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The Fall National Championships have started on Thursday 22th. There are many things to do there, in San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel, for example the IN tourneys; the IN events take place everyday at 10, at 15, at 19:30, and needn’t a partner: just register one hour before the start at the “IN Partnership Desk” and somebody will find a partner for us. If we’re strong, however, there are other events better suitable for our teeth (“IN” means: Intermediate – Newcomer). Here’s the complete schedule:
http://www.acbl.org/nabc/2012/03/Fall2012NABCschedule.pdf
Look at the colour and the writing style the events are reported by, according to the following legend:
BOLD, UPPER CASE: NABC+ events, (Platinum Points; no upper masterpoint limit)
UPPER CASE: NABC events (Gold and Red points; upper masterpoint limits)
Upper and Lower Case in green: Regional Events (gold and red points)
Upper and Lower Case in blue: Gold Rush Pairs (gold and red points for 0-750)
Upper and Lower Case in red: Intermediate Newcomer (IN) events
Only in IN events is granted the right to have partner, but everywhere is possible to find one, or an entire team downright. According to the Richard Powell’s novel “Tickets to Hell”, set into Championships, it is easy to find partners in NABCs even being a champions instead of an IN; it must be said, however, that Powell was exaggeratedly optimist: his heroes didn’t find just bridge partners, but life’s love as well.
Going upstairs, from red to BOLD UPPER case through blue and green, we meet famous tourneys entitled to famous names: Nail, Smith, Kaplan… today are names, yesterday they were great players, and it’s worthwhile to remember who they was.
Helen Sobel nee Smith was the greatest woman of all time; she played twice the World Champion final: the first time was in 1937, defeated from the great Austria of Paul Stern, a team destroyed by the Nazism’s rage; the second time in 1957, it was the first Blue Team’s victory in Bermuda Bowl. Therefore Helen conceded the victory only to the two strongest teams of before and after the Second War.
The Edgar Kaplan’s system (1958) was the third great American System after Culbertson’s (1929) and Roth (1953); Kaplan first thought an embryo of 2/1 gf response, ten years before the Walsh’s Western Scientific.
Bobby Nail was runner up in 1962 and 1963 Bermuda Bowls, when the USA were very next to break the Blue Team row of victories. The Official Encyclopaedia reports this anecdote which, it’s our suggestion, might be entitled “Sound Openings”:
‘Once in a rubber bridge game, Nail held 10 solid clubs and singletons in the other three suits. In second seat, after the dealer passed, Nail coyly passed – “I don’t know why.”
LHO also passed. Now Nail’s partner, Cleo Allen, began to study her hand. “Come on, Cleo,” Nail was thinking, wishing he knew how to send mental messages. “Come on, Cleo.” Finally she threw the hand in. “Sorry, partner,” Allen said to Nail. “Just three bare aces.”
From Friday 30th to December 2nd there is the Reisinger Cup, a Board a Match (BAM) team event. About it, Norberto Bocchi has written just five months ago:
“Reisinger: For many years now – 12 to be precise – I’ve been playing professional bridge in USA and 12 times I took part in the Reisinger BAM. It is considered a tournament of superb level. The format used is board-a-match and what it means is that every board is worth a point: one overtrick or a difference of 2000 aggregate points carry the same weight: 1 point won or lost. When I first started participating, there would be around 80-100 teams registered. As the years passed the numbers dropped significantly and today the situation seems really worrying. Why? The way I see it there are two reasons. First of all the tournament’s level is really high and lesser sponsors are simply discouraged by that: they prefer to enter the parallel swiss tournament, where the number of teams entering is massive these days.
The second reason [Bocchi adds] is that Reisinger lasts for three days but every day half the field is eliminated via all-play-all round robin. As one might expect, the lesser teams are often eliminated the very first day and there are no other interesting events for them to enter. I would suggest a couple of alternatives to the American organization to revive a tournament as prestigious as the Resinger. The first possibility would be to allow those who are eliminated on the first day to play the swiss tournament of second day. The other possibility would be to devote two days to qualifying (and not just one day as happens now) where all the participating teams could play, even if they are in the latest rankings after the first day: in this way, the sponsors, although small, would approach more willingly and without scaring this fascinating tourney.”
The two excellent Bocchi’s suggestions, the double elimination format and the secondary event for the eliminated teams, already exist both in the major international English event: the Shapiro Spring Foursomes. The Shapiro is ruthless against weak teams as the Reisinger, but the double elimination – that is a team is eliminated only after two defeats – blunts a little the bad luck’s hook.
Some useful links:
The American Contract Bridge League: www.acbl.org
Daily Bulletin:
http://www.acbl.org/nabc/index.php?a=2012&b=Fall&c=daily_bulletins
My way, or The Norberto Bocchi’s Column:
An example of a double elimination format: the Shapiro Spring Foursomes:
http://neapolitanclub.altervista.org/eng/the-schapiro-spring-foursomes-29-april-3-may-2011.html
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Paolo Enrico Garrisi
November 24, 2012