Bridge loss no disgrace

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33563, 18 June 1974, Page 23

Bridge loss no disgrace

tßy ALBERT DORMER. Reuter s bridge Correspondent i

■ VENICE. I The bridge (earn I hanipionship of the 'I world has again been |iwon by Italy, the de- > ending champions, | from North America, | the almost pereptual i underdogs. | Six New Zealand players, C mocked out during the qualifying rounds along with « Brazil. France, and Ini' donesia. were among the ’ large audience of experts, i journalists, and plain bridge i enthusiasts who witnessed ; the final i| The vanquished nations had each earned the right to compete by winning their I continental zone champion|ships, New Zealand by beating Australia last summer. Italy has held the Berl b 2. w L emblem of

world bridge supremacy, almost continuously -for 17 years. The bowl is the mosi prestigious of bridge trophies oeeause it is tiecided by a series of head-on team matches in which luck ,is virtually eliminated. ' The six competing nations : played each other in two ! matches a day for five da 1 s to qualify four teams for the suduen-death semi-finals. To no-one’s surprise. New Zealand, playing in its very first Bermuda Bowl, came bot- ■ tom. In tournament bridge, success does not go simply to the side that has the best | cards. Each hand is played twice, first in one room then jin another. Thus the cards I that New Zealand held in jone room are held bv the : opposing team in the second room and vice versa. At the; end of the match a com-’ parison is made to see [which team has scored best. New Zealand lost eight i I matches out of ten. The two matches that they won were, I against France, by 13 vic-; tory points to 7, and against [North America, by 11 to 9 - — two excellent perform-’ ances in a contest where every point counted to the, [winners. ; They lost by 17 to three, and 16 to four against the peerless Italian team that in-j eludes Giorgio Belladonna and Benito Garozzo. the greatest bridge partnership in the world today. Unimpressive as this, may! seem, it is about equal to| B eight rounds with; mmed Ali in his prime. - Psychologically, the Ber-! muda Bow] is unique because of the way it is or-

ganised. Not only are the same hands played twice in each match but these identical hands are played also in the other two matches going on at the same time Each player is thus uncomfortably aware that his performance can be compared with that of other players facing the same situation. Pressure is heightened because one match is relaved to an auditorium where hundreds watch on an illuminated screen. Expert commentators dissect the bids and plays and also de>cribc what is happening in .other matches on the same hand. The audience includes top bridge writers and the two players on each team who have been “rested” for the ; current session. There is no hiding place for an ill-judged bid or incorrect plav. John Wignail, a Christ ichurch sharebroker who at 40 is the most experienced -member of the New Zealand team, says: “The pressure is continuous, and the knowledge that jyou are always under the microscope means that only 'those with strong nerves can survive the long sessions of play-” ! Four members of the New < :Zealand team competing in ■ their first Western cham pionship are exceptionallx youthful by Bermuda Bowl standards. They are Richard Rrightling and Paul Marston. l of Christchurch. Michael Cornell, of Auckland, and Stanley Abrahams, presently working in Jakarta. All play - the British-invented Acol system.

Frank Lu. the non-playing New Zealand captain, who is professor of management' : studies at Canterbury Uni-; l;versity, would have been a .■player had not centennial university celebrations presented him from competing! in trials to select the New! [Zealand team. With Wignall, he is the; only New Zealander who! previously had first-hand ex- j perience of the difference in standards between New Zealand domestic championships and the Western tournament 1 circuit. ' Per capita, New Zealand [has one of the highest! bridge-playing popular ns in I the world, along with Hol- j [land and Sweden, but there, I are no rich rewards m thei [shape of widely syndicated : newspaper columns and' [lavishly sponsored lourna[ment appearances as in ■ North America and t trope,! ■ where professionalism lias (become firmly established. j The fact that tournament: bridge has become a big ! (money sport has caused I some officials to propose! new measures to kit! m-|’ nuendos about unfair prac-j tices. These suggestions; emanate especially fr .m a minority of American players reluctant to believe that,: they continually lose < n: merit. One controversial sugges-

tion is the use of tshie screens to conceal euh player from his partner screens are tehemtnJy >pposed b\ old-guard uttirials anxious to pre- Mt bridge as a game requiring only an unwritten code — a view shared by the NewZealand players before they came here Experience m.;v have modified their view The World' Bridge Fe te-r--ation has decided to experiment with screens in the next world championship in January. The federation sees midge as a game which can be played from youth io <>d age. contributing to in- ;■ national good will and sollying social problems ir the leisured society of tor or row The federation was especially pleased with New Zealand’s Bowl debut "The South Pacific zone -4 our federation has its <,wn ontribution to make u> t> - Bowl,” said Julius Rosen blunt, the federation pres, dent. He had been tremendous!, impressed with the popularity of bridge in New Zealand during a tour o: the South Pacific 18 months aa > "New Zealand earned t'r right lo parmipate in thi-’ ] world championship fairly 'and squarely," he said, "and Iwe hope they will con»mue to play in our tournaments " New Zealand has two ol the world’s biggest bridpt clubs, in Auckland and [Christchurch, affording the necessary foundation for tht development of worth) international representatives But experts recognise tha> it will be hard for New Zea land players to attain the standard of experts in tho-< countries where opportunity to play against fellow ex perts is much more plentiful. The pioneer British bridge writer, "Skid” Simon, usee to maintain that no expert can become more than l( per cent better than his opponents. This is true today and may be the main lessor the Neyv Zealanders havt learned here. All the same, the nature talent seems ’to be there One of the most brilliant plays of this 20th Bermuda Boyvl was a defensive coup by Roy Kerr, mathematics professor at Canterbury University. Defending against a contract of six no trumps bv Jean Boulenger, of France, Kerr led the queen ol diamonds from Q-J-10-X Boulenger allowed him to win this trick, having calculated that this would enable him to squeeze Kerr later and make the slam But Kerr, after prut ratted thought, also diagnosed the squeeze and. instead of leading a second diamond, madf the daring switch to the jack of spades from kingjack bare. This broke up the squeeze and defeated tht slam. “That is a lead I would have been proud to make' said Belladonna, officially ranked the world’s top player.