Only 42 competition entrants broke the 70/80 barrier on the very difficult October set, and this one proved to be almost as tough, with only 50 scores in the 70s. A score of 78/80 led the panel on this set, and two competitors managed to equal that tally. The co-winners of the November competition, with a score of 78/80, are:
Mike Blancher from Canada, and
Andrzej Knap from Spain
Mike is a retired geoscientist from Calgary, Alberta, in western Canada. He says, “I am predominantly a club bridge player who enjoys using online tools such as the RealBridge Bidding Contest to help improve my bidding judgement.”
The winner of numerous events in Spain, Andrzej first represented his country at the 1993 European Championships. A regular member of the Spanish Open team for more than three decades, his most successful campaign resulted in a fourth-place finish at the 2016 World Bridge Games in Wroclaw.
Also on the November Honour Roll, is one of those players battling it out for the annual title. With a score of 77/80, that is:
Stephen Merriman from New Zealand
And, with a score of 76/80:
TSerkan Sofu from Turkiye, and
Razvan Spiridonescu from Romania
Mike is the second Canadian winner this year. Andrzej makes Spain the twelfth country to produce a winner or co-winner.
Five of those battling for the annual competition title scored in the 70s this month, leaving seven players within 5 points of the lead going into the final set.
Congratulations to all who broke the 60/80 barrier on this difficult set.
