North American Pairs

The North American Pairs (NAP) is a set of annual North American championships for pairs contested over two days at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championships (NABC). The events are restricted to pairs that have qualified through local, regional and district levels within their ACBL Districts.

Three fields or "Flights" compete on the same schedule:

Each competition is a four-session matchpoint pairs tournament with two qualifying sessions on the first day and two final sessions on the second.

Play for the Baldwin North American Pairs (Flight A) begins each summer at the local level and concludes at the North American Bridge Championships in the following Spring. Qualifiers at the club level advance to unit competition and those qualifiers advance to district finals. Three pairs from each district – more, depending upon attendance – qualify for the North American final.

At inauguration, the open pairs contest was named the Grand National Pairs with 61,000 starting pairs participating in the initial local stage in August 1978 - the ultimate winners arising from the 1979 Spring NABC. The contest was renamed the North American Pairs in deference to the participation of all country members of the ACBL.

Winners have their names inscribed on the Baldwin Trophy and also receive certificates of recognition. The trophy is presented in memory of Col. Russell J. Baldwin (1889–1969), a U.S. Army officer and expert on tournament procedure who was ACBL Honorary Member of the Year in 1943. Baldwin was active as an organizer from the earliest days of contract bridge. He became a director of the American Bridge League and its treasurer shortly after its founding in 1927. He was a member of the ACBL Laws Commission and was primarily responsible for the first Duplicate Code (Laws specifically for duplicate bridge) issued in 1935. Baldwin was active as a tournament director from 1927 until 1941. After service in World War II, he was ACBL business manager from 1946 until 1951. He was recalled to military service at the outbreak of the Korean War and retired from the U.S. Army in 1957. He rejoined ACBL in 1958 and was in charge of tournament scheduling until his retirement in 1963.

Known as the Golder North American Pairs - Flight B, the first stage of the event is also conducted at the local club level with qualifiers advancing to unit competition. Those qualifiers then advance to the district finals where three pairs – more, depending upon attendance – qualify for the North American final. The inaugural event was held at the 1992 Spring NABC.

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