Last weekend 18 Vineyarders played duplicate bridge in pair and team events at Chatham Bars Inn on the Cape, in American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Senior Regional and Open Sectional tournaments. Everyone who played finished high enough to earn ACBL Master Points.
Bill Blakesley, Hugh Knipmeyer, and Dan and Nancy Cabot were the only overall event winners, taking bracket 4 of the Sunday round-robin Swiss teams. They trailed a team from the Cape through most of the seven-match event, losing to them in an early round 14-6. But the Vineyarders beat all the other teams and kept the score close. They were behind the Cape quartet 91-94 after six matches, but trounced their final-round opponents 19-1 to take the event 110-109. The Cabots particularly enjoyed the come-from-behind win, as the Cape team was the same one that had eliminated them early from the Friday-Saturday knockouts.
Barbara McLagan of Sudbury and Chappaquiddick had a busy tournament, playing on a team from the Boston area in two different knockouts on Friday and Saturday, a schedule that required playing three sessions, more than nine hours, each day. Her team won the Friday-Saturday morning event, and finished third in the four-session event held in the afternoons and evenings. By the time she reached the Sunday round-robin Swiss event, she confessed to bridge-fatigue. Her team was the one crushed by Blakesley-Knipmeyer-Cabot in the final match, but her foursome had done well enough to finish third.
Ed Russell and Deirdre Ling of West Tisbury were the top point winners among year-round residents, finishing second in bracket 4 of the Friday-Saturday knock-out teams, winning three rounds but losing in the final. They also took third in the Sunday round-robin Swiss teams, bracket 6. Their teammates were Robert and Shirley Derrah of Springfield.
Claus Buchthal of Cambridge and Chilmark played in several events with his son Steven, who flew from Hawaii to join his father. As usual, Claus, 96, won Master Points in every event he entered, including a section top.
Chatham ACBL point winners: 17.61 Barbara McLagan, 9.30 Ed Russell, 9.30 Deirdre Ling, 8.47 Nancy Cabot, 8.47 Dan Cabot, 5.83 Bill Blakesley, 8.53 Hugh Knipmeyer, 4.39 Claus Buchthal, 2.52 Sue Collinson, 2.52 Barbara Besse, 2.02 Diana Dozier, 2.02 Joan Perrine, 1.20 Gerry Averill, 1.20 Simi Denhart, 0.62 Stig Persson, 0.62 Anita Persson, 0.14 Patsy McCornack, 0.14 Carol Whitmarsh.
