world Championships & events

Following the mettings of the WBF Executive Council in Shanghai 2007, the World Bridge Federation has announced the new plan for the World Bridge Championships, to be put into effect in 2008. The World Bridge Championships will operate on a four-year cycle.

4-YEAR CYCLE

In the odd-numbered years, beginning in 2009, the World Bridge Team Championships will be held, comprising:

	World Team Championships (Open series: Bermuda Bowl)
	World Team Championships (Women series: Venice Cup)
	World Team Championships (Senior series: Senior Bowl)
	World Transnational Open Teams (WTNOT)

These events will be for national teams qualifying in the various WBF Zones, except for the WTNOT, which will be open to all teams, national or transnational.

In the non-leap even-numbered years beginning in 2010, the World Bridge Series will be held, consisting of:

	World Knockout Teams (Open series: Rosenblum Cup)
	World Knockout Teams (Women series: McConnell Cup)
	World Knockout Teams (Senior series: Senior KO Teams)
	World Mixed Pairs
	World Open Pairs
	World Women Pairs
	World Senior Pairs
	IMP Pairs

All these events will be transnational, having no national restrictions.

In the leap years (the same years as the Summer Olympics) the World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) will be held. These games will be held under the aegis of IMSA and will consist of Bridge, Chess, Go and Draughts (and Chinese Chess next year in Beijing). The bridge events included in the World Mind Sports Games will be:

	National Open Teams
	National Women Teams
	National Youth Teams, Pairs & Individual

Each member of the WBF is entitled to one team in each series. The Youth Teams is a new event. All events will be for national representation except the World Transnational Mixed Teams.

	Senior Teams (One national team per country)
	World Transnational Mixed Teams (no quotas)

 YOUTH CYCLE

The Youth cycle will be run on a four-year cycle also, starting in 2008 with the World Mind Sports Games (see above). Then:

In the odd-numbered years, beginning in 2009, the World Youth Championships will be held, for players under 26 (and under 21 if enough players to divide the field) comprising:

	World Youth Teams
	World Youth Pairs
	World Youth Individual

All these events will be transnational.

In the even-numbered years the World Youth Team Championships will be held, comprising:

	World Under 26 Teams (Ortiz-Patiño Trophy)
	World Under 21 Teams (Damiani Cup)

In 2008 the World Junior Team Championship (for the Ortiz-Patiño Trophy for under 26) and the World Schools Team Championship (for the Damiani Cup for under 21) will be held concurrently with the World Mind Sports Games (for under 28, in 2008 only). As teams are knocked out of these two events, they may join the WMSG Youth Teams and as teams are eliminated from the WMSG Youth Teams, they will be eligible to join the WMSG Youth Pairs, then the WMSG Individual. Details are still being worked on.

 After 2008, all World Youth Championships will revert back to the summer timeframe.

Accordingly, World Championships organized regularly by the WBF, are as follows:

	World Team Championships (Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, Senior Bowl) Held every odd-numbered year, it is contested in three series, by teams representing the eight WBF geographical zones. In the Open series, contestants have the Bermuda Bowl at stake, while the Women series play for the Venice Cup . The third series, reserved for Senior players, was added in 2001.
	World Team Olympiad Held every leap year, it is open to representative teams from all WBF member countries. There are three series: for Open (competing for the Vanderbilt Trophy) , Women and Senior national teams.
	World Series Held every even-numbered, non-leap year, they comprise a great variety of competitions including the Open & Women Knockout Teams (Rosenblum Cup and McConnell Trophy), the Open & Women Pairs, the Mixed Pairs, the Senior Teams & Pairs, etc.
	World Transnational Open Team Championship This competition was inaugurated in 1997, and takes place in odd-numbered years at the same site as the World Zonal Team Championship, starting after the latter's qualifying stage.
	World Mixed Team Championship This competition was launched in 1996 and is held in conjunction with the World Team Olympiad every leap year, starting after the latter's qualifying stage.
	World Youth Team Championships A zonal teams competition for players under 26 years of age held every two years (in odd-numbered years until 2005, in even-numbered years as from 2006).
	World University Team Cup Launched in 2002 as a biennial event, this competition is open to national University teams and is played under the auspices of FISU
	World Youth Championships A series of massive competitions for young players, comprising teams, pairs and individual tournaments, each in two series (under 26 & under 21), held biennially on odd-numbered years, as from 2009. It includes what was formerly known as World Youth Pairs and World Junior Individual.
	International Olympic Committee Grand Prix A series of competitions among top invited teams that took place in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne (1998-2000) and at the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics, in support of bridge's effort to gain entry in the Olympic Games.
	World Masters Individual A top invitational competition played every two years as from 1992 in two series, open and women. A third series, for Junior players, was added in 2000 – the last time the event was held.
	World Simultaneous Pairs Championship An unique annual competition played simultaneously in clubs all over the world. Players do not have to leave their homes, but they all compete in a world event scored over the field.