Single Session Swiss

I had been looking forward to the NABC for some time. I planned to play in two national events, the 0-1500 Pairs and the 0-1500 Mini-Spingold. In preparation I had been dodging  masterpoints all spring. Even so I ended June with the Columbus number, 1492.

The O-Line has only two scheduled stops.

I had a little difficulty arranging partners and teammates. We were late making reservations, and we could not find anything close that did not require us to change rooms, which Sue absolutely detests. We stayed in Bethesda, which is five stops north on the Red Line. Our early-morning flight on Friday to Washington via Jet Blue was my first experience with the upstart airline. It was entirely positive. The cab driver left me off at the site of the tournament. My wife Sue continued on to Bethesda.

I had no problem locating my partner for the pairs event, Michael Dworetsky, and his wife Ellen. The national events were played at 1:00 and 7:30. We had so much time on our hands that we walked four blocks up to the National Zoo. The most interesting event was watching an orangutan cross the "O-Line" overhead with a page of a newspaper used as a sunscreen.

I was shocked to see that there were only forty teams competing in the 0-1500 pairs. Twenty would advance to the second day. Ten would play for the championship on Sunday. Michael and I had not played too well in our pre-tournament preparation, and we continued to misfire during the afternoon game. With one round to play we were the last-place North-South pair! We finished at a little above 40 percent.

The SWAG was a commemorative shoulder bag, which seemed a little cheesy to me. Sue liked hers a lot.

At one point I dug into my wallet for a WAVE-uh-duh calling card to present to someone. I discovered that I neglected to bring any. Drat.

We needed to score about 60 percent in the evening. On the second hand our opponents made a 4♦ contract that Michael doubled. After that it was difficult to keep my spirits up. We finished with a little over 51 percent. I was quite disappointed; this was the third time that Michael had I had tried our luck in this event, and this was by far our worst showing.

So, we had nothing scheduled for two days. We decided to play in a regional event, the Flight B Bracketed Swiss, a Round Robin. We went to the Partnership Desk to see if anyone was looking, but we had no luck finding teammates.

The one bright spot was that I encountered Charlie Curley, one of my teammates for the Mini-Spingold, and learned that he had located and played with his partner, Paul Burnham. The two of them had never met before.

At the Partnership Desk on Saturday morning Michael and I hooked up with Joanne Smith from New Jersey, who was playing with a new partner, Bill Sumner, who also hailed from the Garden State. Our start was not auspicious. The first match was a tie. Then we lost by 16 IMPs. We then won two very close matches, but we were still below average at the lunch break. However, lunch, which for me was just a bag of potato chips, seemed to solve all of our problems. We won all three matches in the afternoon, by 25, 18, and 14 IMPs. We ended up winning our bracket rather easily.

Michael, Ellen, Sue and I took the Red Line up to the Al Tiramisu restaurant on Dupont Circle for a celebratory supper. The company was very good, but I can make much better pesto using Buitoni linguine and Giovanni Rana pasta from the grocery store.

On Sunday we decided to play in the same event with our old friends, the Derrahs. We were once again in bracket 2, but this time there were more brackets. The competition was a little tougher, and we only finished third. As West I held two memorable hands.

On this monster I was astonished when Michael twice bid hearts. I desperately wanted him to tell me whether he had something in spades or diamonds. What could he have in hearts? I desperately wanted to know about his spades and diamonds. I decided that if he took more pride in his hearts than in the pointed suits, they must be truly wretched. I ended up bidding 5♥, which for once was the right choice.

This time I was sitting East:

I probably should have opened this one 2♣, but there was no danger of Michael passing his hand, which was even better than mine. I waited to make sure the first trick was not ruffed, and then I claimed, saying, “I will draw trump first; it is inconceivable that I could lose a trick.” Our opponents agreed and confided that there was little chance that their teammates would ever bid this grand slam even though it had fifteen top tricks. They explained that they had castigated their teammates the previous day for bidding a grand slam that failed. They were right; their teammates stopped at six.

The winners of the Grand National Teams event were Zach Grossack, Adam Grossack, Doug Doub, and Frank Merblum.

Sue and Ellen joined our team at Harry’s Pub for supper. The food was OK, but the waitress did not know what she was doing at all. I don’t know if this was her first day on the job, but her incompetence was astounding. It soured the mood. As we left the restaurant I saw and talked with Felix Springer, my partner for the Mini-Spingold.

I woke up at 3:00 on Monday morning. Four players from the Hartford Bridge Club were playing for national championships in two events on Sunday evening, and I was very eager to discover how they fared. I signed on to the Internet and learned that Frank Merblum and Doug Doub had won the GNT, and Mike and Susan Smith had prevailed in the 0-5000 pairs. I sent an email to the club to apprise other members of their success.

