FORBO-KROMMENIE
INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE TOURNAMENT
The Forbo-Krommenie has built a strong name within the international bridge community. It was during the 1990s, that this Dutch company gave its support to and sponsored one of the most prestigious bridge events in the world, the Forbo-Krommenie International Bridge Tournament. Through the years, numerous world and Olympic champions have attended the event.
The driving force behind the Forbo-Krommenie tournaments and the person bearing the responsibility for the tournaments from its inception was Mr. Kees Schraag, who passed away in the year 2000.
The Forbo-Krommenie company, world leader in products like Marmoleum® and Artoleum®, has been supporting the game of bridge on a major scale for almost a decade. Over the years, its International Bridge Tournament has acquired the reputation as the world's number one teams event.
The Forbo-Krommenie International Bridge Tournament comprises three separate events. The event begins with the Forbo-Krommenie Friendship Cup, a pairs event reserved exclusively for guests of the company. Politicians, the parliamentary press and corporate business associates are the competitors in this invitational tournament.
All events were held and conducted at the Steigenberger Kurhaus Hotel at Scheveningen, The Netherlands.
Previous winners of the Forbo-Krommenie International Teams Tournament:
1993: T.V.M. (Netherlands) - 1st International Bridge Tournament
Ren Coppens, Geert Jansen, Harm Everts, Rieks Mulder
1994: U.S.A. - 2nd International Bridge Tournament
Michael Polowan, Sam Lev, Brad Moss, Ravindra Murthy
1995: Denmark - 3rd International Bridge Tournament
Niels Krojgaard, Jes Bank, Mads Krojgaard, Henrik Caspersen
1996: Team Haas (Germany - 4th International Bridge Tournament)
Steve Haas, Dr. Michael Elinescu, Andrzej Holowski. Tomasz Gotard
Change in Procedure - 1996
The organisation of the Forbo-Krommenie International Bridge Tournament proudly announces that this year a spectacular change has been made in the existing tournament formula. From Friday the 9th until Sunday the 11th of February, 1996, there will be a battle for three different trophies.
The Forbo-Krommenie Friendship Cup
An invitational pairs event for guests of the Forbo-Krommenie company. Politicians, the parliamentary press and corporate business friends will compete in this pairs tournament. The Forbo-Krommenie is also proud to welcome a delegation from the House of Lords of Great Britain, which will join in the Friendship Cup as well.
The Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup
A competition exclusively meant for four of the strongest teams in the world: France (under the captaincy of José Damiani, President of the World Bridge Federation with the reigning Olympic Champions Paul Chemla and Michel Perron), Italy (the current European Champions), USA (a powerful team with former Forbo winners Sam Lev and Michael Polowan), and The Netherlands (winners of the 1993 Bermuda Bowl).
The Forbo-Krommenie International TeamsThe traditional international tournament with participation of 64 very strong teams. Amongst others world champion Bep Vriend, Iceland (winners of the 1991 Bermuda Bowl) and team Ghestem (with four former world champions) will play in this event.
Also: Due to the joint efforts of Forbo-Krommenie, experts in floor coverings, The Dutch Bridge Federation, Tirion, a succesful publisher of bridge books, and the AVRO, a leading broadcasting company in The Netherlands, a series of bridge lessons for beginners has started.
Every Sunday afternoon, from January through March, bridge will be taught on Dutch television. It is expected that the series will substantially stimulate the popularity of bridge in Holland as it did ten years ago when a similar course led to an increase of tens of thousands of new members to the Dutch Bridge Federation.
Cees Sint, a popular Dutch author of bridge courses for beginners, spent a lot of work on the project: I am very proud of the video. It looks beautiful. All my compliments to the film director, Chris Berger and to Bas Westerweel, a well known Dutch television personality, who is presenting the series. They did a great job, since it is not so easy to compress a bridge lesson into 15 minutes.
