The USA team, including 77-year-old Marshall Miles, this week won the World Senior Bridge Championship in Istanbul, overtaking the Netherlands in the very last round. Miles has many national titles in his distinguished career, but this is his first world title.

Master Point Press is delighted to announce that Play or Defend? by Julian Pottage has been named the first winner of the IBPA Bridge Book of the Year award. The International Bridge Press Association made the award public this week at its Annual Meeting, which this year took place in Istanbul, Turkey, alongside the 2004 World Bridge Championships. An international jury of four prominent bridge journalists selected the winner from a short list of six, which included books from the USA, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Hungary. A second MPP title, Kantar on Kontract by Eddie Kantar, was also named to the short list.

Julian Pottage, who lives in England, is generally acknowledged to be one of the world's best creators of bridge problems. Two of his earlier books (Positive Defense and Positive Declarer Play, both featuring Terence Reese as coauthor) are being released in new editions by MPP this Spring, while a new title Defend these hands with me is in preparation for a 2006 release date.