Scores 7W31  Main Challenge

March 2001 Scores

Analyses  by Richard Pavlicek

The “Another Time, Another Place” bidding poll had 294 participants, and everyone scoring above average is listed here. Ties in the rankings are broken by the date and time of submission (earliest wins). At the end of this page is a “Bot’s Eye View,” which shows how various computer programs fared.

Top 100

101

Location Ranking

Bot’s Eye View

Participation Stats

Number of participants	294
Number of locations	77
Highest score	60
Median score	48
Lowest score	25
Average score	47.39

Top 100 Places

Rank	Score	LC	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	60	USwa	Josh Sinnett	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	3	3
2	60	SE	Thomas Alm	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	3	3
3	59	USil	Kent Feiler	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	4	3
4	59	NL	Tjeerd Kootstra	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	4	3
5	59	NL	Peter van Montfoort	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	3	2
6	59	IN	Manoj Kumar Nair	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	3	2
7	59	UKen	Gareth Birdsall	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	3	2
8	58	NL	Leo Jongens	X	2	2	4 NT	3	3
9	58	FI	Erkki Malkamaki	X	2	2	4 NT	3	3
10	58	USny	Jim Dooley	3 NT	2	2	4	3	3
11	58	USma	Jonathan Weinstein	3 NT	2	2	4	3	3
12	58	HK	Simon Cheung	3 NT	2	2	4	3	3
13	58	USri	Evelyn Recchia	X	2	2	4 NT	3	3
14	57	USny	Alvin Bluthman	3 NT	2	2	5	3	3
15	57	USny	John Sheehan	3 NT	X	2	4 NT	3	3
16	57	UKen	Neil Morgenstern	X	2	2	4 NT	4	3
17	57	USca	Harold Simon	3 NT	2	2	5	3	3
18	57	EG	Andrew de Sosa	X	2	2	4 NT	3	2
19	57	USil	Larry Robbins	X	2	2	4 NT	4	3
20	57	SE	Roger Karlsson	X	2	2	4 NT	3	2
21	57	USny	Tom Barry	X	2	2	4 NT	3	2
22	56	USil	Will Engel	3 NT	2	2	6	3	3
23	56	NL	Geon Steenbakkers	3 NT	2	2 NT	4 NT	4	3
24	56	SE	Ernst van Groningen	3 NT	2	2	6	3	3
25	56	SE	Ingemar Assarsjo	X	2	2	4	3	3
26	56	NL	Lutsen Jansen	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	3	2 NT
27	56	USwa	Harry Steiner	3 NT	X	2	4 NT	4	3
28	56	FR	Andrei Varlan	X	2	2	4	3	3
29	56	HU	Imre Csiszar	3 NT	2	2	6	3	3
30	56	DE	Claus Guenther	3 NT	2	2	6	3	3
31	55	USca	Tony Melucci	P	2	2	4 NT	3	3
32	55	CAon	Paul Hardy	X	2	2	5	3	3
33	55	PL	Marcin Przywitowski	X	2	2	5	3	3
34	55	IN	Arvind Srinivasan	3 NT	2	2	6	4	3
35	55	USfl	Florence Rosenthal	X	2	2 NT	4 NT	3	3
36	55	USmd	Jerrold Miller	X	X	2	4 NT	3	3
37	55	USwa	Craig Zastera	P	2	2	4 NT	3	3
38	55	IN	Gowniyan Vaideeshwar	3 NT	X	2	4 NT	4	2