1997 - Scheveningen, The Netherlands - 5th International Bridge Tournament
First Place: Italy
Alfredo Versace, Lorenzo Lauria, Andrea Buratti, Massimo LanzarottiSecond Place: USA
Nick Nickell, Richard Freeman, Bob Hamman, Bobby WolffThird Place: France
Alain Levy, Christian Mari, Marc Bompis, Henri Szwarc
1998: Germany - 6th International Bridge Tournament
Dr. Michael Elinescu, Dr. Enslaw Wladow, Helmuth Häusler, Splettstösser
1999: Team Wijma, The Netherlands - 7th International Bridge Tournament
Schelte Wijma, Jaap Brulleman, Frans ten Brink, Hans de Vrind
For the 1999 Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup, the event featured four reputable bridge nations: France, China, Brazil, and The Netherlands, as the host country.
In 1999 these four national teams also played in the Forbo-Krommenie International Teams Tournament, where they encountered powerful teams from all parts of the world. Countries fielding other participating teams were America, Brittain, Poland, Sweden, Iceland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Denmark, Croatia, Hungary, Portugal, Austria, and teams from the host country, The Netherlands.
In 1999, the participating countries were represented by the following teams:
France
Alain Lévy and Paul Chemla
Christian Mari and Philippe CronierBrazil
Gabriel Chagas and Zia Mahmood
Jao Paulo Campos and Miguel Villas-BoasChina
Wang Weimin and Fu Zhong
Sun Shaolin and Li XinThe Netherlands
Huub Bertens and Bart Nab
Anton Maas and Vincent RamondtPrevious winners of the Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup:
1996: Italy
Alfredo Versace and Lorenzo Lauria
Andrea Buratti and Massimo Lanzarotti1997: Italy
Alfredo Versace and Lorenzo Lauria
Andrea Buratti and Massimo Lanzarotti1998: France
Paul Chemla and Philippe Cronier
Alain Lévy and Christian Mari
2000: Canada - 8th International Bridge Tournament
Drew Canell, John Carruthers, Eric Kokish, George Mittelman
2001: Italy - 9th International Bridge Tournament
Winners: Alfredo Versace, Giorgio Duboin, Lorenzo Lauria, Norberto Bocchi
Participating Teams
Denmark - Second Place: Jens Auken, Lauge Schaeffer, Lars Blakset, Mattias Bruun
UK/China - Third Place:
2002
After the competition in 2002 the Forbo-Krommenie International Teams ceased operation. There was no competition in the year 2003. The event resumed in the year 2004 under a new designation of White House International Top Teams. In 2004 there were 32 teams invited by The Netherlands to participate.
Previous winners of the Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup
1996: Italy - 1st Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup
Alfredo Versace, Lorenzo Lauria, Andrea Buratti, Massimo Lanzarotti
1997: Italy - 2nd Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup
Alfredo Versace, Lorenzo Lauria, Andrea Buratti, Massimo Lanzarotti
1998: France - 3rd Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup
Paul Chemla, Philippe Croniew, Alain Levy, Christian Mari
1999: China - 4th Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup
Wang Weimin, Fu Zhong, Sun Shaolin Li Xin
2000: The Netherlands - 5th Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup
Winners
The Netherlands: Piet Jansen, Jan Westerhof, Bauke Muller, Wubbo De Boer
Participating Teams
China: Wang Weimin, Fu Zhong, Sun Shaolink Li Xin
Italy: Norberto Bocchi, Giorgio Duboin, Dano de Falco, Guido Ferraro
U.S.A.: Mike Passell, Bill Seamon, Eddie Wold, Paul Soloway
*The French team originally scheduled to appear, had to withdraw at the last minute on account
of all its players still being involved in the trials for the Maastricht Olympiad later this year.
2001: - 6th Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup
Winners
North America: Fred Gitelman, Moss, Weinstein, Carruthers
Participating Teams
Second Place
Italy:
Third Place
The Netherlands:
Fourth Place
Poland:
2002: Italy - 7th Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup
Winner: Italy
Second Place: North America
Third Place - The Netherlands: Jaap Mulders, Marco ter Laare
Fourth Place: Norway
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