August 2018 - 24

Global Game

Qualifiers will compete for $20,000 in China in World Wide Bridge Contest
BY CHIP DOMBROWSKI

Two American pairs qualified to
participate in the finals of the World
Wide Bridge Contest in October in
China, where they'll compete for a
$20,000 prize. Philadelphia-area
players Bobbie Gomer and Everett
Young, along with H. Gordon and
Susan Bullard of Lexington KY, earned
the berths by placing second and third
in the world in the last of the eight
qualifying games on June 2.
Another spot went to the continental winner, but for the purpose of this
event, North and South America are
considered a single continent. Despite
getting a higher score throughout all
eight sessions than anyone else in

Friday, June 1

North America, the ACBL winners
from the June 1 qualifying game, Gary
Powell and Larry Davis of Austin TX,
lost out on the continental spot to a
pair from Ecuador who won the third
session held April 24.
Clubs in 43 countries participated
in at least one of the eight qualifying
games held between March and June,
with about 19 countries each session.
The contest is most popular in Greece,
one of five countries that participated
all eight sessions. Greece was the largest participant in each of the first six
sessions, fielding more players than
the next two countries combined in

Powell and Davis,
both Diamond Life
Masters, played at
the Bridge Center
of Austin.
Neither had
made plans to play
that day. When
the morning
game that Davis
normally directs
Larry Davis and Gary Powell
was canceled
due to lack of attendance, Davis decided to rearrange
his day and play the afternoon game instead. Powell,
whose wife had another commitment, decided at the
last minute to take a chance on finding a partner. They
don't often play together - just a few times a year.
"We played well and got some gifts," Davis said.
Their score of 71.99% would have been good enough
to qualify in any of the other seven sessions and would
win four of them. However, on the day with the largest
field, it was only fifth place worldwide. They were
0.95% short of qualifying.
Davis is a past president of District 16 and has
chaired the biennial Austin Regional for over 20 years.

24 Bridge Bulletin August 2018

five of them. Greek pairs won four of
the eight games and claimed 10 of the
25 berths to play in China.
Through the first six sessions, an
average of 563 pairs played, with perhaps one or two clubs from the U.S. or
Canada participating. In the last two
sessions, ACBL clubs participated in
much greater numbers, increasing the
size of the field substantially. There
were 3546 pairs playing June 1 and
2513 on June 2. The U.S. was the largest participant both of those days, with
Canada second or third and Greece
third or fourth. England was second on
June 2.

Friday, June 1

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

Anastasios Iliadis - Nikolaos Bovasianos
Ilias Stefanopoulos - Nikolaos Karapanos
Bjorn Tiller - Marusa Basa
Aristeidis Katsifos - Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos
Gary Powell - Larry Davis
Haven Sharaf - Kimberly Gilman
Graham Cope - Mike Meakin
Colin Mitchell - Dan Benison
Richard Miller - William Braun
Jim Wolsey - Pam Eves

Top 10 Pairs in ACBL (world ranking)
1. (5) Gary Powell - Larry Davis
2. (6) Haven Sharaf - Kimberly Gilman
3. (9) Richard Miller - William Braun
4. (10) Jim Wolsey - Pam Eves
5. (12) Don Joynt - Ron Kline
6. (14) Firm Weaver - Judy Hill
7. (15) Peter Tracy - Sherry Tracy
8. (16) Jacob Karno - Paul Deal
9. (17) Michael Schreiber - Richard Oshlag
10. (18) Wayne Weisler - Dee Moses

Country
Greece
Greece
England
Greece
USA
USA
England
England
USA
Canada

Percent
74.91
74.33
72.94
72.15
71.99
71.55
71.43
70.61
70.45
70.11

Club location
Percent
Austin TX
71.99
Woburn MA
71.55
Salt Lake City UT
70.45
Hamilton ON
70.11
Laguna Woods CA
69.02
Saratoga Springs NY 68.92
Kalispell MT
68.69
Metairie LA
68.67
Jonesboro AR
68.66
Metairie LA
68.58
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2018
