Saturday, March 18
Tulin sets pace in Jacoby Swiss
The squad captained by Stan Tulin won the qualifying round of the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams, scoring 116.51 victory points in Saturday’s round to earn a carryover of 3.98 VPs for today’s two-session final. Tulin is playing with Dror Padon, Alon Birman, David Bakhshi, Cornelis Van Prooijen and Louk Verhees Jr.
In second with 114.31 VPs (3.71 carryover) is Sartaj Hans and company: Peter Gill, Nabil Edgtton and Michael Whibley.
Third place (113.09 VP and 3.18 carryover) is occupied by John Overdeck, playing with Aldo Gerli, Norberto Bocchi and Leonardo Fruscoloni.
Forty-six teams advanced for today’s final round.
Humphreys–Parrish take huge lead in Fast Pairs
Defending champions Greg Humphreys of Charlottesville VA and Adam Parrish of New York lapped the field in the qualifying round of the NABC+ Fast Pairs, earning the maximum carryover of four boards – 124 on a 31 top – on scores of 70.92% and 62.48%.
They’re more than a board and a half ahead of Eric Gettleman of Ellicott City MD and Paul Holmes of Wadsworth OH with 76.08. In third are Janice Seamon-Molson of Hollywood FL and Susan Zhang of Los Altos Hills CA.
Sixty-four pairs will play in today’s final.
D21 pair lead NAP B by a hair
Donghui Lui of San Jose CA and Frank Xie of Sunnyvale CA, representing District 21, have a sliver of a lead in the Golder North American Pairs, Flight B. With scores of 57.64% and 64.54%, they have less than one matchpoint on Jean La Traverse of Montreal QC and Stephane Turcotte of St.-Laurent QC, who represent District 1. La Traverse and Turcotte scored 58.87% and 62.92%. Both pairs have a carryover of about two and a half boards – 43.18 and 43.02 on a 17 top.
In third, about a half-board behind, are Kevin Marnell of Portland OR and Tim Rilling of Vancouver WA, representing District 20.
Thirty-six pairs qualified for today’s final.
New Yorkers lead NAP C
Maya Jonas-Silver and Jack Latta of Brooklyn NY, representing District 24, posted scores of 55.77% and 69.02% in Saturday’s qualifying sessions to earn the maximum carryover of four boards in the President’s Cup North American Pairs, Flight C. They have 68 on a 17 top.
About half a board behind are Xu Li of Pasadena MD and Helin Wei of Clarksville MD, who represent District 6, with a carryover of 60.32. Also from District 6 is the third-place pair of Jichong Chai of Fairfax VA and R. Mani of Lanham MD.
Thirty-six pairs qualified for today’s final.
Friday, March 17
Vanderbilt final: Wolfson vs. Bernal
The teams captained by Jeffrey Wolfson of Chicaco IL and Francisco Bernal of Miami FL will face one another in the final round of the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams. WOLFSON, playing with Steve Garner, Zia Mahmood, David Gold, Brad Moss and Joe Grue, defeated GOODMAN (Andy Goodman, Carmel CA; Mike Passell, Plano TX; Simon De Wijs, Doorn Netherlands; Bauke Muller, Zwaag Netherlands; Giovanni Donati, Italy and Giacomo Percario, Livorno Italy) 151–130 in the semifinal.
BERNAL, playing with Leonardo Cima, Giorgio Duboin, Michael Kamil, Antonio Sementa and Alfredo Versace, defeated ZHAO (Chen Zhao, Greenbelt MD; Jing Liu, Forest Hills NY; Yinghao Liu, Hoboken NJ; Linlin Hu, People’s Republic of China and Hongji Wei, Philadelphia PA) 134–119.
Wolfson won the Vanderbilt in 2019 with the same partner, Garner, but a different lineup, which included Michael Kamil, who is playing for BERNAL.
Thursday, March 16
Vandy semis set
In the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams quarterfinal matches, the original No. 18 seed led by Andy Goodman defeated No. 7 FLEISHER, who withdrew after three quarters down by 91 IMPs. GOODMAN will face the No. 6 squad captained by Jeffrey Wolfson, who held off original No. 30 seed MCALLISTER, winning 128–100.
In the other bracket, Francisco Bernal’s team put an end to the KNOTTENBELT run, winning 119–86. Chen Zhao and company prevailed over DINKIN, 153–138.
Brink – Drijver superior in Silodor
Sjoert Brink and Sebastiaan Drijver of Geneva Switzerland scored a monster 72.05% in the first qualifying session of the Silodor Open Pairs, making their completely respectable second session score of 61.58% look almost anemic. Still, they have a commanding carryover of 308.00 (77 top).
