December 2010 - 15

World Championships

Cup (the world women's knockout
teams) went to China.
This report focuses on the two pre‑
mier events - the Rosenblum and
the Generali Open Pairs - plus the
Mixed Pairs. You can read more in the
January issue, including a list of all
U.S. and Canadian medal winners.

Rosenblum Cup
There were many fine teams in
the field of 145 to start, including
the reigning Bermuda Bowl cham‑
pions, led by Nick Nickell; Pierre
Zimmermann plus three of the team‑
mates who helped him win the 2010
Vanderbilt Knockout Teams in Reno;
the Spingold Knockout Teams win‑
ners, led by John Diamond; and the
Martin Fleisher squad, runners‑up in
the Vanderbilt. Defending Rosenblum
champion Rose Meltzer was back,
albeit with a different squad - and
there were many others.
Teams were divided into 12 groups
for round‑robin play, and the top four
in each group moved into the round
of 64 for knockout play. The first
round contained no surprises, but
Meltzer was eliminated on the sec‑
ond day by fellow American Lou Ann
O'Rourke.
In the round of 16, Zimmermann
had an easy time of it, as did Dia‑
mond, but Nickell had to rally in the
fourth quarter against the Krzysztof
Martens squad (Poland), and Fleisher
was breathing hard at the end in de‑
feating an German-Austrian squad.
In the quarterfinal round, Diamond
crushed Vito, a Bulgarian team who
withdrew after three quarters, trailing
143-26. Nickell easily defeated Steve
Robinson; Jeff Wolfson surprised
Fleisher; and Zimmermann beat
Aubrey Strul.
That set up the semifinal matches
- Nickell versus Wolfson and Dia‑
mond versus Zimmermann.
Diamond, clearly the hottest team in
the event, had no difficulty with Zim‑
mermann, winning 147-87. Nickell, on
the other hand, barely escaped against
Wolfson, winning by only 4 IMPs.

On paper, the Diamond-Zimmer‑
mann match rated to be competitive.
Zimmermann had four of the six play‑
ers who won the Vanderbilt Knockout
Teams in Reno earlier in the year,
and the two new players were world
champions Fulvio Fantoni and
Claudio Nunes. Diamond had the line‑
up that won the Spingold Knockout
Teams in New Orleans in July.
Diamond won easily. Here's a deal
from the second session that shows
how well things were going for them.
Dlr: North  9 5 3
Vul: N-S  9 5 4 3
J97432
-
 Q 10 6 4
K82
N
KQ
 J 10 8 2
W E
AK5
86
S
7632
 A Q 10 5
AJ7
A76
 Q 10
KJ984
West
North
Helgemo Hampson
Pass
Pass
2
All Pass

East
Helness
Pass
Pass

South
Greco
1NT
2

Greco had only six tricks: four dia‑
monds and two aces - two down,
minus 200. At the other table, as re‑
ported by Mark Horton:
West
North
Diamond Multon
Pass
Dbl
2
Dbl
Pass
3
Pass
3NT
All Pass

East
Platnick
1
Pass
2
3

South
Z'mann
1NT
Pass
Pass
Pass

East's wafer‑thin bid (Precision)
saw his side reach a game that could
not be defeated. North led the 4,
and declarer ducked when South
played the queen. Diamond won the
next diamond and played the top
hearts, South ducking both. Knowing
where all the high cards were located,

declarer cashed the K, discarding a
club from dummy, and played a spade
to the king and ace. South exited with
the J, and declarer won, cashed two
more spades, played a club to the ace
and exited with a heart. South, down
to the K J and the A, was end‑
played. Plus 400 was a 5‑IMP gain for
Diamond, who won the set 42-8 on
the way to the rout.
In the other semifinal match, Nick‑
ell held a 14‑IMP lead heading into the
final quarter (15 boards) and nearly
ended up in the playoff for the bronze
medal.
This deal, also reported by Horton,
was one of several that had Nickell
partisans wringing their hands.
Dlr: East  A K 6 2
Vul: None  J 10 9 6 5
96
75
873
 Q J 10 9
N
-
AQ74
W E
J854
AQ
S
 K Q J 10 6 2
843
54
K832
 K 10 7 3 2
A9
West
North
East
Ginossar Hamman P'man
1NT
(1)
2
Pass
3
3 (2)
Pass
3NT
(1) Clubs.
(2) Shortness.

South
Zia
Pass
Pass
All Pass

Some players would come in over
East's 1NT - 2 to show hearts and
another suit is one option - but it's a
very pushy action.
With a free run, East-West reached
a dreadful contract that appeared to
have two chances: slim and none.
Still, at the probable state of the
match you cannot blame them. At
least the defenders could not hold up
the A twice.
South led the 2 and declarer,
Ron Pachtman (Israel) won with the
queen and played a club to dummy.
He returned to hand with the A
➤
December 2010 Bridge Bulletin

15
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2010
