Duplicate Bridge: March 6, 2021

It’s official. Western New York Unit 116 reports on its website that the Buffalo Spring Sectional Tournament in April is canceled. As for the annual summer picnic and the Fall Sectional in September, those are up in the air.

The ACBL has canceled all tournaments nationwide through the end of July because of the pandemic.

Depending on conditions, however, the people who do the sanctioning think that August may be safe enough to allow face-to-face play in sectional tournaments to resume.

As for regionals, perhaps early October. For the Buffalo Regional, set for the first week of October, looks like we’ll have to wait and see. 

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In the meantime, players still can earn master points safely on their computer screens. Bridge Base Online offers a variety of games every day with ACBL master points, some of which benefit local clubs. Among the clubs taking part in Virtual Club play locally are the Airport Bridge Club, the Bridge Center of Buffalo, Delaware Wednesday and the Lockport Duplicate Bridge Club. More info can be found at acbl.org or bridgebase.com.

The Airport Bridge Club is linked with the Alliance Bridge Club, the ACBL’s largest bridge club, which offers more than a dozen games every day. Anyone who has played at the Airport Club is automatically a member. For more info, visit alliancebridgeclub.com or call Airport Club manager Bill Finkelstein at 603-6943.

The Bridge Center of Buffalo offers games at least three days a week on Bridge Base Online and the Lockport Duplicate Bridge Club has scheduled games there on Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon, although the Lockport club has been inactive in recent weeks.

The Bridge Center has added an open game to its Tuesday afternoon game for players with fewer than 999 master points on Bridge Base Online. The 999er session starts at 12:05 p.m, while the open game for all players begins at 12:20 p.m. Winners in the open game receive large point rewards since they are based on the total table count from both sections.

For more info, visit the Bridge Center of Buffalo website, call 691-6201 or email acting club manager Terry Fraas at tmfraas@gmail.com.

The Delaware Wednesday Club, which is invitational, plays under auspices of the Bridge Center of Buffalo on Bridge Base Online at 7 p.m. Wednesday. For info, call Ed Harman at 480-1666 or email eharmon@roadrunner.com

The newly-organized Rust Belt Bridge Group invites players from Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh to play six days a week on BBO. Beginning Monday, there will be 499er pairs games Monday to Saturday at 10:05 a.m. and open pairs games at 10:15 a.m. Games are 18 boards. Fee is just $4. To visit the group’s homepage, click this link. For other info, call Dian Petrov at 688-1226 or email dpetrov@roadrunner.com.

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The East Aurora Bridge Club has resumed face-to-face games, the only ACBL sanctioned club in the area to hold live competition. Play begins at 10 a.m. Wednesdays in the Aurora Senior Citizens Center, 101 King St., East Aurora.

Director Dave Larcom says that players have their temperatures checked upon arriving and must wear masks. For more info, email him at dmocral@verizon.net.

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Frank Stewart, whose Daily Bridge Club column stopped appearing in The Buffalo News last fall, believes that reader sentiment can bring it back.

Feedback can be emailed to Mike Connelly at mconnelly@buffnews.com and Margaret Kenny at mkenny@buffnews.com.

Meanwhile, you can read Stewart’s columns at bridgefeed.acbl.org. Or find a whole Frank Stewart archive at Baron Barclay here.

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Tournament calendar

2021

CANCELED: St. Catharines Sectional – Holiday Inn and Suites Parkway Conference Center, 327 Ontario St., St. Catharines, Ont. Was Friday, Feb. 12, to Sunday, Feb. 14, then rescheduled for Friday, March 26, to Sunday, March 28. 

CANCELED: Rochester Spring Sectional – Webster Columbus Center, 70 Barrett Drive, Webster. Saturday, March 27, and Sunday, March 28. 

CANCELED: Toronto Easter Regional – Sheraton Toronto Centre, 123 Queen St. West. Tuesday, March 30, to Sunday, April 4. 

CANCELED: Unit 112 (Rochester) 199er Tournament – Strathallan Hotel, 550 East Ave., Rochester. Saturday, April 9, and Sunday, April 10. 

CANCELED: Buffalo Spring Sectional – Main-Transit Fire Hall, 6777 Main St., Amherst. Friday, April 16, to Sunday, April 18. 

CANCELED: Cleveland All-American Regional – Embassy Suites, 5800 Rockside Woods Blvd., Independence, Ohio. Tuesday, May 25, to Monday, May 31. 

CANCELED: Niagara-on-the-Lake Intermediate/Novice Sectional – Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre, 14 Anderson Path, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Friday, June 4, to Sunday, June 6. 

CANCELED: District 5 Sectional Tournament at the Clubs (STaC) – Local clubs. Monday, June 14, to Sunday, June 20. 

CANCELED: Southwest Ontario Regional – Bingemans Conference and Convention Centre, 425 Bingemans Centre Drive, Kitchener, Ont. Tuesday, July 6, to Sunday, July 11. 

CANCELED: Rochester Regional – RIT Inn and Conference Center, 5257 W. Henrietta Road, Henrietta. Monday, Aug. 2, to Sunday, Aug. 8. 

St. Catharines 299er Sectional – Bridge Centre of Niagara, 6-2E Tremont Drive, St. Catharines, Ont. Saturday, Aug. 21, and Sunday, Aug. 22. 

CANCELED: Pittsburgh Labor Day Regional – DoubleTree Pittsburgh-Green Tree, 500 Mansfield Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. Tuesday, Aug. 31, to Monday, Sept. 8. 

