the competitors struck by an apparent preponderance of high cards in a particular direction).

Heat winners - whether high or low on the World rankings - are therefore seen as the true 'achievers', and each club itself as a meaningful scene.

The exhilarating element of mass-participation does add a special flavour, as it enables players throughout the world to demonstrate internationally amity by tackling the same deals in unison.

The contest is also seen as contributing to the growth of bridge by offering organisers at every level a means, which can be exploited according to local conditions, of generating 'media' attention and attracting new players to duplicate.

A new feature, the Epson Award for the best-played hands, was introduced in 1987.

THE JOURNALIST AWARD

This award aims to recognise good play or defence on individual hands by competitors in the Worldwide Bridge Contest.

The test for eligibility is that the play must have been described in a newspaper or magazine, or in an official bridge publication such as a newsletter or 'unit' publication.

Entries consist of published clippings sent by the writer of the report to WBF.

An expert panel chaired by Mr Damiani selects 50 entries for submission to the judges, consisting of the WBF President, WBF President Emeritus and WBF Chief Commentator - who in turn choose eight winners who receive substantial prizes.

From the eight, Omar Sharif selects the worldwide winner, plus winners of two enhanced prizes from Europe, North America and Rest of the World.

Full details of the award and prizes are published in 'World Bridge News'.