November 2019 - 6

IN FIRST SEAT
Changes

Member Services:
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Some recently published decisions of the ACBL
Board of Directors, which take effect in 2020, are
worth amplifying in this column.

The ACBL will begin incrementally
increasing the age requirement for Senior
events to 65. So on Jan. 1, the age for ACBL Senior
events increases to 62. In 2021, the Senior age will
be 63; in 2022, it will be 64; and in 2023, the Senior definition will be 65.
This change was made in part to make the ACBL definition of Senior
match the one used by the World Bridge Federation. Note that unlike our
previous Senior age requirement, players who attain the appropriate age
prior to the commencement of an event are eligible to play. For example,
if you turn 62 on the day the Senior Swiss Teams starts at next year's
Summer NABC, you're eligible to enter the event. This new definition
applies to Senior events throughout the ACBL, not just the NABCs.
In a related move, the age restriction for the Super Senior Pairs
held each year at the Fall NABC has been increased to 75 (from 70)
effective Jan. 1. (The Super Senior Pairs in San Francisco this fall is not
affected by this new rule: 70-year-olds can still play there.)
Another change approved by the Board requires any player who
has won an open NABC contest or equivalent event (such as a world
championship title or the U.S./Canadian team trials) to be treated as
if they possess at least 10,000 masterpoints (if they haven't already
acquired that total) for the purposes of flighting, stratification and KO
bracketing. Essentially, anyone who has won an open NABC title can't
play in a masterpoint-restricted event, including the so-called "10K"
events at NABCs, where participation is limited to players with less than
10,000 points.
Changing topics to Bridge Bulletin news, there's a retirement, of sorts.
For the past four years, Bruce Rogoff of Boca Raton FL has served as
the moderator and problem editor for the Bidding Box, the monthly
bidding challenge that appears in the Bridge Bulletin. Bruce has done
an amazing job, but he recently had to step down to attend to family
obligations. I am indebted to him for taking on this challenging project,
and I wish him well going forward.
Taking over for Bruce is Grand Life Master Jim Munday of Southaven
MS. Munday, who already serves as a technical proofreader for the
magazine, is the new Bidding Box moderator, and readers may check out
his first effort on page 37. Rogoff will continue as a problem and scoring
consultant.
Paul Linxwiler, editor@acbl.org

6 Bridge Bulletin November 2019

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Bulletin
BRIDGE

Editor: Paul Linxwiler

Managing Editor: Sue Munday
Associate Editor: Chip Dombrowski
Graphic Design /Layout: Cindy Hill
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November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2019