August 2009 - 27

Worldwide bridge contest

of the boards we were minus 500
against a partscore. We were probably last in the world after the first
round, but we didn't allow it to affect
our game. We didn't comment about
it, we just went on to the next round,"
he said.
Later in the session, however, it
was clear that things were going their
way. Zander said that they still kept
quiet.
"You don't talk when you're having
a big game. You don't want to jinx it!"
On Board 9, the winners made several favorable decisions to get a great
result, earning 96% of the available
matchpoints for being in the right
contract:
Dlr: North  Q 9 8
Vul: E-W  Q 9 5 3
AQ4
Q72
 J 10 4 3 2
A65
N
6
K84
W E
972
K863
S
J865
 10 4 3
K7
 A J 10 7 2
 J 10 5
AK9
North
Greene
Pass
3NT

South
Zander
1NT
Pass

Although this looks like a vanilla
sequence, Greene and Zander did
everything right. First, they landed
in 3NT and not 4, despite a ninecard heart fit. Both contracts score
11 tricks, so 3NT is obviously better.
To get to 3NT, Greene first had to
avoid the temptation to open "North's
disgusting 12-count" (in the words of
commentator Eric Kokish). If he had
opened one of a minor, South would
have responded 1, and the partnership would almost surely have arrived
in 4. Next, Zander chose to open
1NT, despite the five-card heart suit.
Last, Greene chose to avoid Stayman,
noting that the sterile 3=4=3=3 shape
was likely to be better in 3NT.
As Greene said, "All of the actions
were reasonable, and on lucky days
(like this one) they work out."
r
August 2009

Friday, June 5

Top 10 Pairs Worldwide
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Tita Abadi - Rosita Castaneda
Harvey Schwartz - Paul Kirby
Connie Almy - Tony Kasday
Barry Symons - Ray Thibeau
Mario Guarino - Carlo Carpentieri
S. Hantos - P. Gadol
Tom Kinnear - George Knight
Umberto D'Agostino - Luca Darbi Giovanni
Bella Ionis Sorren - Stephan Juliusburger
George Georgiades - Depsi Ioannou

Country
Mexico
U.S.
Costa Rica
Canada
Italy
Venezuela
Canada
Italy
U.S.
Cyprus

Percent
73.83
73.70
71.36
71.28
71.03
70.98
70.91
70.70
70.52
70.52

Country
Mexico
U.S.
Canada
Canada
U.S.
Canada
U.S.
U.S.
U.S.
Canada

Percent
73.83
73.70
71.28
70.91
70.52
70.07
69.97
69.88
69.72
69.71

Country
Italy
U.S.
Ireland
U.S.
South Africa
Germany
U.S.
Mexico
Italy
U.S.

Percent
73.49
71.58
71.48
70.87
70.81
70.63
70.56
70.48
70.40
70.16

Country
U.S.
U.S.
U.S.
Mexico
U.S.
U.S.
U.S.
Mexico
Canada
Canada

Percent
71.58
70.87
70.56
70.48
70.16
70.16
69.94
68.58
67.91
67.43

Top 10 Pairs in the ACBL
(World ranking in parenthesis)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

(1.)
(2.)
(4.)
(7.)
(9.)
(13.)
(14.)
(15.)
(17.)
(18.)

Tita Abadi - Rosita Castaneda
Harvey Schwartz - Paul Kirby
Barry Symons - Ray Thibeau
Tom Kinnear - George Knight
Bella Ionis Sorren - Stephan Juliusburger
Karl Hicks - Elizabeth Legacy
Fella Oppenheim - Joe Sokoloff
Konrad Dziekanski - Harriet Geller
Susan Perez - Thomas O'Reilly-Pol
Leigh Ives - Hindupuram Sriharsha

Saturday, June 6
Top 10 Pairs Worldwide
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Luigi Ottavio - Marco Casalini
Barbara Zander - Thomas Greene
John Cunningham - Monica Harris
Andy Terry - Kathryn Burkholder
Gloria Costa - Helene Roberts
S. Bohnsack - H. Bohnsack
Richard Berg - Samuel Hanna
Gifford Moody - Margaret Moody
Vanda Stucchi - Alessandro Croci
David Dressman - John Pranter

Top 10 Pairs in the ACBL
(World ranking in parenthesis)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

(2.)
(4.)
(7.)
(8.)
(10.)
(11.)
(12.)
(16.)
(19.)
(21.)

Barbara Zander - Thomas Greene
Andy Terry - Kathryn Burkholder
Richard Berg - Samuel Hanna
Gifford Moody - Margaret Moody
David Dressman - John Pranter
Dorothy Feldmann - Herbert Feldmann
Stephen Paskin - Albert Ross
Lourdes Rosieu - Veronica Reygadas
Don Jackson - Olly Smolak
Dave Baker - Fran Chivers

27
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2009
