RealBridge Bidding Contest - June 2024 Rankings

This turned out to be one of the more difficult sets on which to record a premium score, with only around 65 competition entrants out of over 1200 recording scores in the 70s. We also set a new record with a five-way tie for top spot in this month’s competition. With a score of 78/80, the co-winners of the June competition are:

Chris J Depasquale from Darwin NT, Australia,
Nao Tabata from France,
Stephen L Kornegay from Arlington TX, USA,
Wubbo de Boer from Netherlands, and
Joao Barbosa from Portugal

 

chris-depasquale

Chris transitioned from chess to bridge when he moved to Darwin in 2011. He says, 'Playing with the redoubtable Michael Courtney, I won the Butler Pairs at the Australian National Championship in July 2023. I might be the only person in the world with national championship victories in both chess and bridge'.

 

Nao Tabata was a member of the French teams that won silver medals at the 2019 Under-21 European Teams and gold at the 2022 Under-26 Teams European Teams. He will be in the French team at the European Youth Championships in Poland this month and at the World Championships later this year.

nao-tabata

 

stephen-kornegay

Stephen is a regular player at the F2F club in Arlington, Texas, where he also directs three games a week. He typically plays with his partner of 40 years, his wife Nancy Kornegay. Both of them have over 10k MPs.

 

Wubbo de Boer from Netherlands says, “In the 1980s I played for the Dutch Juniors (against you Marc!) (Yes, I remember. MS). Then I played for the Dutch Open team with Bauke Muller until I stopped playing international bridge in 2001 and went for a social career. From 2009 on, my wife Agnes Snellers and I, have been captain and coach of the Dutch Junior Under-26 team with some ups and downs.” What Wubbo modestly does not mention is that he was a member of the Dutch team that became the youngest-ever winners of the Bermuda Bowl in 1993.

wubbo-de-boer

 

 

Also on the May Honour Roll are, with a score of 77/80…

 

Joe Clark from the UK

 

…and, with a score of 76/80:

 

Julian Wightwick from England,
Alistair Cook from Sydney NSW, Australia,
Delestre from France,
Joele from Netherlands.
David Boxley from USA, and
Simon Mostyn from UK

 

We have two Australians and two Americans on this month’s honour roll, but the rest are all from Europe, including two French, two Dutch, and three from the UK.

 

With barely 5% of competition entrants scoring 70/80 or higher this month, this was a tough set, so congratulations to all those scoring in the 60s or 70s.

 

 

Top 25

Chris J Depasquale Australia 78
Stephen L Kornegay USA 78
Nao France 78
Joao Barbosa Portugal 78
Bukkum Netherlands 78
Joe Clark UK 77
Daniel DELESTRE France 76
Julian Wightwick UK 76
Alexander Cook Australia 76
Hans Joele Netherlands 76
David Boxley USA 76
Simon Mostyn UK 76
Gareth Birdsall UK 75
Brian Spears UK 75
Erdem Öztürk Türkiye 75
Lysandra Zheng New Zealand 75
David Williams UK 75
Gabriela Peteri Chile 75
Stefan Lilja Sweden 74
BENOIT Alain France 74
Rinus Balkenende Netherlands 74
Stephen Merriman New Zealand 74
Gerard Thompson UK 74
Arthur Lowen USA 73
Dr. Morrie Kleinplatz Canada 73