Evening star., 1943-02-14
In Bridge
Circles
Notes on Clubs
And 0urname entS
Bv Frank B. Lord

The promoters of the Northern
Virginia bridge tournament have
been compelled to make another
I'change in their plans for the event.
When it was originally transferred
| from Alexandria to Washington be-
cause of war conditions it was the
| intention to hold it at the new
| Statler Hotel. A singular circum-
| stance, however. contributed to the
necessity for selecting another place
of meeting.
The handsome Federal ballroom
| at the Statler which had been as
signed to the players was found to
| be paneled with mirrors and, in
consequence, quite unSuited for card
playing as the contestants would be
obliged constantly to conceal their
hands to prevent their opponents
from seeing their reflection. The
other bathrooms will not be in readi-
ness at the time of the tournament.
| Definite arrangements have accord
ingly been made for the meet at the
| Wardman Park Hotel. These in
clude accommodations for out-of-
town players who could not be pro-
Vided for at the Statler, which is
fully booked for the period of the
tournament.
The dates have been changed to
March 26, 27 and %. The opening
| event will be the women's pair game
and the mems pair game played
concurrently on Friday evening. This
will be followed on Saturday evening
| by the mixed pair match in one
session and on Sunday will occur
| the open pair game in two rounds.
A consolation game will be played
on Sunday evening for those pairs
eliminated from the first session by
reason Of low scores.
Senator Radcliffe of Maryland,
who rates as skillful bridge player,
| is expected to deliver a talk prob
ably on Sunday. The proceeds of the
| tournament will be turned over to
the War Orphans Scholarship Fund,
which is being sponsored by the
| American Contract Bridge League
Capt. Russell j. Baldwin, formerly
director of the league and now sta
toned in Washington, will act as
tournament director, and william
Cheeks as manager of the tourney.
| Winners and runners-up will get
master points and third and fourth
pairs, rating points. First and second
pairs will receive Victory Certificates.
The Eastern bridge championships
begin in New York on the last day
OF the local matches, but as the
Northern Virginia tournament is in
tended chiefly for players of Wash
! lngton, Virginia, Maryland and near
| by States it is not anticipated that
there will be much conflict, especial
| ly as conditions make it impossible
| for many players from these local
| tiles to go to New York at that time
washington players acquitted
themselves well in the Maryland
State championship games in Balti-
more last week. DR.. w. H. Gorton
and DR.. N. j. McHugh of the Fed
| eral Bridge League won both the
| open pair match and the mems pair
match in which they employed the
modified opening two bid which they
have been using successfully in local
games. There were six other Wash
ington contenders in the mems pair
match. Their score was 1874 against
1161a made by I. H. Fisher and
Joseph Grindsfeler of Baltimore.
Their margin of victory was made
on one hand played by DR.. Gorton
which was quite remarkable for the
bidding as we'll as for the play. The
contract was two spades and DR..
Gorton held only three small trumps
| in his hand.
The distribution of the cards was: