Twelve teams played in the GNT-B opening round yesterday playing 7 rounds of 7 boards each. The semifinalists advancing to the KO rounds consist of an all-star collection of veteran District 24 GNT and NAP past champions.
The Four GNT-B SemiFinalists
Team Jeanguenat
Also known as “Team AJ”, this team consist of Andrew Jeanguenat, Kenneth Mandel, Maya Jonas Silver, and Jack Latta; was also the winner of the opening round D24 GNT-B Swiss last year and has also twice represented the District in the GNT-C national finals. During the Chicago NABC of 2023, they were part of the New York City sweep, the 2nd time and perhaps last time ever that the same District won 1st and 2nd place nationwide.
Team Kolbun
Consisting of Vladimir Kolbun, Amit Duvshani, Bill Sigward, and Nancy Marshall, this team has extensive NABC and NAOBC successes. Vladimir and Amit played in the District first pair position during the Memphis NABCs in 2019, then made the national semi-finals during the 2020 North American Online Bridge Championship 0-1500 Teams KO. Bill and Nancy were finalists in the Young Pairs, aka Micro LM Pairs, in Toronto NABCs last year.
Team Trabulus
It’s no surprise to see the Long Island GNT veterans. The team of Norman Trabulus, Charles Bilich, Michael Krevor, and Matthew Gordon have represented the District consistently every year, sometimes multiple times a year, in the GNT and NAPs in our national finals (and win plenty of other events along the way). Most recently in Las Vegas 2024, Matt was a platinum overall winner for the 10K Fast Pairs and 10K IMP Pairs, while Charles and Michael were platinum overall winners in the Super Senior Pairs.
Team Verrier
While Team Petsch was the official defending champion in GNT-B, the team of Celia Verrier, Lore Monnig, JoAnn Goodspeed, and Peggy Ellis are the skip-year defending champions, which does not gain any seeding benefits but adds to the excitement. Two years ago Team Verrier represented D24 in Chicago as the B1 team, securing their ticket to the NABCs after winning their KO match from the Seed 4 position. Amusingly, that KO was also against Team Petsch of 2023, and they later faced a modified Team Latta in the finals. The four members regularly practice under team conditions in the Interclub Bridge League.
Multi-Flight Fun
Also, to clarify there are a few alter ego versions of each team across the flights; players who play multiple flights tend to do well and have a propensity to nominate the same captain for added ambiguity. There is a Team AJ in GNT-A as well, but that team swaps Maya and Jack with two players who represented the District making it to the final round of the NAP-B at Reno 2022. Team Trabulus in GNT-A swaps Matt with players from NAP-B in Reno 2022 and GNT-A in Chicago 2023.