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) and the d'Orsi Bowl (seniors). Entries formally represent WBF zones as well as nations, so it is also known as the World Zonal Open Team Championship. It is the oldest event that confers the title of world champion in bridge, and was first contested in 1950. The Bermuda Bowl trophy is awarded to the winning team, and is named for the site of the inaugural tournament, the Atlantic archipelago of Bermuda. The term "Bermuda Bowl" is sometimes used for the entire two-week event, comprising the three zonal teams and one or more concurrent lesser tournaments. The 2017 Bermuda Bowl took place in Lyon, France. The 2019 contest is being held in Wuhan, China. See a description of the identical "Senior Bowl" structure or a detailed account of the 2011 event (below). Organized principally by Norman Bach, an accountant and bridge player from Bermuda who played for Britain, the Bermuda Bowl was the first world championship event held after World War II, and started as a competition between the US, Europe and Britain in 1950. The first event was won by the US. After this, the Bermuda Bowl became a yearly challenge match between the US and the European champions. The format evolved progressively, with more teams and the addition of events for women and seniors. Key milestones were:  Austria won the 1937 International Bridge League (IBL) championships for both open and women's national teams. They are commonly considered the first world championships for national teams, and the first world championship tournaments of any kind, because teams from the United States entered both flights, two open teams and one women's. The IBL was a predecessor of both the European Bridge League (est. 1947) and the WBF (est. 1958), although there was a competing international organization in the 1930s. The IBL organized annual championships for (open) national teams beginning in 1932 and for women beginning in 1935. Prior to 1937, Austria won three of five in the open category and both in the women category. All of the sites were in Europe and the European Bridge League considers the 1930s series to be the first eight European Teams Championships. In the 1937 (6–20 June) open tournament there were 19 teams from 18 countries: the USA had two teams, one led by Ely Culbertson which came second.