39	54	AU	Kieran Dyke	3 NT	2	2	4	3	2 NT
40	54	CAon	Daniel Korbel	3 NT	2	2	4	3	2 NT
41	54	USpa	Steve White	3 NT	2	2	4	3	2 NT
42	54	USca	John R. Mayne	3 NT	2	2 NT	4	4	3
43	54	CH	John Weisweiler	X	2	2	5	3	2
44	54	USmo	Kit Nowicki	P	2	2	4 NT	3	2
45	54	NL	Peter Ijsselmuiden	P	2	2	4 NT	4	3
46	54	HR	Vedran Zoric	X	2	2	4 NT	3	2 NT
47	54	USdc	Simon Steel	X	2	3	4 NT	3	3
48	54	IT	Tudor Gheorghiu	X	2	2	5	4	3
49	54	USms	Michele Holm	P	2	2	4 NT	3	2
50	54	USca	Rich Pavlicek	3 NT	2	3	4 NT	4	2
51	54	IN	Venkatesh Ramaratnam	3 NT	2	2	6	4	2
52	54	USva	Chris Maclauchlan	X	X	2	4 NT	3	2
53	54	AU	Herry Allix	X	2	3	4 NT	3	3
54	53	USil	James Hudson	3 NT	X	2	6	3	3
55	53	AU	Peter Gill	3 NT	X	2	6	3	3
56	53	DE	Ulrich Voigt	4	2	2	4 NT	3	3
57	53	TR	Ufuk Cotuk	X	2	3	4 NT	3	2
58	53	USal	Bob Simkins	3 NT	X	2	5	4	3
59	53	CAon	Susan Korbel	P	2	2	4	3	3
60	53	USny	Charlie Champagne	3 NT	2	2	5	3	3
61	53	EE	Meelis Tiitson	3 NT	X	2	4 NT	3	2 NT
62	53	DE	Julius Linde	3 NT	2	2	5	3	2 NT
63	53	USva	Gordon Brown	3 NT	X	2	6	3	3
64	53	USdc	Jonathan Siegel	X	2	2	6	3	2
65	53	AU	Ben Alexander	4	2	2	4 NT	3	3
66	53	USil	Bruce Scott	P	2	2	4	3	3
67	53	UStn	Charles Priode	X	2	3 NT	4 NT	3	3
68	53	NO	Einar Sivertsen	3 NT	1	2	4 NT	3	3
69	53	IN	Neelotpal Sahai	X	2	2	6	4	3
70	53	UKen	Chris Measures	4	2	2	4 NT	3	3
71	53	CA	Mike Beath	3 NT	X	3	4 NT	3	3
72	52	USga	Bill Bickford	P	2	2	5	3	3
73	52	USnc	Michael Lavine	3 NT	X	2	6	4	3
74	52	USny	Barry Rigal	3 NT	2	2 NT	6	4	3
75	52	USma	Leo Zelevinsky	4	2	2	4 NT	3	2
76	52	HR	Dean Pokorny	3 NT	2	3	5	3	2
77	52	NL	Joop Simmelink	3 NT	X	2	6	3	2
78	52	NO	Sverre Johnsen	X	2	2	4	3	2 NT
79	52	NL	Frans Buijsen	3 NT	2	2	6	3	2 NT
80	52	USca	Doug Burke	P	2	2	5	3	3
81	52	IN	Subhash Gupta	3 NT	X	2	6	4	3
82	52	SI	Barbara Kranjc	4	2	2	4 NT	4	3
83	52	UStx	Alex Kolesnik	3 NT	X	2	6	3	2
84	52	USoh	Bruce Moore	3 NT	1	2	4 NT	3	2
85	52	JP	Mark LaForge	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	4	3 NT
86	52	SE	Per-Ola Cullin	P	2	2	4	4	3
87	52	USnm	Mark Jones	3 NT	2	2	5	3	3
88	52	UKen	James Mates	X	X	2	4	3	2
89	52	CAab	Daniel Bertrand	3 NT	2	2	4	4	2
90	52	DE	Christian Glubrecht	P	X	2	4 NT	3	3
91	52	USva	Rick Bingham	3 NT	2	2	6	3	2 NT
92	52	IL	Steve Rogers	4	2	2	4 NT	4	3
93	52	RS	Goran Ocokoljic	4	2	2	4 NT	4	3
94	52	USca	Milton Spinner	X	X	2	5	3	3
95	52	AU	Caroline Miller	X	X	2	5	3	3
96	52	USca	John Hoffman	3 NT	2	2	5	3	2
97	52	USma	Dick Wagman	X	2	2	4	3	3
98	52	UKen	Dave Warren	X	X	2	4	3	2
99	51	UStn	Carl Sardella	P	X	2	4 NT	3	2
100	51	AU	Niclas Jonsson	P	2	2	4 NT	3	2 NT

