October 2021 - 19

Team Donner (from left): Gary Donner, Cecilia Rimstedt, Marion Michielsen, Per-Ola Cullin, Joe Grue and Brad Moss.
West North East
Pass Pass
1k Pass
1'
3k
South
Levin Birman Weinstein Padon
Pass
Pass
Pass
4k All Pass
West North East
Pass
Pass 2l(1)
2k(2) All Pass
(1) Short diamonds
(2) To play
Levin-Weinstein's aggressive
bidding landed them in the vulnerable
game. Levin received the lead
of a third-best diamond. He cashed
two top diamonds, pitching a spade
from dummy, and led a club to the
ace, North splitting his honors. Levin
led another club, North overtaking
South's 8 with the 10 to attack spades.
Levin ducked, South won with the K
and continued with another spade to
dummy's ace - obliging Levin's plan
to crossruff, which he did; losing one
spade, one club and one heart to chalk
up 10 IMPs.
At the other table, Greco led the kJ,
overtaken by Hampson with the king,
who then switched to spades. When
Greco was in again with a club, he continued
the attack on trumps, holding
East-West to making three.
NICKELL won the match 137-118.
Next up in the semifinal, they faced
LEWIS (Paul Lewis - Linda Lewis;
Ron Smith - Billy Cohen; Bart Bramley
- Kit Woolsey) in a match that
featured several exciting, double-digit
swings, including a four-board stretch
South
Verhees Greco Prooijen Hampson
Pass
Pass
that saw NICKELL go on a 36-0 run,
thanks in part to a game on Board 6,
made by Nickell, that failed by three
tricks at the other table, and a strategic
decision by Levin to take up some
bidding room on Board 7:
Dlr: South  8
Vul: Both k 7 3
l K J 9 6 5 4 3
' A K Q
 A K Q 10 5 4 2  J
k -
l A 10 8
' J 3 2
 9 7 6 3
k K J 6 5
l Q
' 9 7 6 4
West North East
4l(1) 5l Dbl
South
Levin Cohen Weinstein Smith
Pass
All Pass
(1) Good 4 bid
Playing Namyats, which is a convention
for distinguishing weak and
strong 4k and 4 opening bids, Levin
was able to show a good 4 bid with
4l (directly opening four of a major is
weaker). At the other table, the West
hand opened 1, North overcalled 2l
and East doubled. After South passed,
West simply bid 4, which was down
one. 5l doubled was down two, for
plus 500 and a win of 12 IMPs.
The swings went the other way, too,
just not as often. Board 48 put 14 IMPs
in the LEWIS column.
k A Q 10 9 8 4 2
l 7 2
' 10 8 5
Dlr: West  K 3
Vul: E-W k J 6
l A J 8
' A K 9 6 5 3
 Q
k K 5 4
l 10 9 7
' Q J 10 7 4 2
 9 8 7 6 5
k 10 8 7 2
l 5 3 2
' 8
 A J 10 4 2
k A Q 9 3
l K Q 6 4
' -
West North East
Pass
Pass
Pass
1'(1) Pass
2k(3) Pass
3NT Pass
South
Woolsey Greco Bramley Hampson
Pass
1(2)
2NT
5NT
6 All Pass
(1) Strong
(2) Game forcing, five or more spades,
8-plus HCP
(3) Six-plus clubs
Playing in spades, there was an
inevitable heart and trump loser. At
the other table, Smith-Cohen settled
in 6NT making. That was too little,
too late, however, as the lead by then
was 56 IMPs. NICKELL went on to
win 133-75.
Donner's early wins decisive,
dramatic
DONNER's road to the final began
with a solid victory over BRENNER in
the round of 32. Next up was GUPTA,
an extremely close match in which
each quarter's score was decided by 10
IMPs or less. DONNER was down 3
and down 10 after the first two quarters.
After the third, they were up 5.
They won the match 120-113.
October 2021 | Bridge Bulletin |
19
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October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2021
