After a busy and exciting month, the 2024 United States Bridge Championships has come to an end. The USBC, held in Schaumburg from 1 to 26 May, saw fierce competition in the Open, Mixed, Senior, and Women’s categories. In addition to our non-stop live vugraph coverage, there were matches almost every day with live commentary by renowned American players, allowing fans to enjoy the exciting hands and the journey to see who would represent the United States at the World Bridge Championships in Argentina.
The history of LoveBridge and the United States Bridge Federation (USBF) dates back to 2021, when the first USBC was held after the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, the USBF decided to try the innovative LoveBridge One system to minimize in-person contact and make the tournament safer.
That year, they used the LoveBridge tablets in every category for the KO matches. In addition to making the tournament safer, the system provided many other benefits that contributed to the event’s success, marking the start of a long-term cooperation between LoveBridge and the USBC.
At the USBC, the LoveBridge tablets are used in a different setup. They have only two players in each room, the Screenmates. In order to enable communication between the two sides of the screen, the application had to be developed to enable the necessary written explanations and chat functions.
These functions required a keyboard and a larger screen, so in the third year (2023) the tablets were replaced by Chromebooks. By this time, the LoveBridge One system was being used in every category for the Round of 16 and KO matches.
Over the years, the LoveBridge team has worked closely with players and organizers to continually improve the user experience and ensure fair play. The aim was to also enforce rules that cannot be solved when playing with cards. This has led to many minor and major improvements over the last few years.
Congratulations to the winners of each category and good luck in Buenos Aires!
The winners of the Open category
Marty Fleisher, Brad Moss, John Hurd, Joe Grue, Chip Martel, Kevin Bathurst