NABC Site Bulletins Results
March 9th
Boyd, Robinson repeat in Flight A NAP
D.C.-area players Peter Boyd and Steve Robinson are back-to-back winners of the Baldwin North American Pairs Flight A.
District 6 dominated the event, winning both first and second places and placing all three of its pairs in the top six. Michael Gill and Noble Shore were the runners-up, and Sylvia Shi and Daniel Korbel were sixth. The win took Boyd and Robinson by surprise. “It didn’t feel like we were winning,” Boyd said. “We’re half expecting to find a full-board error.” Robinson was focused on missed opportunities. “I would not have been surprised if we were below average,” Robinson said. “We could have done a lot better in a lot of places.” The pair was eighth going into Thursday’s final and scored a 53.43% in the afternoon session, bringing them up to fifth. But it was the last session, the one they didn’t feel good about, that they got their highest score, 60.17% The top two pairs were separated by 4.87 matchpoints on a 13 top. The event marks Robinson’s 25th NABC title and Boyd’s 17th, and their third time winning the NAP playing together. The longtime partnership first won it in 1985.
March 10th: Norman Kay Platinum Pairs begins today
The six-session Norman Kay Platinum Pairs gets underway today. Eligible players are paid-up ACBL members who meet one of the following criteria: have earned 50 platinum masterpoints over the three calendar years prior; earned at least 200 platinum points lifetime, or have attained Platinum Life Master or Grand Life Master rank. No exemptions will be granted for this event. The event honors Norman Kay, who was named ACBL’s top performance player for the double decade 1957–1977. Partnered by Sidney Silodor (who died in 1963) and later by Edgar Kaplan, Kay had 13 major wins in those 20 years: two Spingolds, four Vanderbilts, four Reisingers, one Blue Ribbon and two Open Pairs. He was a World Bridge Federation Life Master who placed second in the Bermuda Bowl in 1961 and 1967, and second in the World Olympiad Teams in 1968 and third in 1960. An ACBL Grand Life Master with more than 13,000 masterpoints, Kay won the McKenney Trophy (now the Barry Crane Top 500) in 1955. His North American championships outside the 20-year window include four additional wins in the Vanderbilt and three in the Reisinger.
Last Winners:
2010 Andrew Stark, Franco Baseggio
2011 Joel Wooldridge, John Hurd
2012 Bob Hamman, Justin Lall
2013 Martin Fleisher, Michael Kamil
2014 Richard Coren, Robert Levin
2015 Thomas Bessis, Cedric Lorenzini
2016 Geoff Hampson, Eric Greco
March 10th: IMP Pairs begins today
The four-session IMP Pairs – two qualifying sessions followed by two final sessions – gets underway today with the Lebhar Trophy at stake. The trophy was donated by Bertram Lebhar Jr. in 1948 in memory of his wife, Evelyn. The trophy previously honored winners of the Mixed Teams but was redesignated for the IMP Pairs by the ACBL Board of Directors. Lebhar (1907–1972), under the name of Bert Lee, earned a national reputation as a sportscaster and later as a bridge player and administrator. In private life, he owned radio and television stations in Florida. He was one of the founders of the Greater New York Bridge Association and was elected its first president in 1948. Lebhar was also a player: He won the Spingold in 1940 and the Master Mixed Teams in 1946. His team was his wife Evelyn along with Samuel Katz and Alicia Kemper.
Last Winners:
2010 Pablo Lambardi, Pablo Ravenna
2011 Runar Lillevik, Oyvind Ludvigsen
2012 Hailong Ao, Jian-Jian Wang
2013 Kent Mignocchi, Joel Wooldridge
2014 Iulian Christian, Radu Nistor
2015 Aaron Jones, Sylvia Shi
2016 Kevin Dwyer, Stan Tulin