February 2020 - 22

played another low club. When the
ace appeared, he claimed nine tricks
(three hearts, three spades, three
clubs). Plus 600.
West
Brink

North
Levin

2♥

All Pass

East
South
Drijver Weinstein
1♥
Pass

After the ♠K lead and a low trump
shift to North's king, the ♠A was
cashed and another trump played to
South's ace. A third round of hearts
emptied dummy of trumps. This perfect defense defeated the contract one
trick, as declarer still must lose two
tricks in the late ending. Plus 50 for
North-South, but a double-digit IMP
loss on the board.
Later, there was this:
Dlr: South ♠ 6 4 2
Vul: Both ♥ 8 5
Bd: 23
♦AQ742
♣AJ2
♠J985
♠-
♥A3
♥QJ9762
♦9863
♦ K 10 5
♣853
♣KQ94
♠ A K Q 10 7 3
♥ K 10 4
♦J
♣ 10 7 6
Open Room
West
North East
South
Rodwell Now'zki M'stroth Kalita
1♠
Pass
2♣ (1)
2♥
2♠
Pass
4♠
All Pass
(1) Artificial, 2+ clubs, various hand
types, game forcing
Rodwell led the ♥A, but when
Meckstroth followed with a discouraging ♥9, Rodwell accurately switched
to the ♣8. Kalita made the equally
accurate play of ducking in dummy,
and when Meckstroth won the ♣Q
and continued with the ♥Q, Kalita
won the king and cashed the trump ace
to discover the 4-0 split. So declarer
played the ♦J to dummy's ace, ruffed a
diamond and played the ♥10. Rodwell

22 Bridge Bulletin February 2020

ruffed with the 8 in front of dummy, as
Kalita shed a club from the table.
Rodwell exited with a trump. Declarer won, unblocked the ♣A, ruffed
another diamond to hand, ruffed a club
and claimed with the two high trumps
in the closed hand for a well-earned
plus 620.
Closed Room
West North
Brink Levin
Pass
Pass

1NT (1)
4♠

(1) Forcing

East
South
Drijver Weinstein
1♠
2♥
2♠
All Pass

As at the other table, West led the
♥A and switched to a club. Here, however, Weinstein rose with the ♣A and
played a trump to his hand. With the
bad break revealed, declarer needed
the diamond finesse to work to have
a chance, even though it was highly
unlikely to be onside given the auction
and play up to this point. The ♦J went
to the queen and king, and the ♥J was
returned. Weinstein won the king and
played a heart, but West ruffed with
the ♠8, returned a club to East, and got
another heart ruff for down two. Minus
200.

Soloway Knockout Teams - 94 Teams
1. Jacek Pszczola, Chapel Hill NC; Jacek Kalita - Michal Nowosadzki, Poland; Sjoert Brink - Sebastiaan Drijver,
Switzerland
2. Nick Nickell, New York NY; Ralph Katz, Burr Ridge IL; Jeff Meckstroth, Clearwater Beach FL; Eric Rodwell,
Clearwater FL; Robert Levin, Henderson NV; Steve Weinstein, Montclair NJ
3-4. Warren Spector, Palm Beach FL; Gavin Wolpert - Vincent Demuy, Palm Beach Gardens FL; John Kranyak,
Las Vegas NV; John Hurd, New York NY; Joel Wooldridge, Jackson Heights NY
3-4. Andrew Rosenthal - Aaron Silverstein - Chris Willenken - Jan Jansma, New York NY; Boye Brogeland -
Christian Bakke, Norway
5-8. Peter Crouch, England; Simon Cope - Espen Erichsen, United Kingdom; Fredrik Helness, Norway
5-8. Pierre Zimmermann - Franck Multon - Geir Helgemo - Tor Helness, Monaco; Michal Klukowski, Switzerland;
Piotr Gawrys, Poland
5-8. Juan Carlos Ventin - Diego Brenner, Spain; Frederic Wrang, Sweden; Antonio Palma, Portugal; Miguel
Villas-Boas, Brazil
5-8. Laurence Lebowitz, Boston MA; Adam Grossack - Zachary Grossack, Newton MA; Michael Rosenberg, Sunnyvale
CA; Johan Upmark - Fredrik Nystrom, Sweden
9-16. Daniel Korbel, Las Vegas NV; Richard Coren - Jerry Stamatov - Diyan Danailov, Boca Raton FL; Leslie Amoils,
Toronto ON; Peter Fredin, Sweden
9-16. Hemant Lall, Carrollton TX; Reese Milner, Sarasota FL; Roy Welland - Zia Mahmood, New York NY;
Sabine Auken, Denmark; David Gold, United Kingdom
9-16. Dennis Bilde, Denmark; Norberto Bocchi, Spain; Philippe Cronier, France; Giorgio Duboin - Antonio Sementa,
Italy; Agustin Madala, Argentina
9-16. John Onstott, New Orleans LA; Jacob Morgan, Madison WI; Magdalena Ticha - Richard Ritmeijer, Netherlands;
Drew Casen, Henderson NV; James Krekorian, Pensacola FL
9-16. Edward Xu, North York ON; Yan Wang, Richmond Hill ON; Xin Li, China; Ming Sheng, Northbrook IL
9-16. Chen Zhao, Greenbelt MD; Jing Liu, Stanford CA; Linlin Hu, China; Yinghao Liu, Hoboken NJ
9-16. Paul Street, Delray Beach FL; Nicolas L'Ecuyer, Montreal QC; Thomas Bessis - Frederic Volcker - Cedric
Lorenzini, France; Tom Hanlon, Ireland
9-16. James Cayne, Boca Raton FL; Alan Sontag, Gaithersburg MD; Alfredo Versace - Lorenzo Lauria - Andrea Manno
- Massimiliano Di Franco, Italy

◾

In the next issue:
the 2019 Reisinger
Board-a-Match report

February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2020