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The Lederer Memorial Trophy is an annual event in memory of Richard Lederer (1894-1941), the strong English player and theorist who created the Lederer Two Club. The Memorial, established since 1946 by Richard’s son Tony, is an invite tourney for eight English and foreign teams; it will be held on 29-30th September at Young Chelsea Bridge Club, 32 Barkston Gardens, London SW5 (Tel: 020 7373 1665). It will be broadcast in BBO vugraph and commented by Ian Payn and David Bird.
From 1946 to late sixties the event was a private affair of London bridge clubs; after, it become open. The first “foreign” team which won the trophy was a Glasgow’s one in 1977.
Today, one of the teams will be the winner of the knock-out championship of the same Young Chelsea Club; the others are (as known so far):
President’s Team. (from) Bernard Teltscher, Tony Priday, Victor Silverstone, John Matheson, Willie Coyle, Gunnar Hallburg.
Ireland. (from) Tommy Garvey, Hugh McGann, Tom Hanlon, Jon Carroll, Adam Mesbur, Nick Fitzgibbon.
2011 runner up, Spring Fours: Glyn Liggins, Joe Fawcett, John Holland and Ben Green.
Crockfords: Alexander Allfrey, Andrew Robson, Tony Forrester, David Bahkshi, Peter Crouch
Canada: Joey Silver, John Carruthers and two team-mates.
2011 Holders: Espen Erichsen, Norman Selway, Mike Bell, Michael Byrne, Martin Jones, Neil Rosen.
Gold Cup: Peter Lee, Frances Hinden, Jeffrey Allerton, Graham Osborne, John Howard and Andy Bowles.
The Direction of the Event also communicates the following:
A ‘Play with the Stars’ parallel event will again be held on Saturday afternoon. Pairs will play the first 24 Lederer boards on the Saturday and then score up as teams of four with one of the top Lederer pairs. So if you want Zia Mahmood or Andy Robson as team mates, this is the event for you! The overall North-South and East-West winners will be invited to meet their ‘team-mates’ on the Sunday and receive their prizes from the event’s generous sponsor, Bernard Teltscher. For more information, contact Stefanie Rohan at
Any club may take part in the Play with the Stars, and we will send you the 24 hand records in advance, so that you can arrange their duplication for your club. Please contact Paul Lamford at
Both Stefanie and Paul can be contacted at 020 8888 3674. Mobiles: Paul 07717 363160 and Stefanie 07891 747273
Back to Richard Lederer theorist. His 2♣ opening, strong and forcing one round, but not so strong as demanded by the today’s one, became a cornerstone of the Acol. His “Two Clubs System” – so was called – was probably the most natural system ever thought: Lederer “Always bid his cards as he saw them” (Hubert Phillips). Thus he opened four card suit, long suit first, intermediate 2’s, strong 3’s (the last two also in Portland System), and gave to any suit the right to be called; for example, the auction
1♥-1NT;
2♠…
Showed longer hearts and any strength, even as weak as 12-13 HCP. Or even poorest; who thinks that aggressiveness is a feature of today bridge should open 1♠ this hand, as he used to do:
♠KQ10xxx ♥Axx ♦xxx ♣x
The Lederer’s most conventional treatment, however, was a very unusual one: the response 1NT to Takeout double showed very weak hand; but this was changed in later developments.
Info & Results at LMBA site: click here >>
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Paolo Enrico Garrisi
September 21, 2012