Kit Woolsey (born Christopher Robin Woolsey in 1943) is an American

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

and

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

player. He was inducted into the

ACBL Hall of Fame This list is a compilation of contract bridge players, writers, administrators and personalities who have been recognized for their skills, achievements or contributions to the game as identified by various specific sources. People recognized by ...

in 2005.

Personal life

Woolsey was born in Washington, DC. He graduated from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

in 1964 and earned a master's degree in mathematics from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

in 1965. He lives in

Kensington, California Kensington is an unincorporated community and census designated place located in the Berkeley Hills, in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area, in Contra Costa County, California. In the 20th century it was considered part of Berkeley ...

with his wife, world champion finalist bridge player Sally Woolsey.

Career

In bridge, he was the winner of the 1986

Rosenblum Cup Rosenblum Cup is an Open Teams event held every four years as part of the World Bridge Championships. The event was added to the world championships in New Orleans in 1978 to commemorate Julius Rosenblum, who served as president of the World Bridge ...

world teams championship. He was also runner-up in the 1982 Rosenblum Cup, 1989

Bermuda Bowl The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial contract bridge world championship for national . It is contested every odd-numbered year under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), alongside the Venice Cup (women), the d'Orsi Senior Bowl and the W ...

and won the Senior Teams at the 2000

World Team Olympiad The World Team Olympiad was a contract bridge meet organized by the World Bridge Federation every four years from 1960 to 2004. Its main events were world championships for national teams, always including one open and one restricted to women ("O ...

, and another gold at the 2003

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

, as well as more than a dozen

American Contract Bridge League The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. It is the largest such organization in North America having the stated mission ''"to promote, grow and sustain th ...

(ACBL)

North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven da ...

(NABC-level) events. Many of his successes were in partnership with Ed Manfield. He is a World Bridge Federation (WBF) World Grand Master and was Inducted into the

in 2005. In backgammon he was runner-up in the 1996 World Cup; as of 2007 he was the 5th-rank player in the world. Woolsey has written many bridge and backgammon books, and contributed to the bridge bidding theory with innovations including the two-way checkback convention and Woolsey, a defense against opposing notrump openings. He won the 1978 International Bridge Press Association (IBPA) award for ''Best Article or Series on a System or Convention''. Since 1984, Woolsey has been one of four (before 2005) or six rotating directors of ''

The Bridge World ''The Bridge World'' (TBW), the oldest continuously published magazine about contract bridge, was founded in 1929 by Ely Culbertson. It has since been regarded as the game's principal journal, publicizing technical advances in bidding and the pla ...

s monthly Master Solvers Club. Kit Woolsey is editor of the online backgammon magazine ''GammOnLine''. As of May 2014, the annotated match in the free "Demo issue" is "from 1996 World Cup finals between Malcolm Davis and Kit Woolsey". Kit's wife Sally Woolsey was player-captain of the runner-up team, or losing finalist, for the inaugural, 1994

McConnell Cup McConnell Cup is a team event for women held every four years as part of the World Bridge Series Championships. The event was inaugurated in 1994 and is named in honor of Ruth McConnell, former treasurer for the World Bridge Federation (WBF) and ...

—a quadrennial world championship event for women that runs to parallel to the open Rosenblum Cup he won in 1986. From 1998 they have played together in all four Mixed Pairs championships at the same convention, now called the World Bridge Series Championships (within the bridge world, World Series for short).

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

* ACBL Hall of Fame, 2005"Induction by Year"
''Hall of Fame''. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-17. *American Backgammon Hall of Fame, 2015

Awards

* Herman Trophy 1986 * Precision Award (Best Article or Series on a System or Convention) 1978

Wins

(1) 1986 *

(1) 2003 * Senior International Cup (1) 2000 *

(19) ** Vanderbilt (1) 1991 **

Grand National Teams The Grand National Teams (GNT) North American bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Grand National Teams is a team knockout event. The event is broken into ...

(3) 1984, 2009, 2017 ** Open Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1994 ** Men's Board-a-Match Teams (3) 1978, 1986, 1989 ** North American Men's Swiss Teams (2) 1986, 2012 **

Blue Ribbon Pairs The Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs (or simply the Blue Ribbon Pairs) is a national bridge championship held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The event is restricted to those that have wo ...

(3) 1973, 1975, 1990 ** Open Pairs (2) 1987, 1989 ** Men's Pairs (2) 1972, 1985 ** Mixed Pairs (1) 1967 ** Baze Senior Knockout Teams (1) 2012 * United States Bridge Championships (6) ** Open Team Trials (2) 1989, 2009 ** Senior Team Trials (4) 2000, 2001, 2003, 2019 * Other notable wins: ** Cavendish Invitational Teams (1) 1990 ** Reisinger Knockout Teams (1) 1981 ** Cavendish Invitational Pairs (3) 1979, 1994, 2011

Runners-up

(1) 1989 *

(1) 1982 *

(22) ** Vanderbilt (2) 1992, 1999 **

Spingold The Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Spingold is a knock-out team event that attracts the top contract bridge players in the world. T ...

(3) 1979, 1981, 1992 **

Reisinger The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Reisinger is a board-a-match event. History The event is contested for the Reisinger Trophy ( ...

(1) 1980 **

(4) 1977, 2006, 2014, 2016 ** Mixed Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1997 **

(3) 1985, 1986, 2002 ** Life Master Men's Pairs (2) 1971, 1972 ** Open Pairs (1) 1981 ** Open Pairs I (1) 1996 ** Open Pairs II (1) 2004 ** Men's Pairs (2) 1973, 1974 ** Base Senior Knockout Teams (1) 2010 **Freeman Mixed Board-a-Match (1) 2010 * United States Bridge Championships (1) ** Open Team Trials (1) 2005 * Other notable 2nd places: ** Cavendish Invitational Teams (1) 1999 ** EOE Optiebeurs Pairs (1) 1990 ** Cavendish Invitational Pairs (1) 1980 ** Goldman Pairs (2) 1980, 1982

Publications

Bridge

* — (reprinted 1988 and 1992) Louisville, KY: Devyn Press Inc., pp. 343, OCLC 477153995. * — (reprinted 1991), pp. 303, . * — (reprinted 1992) Louisville, KY: Devyn Press Inc., pp. 64, . * — (reprinted 1980). — (2nd edition 1983), Louisville: Devyn Press Inc., pp. 32. OCLC 10409994. — (reprinted 1990), pp 32. * The Language of Bridge. Bridge winners. 2017

Backgammon

*''New Ideas in Backgammon'' (with Hal Heinrich) *''How to Play Tournament Backgammon'' *''Backgammon: Master Versus Amateur, Volume 1'' *''MatchQiz Book: Greiner vs Phillip Marmorstein'' *''MatchQiz Book: Hal Heinrich vs. Mika Lidov'' *''MatchQiz Book: Joe Sylvester vs. Nack Ballard'' *''Understanding Backgammon'' (with Tami Jones) *''52 Great Backgammon Tips'' (with Patti Beadles) *''The Backgammon Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Cube Reference Positions'' *''The Backgammon Encyclopedia, Volume 2: More Cube Reference Positions''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woolsey, Kit 1943 births American contract bridge players Bermuda Bowl players American backgammon players Contract bridge writers Oberlin College alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni People from Washington, D.C. People from Kensington, California Living people Date of birth missing (living people)