February 24, 2021 ACBL STATEMENT

ACBL announces phased plan to return to face-to-face (F2F) bridge.  The road back to face-to-face bridge has been a long one, but we do see a light at the end of the tunnel.   While more areas across the continent are “reopening” as the COVID-19 vaccine gains traction, there is still quite a way to go to reach security for member and staff health. With that in mind, we want to give you an update on what the rest of 2021 looks like.

• 2022 Summer NABC in Washington DC has been CANCELLED
• Providence North American Bridge Championships (NABC) set for Summer 2021 has been moved to Summer 2022
• Return to playing in person will begin at the local club level.
• All tournament sanctions have been canceled through the end of July. This is largely due to access to vaccines and the progressing travel needs to play at the local club, in a Sectional, in a Regional and at an NABC.
• The next phase of “reopening” face-to-face play will be the return of Sectionals. This will run parallel to increased availability of vaccines, and we estimate these tournaments to begin in August 2021 depending on local conditions (this is subject to change).
• The following phase will be the return of Regionals. We estimate this period to begin in early October. However, please note that these dates are subject to change as the year progresses.  
• Finally, we plan to resume the NABC schedule in Fall 2021 with the Austin NABC in November. The dates for the 2021 Fall NABC are set as November 25-December 5.

Click here to see the full timeline.