BULLETIN the Master Point Press IBPA Book of the Year Shortlist
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THE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE PRESS ASSOCIATION Editor: John Carruthers This Bulletin is published monthly and circulated to members of the International Bridge Press Association, comprising the world’s leading journalists, authors and editors of news, books and articles about contract bridge, with an estimated readership of some BULLETIN 200 million people who enjoy the most widely-played of all card games. www.ibpa.com Bulletin No. 642 July 10, 2018 President Barry Rigal (USA) +1 212 366 4799 barryrigal@mindspring.com Chairman Per Jannersten (Sweden) ibpa@jannersten.se The Master Point Press IBPA Executive Vice-President Book of the Year Shortlist David Stern (Australia) We have five terrific candidates for Book of the Year. As usual, the hopefuls are david.stern.bridge@gmail.com a varied bunch, with teaching experts and intermediates the main theme. Only Organizational one of the five could be considered pure entertainment. Here they are: Vice-President & Augie Boehm, Expert Hand Evaluation, 2017, 142 pp, Bulletin Production paperback, $14.95 Manager If bidding were as simple as counting high-card points, most of us would have Dilip Gidwani (India) lost interest in bridge a long time ago. Appreciating the life-long challenge of a +91 98214 53817 game immune to mastery, experts are always trying to hone their bidding dilipgidwani@hotmail.com judgment. This book’s aim is to help you develop good bidding judgment by Secretary refining and improving your hand evaluation, which is the bedrock of good Elisabeth van Ettinger bidding. Learning the requirements for everyday sequences suffices to solve a (Netherlands) great many situations – but often not when a borderline hand falls into the +31 655 680 120 gray zone. Then, it is important to understand what your hand is worth. And e.ettinger@chello.nl that’s the main point of Part I of this book. Treasurer Part II explores using judgment for potentially problematic bidding sequences not neatly resolved by your bidding toolbox. Applying the hand-evaluation Richard Solomon (NZ) judgment learned in Part I will help you think outside the box. +64 9 232 8494 rksolomon@xtra.co.nz Fred Gitelman/Jeff Rubens, Playing Suit Combinations, 2017, 96 pp, paperback, $16.95 Awards Secretary Brent Manley (USA) This book serves two purposes: One is to enable the reader to improve card- brentmanley@yahoo.com play technique. The text illustrates how best to handle some specific holdings, and, more importantly, assists in the development of patterns of bridge Membership Secretary problem-solving that apply not only to single-suit situations but to declarer- Katie Thorpe (Canada) play and defensive problems in general. The other purpose is to share some of +1 519 981 9248 the beauties and fascinating variations of the game that can be enjoyed in a thorpe.katie@gmail.com restricted setting, freed from external distractions. Honorary Auditor In particular, suit combinations often demonstrate how small changes can have Richard Fleet (England) large impacts. The book consists of a tutorial (adapted from parts of the highly richardjfleet@gmail.com acclaimed Expert Bridge Simplified: Arithmetic Shortcuts for Declarer, a text that provides ways to avoid complex calculations) and a catalog of examples based Honorary General Counsel on a long-running column on suit combinations in The Bridge World magazine. David Harris (England) davidrharris@ntlworld.com Continued overleaf ... President Emeritus Address all IBPA Bulletin correspondence to: JOHN CARRUTHERS Tommy Sandsmark (Norway) 1322 Patricia Blvd., Kingsville, Ontario, N9Y 2R4, CANADA Tel: +1 519-733-9247 email: ibpaeditor@sympatico.ca 1 Eric Kokish/Mark Horton, Close Encounters: Bridge’s Greatest Matches: 1964-2001, Book 1, 2018, 262 pp, paperback, $21.95 Close Encounters is a two-book series that describes some of the most memorable bridge matches of the last fifty years. It features titanic struggles for World and National titles, involving the greatest players from North America and Europe. There are amazing comebacks, down-to-the-wire finishes, overtime victories, and an insight into how the game has changed The International over the last half century. Bridge Press Book 1 starts with Italy’s asserting its supremacy over Great Britain in 1964, and ends with Germany’s Association dramatic Venice Cup win over France in Paris, in 2001. Paul Thurston, Playing 2/1 – The Rest of the IBPA Annual General Meeting Story, 2017, 200 pp, paperback, $19.95 Monday, October 1, 2018 Paul Thurston’s 25 Steps to Learning 2/1 was an instant Orlando, FL, USA bestseller, winning the 2003 American Bridge Teachers Association Book-of-the-Year award. In a tantalizing Proposed Agenda postscript to that book, he promised a sequel, one that would cover the rest of the story for those who 0. Attendance wanted to add modern sophistication to their 2/1 bidding. Here at last he delivers, and the long wait will 1. Remembrance prove to have been worth it. The book describes an 2. Minutes understandable and playable version of today’s most of the AGM held