Florida represents: The second and third place pairs are Corey Krantz of Delray Beach FL and Bruce Lang of Palm Beach Gardens FL with a carryover of 264.01 and Jeff Meckstroth of Clearwater Beach FL and David Berkowitz of Boca Raton FL with a carryover of 230.04.
The event drew 284 pairs, 156 qualified to play in today’s two-session final.
Feldman – Cooper lead Women’s Pairs
Lynne Feldman and Kitty Cooper, both of San Diego CA, had two consistent qualifying sessions in the Smith Life Master Women’s Pairs, going 61.58% and 62.52%, to earn a carryover of 80.86 (25 top). Right behind them in second place are Linda Epstein of Delray Beach FL and Giorgia Botta of Brooklyn NY with a carryover of 79.80.
In third place are Sandra Rimstedt of Jupiter FL and Janie Woo of New York NY, their carryover is 68.10.
Ninety-six pairs entered the event, up from 59 pairs last spring. A little more than half the field, 52 pairs, qualified to play in today’s two-session final.
Coloradans lead 0–2500 Pairs
The 0–2500 Pairs, a four-session pair game limited to those with less than 2500 masterpoints, attracted 19 tables. In first place are Jay Silberberg of Denver CO and Michael Shedd of Brighton CO. They scored 58.13% and 61.11% in the qualifying sessions and will have a carryover of 17.24 (8 top) going into tomorrow’s two-session final.
In second place with a carryover of 13.39 are Vikram Srimurthy of Brookline MA and Venky Venkataramani of Andover MA.
In third place are A. Moulton and Tamara Moulton, both of Hilliard OH. Their carryover is 12.04.
Eighteen pairs qualified for today’s two-session final.
Wednesday, March 15
Defenders booted from Vanderbilt
The squad captained by Andrew Rosenthal – the defending champions in the Vanderbilt KO Teams – was defeated in the round of 16 of this year’s contest, falling to Maggie Knottenbelt’s team, 131–133.
The No. 2 seed led by Pierre Zimmermann was also shown the exit, losing to Andy Goodman’s team, 80–85.
No. 3 McAllister dispatched John Onstott and company 116–73, while No. 4 Chen Zhao held on against Bart Bramley’s squad, 106–98.
No. 5 Sam Dinkin narrowly survived a challenge from Reese Milner, 141–136. And No. 6 Jeff Wolfson eliminated Patricia Cayne’s Dutch lineup 149–103.
No. 7 Fleisher, boosted by a huge fourth quarter result, beat William Bailey’s squad 142–109. In another close match, No. 8 Feldman lost to No. 9 Bernal, 111–119.
Tuesday, March 14
Vanderbilt KO: Early exits for several top seeds
In the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams Round of 32, the top two seeded teams took care of business, but Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 8 suffered upsets, some by incredibly close margins. No. 3 LEBOWITZ fell to No. 30 McAllister 108–152, No. 4 NICKELL lost to No. 29 ZHAO 75–99, No. 5 LEVINE was defeated by No. 28 DINKIN 124–129, No. 8 SPECTOR succumbed to No. 25 FELDMAN 114–116. Also of note, No. 10 PIEDRA lost to No. 23 BAILEY by one IMP, 110–111.
Fox vs. McLaughlin in 10K KO final
Teams captained by James Fox of Virginia Beach VA and Jane McLaughlin of San Francisco CA will meet in today’s final of the NABC 0–10,000 Knockout Teams. Fox is playing with Judy Fox, Maximo Crusizio and Rodrigo Garcia Da Rosa. McLaughlin’s lineup is Ethan Wood, Sibrand Van Oosten, Stefan Thorpe and Barbara Shukov. The No. 2 seed Fox defeated Lily Andre’s team 83–43 in the quarterfinals and then Michael Botwin’s team 71–43 in the semifinals. Originally seeded ninth, McLaughlin dispatched the top-seeded Carole Weinstein team 112–43 and then beat No. 4 Suman Agarwal 73–35 in the semifinal.
New York team leads 0–2500 Swiss
The team captained by Barry Port of Atlantic Beach NY is leading the 0–2500 Swiss Teams. He is playing with Susan Port, also of Atlantic Beach NY, Harriet Goldman of Melville NY and Ken Lowenstein of Forest Hills NY. They have a carryover of 24.02 VPs. In second place are Canadians Stephane Turcotte, Jean La Traverse, Josette Levesque and Johanne Sevigny with a carryover of 17.11 VPs. In third are Rahul Chandra and Shakti Chandra of St. John’s NL, Matti Hietalahti of Belle Chasse LA and James Moody of Austin TX with 13.39 VPs. This is the second time this event has been held; 18 teams entered and 10 qualified to play in today’s two-session final.