In a GNYBA League first, the KO finals offered a live Twitch video stream from expert commentators David Gurvich, Ron Smith, and Adam Grossack! Hundreds of kibitzers tuned in for a 40-board final that remained within one game-swing for the vast majority of the match.
Final Score
Lynne Koeppel, Mustafa Cem Tokay, Okay Gur, and Gokhan M Yilmaz won the match 61 to 51, coming back from a tiny 2 IMP deficit at the half. The team had finished 3rd during the regular season 5-round swiss, which qualified them into the semi final KOs.
Congrats also to Ettore Bianchi, Leonardo Cima, Alessandro Gandoglia , and Giacomo Percario. They won the regular season with a commanding 73.08 Victory Points after five rounds (next highest was team Davids+ at 62.62). They also took second place in the post season.
For full results, head over to our KO leaderboard on BridgeResults, with full hand records.
Twitch Video Commentary
In the first segment – Adam and David introduce the teams. And at 18:31, we hear from District 24 Director David Moss. He explains the origins of why we created the GNYBA Winter League, describes the format, and drops some hints about an upcoming season 3. Adam later asks if New England might someday put together a similar league. David’s response? The GNYBA league is open to everyone! In fact, team New England won season 1. Later on, another local pro “dlev60” briefly joins the conversation.
Ron Smith joins us in the second segment as an official commentator. At 1:18:34, the pros walk us through one of the crucial boards in in the 2nd set. With the same contract, similar auction, and analogous low club lead, +630 vs -200 gave 13 IMPs in a very tight match.
Special thanks to Katherine Todd for chairing the GNYBA league committee and successfully spearheading our first GNYBA live Twitch stream! And of course, kudos to Adam Grossack and friends for hosting and taking Twitch bridge to the next level. Follow all of his streams at https://www.twitch.tv/nevereast00
Groups B, Group C, and Honorable Mentions
Last weekend we also concluded our group B and group C finals. In group B, Eric A Hendrickson, Paul G Gutterman, Andrew Caranicas, Richard D Lawson, Robert Schachter, and Mark I Krusemeyer won the knockouts and qualifying in 4th place during the regular season. Keeping the tradition of non-NYC teams winning, they are a team of university professors from Minnesota.
Congrats also to Philip Lentz, Jeffrey Rothstein, Thomas G Rozinski, and Grigoriy Blekherman won the Group B regular season and took 2nd in the KO. Lentz and Rothstein are Unit 155 board members who executed a successful gambit during the semis. They have already put us on notice that they will return next season.
In group C, Laura J Schisgall, Stanley Sterenberg, Stanley Tuhrim, and Betty J Mintz also won both the KO and regular season. They defeated the Greenwitches, who join us from… Greenwich, CT. I have played alongside them as teammates, even winning a bottom-bracket cash prize at the Hilton years ago. Also, it is possible one member of the LSSB Quartet is the original source of the Red Lion-Cromwell-gate.
From neighboring Long Island, Bill Dinner, Mark A Leibowitz, Bart Cirker, Dina E Schechter, David G Joseph, and Jack A Lipson made the group A semifinals in both season 1 and 2. We always welcome our friends from Unit 242, which includes Nassau and Suffolk counties. ACBL District 24 is the combination of their unit and GNYBA, and you will see many GNT and even NAP grassroots teams that mix and match players from both.
As for for the GNYBA organizers, both of our teams also made playoffs for both seasons. David Moss, Andrew Rosenthal, Katherine M Todd, David Gurvich, Jacob Freeman, and Jason Chiu won 2nd in the Group A regular season. Meanwhile, Scott Mcdermott, Alan P Davidson, Lee C Lin, Adam F Siegel, Aaron Liebhaber, and Vladimir Kolbun won 3rd in the Group C regular season.
From all of us at the GNYBA league, thank you for playing and we hope to see everyone back for season 3 – stay tuned and start gathering your teams!