Saturday, March 21, 2015
Schedule, Results, ACBL Live and Bulletins
ATTENDANCE through Friday 10,079.5 Tables
9th Day: Assael stuns Monaco with 4th-quarter rally
Vanderbilt results in Bridgewinners, at the end of each set
Team Assael, trailing by 40 IMPs with 15 boards to play, won the final set of their match with Team Monaco by a score of 70-16 to make the semifinal round of the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams with a 136-122 victory. The four-man Assael squad, named for a late Turkish player, rallied in the final set for the second day in a row. On Thursday, the team entered the fourth quarter down by 49 IMPs but outscored their opponents 63-3. The team is Mustafa Cem Tokay, Turkey; Antonio Sementa, Italy, and Josef Piekarek and Alexander Smirnov of Germany. In for Monaco in the final set were world champions Geir Helgemo, Tor Helness, Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes. Team Assael’s opponents today are Team Lavazza, winners over the James Cayne team. The Cayne team withdrew after three quarters, down 157-68. Playing for Lavazza are Norberto Bocchi, Spain, Giorgio Duboin, Italy; Zia Mahmood, New York City, and Agustin Madala, Argentina. The other withdrawal occurred when the Bas Drijver squad, trailing 145-73 after three sets, called it quits against the John Diamond team. In today’s semifinal, Diamond, Brian Platnick, Geoff Hampson, Eric Greco, Marc Jacobus and Eddie Wold face the Martin Fleisher team, 125-96 winners over the Connie Goldberg squad. Fleisher is playing with Chip Martel, Sabine Auken, Roy Welland, Chris Willenken and Michael Rosenberg.
Levin and Weinstein dominate Silodor
When Robert Levin and Steve Weinstein stepped into the winning circle of the Silodor Open Pairs Friday night, it was their first win playing together in an NABC pairs event in 12 years. (They won the World Series Open Champion Open Pairs in 2010.) Positioned well at the start of the day, their 61% afternoon made them the leaders going into the final session. Weinstein was a little worried that their evening game might be shaky. He needn’t have been worried. Another 61% session secured the victory. They won by 125 matchpoints on a 90 top. The runners-up were Egyptians Wael Mohsen and Reda Wasfi Yaacoub. Jarend Lilienstein and Brian Blubok were a close third.
First Positions: 
Granovetter, Starr win LM Women’s Pairs
Pam Granovetter and Yiji Starr, in 28th place when the day started, had big games in the final two sessions of the Smith Life Master Women’s Pairs to win the event by 41.39 matchpoints on a top of 27.
Granovetter, a full-time player, and Starr, who is in banking, formed their partnership as opponents. Starr said that at a regional both attended, she and Granovetter played against each other for five straight days. “She won three times,” said Starr, “so I decided that if I can’t beat her, join her.” Second place in the event went to Gail Greenberg and Sue Picus, the leaders after the first final session.
Granovetter and Starr moved from 28th to fourth after the first final session by posting a 64.10% game. Their 65.17% effort propelled them into first. Starr said a lot of credit for her success goes to her mentors, Steve Gladyszak of Chelsea MA and Doug Doub of West Hartford CT.
Rumelhart earns10K KO win with big final set
The team captained by Donald Rumelhart, leading by just 10 IMPs with a quarter to go, took the final set 58-17 over the Sean Gannon squad to win the NABC 0-10,000 Knockout Teams. The final score
was 160-109. Rumelhart, Ann Arbor MI, played with Jonathan Fleischmann, Bloomfield MI; Ned Irving, Hot Springs Village AR; Morrie Kleinplatz, Windsor ON; Stephen Mackay, Markham ON, and Ray Jotcham, Scarborough ON. Gannon, of Decatur GA, played with Blake Sanders, Jonesboro; William Higgins, Cincinnati OH, and Yauheni Siutsau, Loveland OH. Rumelhart described himself as the “pivot” around whom the team was formed. He knows or has played with all the members of the team. His partner for the KO was Irving. Kleinplatz won the 2008 Leventritt Silver Ribbon Pairs with Sheldon Kirsch. Jotcham was a member of the second-place team in the 1964 Spingold Knockout Teams. Jotcham and Mackay were members of the Canadian team that played in what was then known as the World Team Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2004. The tournament is now called the World Bridge Games. Fleischmann was a member of the winning squad in the 0-1500 Mini Spingold II in 2012.
Open Swiss teams begin play today
The Open Swiss Teams begin play today with the Jacoby Trophy going to 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.
Women’s Swiss Teams
The Machlin Women’s Swiss Teams competition begins today with two qualifying sessions, followed by two final sessions on Sunday. At stake is the Machlin Trophy.