February 2015 - 21

John Hurd and Justin Lall, winners of the Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs.

Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs

Playing together for only the second
time, John Hurd and Justin Lall won
the Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs by
more than one board. The only other
time they played together was in the
summer of 2013 at a regional in Las
Vegas. Two Chicago-area players -
Nick Demirev and Eldad Ginossar -

Second place in the Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs:
Eldad Ginossar and Nikolay Demirev.

were second.
After four qualifying sessions, Hurd
and Lall led the field by 2.82 matchpoints. They increased their lead to
29.08 midway through the final with a
63.96% game and scored 53.87% in the
evening session to win comfortably.
Their final margin over the runners-up

Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs - 294 pairs
1. John Hurd, New York NY - Justin Lall, Plano TX
2. Nikolay Demirev, Arlington Heights IL -
Eldad Ginossar, Chicago IL
3. Dennis Bilde, Aarhus, Denmark - Matt Granovetter, Cincinnati OH
4. Ismail Kandenir - Suleyman Kolata, Istanbul, Turkey
5. Robert Levin, Henderson NV - Richard Coren, Highland Beach FL
6. Dick Melson, Chicago IL - David Lehman, Glenview IL
7. Espen Lindqvist, Arendal, Norway - Boye Brogeland, Norway
8. Ron Pachtmann, Kfar Saba, Israel -
Bar Tarnovski, Rishon Lezion, Israel
9. Michael Becker - Aubrey Strul, Boca Raton FL
10. Chris Willenken - Alison Wilson, New York NY
11. Pierre Zimmermann - Franck Multon, Monaco
12. David Berkowitz, Boca Raton FL - Alan Sontag, Gaithersburg MD
13. Michel Abecassis - Paul Chemla, France
14. Katie Thorpe, Kingsville ON - Martin Kirr, Toronto ON
15. Victoria Gromova - Tatiana Ponomareva, Moscow, Russia
16. Fu Zhong - Jie Li, Beijing, China
17. Mustafa Cem Tokay, Istanbul, Turkey -
Antonio Sementa, Parma, Italy
18. Li-Chung Chen, Cupertino CA - Jo Anna Stansby, Dublin CA
19. Per-Ola Cullin, Johanneshov, Sweden -
Peter Bertheau, Taby, Sweden
20. Michael Rosenberg, Cupertino CA -
Richard Zeckhauser, Cambridge MA
21. Michael Schreiber, Memphis TN - William Pollack, New York NY
22. Roger Lee, Las Vegas NV - Bob Hamman, Dallas TX

1140.21 23.
24.
1096.64 25.
1091.51 26.
1069.32 27.
1068.30
1063.92 28.
1057.47 29.
30.
1052.12
1050.58 31.
1046.94 32.
1038.03 33.
1035.98 34.
1008.60 35.
1003.59 36.
999.48 37.
979.91 38.
39.
978.85 40.
978.41 41.
977.80 42.
975.51 43.
973.92 44.
971.07 45.

was 43.57 matchpoints. Top was 35.
Hurd and Lall are first-time winners of the Blue Ribbon Pairs, but they
have separate victories in the Norman
Kay Platinum Pairs - Hurd with Joel
Wooldridge in 2011, Lall with Bob
Hamman in 2012. Hurd now has five
North American titles, Lall four.

Michael Polowan - Jared Lilienstein, New York NY
Daniel Korbel, Waterloo ON - Darren Wolpert, Thornhill ON
Shan Huang, Toronto ON - David Sabourin, Ottawa ON
Stale Froyland, Narbo, Norway - John Herland, Stavanger, Norway
James Krekorian, Pensacola FL -
Venkatrao Koneru, San Antonio TX
Pamela Miller - James Rasmussen, Cambridge MA
William Arlinghaus, Ann Arbor MI - Brian Ellis, Beachwood OH
Rune Brendeford Anderssen, Norway -
Peter Marstrander, Tromso, Norway
Eric Greco, Wynnewood PA - Geoff Hampson, Las Vegas NV
Martin Fleisher, New York NY - Chip Martel, Davis CA
Veronique Bessis, Paris, France - Marshall Lewis, Bloomington IN
Joe Grue, New York NY - Brad Moss, Denver CO
Thomas Bessis, Paris, France - Cedric Lorenzini, Cachan, France
John Koschik, Livonia MI - Dennis Carman, Plainwell MI
Kevin Dwyer, Melbourne FL - Steve Weinstein, Andes NY
Oren Kriegel, Chicago IL - Steve Zolotow, Las Vegas NV
Tobi Sokolow - Louis Sachar, Austin TX
Fred Stewart, Bloomington NY - Kit Woolsey, Kensington CA
Bartosz Chmurski, Lomianky, Poland -
Piotr Tmczynski, Poznan, Poland
Sabine Auken, Charlottenlund, Denmark -
Roy Welland, New York NY
Agustin Madala - Adolfo Madala, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sartaj Hans - Peter Gill, Sydney, Australia
Mitch Dunitz, Sherman Oaks CA - Robert Lebi, Toronto ON

970.72
965.28
964.81
964.03
963.69
960.83
958.52
955.98
953.68
948.87
941.26
934.00
931.41
929.99
928.79
925.78
924.06
920.89
920.16
918.56
915.66
912.33
906.55

February 2015 Bridge Bulletin

21
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2015
