BRIDGE NEWS FROM THE LMBA 2002

BORIS SCHAPIRO 1909-2002

© Photograph supplied by Chris Cooper		   Boris Schapiro, one of Britain’s greatest bridge players, and a long-time member of the LMBA, died on 1st December 2002, aged 93. He was born in Riga, Latvia, in August 1909, moving to St Petersburg in 1914, from where he and his family made a dramatic escape in 1917, ending up in Yorkshire.

He won the Bermuda Bowl in 1955 and the World Senior Pairs (with Irving Gordon) in Lille in 1998 at the age of 89. On the domestic front he won the Gold Cup a record eleven times between 1946 and 1998, the Lederer Memorial Trophy in 1962, and the Sunday Times Invitational Pairs in 1964. Many of these wins were in conjunction with Terence Reese, surely the most formidable partnership Britain has ever produced.

In recent years he was a regular player at the Young Chelsea, partnering Irving Gordon or his wife, Helen, whom he married in 1970, and to whom we extend our condolences. On his last appearance there, earlier this year, he became unwell and had to leave early. It will surprise no-one that he was leading the field at the time.
U19 PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIP 17th November 2002
MMMM! Did we really win?
Nicola Mcdougall & Alice Kaye		 Zoso Davies, Alex Morton,
LONDON WIN THE 2002 DAILY TELEGRAPH CUP!
An excellent result
Team; Ian Payn, Ian Gardiner, David Burn, Rob Cliffe
A close call with the Hertfordshire team (Orams, Kay and Walker) chasing London hard
ALL STARS WIN THE LEDERER AGAIN
Congratulations to Zia Mahmood, Andrew Robson, Colin Simpson and Robert Sheehan who playing as the All Stars won the 2002 Lederer Trophy invitation teams event.  It was the fifth straight year the All Star team had won.  
Preliminary details | Final results and awards
INTERNATIONAL HONOURS.
Steve Eginton, your County Treasurer, playing with Kath Nelson of Manchester, came second in the recent European Pairs Championship.
And Brian Callaghan starred in the England team that won the NEC cup in February, a terrific performance.
Well played indeed!
AN AMUSING INCIDENT!
David Burn was playing in a high-level teams competition, which meant that screens were placed diagonally across the table so that a player could only see one opponent, and was hidden from the other opponent and his own partner.

A competitive bidding sequence led to David Burn's partner bidding 2NT, not a problem you might think but David thought for a while then summoned the Tournament Director. He inquired whether he was allowed to ask who he was partnering as he had forgotten and with one partner 2NT was a conventional bid and with another it was natural.

The Tournament Director consulted the Laws and surprisingly it was not covered, so he ruled that David Burn didn't have the right to ask who he was partnering, but suggested he refer the case to the EBU's Laws and Ethics Committee, the Chairman of which was ………David Burn!
LONDON TROPHY
The London Trophy final was played at Queens Club on 2nd June 2002.
.Farnham Golf Club narrowly beat the MCC by 330 aggregate points. The match hinged on a small slam in the final stanza, bid by Farnham, making an overtrick. MCC settled for 3NT.
Click for Photos and Results, Honours Board and Match Report .
Many thanks to Cecil Leighton for organizing the Tournament and to David Sellman (an MCC finalist and Queens Club member) for arranging the lovely venue.
SWISS
Congratulations to the winners of our 2002 Swiss Teams.
David Mcvey, Nicky and Stanley Adamson,Malcolm Lewis,
Click on Photo to see enlargement
Play Commences London'sYoungest
Competitor		 Winners receiving their prize
CAMROSE.
Well played Brian Callaghan, David Burn, Tony Priday, Nick Sandqvist,David Gold and Tom Townsend for taking the 2002 Camrose again after an exciting finish. (Well they are almost all London players!).