February 2020 - 19

Hot Streak

Team Blass adds the Soloway KO to its list of recent wins

BY PAUL LINXWILER

The Soloway KO Teams champions: Bas Drijver, Michal Nowosadzki, Jacek Pszczola, Jacek Kalita and Sjoert Brink.
Josef Blass (not pictured) is non-playing captain.

The inaugural Soloway Knockout
Teams was held at the 2019 Fall NABC
in San Francisco, and the multinational quintet named Team Blass
conquered the 94-team field to capture
the title. Playing for BLASS was Jacek
"Pepsi" Pszczola of the U.S., Jacek Kalita and Michal Nowosadzki of Poland,
and Sjoert Brink and Sebastiaan Drijver, formerly of the Netherlands but
now living in Switzerland. The team is
named for non-playing captain Josef
Blass of Chapel Hill NC.
The format of the new contest
featured a two-day Swiss qualifier in
which the top 32 teams advanced to
a knockout phase. BLASS finished in
the 26th position after the qualifying
round, but became the No. 20 seed in
the KO bracket, as the seeding for the
latter part of the contest was based
on a combination of performance in
the Swiss teams (75%) and placement
points from previous high-level contests (25%). A six-place jump in this
field is large but warranted for BLASS.
The squad is on a hot streak, claiming
their third major victory in the past 12

months: They won the Spingold KO
Teams at the 2019 Summer NABC in
Las Vegas and the Reisinger Board-aMatch Teams at the 2018 Fall NABC
in Honolulu. The team members each
have multiple NABC and world titles.
After defeating four strong teams in
the KO phase of the Soloway, BLASS
met Nick Nickell's famed squad in the
final. Nickell's lineup was Ralph Katz,
Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Robert
Levin and Steve Weinstein. (The
eponymous Paul Soloway had been a
member of the Nickell team prior to
his death in 2007.)
After trailing their opponents for
the first three quarters of the match,
BLASS defeated NICKELL by a large
margin in the last set to win the match
123-102.

Semifinal

In the semifinal round, BLASS faced
the team captained by Warren Spector
(Spector, Gavin Wolpert, Vincent
Demuy, John Kranyak, John Hurd and
Joel Wooldridge), and won the match
135-113.

After picking up a small lead in the
first quarter, BLASS opened a much
larger one in the second set, winning it
by 40 IMPs. This deal put 10 IMPs in
their column:
Dlr: North ♠ 10 7 4
Vul: None ♥ 5 4
Bd: 17
♦A7
♣KQ8763
♠QJ98
♠K532
♥ 10 8
♥K762
♦98642
♦ J 10 5
♣ A 10
♣J5
♠A6
♥AQJ93
♦KQ3
♣942
Open Room
West North
Kalita Wolpert
Pass
Pass
3NT

East
South
Pepsi
Spector
Pass
1NT
All Pass

Against 3NT, Kalita led the ♠Q,
Pepsi following with the 5. Spector
won the ace, and played the ♣9, as
West ducked. After dummy's king
February 2020 Bridge Bulletin

19



February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2020

In First Seat - Paul Linxwiler
Inbox -Letters to the Editor
A Message from the President
Columbus NABC
Effervescent Success
Repeated Finesse
Hot Streak
San Francisco Results
ACBL Board Minuts
Golden Gate, Silver Screen
Hall Of Fame
Club News
Ruling the Game
The Bidding Box
It's Your Call
Card Play 101 - by Phillip Alder
Parrish the Thought - Adam Parrish
Reasoning with Robert - Robert Todd
Startup Bridge by Lynn Berg
Ask Jerry - by Jerry Helms
Bidding Basics by Larry Cohen
Mike's Bridge Lesson - Mike Lawrence
The Real Deal - by Larry Cohen
Chalk Talk- Eddie Kantar
West Hands -Bidding Box
Boehm on Bridge
Misplay these Hands with Me - by Mark Horton
East Hands -Bidding Box
Challenge of the Month
Better Bridge with Bergen-Marty Bergen
Bidding Matters - by Karen Walker
Test Your Play
Mike's Advice - by Mike Lawrence
Solutions to Test Your Play
My Bridge and Yours - by Frank Stewart
Dear Billy - by Billy Miller
Bridge with the Abbot - by David Bird
George's World - by George Jacobs
Lessons Learned - Michael Berkowitz
Instant Matchpoint Game Winners
Tournament Talk
New Life Masters
Life Master Milestones
In Memoriam
Obit - Claude W. Cain III (1944-2019)
Obit - Martin Miller (1937-2019)
Obit - Joyce Penn (1940-2019)
Obit - Charles Frederick Gill (1949-2019)
Big Games
Tournament Directory
February 2020 - 1
February 2020 - 2
February 2020 - 3
February 2020 - 4
February 2020 - 5
February 2020 - In First Seat - Paul Linxwiler
February 2020 - Inbox -Letters to the Editor
February 2020 - 8
February 2020 - A Message from the President
February 2020 - Columbus NABC
February 2020 - 11
February 2020 - 12
February 2020 - Effervescent Success
February 2020 - 14
February 2020 - 15
February 2020 - Repeated Finesse
February 2020 - 17
February 2020 - 18
February 2020 - Hot Streak
February 2020 - 20
February 2020 - 21
February 2020 - 22
February 2020 - 23
February 2020 - San Francisco Results
February 2020 - 25
February 2020 - 26
February 2020 - 27
February 2020 - 28
February 2020 - 29
February 2020 - ACBL Board Minuts
February 2020 - Golden Gate, Silver Screen
February 2020 - Hall Of Fame
February 2020 - 33
February 2020 - Club News
February 2020 - 35
February 2020 - Ruling the Game
February 2020 - The Bidding Box
February 2020 - 38
February 2020 - 39
February 2020 - It's Your Call
February 2020 - 41
February 2020 - 42
February 2020 - 43
February 2020 - Card Play 101 - by Phillip Alder
February 2020 - Parrish the Thought - Adam Parrish
February 2020 - Reasoning with Robert - Robert Todd
February 2020 - Startup Bridge by Lynn Berg
February 2020 - Ask Jerry - by Jerry Helms
February 2020 - Bidding Basics by Larry Cohen
February 2020 - 50
February 2020 - Mike's Bridge Lesson - Mike Lawrence
February 2020 - The Real Deal - by Larry Cohen
February 2020 - West Hands -Bidding Box
February 2020 - Boehm on Bridge
February 2020 - East Hands -Bidding Box
February 2020 - Challenge of the Month
February 2020 - Better Bridge with Bergen-Marty Bergen
February 2020 - Bidding Matters - by Karen Walker
February 2020 - Test Your Play
February 2020 - Mike's Advice - by Mike Lawrence
February 2020 - Solutions to Test Your Play
February 2020 - My Bridge and Yours - by Frank Stewart
February 2020 - Dear Billy - by Billy Miller
February 2020 - Bridge with the Abbot - by David Bird
February 2020 - 65
February 2020 - Lessons Learned - Michael Berkowitz
February 2020 - Instant Matchpoint Game Winners
February 2020 - Tournament Talk
February 2020 - New Life Masters
February 2020 - Life Master Milestones
February 2020 - 71
February 2020 - Obit - Martin Miller (1937-2019)
February 2020 - Obit - Charles Frederick Gill (1949-2019)
February 2020 - Tournament Directory
February 2020 - 75
February 2020 - 76
February 2020 - 77
February 2020 - 78
February 2020 - 79
February 2020 - 80
February 2020 - 81
February 2020 - 82
February 2020 - 83
February 2020 - 84
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