U.S. favorite ousted by Bulgaria in quarterfinals

The United States entered two teams in each of the three major events at the 2017 World Championships. A U.S. squad (Jeff Wolfson-Neil Silverman, Mike BeckerAllan Graves, Dave Berkowitz-Alan Sontag) won the Seniors event in a hardfought final against Italy. China took the women’s Venice Cup.

In the Bermuda Bowl, “USA 1” (Nick Nickell-Ralph Katz, Robert Levin-Steve Weinstein, Jeff MeckstrothEric Rodwell) went in as a favorite but was eclipsed in the quarterfinals by Bulgaria — an indication that bridge is an international game.

Meckstroth-Rodwell have won countless titles with bold bidding, a style that generates many gains and some losses. In today’s deal, Rodwell opened one diamond as South, and when Bulgaria’s West doubled, Meckstroth’s one heart artificially showed spades. Rodwell duly bid one spade, showing spade tolerance, and was raised to game.

Since South’s opening bid was rather on the light side, the contract was poor even when the king of hearts turned out to be a winner. West led the queen of hearts, and East won and returned a heart. Declarer won, led a trump to dummy’s queen and, oddly, continued with the jack. He lost three trumps, a heart and a diamond, minus 200.

In the replay, where South did not open, Bulgaria stopped at three spades. As the play developed, that contract could have been beaten, but the U.S. defense slipped. Bulgaria won eight IMPs.

It was left to “USA 2” to beat Bulgaria in the semifinals and France in the final to bring the Bermuda Bowl to the U.S.