November 2022 - 14

Medal Time
North American players are strong at 2022 world championships
By Paul Linxwiler
S
quads from ACBL-land hauled
in medals at the 16th World
Bridge Series (WBS), held Aug.
19-Sept. 3 in Wroclaw, Poland. The
WBS is a set of world championship
events held every four years, featuring
team and pairs contests in open,
women's, Senior and mixed categories.
Additionally, the WBS events
are transnational, meaning that players
don't have to be from the same
country for partnerships or teams.
Nick Nickell and company took
home the gold medal in the world
open teams contest, known as the
Rosenblum Cup. The U.S. squad -
Nick Nickell, Ralph Katz, Bobby
Levin, Steve Weinstein, Eric Greco,
Geoff Hampson and Jill Levin (npc)
- defeated the multinational team led
by Spain's Juan Carlos Ventin in the
KO final. Ventin played with Joaquín
Pacareu of Chile, Guy Mendes de
Leon and Thibo Sprinkhuizen of the
Netherlands, Antonio Palma of Portugal
and Frederic Wrang of Sweden.
In the McConnell Cup - the world
women's team championship - Joan
Brody of the U.S. led her multinational
squad to victory, picking up the
gold medal in the final. Brody played
with Brigitta Fischer of Hungary and
Swedes Marion Michielsen, Cecilia
Rimstedt and Sandra Rimstedt.
Jill Meyers and Kerri Sanborn won
the world women's pairs in Wroclaw.
The U.S. duo handily won the
multi-session, four-day contest with
an almost 60% score.
Additionally, some two dozen
North Americans captured silver and
bronze medals at the WBS.
Rosenblum Cup
Seventy-nine teams entered the
Open Teams championship, and a
10-session round-robin qualifier
pared the field to 32 squads for the
14 | Bridge Bulletin | November 2022
knockout phase.
In the semifinal round, NICKELL
narrowly survived their encounter
with TEAM BLACK (Swedes Peter
Bertheau and Simon Hult, with England's
Andrew Black, Gunnar Hallberg,
Andrew McIntosh and Thomas
Paske), winning the match by 3 IMPs
- with 2 IMPs coming from a carryover
from the round-robin phase.
Wroclaw Daily Bulletin columnist
Marc Smith reported these deals
from the match:
Dlr: East  6 3 2
Vul: N-S k 5 2
l J 8 6 3
' 10 7 6 2
 K Q J 9 5 4
k 7
l A K 9 7
' K J
 10 8 7
k K Q J 9 6
l 5 4
' 9 8 5
 A
k A 10 8 4 3
l Q 10 2
' A Q 4 3
Closed Room
West
North
East South
Hallberg Hampson Hult Greco
2k 2NT
All Pass
Hallberg's conservative pass truly let
the vulnerable Americans off the hook.
He led the K and was soon cashing
five winners in his long suit to go with
one club and two diamonds. East-
West +300, but even at 100 a trick that
seemed like poor recompense.
The American West at the other table
was the exact opposite of reticent, even
though his partner had remained silent:
West North
4 Pass
All Pass
East
South
Katz Bertheau Nickell Black
Pass
Pass
1k
Dbl
Nickell did not open with a weak-two,
which allowed Black to claim the heart
suit. Katz then took full advantage of
the favorable vulnerability by essaying
4, and Bertheau confirmed that the
Black team had been issued with double
cards. Unfortunately for this Swede,
there were just three aces to lose: East-
West +590 and 7 IMPs to NICKELL.
TEAM BLACK edged the opening
stanza 27-22, but with 10 boards played
in the second quarter, NICKELL had
gained 45-1 on the set. BLACK finally
got on the scoresheet in a meaningful
way:
Dlr: North  A Q 7 3
Vul: E-W k 10 9 8 3
l 9 8 6
' Q 6
 J 10 6 4
k 7 4
l K Q J 10 7 3
' 2
 K 8
k A K Q 2
l A 4
' A J 10 5 4
 9 5 2
k J 6 5
l 5 2
' K 9 8 7 3
Open Room
West North
2l Pass
3' Pass
4' Pass
East
South
Katz Bertheau Nickell Black
Pass
2' Pass
2NT
3k Pass
4NT
Pass
All Pass
Nickell upgraded his hand to 22-23.
Katz started with Stayman and, when
he found hearts opposite, continued
with 4', which presumably showed
diamonds. That did nothing to enthuse
Nickell, who quickly discouraged with
4NT. Katz had nothing more to say, so
there matters rested. South led a club to
the queen and ace, and Nickell continued
with the 'J at trick two. When that
held, he claimed his 11 tricks: East-West
+660.
November 2022

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