Scores 7W31 Main Challenge

Analyses Top March 2001 Scores

All Others Above Average

Rank	Score	LC	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6
101	51	NL	Bas Lodder	3 NT	2	2	6	4	2 NT
102	51	USma	Steve Stein	4	2	2	4	3	3
103	51	CAon	Jeffrey Smith	X	2	2	4 NT	3	3 NT
104	51	NL	Micha Keijzers	3 NT	1	2	4	3	3
105	51	CAmb	Glenn Roberts	X	2	2	5	3	2 NT
106	51	USmd	Mitch Edelman	P	2	2	6	3	3
107	51	HR	Tonci Tomic	X	X	2	6	3	3
108	51	DE	Uwe Gebhardt	X	2	2	4 NT	3	3 NT
109	51	USca	Marina Fomenkova	X	X	2	4 NT	3	2 NT
110	51	FR	Dany Waldberg	P	2	2	5	4	3
111	51	DK	Peter Skafte	X	2	2	4	4	2 NT
112	51	IX	Dayle Gilliatt	X	X	2	4 NT	3	2 NT
113	51	US	Ralph Kuhlman	P	X	2	4 NT	3	2
114	51	CAon	Allen McDonald	3 NT	X	2	6	4	2
115	51	USfl	Mark Raphaelson	X	2	2	4 NT	P	3
116	51	UStx	Herbert Wilton	X	X	2	5	4	3
117	51	USca	Bill Cubley	4	2	2	4 NT	4	2
118	51	NZ	Dean Eidler	3 NT	2	2	4	P	3
119	51	USmi	Douglas Ogozaly	X	X	2	5	4	3
120	50	US	Dean Frear	X	X	3 NT	4 NT	3	3
121	50	AU	Bill Jacobs	4	2	2	4	4	3
122	50	FR	Francois Dellacherie	4	2	2	4	3	2
123	50	NZ	John Kruiniger	4	X	2	4 NT	3	3
124	50	USca	Arkadiusz Sitek	X	2	2	6	3	2 NT
125	50	AU	Sartaj Hans	3 NT	X	2	4 NT	3	3 NT
126	50	CH	Dima Nikolenkov	X	2	2	6	3	2 NT
127	50	USnc	Toby Weinstein	3 NT	X	2	5	3	2 NT
128	49	USal	Rick Farver	4	2	2	6	3	3
129	49	USwa	Keller Wightman	P	2	2	4	3	3
130	49	IX	Noer Imanzal Kartamadjana	4	2	2	4 NT	3	2 NT
131	49	RU	Alex Perlin	4	2	2	4	4	2
132	49	UKen	Andy Holland	3 NT	2	2	5	4	3 NT
133	49	USny	Gerry Wildenberg	4	2	2	6	3	3
134	49	USnj	Leonard Helfgott	3 NT	X	2	5	4	2 NT
135	49	PT	Nuno Lemos	X	2	2	4	4	4
136	49	USil	Charles Blair	X	X	3	4	3	3
137	49	TW	Hang Chang	P	2	3	4	3	3
138	49	TR	Hasan Gedik	3 NT	X	3	4 NT	3	2 NT
139	49	USnj	Arline Fulton	4	2	2	5	3	2
140	49	AU	Bill Powell	X	2	2	5	4	3
141	49	PL	Jacek Gackowski	3 NT	2	2 NT	4 NT	4	3 NT
142	49	RS	Zoran Radojcic	3 NT	2	2	5	3	3
143	49	CAns	Del Knox	3 NT	2	2	5	3	3
144	49	RU	Leonid Ulanovsky	4	2	2	4 NT	3	2 NT
145	49	TH	Tim Bolshaw	3 NT	2	3	4 NT	3	3 NT
146	48	USny	Franco Baseggio	3 NT	X	2	4	3	3 NT
147	48	FR	Jean-Claude Duong	3 NT	2	2	4 NT	3	2 NT
148	48	SE	Arne Jordestedt	3 NT	X	2	4	3	3 NT
149	48	CApq	Peter Schwartz	3 NT	X	3	5	4	2
150	48	BE	Sebastien Louveaux	P	2	2	4	4	2 NT
151	48	NO	Magnus Skaar	4	X	2	4	3	3
152	48	NL	Else Oostman	X	2	2	5	P	3
153	48	USfl	Lino Russo	P	X	3	4 NT	3	3
154	48	CAon	Chuck Arthur	P	2	3	5	3	3
155	48	USoh	Rod Clay	X	2	2	6	3	3
156	48	USfl	Alberto Dhers	P	2	2	4 NT	P	3
157	48	HK	Hongyan Chen	P	X	2 NT	4 NT	3	2
158	48	NO	Christian Vennerod	3 NT	2	2	6	4	3 NT
159	48	USma	Bob Boudreau	P	X	2	5	3	2
160	48	CAab	Barney Paterson	X	X	2 NT	5	3	2

