A story by Dimitri Bourilkov (BBO: 7ntvulxxx)

Dimitri Bourilkov, Gold Life Master, Gainesville, FL, 25-Sep-2024

My parents in Sofia, Bulgaria, had regular Saturday rubber bridge evenings with friends, playing Goren. In middle school I learned to play and was kibitzing my parents, playing a hand or two on the rare occasions when someone was late. Eager to play, my brother Jordan and I, along with a friend started on our own. For lack of a fourth player, the highest bidder was declarer, and the other two were defending. I had to play a lot of 4-3 (or worse) fits and weird contracts, which still serves me well. In high school we had our own Saturday night game, and in a flu epidemic we were the only four from our class to stay healthy, as we spent the whole icy “free” week playing bridge!

Duplicate bridge started in Bulgaria when I was a student. Unlike chess, bridge was looked upon with suspicion, as something coming from the West. It was the “Wild East”, as we were playing in smoke filled basements with a speakeasy feel. As a non-smoker, you needed a strong love for the game to endure being all soaked in smoke. On the plus side, things were open and young players like us got to compete in pair and team events against the best players in the country, occasionally even getting the better of them. The Danish system with a 20 VP scale was very popular – it's like Swiss teams, but you can play a team more than once, so the all-important last round was a real final.

Getting good bridge books was difficult, but a friend of my father working at the Foreign Trade Bank traveled a lot and got me Alfred Sheinwold’s “5 Weeks to Winning Bridge”. As chance would have it, one week after I read about squeezes, my brother and I invited two of the best players in the country for a session of rubber bridge at my student table. On one board we happily bid to 7NT vulnerable, and when the dummy came down I saw twelve tricks with no thirteenth in sight. And then I remembered: double squeeze! It worked like a charm and earned me a “Really well played” remark.

Fast forward fifteen years, family, kids and work at the large particle accelerator close to Geneva, Switzerland; after moving first to Western Europe and then to Gainesville, Florida, at the end of 2004 it was time to come back to duplicate. In my second try at the local club, I was lucky enough to be paired with Abe Pallas. Our bidding styles gelled immediately, and we came in first. This was the start of a great partnership which culminated with winning the President’s Cup in the North American Pairs in Flight C in Detroit in 2008, and the Florida Grand National Teams (GNT) qualifier in Flight B in 2009. After the two qualifying sessions in Detroit on Saturday, we were sitting comfortably in 2nd place with 60% and a modest carryover; 28 of the 62 pairs went on to the final two sessions. On Sunday morning Abe woke up with a bad headache and went down to the pharmacy to discover that it was closed at this early morning hour! Fortunately I always carry Advil and Aspirin with me. The 1st final session was our best, and with 61.5% we took a solid lead of more than a board going into the final round. Now the road got really rocky: a couple of boards at the start were not good, and the opponents were coming to our table, telling us that they knew we were ahead, and playing aggressively. We knew we had to play hard and take risks, we couldn't "run out the clock". Good defense and bold slam bidding helped. When the dust settled, we had scored 51.5% in the second final to win by nearly seven matchpoints (12 was top on a board). The good results continued at the summer NABC in Las Vegas the same year, with two regional knockout wins on a team partnering with Jay Whipple III.

My introduction to GNT play came in 2006, when Evelyn Kleinsasser was kind enough to pair me on a Gainesville team with Ron Law. In our first training session at an Ocala Swiss, the opponents reached 6N with me holding KQJ10x in the suit of RHO and the A in their main suit. All was hanging on the opening lead and, not confident what to expect from a new partner, I applied the lead directing double. Sure enough, Ron obliged which resulted in +800 and a huge swing, so I was hopeful we would do well. Actually, our wildest expectations were exceeded, as we won the Florida qualifier in Flight B after dramatic comeback victories both in the semi-final and the final. Strong defense was instrumental in both matches. This led to my first trip to a NABC in Chicago in 2006 resulting in the first of several wins in regional knockouts at the Nationals.

Another of my favorite partners is Malay Ghosh, and we were fortunate enough to qualify for the NAP Flight B in Memphis in 2012. After a one-day delay when the alternator of my car decided to blow up under heavy rain in the middle of Alabama, and two very exciting days of bridge, we came in fifth.

Probably there is no other sport where just by paying the regular entry fee you can have the chance to play against the top players in the world. Some memorable encounters: when we played the 1st day of the Reisinger board-a-match at an Orlando NABC, suddenly our table was surrounded by kibitzers – Meckstroth and Rodwell had arrived. I happened to play both boards and, as usual, they applied maximal pressure. Fully concentrating, I managed to be on par with Zia at the other table, tying the match 1:1. Another highlight came at a Daytona regional playing 12 boards against Rodwell at our table in a handicapped knockout. Well, we won fair and square to advance to the final.

I was enjoying occasional online bridge. After achieving the rank of Ruby Life Master in 2018, the pandemic reoriented the duplicate scene. Playing with the robots is now a favorite pastime, and I have taken the NABC robot individual challenge which attracts over 2000 players 8 times, finishing 38th in Fall 2018 and 36th in Fall 2019. After my first NABC individual I summarized the experience in an article titled “Playing the Robots”. Besides enjoying club games with regular partners like Malay Ghosh and Marilyn Froscher, playing on BBO was instrumental in adding a sizable chunk of the 1000 Masterpoints® on the road to Gold Life master.

Bridge is an amazing game, and has also brought me together with many people which I would probably never meet otherwise. I am lucky to call some of them friends by now, and they and the Gainesville bridge community have been very supportive. Last but not least, I am very thankful for my family always making space for my bridge hobby and asking just one thing in return: please come home in a good mood after the game!

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