August 2016 - 32

Wide World of Bridge

World Wide Bridge Contest winners will play for $20,000 in China

A

Baltimore-area pair was one
of 13 who won a trip to China
in the revamped World Wide
Bridge Contest in 2016. Formerly a
two-day event, the series now includes
six preliminary sessions - two each
in April, May and June - and a final in
Beijing. The only ACBL pair to qualify
for the final was Paul Benedict and
Lynn Jones of Maryland, who finished
third in the sixth session. In September, they will compete for a $20,000
prize, along with the other 12 qualifying pairs and seven others from China.
The April and May sessions drew
few U.S. and Canadian participants
and were much smaller than the June
sessions. Greece accounted for nearly
a fourth of the total players each of the
first four sessions. Pairs in Greece won
the first and fourth sessions; Singapore
and India were home to winners of the
second and third.
The United States and Italy supplied
the greatest numbers of players for the
June 3 and June 4 sessions. In the first
of these, 3513 pairs played at 236 clubs
in 30 countries. More than half of the
players were from Europe, where 1836
pairs competed. Italy accounted for
most of the European total, and Italian
players grabbed the top five spots. In
comparison, there were 1019 pairs in
North America, 657 in the U.S.
The following day, 3574 pairs played
at 204 clubs in 26 countries. Slightly
more than half, 1789 pairs, played in
the U.S. The North American total of
2089 pairs dwarfed Europe's 799.
Friday, June 3
Playing in Orillia ON, Leigh Ives
and Bill Koski placed highest in the
ACBL on June 3, when they were sixth
worldwide. They play only occasionally because Koski travels for his job

32 Bridge Bulletin August 2016

BY CHIP DOMBROWSKI

and Ives, a retired school
administrator, spends her
winters in Laguna Beach
CA. They often accompany a group of friends to a
local pub after the game to
talk about hands and play
trivia.
During the game that
Friday, they both felt the
"good vibes" of a winning
Leigh Ives and Bill Koski placed highest in the ACBL on
session and were pleasJune 3, and they were sixth worldwide.
antly surprised at the high
percentage, 70.42%.
This good result for them came from spade to his 8. When it won, he cashed
a risky opening lead by the opponent
his remaining spades, West pitching an
and smart follow-up card reading by
encouraging heart and a club.
declarer.
Koski next played a diamond to the
queen
and a diamond back to the 10.
Dlr: East ♠ A 7 3
On the ♦K, West pitched a second
Vul: E-W ♥ 8 2
heart and declarer overtook, then
♦AQJ3
played a low club to his jack. When that
♣KQ86
won, Koski rightly deduced that West's
♠K5
♠ 10 9 6 2
initial shape was 2=4=2=5. He played
♥K753
♥ J 10 9 6
a club towards dummy and ducked it
♦54
♦762
to the now bare ace. That allowed him
♣ 10 9 5 3 2
♣A4
to take two heart pitches on the ♣K Q,
♠QJ84
using the ♦J as an entry, after win♥AQ4
ning the heart return with his ace. Plus
♦ K 10 9 8
490 was worth nearly 98 percent of the
♣J7
matchpoints.
West North
East
South
Saturday, June 4
Ives
Koski
Benedict and Jones, the ACBL
Pass
1♦
(1)
winners
on June 4, have been playing
Pass
2♦
Pass
2NT
together for 13 years. They play and
Pass
3NT
All Pass
travel often, going to about one region(1) Forcing.
al per month and two NABCs a year,
A club lead and immediate heart
driving almost always.
switch by East will hold 3NT to making
Playing in a seven-table game at the
four. A red-card lead will hold it to five. Bridge Club of Baltimore, they scored
But West, hoping to find his partner's
77.33%, which converted to 71.91%
major, led the ♠K.
after matchpointing across the world.
At that point, 12 tricks were avail"We knew we were having a great
able, but Koski had to find them. After
game," Benedict said. "We did very
winning the lead in dummy, he played a well against the two best North-South
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2016
