Saturday, December 6 2014 
ACBL Bulletins and Results ACBL Photo Album
From now until December 7, read all the news from Providence 2014 in CsbNews.org.
Schwartz leads Reisinger, top teams miss first cut
The team captained by Richard Schwartz enters play today with a carryover lead of less than half a board in the Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams. The 20 remaining squads will play two semifinal sessions today to qualify 10 teams for the twosession final on Monday. Four teams regarded as favorites to make it to Sunday’s final failed to make it out of the first round. On the sidelines today are the star-studded teams led by Pierre Zimmermann, James Cayne, Paul Fireman, Pratap Rajadhyaksha. Zimmermann’s powerful Monaco team – winners in 2012 and 2013 – includes Italian stars Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes plus Norwegians Tor Helness and Geir Helgemo. Schwartz’s carryover is 14.26, putting the team just ahead of the 13.83 for the team captained by Jing Liu of Minneapolis MN. Right behind Jing is the Andrew Gromov squad that includes four members of the team that won the Mitchell Open
Board-a-Match Teams earlier in the tournament. Schwartz is playing with Allan Graves, Boye Brogeland, Espen Lindqvist, Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz. That same squad won the Spingold Knockout Teams in Las Vegas this summer.
Lynch sets pace in NA Swiss
The squad captained by Carolyn Lynch topped the field of qualifiers in the opening round of the Keohane North American Swiss Teams. Lynch, playing with Mike Passell, Garey Hayden, Cezary Balicki and Adam Zmudzinski, scored 119 victory points. The squad was second in the Baze Senior KO Teams earlier this week. Second, with 113 VPs, is Paul Street, who played with Nicolas L’Ecuyer, Ismael DelMonte, Curtis Cheek, Marc Bompis and Jean Quantin. Of the 148 teams who played in the qualifying round, 74 made the cut to today’s two-session semifinal.
Levin in control of POY contest
With just two NABC+ events left in 2014, Robert Levin maintains a strong position in the Player of the Year contest, awarded annually to player who earns the most platinum points. According to unofficial totals as of Friday evening, Levin has 663.68 platinum points. In second with 626.52 is John Hurd. Hurd’s squad lost in the opening round of the Reisinger, however, so he cannot catch Levin. The list of players who can mathematically catch up to Levin is small. Richard Coren has earned 585.98 platinum points this year and is still in the Reisinger, an event that pays 200 platinum points for first place. Zia Mahmood currently has 552.46 platinum points, and Chip Martel has 481.13. Both players are still in the Reisinger.