Bridge Team Advances Toward ’88 Olympics

Ending the 10-day North American Bridge Championships in St. Louis a week ago, the team of Peter Pender of Forrestville, Calif., Hugh Ross of Oakland, Chip Martel of Davis, Lew Stansby of Castro Valley, Peter Boyd of Falls Church, Va., and Steve Robinson of Arlington, Va., won the Open Team Championship for the Harold S. Vanderbilt Cup, the oldest trophy in tournament bridge.

The same team won the North American team championship last December and has thus qualified twice for the 1988 playoff to select a team to represent the United States in the Bridge Olympics of 1988. The four Californians were members of the team that won the 1985 world championship, and the two Virginians were members of the team that won the 1986 world championship.

The final match in St. Louis, against Jack Schwencke of North Palm Beach, Fla., and Drew Casen, Jim Krekorian, Jim Becker and Howard Chandross, all of New York, was close until the Pender team pulled away with two well-bid slams on the last set of deals, ending with a score of 150 to 135 international match points.

Earlier in the tournament, Lisa and David Berkowitz of Harmon Cove, N.J., won the Mixed Pairs. Jim Robison of Los Angeles and Juanita Chambers of Schenectady, N.Y., were second.

The team of Eddie Kantar of Los Angeles, John Devine of Tuxedo Park, N.Y., and Alan Sontag, John Mohan and Roger Bates, all of New York, won the Men’s Swiss-style Teams.

Juanita Chambers and Lynn Deas, both of Schenectady, N.Y., Beth Palmer of Silver Spring, Md., and Cheri Bjerkan of Elmhurst, Ill., won the Women’s Swiss-style Teams, closely followed by Beverly Rosenberg of Sherman Oaks, Rhoda Walsh of Encino, Jill Meyers of Santa Monica, Helen Utegaard of Carmichael, and Helene Gingiss of Chicago.