on 20th of August popular system, something that has been missing from the literature until now. 2017 in Lyon France. Paul Thurston is a former Canadian champion who 3. Officers’ Reports writes a syndicated daily bridge column for The National 4. Appointees’ Reports Post. 5. Treasurer Kit Woolsey, The Language of Bridge, 2017, 317 pp, paperback, $19.95 6. Elections Bridge is a game of communication between partners. The current officers are: As such, the methods of communication used in President: Barry Rigal (USA) bridge — the bids we make during the auction and Chairman: Per Jannersten (Sweden) cards we play on defence — constitute a language. Understanding how to speak that language requires Vice-President: David Stern more than learning what the different ‘words’ mean; (Australia) one must know how and why to use these words. Organisational Vice-President: Dilip Like words in a sentence, an individual bid’s meaning Gidwani (India) will be augmented and amplified by the context of Treasurer: Richard Solomon (New the auction and sequence of other bids. In order to Zealand) learn to speak this language fluently, we also have to Secretary: Elisabeth van Ettinger learn to think correctly. As when we are speaking (Netherlands) English, we use our bridge language (Bringlish) in the pursuit of a goal. Proposed for annual election are: Hon. Auditor: Richard Fleet The goal of bidding is to get to the best contract, not Hon. General Counsel: David Harris to follow some rules or ‘describe your hand’. The goal of defence is setting the contract or taking the 7. Election of Executive Members maximum number of tricks, not telling partner what you hold or giving the ‘right’ signal. 8. The IBPA Annual Awards Kit Woolsey tackles this subject in characteristic style: 9. Remission of Subscriptions clear and logical analysis, supported by numerous 10. Any Other competent business example hands. Kit’s unique perspective on bridge offers insights valuable to players of all levels. 2 EUROPEAN TEAMS CHAMPIONS ! OPEN TEAMS NORWAY (l. to r.) Espen Lindqvist Terje Aa Allan Livgård Christian Vennerød (NPC) Sten Bjertnes (Coach) Boye Brogeland Nils Kvangraven Ulf Tundal WOMEN’S TEAMS POLAND (l. to r.) Anna Sarniak Zofia Baldysz Cathy Baldysz Mirek Cichocki (NPC) Justyna Zmuda Danuta Kazmucha Katarzyna Dufrat SENIOR TEAMS FRANCE (l. to r.) Guy Lasserre Michel Abécassis Philippe Poizat Michel Lebel Éric Gautret (NPC) Philippe Soulet Alain Lévy Yves Aubry (outgoing EBL President) 3 2018 European Championships Roll of Honour OPEN TEAMS 1st: NORWAY - Terje Aa, Boye Brogeland, Nils Kvangraven, Espen Lindqvist, Allan Livgård, Ulf Tundal, Christian Vennerød npc, Sten Bjertnes coach 2nd: ISRAEL - Ilan Bareket, Alon Birman, Assaf Lengy, Amir Levin, Dror Padon, Josef Roll, Ehud Friedlander npc 3rd: RUSSIA - Yury Khiuppenen, Jouri Khokhlov, Vadim Kholomeev, Georgi Matushko, Sergey Orlov, Evgeni Rudakov Sweden, Netherlands, Monaco, England & Italy also qualified for the 2019 Bermuda Bowl. WOMEN’S TEAMS 1st: POLAND - Cathy Baldysz, Zofia Baldysz, Katarzyna Dufrat, Danuta Kazmucha, Anna Sarniak, Justyna Zmuda, Miroslaw Cichocki npc 2nd: SWEDEN - Catharina Ahlesved, Kathrine Bertheau, Ida Grönkvist, Maria Grönkvist, Jessica Larsson, Cecilia Rimstedt, Kenneth Borin npc, Carina Wademark coach 3rd: NORWAY - Ann Karin Fuglestad, Liv Marit Grude, Marianne Harding, Torild Heskje, Bodil Nyheim Øigarden, Gunn Tove Vist, Tormod Røren npc, Jon-Egil Furunes coach Denmark, England, Netherlands, Scotland, & France also qualified for the 2019 Venice Cup. SENIOR TEAMS 1st: FRANCE - Michel Abecassis, Guy Lasserre, Michel Lebel, Alain Levy, Philippe Poizat, Philippe Soulet, Eric Gautret npc, Michel Bessis coach 2nd: SWEDEN - Mats Axdorph, Bengt-Erik Efraimsson, PG Eliasson, Björn Fallenius, Anders Morath, Mats Nilsland, Olle Wademark npc, Carina Wademark coach 3rd: POLAND - Piotr Bizon, Michal Kwiecien, Victor Markowicz, Krzysztof Moszczynski, Wlodzimierz Starkowski, Marek Szymanowski, Wlodzimierz Wala npc Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands & England also qualified for the 2019 d’Orsi Trophy. WOMEN’S PAIRS 1st: TURKEY - Nilgun Kotan, Ferda Zorlu 2nd: POLAND - Katarzyna Dufrat, Justyna Zmuda 3rd: POLAND - Danuta Kazmucha, Anna Sarniak SENIOR PAIRS 1ST: POLAND - Andrzej Pawlak, Piotr Tuszynski 2nd: POLAND - Michal Kwiecien, Wlodzimierz Starkowski 3rd: ITALY - Aldo Mina, Ruggero Pulga 4 The 2018 European Open West North East South Brogeland Doxiadis Lindqvist Roussos Teams Championship 1[ Pass 3] Double David Bird, Eastleigh, UK Pass Pass 4[ Pass Pass Pass Mark Horton, Sutton Benger, UK Brian Senior, Nottingham, UK East’s three hearts was a mixed raise (6-8 points). Ron Tacchi, Vaupillon, France Roussos doubled, to show hearts, and this deterred Jos Jacobs, Maarn, Netherlands North from finding a diamond lead against four spades. After a heart to the ace and the ten of hearts to the Maurizio Di Sacco, Pisa, Italy jack, it was still not too late to play a killing diamond. RR1 NOR v GRE (DB) No, North persisted with hearts. Brogeland ruffed, played the ace of spades and eliminated clubs (ruffing As the Championships got underway, Daily Bulletin the third with the king of spades).