Evening star., 1940-08-18
BRIDGE
The Game and
Its Players
By Frank B. Lord.

Heroes hence1Ortn 10 all WASH.
ington contract players are that
sprightly pair of youngsters, Al Roth
and Oscar j. Brotman, who were
part of the team winning the world
championship masters m-of-four
bridge match last week in the 14th
annual tournament of the Amer
lean Contract Bridge League held
at Asbury Park, N. J. The others
comprising the victorious foursome
were Betram Lebhar, New Rochelle,
N. Y, and Sam Katz, Newark, N. j.
The masters team-of -four event
is regarded everywhere in the
bridge world as the blue ribbon
classic of the game. Since the
World War has obliged European
nations to forego bridge contests of
an international character, success
in this event may well be considered
1t was especially noteworthy in view
of the number of experts who were
entered in the match.
At the opening of the six-session
event 20 teams were entered, some
of them with long winning records.
The Four Aces, nationally known
players, with Oswald Jacoby as their
captain, having won the match on
four successive occasions, were eX-
pected again to take the Nate B.
Spineold Trophy, the prize offered.
In the knockout method, which
eliminates certain teams at each
session, they fell to the Baltimore
team of Capt. Robert ]. Gill, Arthur
E. Schlessinger, Charles Shapiro and
Clagett Bowie. Mr.. Bowie was called
back to Baltimore by an emergency
and provided a substitute and the
team was eliminated in the next
session.
In the final session the contest
was reduced to two teams. the Roth
Brotman-Lebhar- -Katz foursome and
the five-member team of Baron
Waldemar Won Zedtwitz, the Aus
trian nobleman who came to Amer
lea years ago to play bridge; Edward
Hymes, Jr.; Charles S. Lochridge,
Sam Fry, jr, and Myron Fuchs,
alternate, all of New York. The
latter is what is known as a seeded
team. each one of whom is a life
member on the list of masters, &C
cording to the rating fixed by the
American Contract Bridge League.
The members of the Roth team
merely held a varying number of
master points. Bridge opinion at
Asbury Park, of which there was
much, generally backed the Won
ZedtWitz team to win at the opening
of the finals, even to the extent of
some liberal wagers. They held a
lead of more than 1000 points,
which made the outlook unfavorable
for their opponents.
Throughout the finals the struggle
surged first to one side and then to
the other. At the end of the first
quarter the local lads had picked up
so that they were so points ahead.
Then they dropped back and at the
halfway mark they were 1920 points
behind, but when the match was
three-quarters through they were
again in the lead by 1850 points.
That part of the match was espe-
cially disastrous for the Won Zedt-
witz team. On one hand they bid
five hearts, were doubled, and went
down for a set of 200, while their
adversaries stopped at four hearts
and made five. On another hand,
Lochridge and Hymes stopped at
four spades. while Roth and Brot-
man bid and made six no-trump.
These two swings made big differ
ence in the score.
In the last quarter the Roth team
not only held the lead gained In the
former round, but increased it so as
to finish the match with 2,570-
point margin.
Next in Importance and interest at
the tournament was the world mas
ter pair match for the Won zedtwitz
Gold Cup, in which there was field
of 64 pairs. 1t was won by Harry j.
Fishbein and Morrie Ellis, both OF
New York, with score of 2,266 in
a contest in which 1853 was average.
Both are former winners OF this
event, Mr.. Fishbein playing last year
with Robert Appleyard and Mr.. Ellis
in 1888 with Sherman S. Stearns as
his partner. Mr.. Ellis also is the
present masters individual cham
pion.
The pair started off badly reach
ing only 46th place in the first ses-
sion. At the end of the second they
were in 18th position. When the
third session was finished they were
only II points behind Messrs. Fuchs
and Fry, who, at the close of the
event, we're second with 2,232h
points.
Some of the other Washington
participants also gave a good &C
count of themselves at the tourna-
ment. In the mixed team of four
event DR.. and Mrs. A. j. Steinberg,
playing with Louis Newman and
Miss Frances Jacoby, were tied for
third place in the first session. They
finished tenth on the finals. Eugene
Herman and Mrs. Irene Surguy also
won the first session of the event IN
which they played.
The success of the Roth -Brotman
team was the first world champion
ship to be won by washington play
ers, although not their first winning
~ eh,,r,, Savsral vears aeo Mr.