Source: IBPA Bulletin October 2018
Alvin Levy
Alvin Levy
In the World Computer Bridge Championships, the leading scores in the seven-team Round Robin were: Wbridge5: 74.36, Synrey Bridge: 69.65, Micro Bridge: 65.87, RoboBridge: 62.52. In the ensuing 64-board semifinals, Wbridge5 defeated RoboBridge 194-109 and Synrey Bridge beat Micro Bridge 131-92. In the final, Wbridge5, created by Yves Costel, topped Synrey, 111-105. Details can be found at:

www.bridgebotchampionship.com 

Al Levy, coordinator of the World Computer Championships, showed me this example from Round 6 of good defence and equally good play; Micro Bridge faced Bridge Baron. Dealer West. Both Vul
K 6 4 2 8 6 8 6 Q 8 6 3 2
A 10 7 4 2 K J 7 3 2 K 7 5 Q J 9 5 3 10 9 Q 10 4 J 10 4
8 A K Q J 7 5 3 A 9 5 A 9
West North East South
BB MB BB MB
1 Pass 1 4
Pass Pass Pass
West got off to an excellent start by leading a trump. Any other card but a trump or the ace of spades would have given away the contract. Declarer won, took another round of trumps (the robot computed that it would be unlikely to be able to ruff a diamond in dummy) and led a low spade. West again made the right play of rising with the ace. West shifted to a low diamond to East’s queen, which declarer ducked. East continued with the four of diamonds, taken by declarer’s ace. On the run of the trump suit, West discarded a club and (very slowly – a lot of computing power went into this decision) the two diamond honours, thus avoiding the throw-in and taking the contract down. That was extremely well-defended by Bridge Baron to defeat the wiles of Micro Bridge. Don’t forget to follow us @

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