Evening star., 1940-07-14
BRIDGE
The Game and
Its Players
By Frank B. Lord.


League at the Shoreham Hotel will
be held Wednesday evening. 1t will
be the last of the leagues major
events until the fall season. It was
intended originally to hold one ses-
sion of the Clifford Challenge Cup
matches, a major event, in August,
but this is likely to be Cancelled be-
cause many members of the COM
peting teams will be out of town,
and 1t has been deemed unfair to
oblige them to forfeit chance of
winning by reason of inability to be
present. Therefore 1t will be held
after the 1940-4l season hiss begun.
As the master pair contest now
stands. Washington's master pairs
in the national listings of the Amer
ican Contract Bridge League are the
leaders in the present competition.
They are Mr.. and Mrs. James H.
Lemon, AL Roth and o j. Brotman.
Mrs. Lemon is third III the women's
list of national master pairs and
Mr.. Lemon is well UP among the
men. but not as high as his wife.
Tied with them in the local match
are Mr.. Roth and Mr.. Brotman, who
also rank high in the national
ratings. Mrs. Allan Rutherford and
Mrs. Stanley Newman both of Bal
timore, are holding third place.
The difficulty of handling a IT.
table game in two sections, which
threatened to give Director Paul E.
Golden trouble in arranging sat-
isfactory movement, was eliminated
when only Sc of the 81 master play
ers registered for the game ap-
peared. This permitted a 14-table
movement, which was managed with
comparative ease In one section. Not
a sufficient number OF players with
convertible point ratings entered to
enable the formation of a section
for their play and so 1t was stricken
from the program Instead, there
will be a regular pair game Wednes-
day night to which all members of
the league will be eligible.
For the remainder OF the summer
the league will hold pair games
on the first and thiro Wednesdays
of each month. At the beginning
of the fall season there will be reg
ular pair and team games to qualify
players for the big pair and big
team games to be held in May and
June next year. A part of the
seasons play will be the District
championship games held on dates
to be set later.
In the aftermath of the Carvel
Hall-Annapolis tournament much
satisfaction is expressed over the
success of the event, bu, local players
are not boasting over their achieve
ments. The tournament was largely
attended, many top-notch players
being in the series of competitions,
but Washington contestants cap
tured only one Of the major prizes
and one other was co-winner. Mrs.
Mary Goodstein and her daughter,
Thelma, took the prize in the wom-
ems pair event. while Mrs. Edward
Behrend and Mrs. Allan Rutherford,
Baltimore, were second. and Mrs.
H. R. Young, Philadelphia, and Mrs.
T. M. Boyle. Washington, were third.
Baron Won Zedtwitz, New York, and
S. G. Churchill, Washington, won
the mems pair game played stimuli
taneously with the women's pair
game.
For the remainder of the events
Washington players had to be con-
tent in some instances with second
and third place. Col. E. B. Gray
and c. w. thinner and Louis New
man and w. G. Jones, jr., were Sec
ond and third. respectively, in the
mems pair game. Both pairs are
from Washington.
In the mixed pair game Mr.. and
Mrs. w. S. Athey and John D. Moth
ershed and Mrs. N. T N. Robinson,
all of Washington, were second and
third, respectively, to Mrs. Behrend
and Stanley Finkel. Philadelphia.
An unusual circumstance occurred
in the open-pair game which was
the classic of the tournament. In
the first session Mr.. and Mrs. Will
liam Cheeks led the field. Fourteen
pairs from each of the two sections
were qualified for the finals. Gene
Hermann and Mrs Irene Surguy
and Mr.. and Mrs. c. M. Hall, all of
Washington, did not remain, how
ever, to take part in the finals for
which they were qualified.
This enabled Samuel Vessel and
Lester Mayer. Philadelphia, and
Paul E. Golden, Washington, and
George Reed, Baltimore, none of
whom had qualified, to take their
places. In this session Mr.. Vessel
and Mr.. Mayer played a strong
game, which enabled them to over
come their deficiency in the first
session and to win the match. High
score, however, was claimed by
James G. Stone, Washington, and
his two partners. Mr.. Stone started
playing with his brother Max, who
was obliged to leave the game before
it was concluded, and Dr. A. j. Stein
berg was substituted. The director,
Russell J. Baldwin, ruled that an
average would have to be taken on
the boards played by Mr.. Stone and
DR.. Steinberg. This decision greatly
reduced Mr.. Stones score and en-
abled Mr.. Vessel and Mr.. Mayer to
win.
Charles H. Goren and Byron
Kaufman, Philadelphia. were Sec
ond and Mrs. j. j. Mitchell III and
E. G. Ellenbogen, also of Philadel-
phia, were third. No protest was
filed. A. I. Westrich and H. R.
King, winners of Washingtons big
June pair game, were the highest
Washington pair. They finished
fifth.
The team of Simon Barker, STAN
ley o. Finkel, Mrs. B. M. Colder and
Charles J. Solomon, Philadelphia