Great Lakes Sectional – Erie Bridge Center, 1221 Grant Ave., Erie, Pa. Saturday, Sept. 11, and Sunday, Sept. 12. 

Buffalo Fall Sectional – Main-Transit Fire Hall, 6777 Main St., Amherst. Friday, Sept. 17, to Sunday, Sept. 19. 

RESCHEDULED: Buffalo Regional – Millennium Hotel, 2040 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga. Was Tuesday, Oct. 19, to Sunday, Oct. 24. Rescheduled to Tuesday, Oct. 5, to Sunday, Oct. 10.

Niagara Falls Regional – Crowne Plaza Hotel, 5685 Falls Ave., Niagara Falls, Ont. Tuesday, Nov. 9, to Sunday, Nov. 14. 

Unit 255 Sectional – Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre, 14 Anderson Path, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Friday, Nov. 13, to Sunday, Nov. 15. 

District 5 Winter STaC – Local clubs. Monday, Dec. 6, to Sunday, Dec. 12. 

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Bridge club websites:

Click names for links.

Bridge Center of Buffalo.

Bridge Club Meridian.

Western New York Unit 116.

The Airport Bridge Club does not have a website. For info, call 716-603-6943.

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The Duplicate Bridge column is compiled weekly by News Staff Reporter Dale Anderson. The print version stopped appearing Saturdays in The Buffalo News when the pandemic forced local bridge clubs to halt face-to-face play.

These days you can find it in two places online. Google “Duplicate Bridge” plus the current Saturday date and that should bring up a link to it on buffalonews.com, the Buffalo News website.

If you can’t get to it there, go to Dale Anderson’s bridge blog at http://newsdupli.blogspot.com/

Deadline for submission of scores and notices is Tuesday night. Email danderson@buffnews.com or dahotwings@aol.com. Office phone is 716-849-4420.

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Now a Gold Life Master, Dale Anderson is playing online these days and finished 2020 with a career total of more than 2,800 master points. Online play doesn’t provide as much drama for his bridge blog as face-to-face competition, but he still writes about his quest for the next measure of achievement, Sapphire Life Master (3,500 points), and other bridge adventures here.

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Duplicate scores from Bridge Base Online
Week of Feb. 22 to Feb. 28

Bridge Center of Buffalo Monday evening – 99ers. North-south, Janet and David Desmon, 67.36%; Jennifer and Howard Epstein, 59.38%; Carol Licata and Stephane Ronget, 55.21%; Amy Habib and Jane Constantine, 53.12%; east-west, Martha Cain and Linda Henschel, 63.54%; Shyam and Sarmishtha Kumar, 58.68%; Joann and Gary Keenan, 53.12%; Betsy and Jim Greno, 52.43%.   

Bridge Center of Buffalo Tuesday afternoon – 999ers. North-south, Beena and Madhav Deshmukh, 75.38%; Bob Sommerstein and Larry Abate, 60.58%; Martha Townson and Jim Lanzo, 60.19%; Violet Makhija and Judy Zeckhauser, 56.73%; Marilyn Wortzman and Jim Easton, 56.54%; east-west, Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, 62.88%; Ruth Nawotniak and Richard McGowan, 60.58%; Linda and John Houghtaling, 55.58%; Patricia Konrad and Bernard Boucher, 54.23%; Amy Habib and Pam Righter, 51.54%.

Bridge Center of Buffalo Tuesday afternoon – Open Game. Sam Pal and Rajat Basu, 62.30%; Saleh Fetouh and Bud Seidenberg, 57.14%; Meg Klamp and Chris Urbanek, 55.16%.

Bridge Center of Buffalo Thursday afternoon – Under 1,500 points. North-south, Agi Maisel and Tova Reinhorn, 64.62%; Linda Milch and Jim McClure, 59.42%; Rose Ann Grimaldi and Betty DeFeo, 58.08%; Amita Arora and Martha Townson, 57.88; Amy Habib and Susan Burns, 56.15%; Usha Khurana and Bill Rich, 51.92%; east-west, Raja Basu and John Bava, 61.54%; Carol Roth and Audrey Ray, 60.38%; Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, 59.04%; (tie) Jim Hassett and Richard McGowan, Linda Henschel and Martha Cain, 56.92%; Larry Himelein and Daivd Schott, 55.96%.

Bridge Club of East Aurora Wednesday morning – Home-style pairs. Joan and Bob Ciszak, 3 wins.

Delaware Wednesday evening – (3-way tie) Violet and Jasbeer Makhija, 66.67%; Amita Arora and Jim Lanzo, 64.58%; Mary Ball and Joyce Frayer, 58.33%; Tova and Andrei Reinhorn, 56.25%.

Garret Club Invitational Monday morning – Amy Habib and Pam Righter, 63.89%; Elizabeth Schreier and Candace Graser, 56.48%; Maureen Saab and Linda Henschel, 54.63%.

Garret Club Invitational Friday morning – Janie’s Game. (Tie) Marcia O’Neil-White and Pam Righter, Devon Marlette and Linda Henschel, 57.64%; Elizabeth Schreier and partner, 54.17%; Carole Sedita and Robin Coffin, 52.78%.

Twentieth Century Club Invitational Friday morning –  Sheila Hess and Donna Starnes, 59.72%; Mary Ellen Cotter and partner, 56.25%; Phyllis Wilkinson and Peggy Stock, 53.47%; Fran Schmidt and Helen Scott, 51.39%.