The NABC Summer Nationals – Dispatches From the Front – the home stretch

BRIAN GLUBOK

Brian is a highly accomplished American bridge player hailing from New York City. Glubok, an alumnus of Amherst College, has consistently excelled in North American Bridge Championships, securing numerous titles, including wins in the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams, Reisinger, and Spingold events. In addition to his domestic success, Glubok came close to victory in the World Mixed Pairs Championship in 2010, finishing as the runner-up.

Brian will be writing for IMP about the Summer NABC in Minneapolis. This is the fourth of the series.

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For details about the Summer NABC in Minneapolis, look here.

CARRUTHERS CREW WINS SENIOR SWISS; KAZMUCHKA – FERM SNAG TITLE in WAGAR WOMEN’s

MINNEAPOLIS, July 15th

The tournament enters the home stretch today – “home stretch”, of course, is an idiom which comes from horse-racing – it refers to the portion of the race when the horses have rounded the last turn of the oval and storm towards the finish line.

This is the stage of the tournament when play often deteriorates – fatigue becomes a bigger factor, after five or six days of intense play – the stakes get higher – it is a marvelous game, and this is what we live for.

My own (Spingold) team prevailed yesterday in the round of 64, and will face the legendary Nickell squad in today’s Round of 32 match.

Zia graciously provided me with a couple of fascinating deals from earlier in the week, let me see if I can write them up for you readers here.

I was pleased to hear from some contestants at the tournament here that these “Dispatches” are finding an audience – bridge journalists labor mightily (note to self: Avoid cliches!) to produce copy for readers, so – tell them you appreciate it!

Speaking of bridge journalists, John Carruthers won the Senior Swiss yesterday – John, with wife Katie, helped operate the IBPA (International Bridge Press Association) for many years.

His teammates included Allan Graves, whom I cited in a recent column here, for the mentoring he’s provided me in Buddhist thought. Also Dan Gerstmann, Larry Robbins, Mike Gamble and Howie Weinstein.

Buddhist practice is of enormous value to a tournament bridge player, for we all get caught up in the emotions of the moment – that is the nature of this game, and no one is exempt.

Here’s a bidding problem Zia provided me:

Kxx, K, AKQxxxxx, x – You open One Diamond, LHO overcalls Two Clubs, it’s passed back to you – I’ll let Mahmood’s comment carry the day:

  “I bid the obvious 3 No Trump” – 

I have the biggest match I’ve played in years later this morning, a Round of 32 Spingold Match against #4, Nickell – so I’ll close with a link to a song I’ve been using as my theme at my substack/blog – I can’t really express the gratitude I feel to be part of such an extraordinary scene as this one – for the chance to write for readers through this new Dutch/European magazine, and for the chance to play with and against such extraordinary players as Bob Hamman, Zia Mahmood, and the dozens (hundreds?) of other top players from around the world that we interact with throughout the week in this most extraordinary pastime.

My gratitude reminds me of a classic parable: A couple of hundred years ago, back in eastern Europe, a poor Jewish shopkeeper finds himself with very limited time before sundown on Friday night (stop me if you’ve heard this one) – He doesn’t have time to get to his neighborhood synagogue and recite the required prayers, so he steps outside his store onto the footpath and, with great devotion, simply recites the alphabet.

“I can’t recite the prayers tonight, G-d”, he says, “But I can recite the alphabet, and you can assemble the letters into the prayers.”

That’s how I feel right now.

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Here’s a link to today’s Daily Bulletin, with lots more information about yesterday’s results: https://cdn.acbl.org/nabc/2026/02/bulletins/db6.pdf

Of special note to IMP readers, European players continue to dominate the Winner’s Circle, with Danuta Kamucha of Poland taking first place in the two-day Women’s Pairs, with Barbara Ferm of Dallas.

I chose this song as my theme, because it reflects how grateful I feel for the opportunity to write these columns for my readership here.

  Signed,

  Your Man in America – 

  Glubok