Susan and Mike Smith prevailed in the Bruce LM-5000 Pairs.

On Monday morning I discovered a terrific breakfast spot in Bethesda, the Original Pancake House. Forget about the pancakes; their baked omelettes (that is how they spell them) are scrumptious but huge. Split one with your dining companion, and you will both come away sated and happy.

Only twenty-six teams registered for the 0-1500 Mini-Spingold. We started in a three-way. One of our opponents was a team captained by Kathy Rolfe from Kansas City. I had previously played both with her (Denver)and against her (Atlanta). After three quarters we were tied with her team and sixty-two points ahead of the other team. We tried our best to squander that margin in the last quarter, but we ended up plus eleven and lived to play another day.

Brent Xiao and Kevin Huang gave us a tough match and then went on to win the Baron Barclay National Youth Pairs.

Our opponents in the round of sixteen on Tuesday were the two young guys who went on to win the Youth Championship, Brent Xiao and Kevin Huang. The first two quarters of the contest were neck and neck, but we pulled away 32-2 in the third quarter, and we also won the hard-fought fourth set. So, they punched our ticket for the quarterfinals.

We had a relatively easy match against the Rockoff team on Wednesday. Felix and I squared off against Kyle Rockoff, who participated in the Collegiate Championships as a representative of Northwestern, and a pickup partner. We were more than eighty IMPs ahead after three quarters, at which point they resigned. We naturally felt good about our chances in the semifinals. We went to the hotel’s bar, where I bought everyone on the team a drink.

The buzzsaw that won the 0-1500 consisted of Brian Rink, Ti Davis, Greg Sellgren, and Curt Kristensen.

Alas, we ran into a buzzsaw in the semifinals. Our opponents were the eventual champs, Curt Kristensen, Greg Sellgren, Ti Davis, and Brian Rink. I had played as Ti’s teammate in the 0-10K Swiss in Denver. Curt and Greg played against Felix and me. The first quarter was about even. The result hinged on Greg’s explanation of the peculiar way in which they played Reverse Rosenkranz doubles. We never resolved this, but it was of no import; they clobbered us in the second and third quarters. I found it especially frustrating because I held terrible cards throughout. In the whole lopsided match I only felt bad about one decision that I made in the first quarter. Felix did not have much to work with either.

Playing in this event was a good experience. If I ever get a chance to play with screens again, I will not be nervous. Will I ever get the chance? Well, Mark Aquino told me that they had voted to raise the limit on the two games in which I played to 2500 masterpoints next year, so maybe I will be back.

Felix had a new partner coming in on Friday. Paul and I decided to play in the ABC Pairs. Paul had a horrendous morning session, but we rebounded in the afternoon to win a little something.

Afterward we dined at the Woodley Cafe, where I regaled Sue, Tom Hyde, Judy Cavagnaro, Ed Lewis, and his mother Dot with a tale of woe centering around the incredible bidding on hand #12 in the second session of the pairs game. I was South.

The eleventh commandment forbids me from allowing the opponents to play in a 1M-2M contract in a pairs game. So, I ventured 2♠. The lady playing West then realized that she had underbid her hand a tad and jumped to 4♥. They easily made six, which only required a 2-1 split in hearts. 

I can be counted on to lose at least one item at each tournament. This time it was my Barcelona cap, which I replaced with one from the Smithsonian.

I guess that I must take comfort in the fact that her partner did not jump to slam. Still, we could have scored an absolute top if I had just played the green card on my second turn. I might have if I had noticed sooner that their convention card was completely blank.

I would not bestow the sobriquet "America's Greatest Pizza" on what the waitress at the Woodley Cafe served me that evening, but it was comfortably in the upper 50 percentile of pies that I have sampled in this country. 

It was tempting to play in the Single Session Swiss on Saturday morning, but Sue and I decided to take the day off. We rode the Metro to the Smithsonian, where we visited the Natural History Museum.  The best part was the National Geographic “Into Africa” exhibit, which featured the spectacular photos of Frans Lanting. It also included two stunning videos by Chris Eckstrom. You can watch one them here. Click on "Water is Life" and "Chimps in Water."

I certainly had some exciting and enjoyable days in Washington, and I earned more points than I had ever won at a tournament. On the other hand two of the nine days were among the most frustrating of my bridge career. They weighed heavily on me; they still do. Moreover, the trip was very expensive. The restaurants were costly, and the hotel was outrageous. These things did not exactly sour me on NABC’s, but they put a bitter edge on a fantastic experience.