D12 duo wins NAP Flight C

Posted on by

Winners of the North American Pairs Flight C: Yanping Zhang and Henry Zhang, representing District 12.

Henry Zhang of Novi MI and Yanping Zhang of Livonia MI won the President’s Cup North American Pairs Flight C for the second year in a row. The pair, who are not related but work together at a mechanical engineering firm, represent District 12.
Unlike last year when they won the event by a single matchpoint, this time the Zhangs won going away, by two and a half boards. Starting the day in 22nd place, they took the lead in Monday’s first final session with a 70.46% and capped it off with a 56.54% in the evening.
It’s pretty hard to win Flight C two years in a row – usually because you’re not still in Flight C a year after you’ve won an event like this.
“We don’t get to play very much,” Henry Zhang explained. “I travel a lot for work.” He acknowledged it would be hard to stay in Flight C a third year. “Maybe we’ll try Flight B next year.”

Second in the North American Pairs Flight C: Jon Gassaway and Roger Thomas, representing District 20.

In second place, representing District 20, are Roger Thomas and Jon Gassaway from the Portland area. The Oregonians had their best session in Sunday’s first qualifying session, when they were leading the event with a 63.30%. They started the day in fifth and had two decent final sessions of 54.38% and 53.77%.
Results may be found here.