Evening star., 1940-03-31

great number OF washington playt
here and elsewhere as Sally
Young. To attempt to explain the
method by which Mr.. Barclay de-
cides that the royal diadem Of
bridge belongs to Mrs. Young might
be confusing to the layman, but
since his conclusions coincide with
our own curbstone judgement. we
are willing to accept them.
Sudce to say, Mrs. Young was
the winner Of 3 events In II con-
tests for national champinships
during the past season. They were
the women's pair, women's team
Of four and open match-point teams
Of four. In addition, she was second
In the masters team Of four. No
other player shared In winning
more than 2 Of the II national
championships.
Moreover, Mrs. Young is one Of
a haf-dozen Philadelphia experts
who took from New York the mo-
nopoly Of having the best players
OF the country. In the list of top
notchers there are now six Quakers
and only five Gothamites, even II
Oswald Jacoby, now an official resi-
dent of Dallas, Tex, is still counted
as New Yorker.
Mr.. Barclay lists the following
leaders: l, Mrs. Young; 2, Mr..
Jacoby; 3, MerWin D. Maier, New
York; 4, John r. Crawford, Phila.
delphia; S, Miss Florence Stratford,
Cleveland: 6, Mrs. A. M. Sobel New
York; 7, Robert A. McPharren,
Philadelphia; 8, Charles j. Solomon,
Philadelphia: 9-l0, tied, Charles
H. Goren and Mrs. ]. J. Mitchell,
Philadelphia; Alvin Landy, Cleve-
land; Mrs. Robert B. Fuller and
Theodore A. Lghtner. New York.
Since 1t is quite impossible for
any bridge player to maintain an
unbeaten record for long In a series
OF events. 1t is within the realm OF
reasonable speculation to predict
that the queenly crown of the
bridge domains may soonor or later
rest upon the head Of a Washington
woman. Mrs. Martha Lemon. In
the enumeration of master play.
ers according to the standards of
the American Contract Bridge
League, Mrs. Lemon outrenks all
Washington players. men and wom-
en-. She is even ahead of her hus-
band. Jimmy" past president of
the league, and In the national list,
apart from the life masters, there
are only few whose record ex-
ceeds hers.
The eam-of-four match In the
seventh annual Old Dominion tour
nament at Alexandria, Va, will be
played today in two sessions. The
prize Is the Scwarzchild Bros. Tro-
ply. Owing to the fact that w, M.
Mcintyre has been called to VIM
ston-Salem, N. c., 1t has been nee
essary to make hurried realign-
ment of the players. Mr.. Mcintyre
was one Of the co-winners in the
match last year and was expected
to assist In defending the title to
the cup.
How far would you be willing to
go in bidding, when vulnerable, a
minor suit, holding only two and
one-half high card tricks? Prob
ably, III most instances, not to a
small slam. Much would depend. of
course, on partners responses and
distribution. plus perhaps an ability
to exercise good judgment in guess
ing. Distribution. however, is the
controlling factor. Bad distribu-
ton has wrecked many an otherwise
good hand. but sometimes 1t oper-
ates the other way and makes the
adversaries helpless. It was so on
the deal given below when Mrs. Mil
dred Linderman, playing in a dup
licaSe game at the National Press
Club, bid a small slam in clubs and
actually made seven.
The deal was:
North.
ANone
2A62
OK Q 10
J98743
West. East.
Al 10 1864 K983
0Q875 OK 100
H43 dJ72
Ak %65
Ao2 '
0J43
9865
A 1912
The bidding had gone:
North. East. South. West.
Ia IA 20 "a
3@ "a A. "A
Ga Pass Pass Pass
East's hand would seem to war
rant the doubling Of slam, as he
had an ace and two kings, but he
refrained because he did not like the
distribution. Vests call for four
spades on the second round of bid
ding was a stretch and, with six of
her partners bid suit, indicated q
duplication of values. It was made to
prevent q vulnerable game by North
nov Davei