Clements, Cohn win Mini-Blues
Andrew Clements of La Vista NE and Jonathan Cohn of Elkhorn NE won the 0–6000 Blue Ribbon Pairs on Thursday by 2.3 matchpoints, about one-sixth of a board.
The pair improved each day of the three-day event. They scored 54.11% and 56.30% on Tuesday to qualify 18th out of 52. On Wednesday they scored 55.92% and 58.62% to reach third place with a carryover of 17.80. In the final, they went 58.24% and 58.28% to pull ahead in the last round with a final score of 426.80.
In second place were father and son Edward Piken of Palos Verdes CA and Michael Piken of Torrance CA, who led the event from the first day right up through the penultimate round of the final.
Clements and Cohn have been regular partners for 15 years. They were unable to play in the event together in 2019 when Clements was expecting the birth of his second son, so Cohn found another partner: Phil Clayton of Frisco TX. Clayton and Cohn had only played together twice before when they ended up winning the Mini-Blues that year.
“I always wanted to win it with Andrew,” Cohn said.”
“It feels amazing,” Clements said.