NABC Site Bulletins Results
March 17th
Rimstedt, Grossack dominate Silodor final
Mikael Rimstedt and Zachary Grossack, who qualified third in the opening round of the Silodor Open Pairs, posted a blistering 68.93% score in the first final session to put the contest practically out of reach for the other contestants. Their 59.35% score in the second final allowed the duo to cruise to a two-and-a-half board victory.
“We totally crushed the event today,” said Rimstedt, 21, who earned his first NABC title.
Grossack, speaking of his partner, said, “I was kinda wacky for the entire event, but by the end, he was good at fielding it!” This is the third open NABC title for Grossack, who is 19. In second were Israelis Alon Birman and Dror Padon. They qualified 24th and scored 63.94% and 57.88%, respectively, in the final sessions. In third place were the brothers of the winners: Ola Rimstedt and Adam Grossack, who finished three and a half boards behind the pace of their siblings.
Shi, Granovetter take Women’s Pairs
Sylvia Shi and Pamela Granovetter won the Smith Life Master Women’s Pairs after leading most of the way. They finished 11 matchpoints on a top of 17 ahead of Georgiana Gates and Pat Levy of Houston TX. It was the seventh NABC title for Shi and the eighth for Granovetter, their first together. “My husband fixed us up,” Granovetter said. “He kept telling me, ‘You should play with Sylvia.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to start a new partnership, I’m too old.’ She right away learned our whole relay system. It’s really complicated.” The Granovetters’ system, which they call Gus, wasn’t too complicated for Shi.
“It’s a very fun system,” Shi said. “Lots of interesting decisions you don’t face when you play standard.” After a few years of meeting as opponents, Shi of Rockville MD and Granovetter of Cincinnati played together for the first time last fall in the Nail Life Master Pairs in Orlando, placing 15th. Though the pair had always planned to play together this weekend, the Smith wasn’t on their calendar until a couple of weeks ago when Granovetter had an unexpected availability. They started with a bang, scoring their highest percentage, 66.32%, in Thursday’s first qualifying session to lead the event. When they qualified in second place after a 54.95% in Thursday’s second session, it was the only session they weren’t in the lead. On Friday, they reclaimed the lead in the first session with a 56.00% and put it away in the second final session with a 61.55%. “We just tried to play well,” Shi said. “In the evening we had a few bad boards to start, but I think we finished strong.”
Schwartz meets Nickell in Vanderbilt final
Richard Schwartz and company will face Nick Nickell’s squad in today’s final of the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams. Schwartz’s lineup is partner Daniel Korbel, and teammates Espen Lindqvist, Boye Brogeland, David Gold and David Bakhshi. The Nickell roster is partner Ralph Katz, and teammates Steve Weinstein, Robert Levin, Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell. In the semifinal round, Schwartz defeated Jimmy Cayne’s team 135-108. Cayne jumped out to an early lead in the match and maintained a 14- IMP edge at the half, but a disastrous third quarter saw Schwartz take over the lead by 37 IMPs. Cayne did not recover in the last set. Playing for Cayne were Allan Graves, Alfredo Versace, Lorenzo Lauria, Mustafa Tokay and Giovanni Donati. In the other bracket, Nickell held off a late charge by Andrew Rosenthal’s team to win 135- 123. Rosenthal had a 20-IMP lead at the half, but the third quarter was all Nickell, who jumped to a 49-IMP lead. A strong rally by Rosenthal in the final set fell short. Rosenthal played with Aaron Silverstein, Chris Willenken, Jan Jansma, David Berkowitz and Alan Sontag.
Open Swiss teams begin play Saturday March 18th
The Open Swiss Teams begin play today with the Jacoby Trophy honoring the winners. This is a four-session event with two qualifying sessions and two final sessions. The trophy is named for Oswald and Jim Jacoby – one of the premier father-son pairs in ACBL history, the first father-son to win a national championship together and the first father-son to be elected to the ACBL Bridge Hall of Fame.