Nickell roars back,
reaches final against
Spector squad
In one of the greatest comebacks in bridge
history, the Nick Nickell squad erased a 71-IMP
deficit over the final 16 boards to charge into the
final of the Spingold Knockout Teams with a 154 - 143 victory over the George Jacobs team.
The result was held up while an appeal that
would have affected the outcome was settled in
Nickell’s favor.
The winners – Nickell, Richard Freeman, Jeff
Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Bob Hamman and Paul
Soloway – will face the Warren Spector squad in
today’s Spingold final.
Spector and company – Mark Feldman, Ron
Smith, Billy Cohen, Gavin Wolpert and Vincent
Demuy – took care of the Mike Kamil squad with
relative ease, 178-115. Spector started as the No. 28
seed, but the team has played as though that
number should have been a low single digit.
Jacobs was playing with Ralph Katz, Steve
Garner, Howard Weinstein, Lorenzo Lauria and
Alfred Versace.
Entering the fourth quarter, things did not look
good for Nickell, reigning Bermuda Bowl
champions and possessors of many North
American titles. They fell behind 52-44 after a
quarter and saw the margin grow to 32 at the break.
On the first four boards of the third quarter, the
Jacobs squad outscored Nickell 32-0 and ended up
winning the quarter 53-14. With 16 deals to be
played, Jacobs had a 141-70 lead.
All of it – plus 11 IMPs – evaporated as
Meckstroth-Rodwell and Hamman-Soloway were
spectacular, outscoring their opponents 84-2 to make it to the final.
California-Illinois pair
lead NABC+ Fast Pairs
Jiang Gu of Mountain Lakes CA and Xiaodong
Shi of Des Plaines IL took an 8-point lead after two
qualifying sessions of the NABC+ Fast Open Pairs.
Their score of 813.91 was just ahead of the pair
in second with two session to go today: Franco
Baseggio of New York City and Samuel
Ehrlichman of Ithaca NY. Peter Weidan of
Brooklyn NY and Richard Zucker of Dobbs Ferry
NY were third.
 
Gaylor Kasle, right, would have been on the
stage or movie set, and Brian Glubok might well
have been the producer of the show or movie. Check out today's pdf version to find out what these and other stars would be doing today if they weren't bridge professionals.
|
Winners of the 0-5000 Mini-Spingold: Alex
Hong, Shi Yan, Hau Ge and Yi Liu. Team
captain Larry Mohr is not pictured.
Comeback kids take
0-5000 Mini Spingold
When the team captained by Larry Mohr
compared after the first quarter of the 0-5000 Mini-Spingold
Knockout Teams, they knew they had
their work cut out for them – they were down 75-5
to the Keith Connolly squad.
“We never gave up,” said Shi Yan, a member of
the winning squad, “because of what Larry told us.
He said, ‘The match is not finished yet.’”
Indeed, the Mohr squad – Shi, Alex Hong, Hau
Ge and Yi Liu – began their comeback immediately
by winning the second quarter 55-30, then went
crazy in the third stanza, stunning their opponents
74-22 to take a lead they would not give up. The
final score was 185-165.
The runners-up are Connolly, Drs. Morrie
Kleinplatz and Bob Rebelein and Andrew de Sosa.
Mohr was not around to see the big comeback
because he had to leave town, but the young team
was pumped by the turnaround in the match.
Shi, known as Rock to his friends, and Alex
Hong are recent immigrants from China. They live
in Delta BC in the Vancouver area. They knew each
other in China and played occasionally just for fun.
The serious bridge began for them at the 2003
Summer NABC in Long Beach, where they met
Mohr.
It was Mohr who matched the two Canadian
residents with their teammates – Hau Ge, an
electrical engineering student at Cleveland (OH)
State University, and Yi Liu, who is a graduate
student studying electrical engineering and
computer science at the University of Wisconsin at
Madison.
Said Hau: “This is an exciting game.”
Onstott leads
Mixed BAM
The team captained by John Onstott of New
Orleans held a one-point lead after two qualifying
sessions of the Mixed Board-a-Match Teams.
Onstott is playing with Carol Pincus and Jim
Robison of Las Vegas and Lucy Tredennick of
Lomita CA.
Their score of 35 was put them one ahead of
Lisa and David Berkowitz, Marinesa Letizia,
Margie Gwozdzinsky, Larry Cohen and Richard
Schwartz.
|
 Attendance to date - With one day to go the total attendance in New York has reached 12,497.5 tables.
Wilkinson is 2005
ACBL President
Chuck Wilkinson, a veteran bridge player and
administrator representing District 10, has been
elected ACBL President for 2005.
Wilkinson has long experience in just about
every administrative position in his district, which
covers his home state of Mississippi as well as West
Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana.
He has represented the district on the ACBL
Board of Directors since 1990. Since he took up
bridge in the late Sixties, he has served in a wide
variety of positions at the unit and district level.
Wilkinson owns a company that manages
investment portfolios for individuals and small
pension funds. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air
Force Academy, serving five years in the U.S. Air
Force. He was a navigator on the B-52
Stratofortress aircraft.
Wilkinson’s father was also in the military, so
he moved around a lot as a youngster, but he has
called the Jackson MS area home most of his life.
He and his wife, Robin, have been married for
12 years.
Terry Michaels, winner of the Prize Money
Bridge Individual, top flight, and Sunny.
Michaels wins cash in
Pro Tour Individual
Terry Michaels of Prairie Village KS came up
with a strong final session to take top honors in the
three-session Bridge Pro Tour Individual. She
finished well ahead of Marsha McElroy of Mount
Laurel NJ and James Murphy of Chesapeake VA,
who tied for second.
Michaels received $1040 for finishing first, and
she also won some session award prize money.
McElroy and Murphy each collected $330.
Arthur Malinowski of London, England, won
the Prize Money Bridge Stratified Individual, worth
$110. Thomas McDow of Rock Hill SC won the
consolation.
|