Names with accented or non-English letters have been converted to an English representation with a 26-letter alphabet. Many people use erratic capitalization, so I determine proper case by algorithm; if this does not correctly display your name, please advise and I will add it to the exception list. If you wish to contact someone whose name you see listed (such as a lost friend) give me permission to send your address to that person, then he or she can contact you. I will not give out e-mail addresses (these are private and go nowhere from me).

Scores 7W31 Main Challenge

Analyses Top March 2001 Scores

Location Ranking

This table lists all the participating locations, ranked by the average score of their entries. The “Best” column shows the best finish (by rank) of any player in that location. Locations with less than five entries are ineligible for the top ranking and grouped separately.

Rank	Average	Best	LC	Location	Entries
1	50.93	4	NL	Netherlands	15
2	50.89	3	USil	Illinois	9
3	50.18	10	USny	New York	11
4	49.71	30	DE	Germany	7
5	49.50	2	SE	Sweden	10
6	49.50	39	AU	Australia	12
7	48.43	6	IN	India	14
8	48.16	17	USca	California	19
9	47.47	7	UKen	England	17
10	47.25	11	USma	Massachusetts	8
11	46.80	33	PL	Poland	5
12	46.64	32	CAon	Ontario	11
13	45.00	9	FI	Finland	5
14	44.00	137	TW	Taiwan	5
15	42.92	35	USfl	Florida	12
16	42.50	73	USnc	North Carolina	6
17	42.00	71	CA	Canada	5
18	41.20	48	IT	Italy	5
19	39.00	113	US	United States	8

Rank	Average	Best	LC	Location	Entries
20	58.00	13	USri	Rhode Island	1
21	57.00	18	EG	Egypt	1
22	56.00	29	HU	Hungary	1
23	55.00	1	USwa	Washington	4
24	54.00	41	USpa	Pennsylvania	1
25	53.50	47	USdc	Washington DC	2
26	53.00	36	USmd	Maryland	2
27	53.00	52	USva	Virginia	3
28	53.00	61	EE	Estonia	1
29	52.33	46	HR	Croatia	3
30	52.00	67	UStn	Tennessee	2
31	52.00	82	SI	Slovenia	1
32	52.00	85	JP	Japan	1
33	52.00	87	USnm	New Mexico	1
34	51.25	28	FR	France	4
35	51.00	57	TR	Turkey	2
36	51.00	58	USal	Alabama	2
37	51.00	105	CAmb	Manitoba	1
38	51.00	119	USmi	Michigan	1
39	50.50	93	RS	Serbia	2
40	50.25	68	NO	Norway	4
41	50.00	84	USoh	Ohio	2
42	50.00	89	CAab	Alberta	2
43	49.67	43	CH	Switzerland	3
44	49.67	83	UStx	Texas	3
45	49.50	72	USga	Georgia	2
46	49.00	131	RU	Russia	2
47	49.00	143	CAns	Nova Scotia	1
48	49.00	145	TH	Thailand	1
49	48.00	12	HK	Hong Kong	3
50	48.00	149	CApq	Quebec	1
51	48.00	150	BE	Belgium	1
52	47.00	112	ID	Indonesia	3
53	47.00	164	ZA	South Africa	1
54	47.00	168	BR	Brazil	1
55	47.00	169	USmn	Minnesota	1
56	47.00	172	USne	Nebraska	1
57	46.67	135	PT	Portugal	3
58	46.50	49	USms	Mississippi	2
59	46.00	111	DK	Denmark	3
60	45.00	188	UKsc	Scotland	1
61	44.50	185	AR	Argentina	2
62	43.50	92	IL	Israel	2
63	43.25	118	NZ	New Zealand	4
64	43.00	134	USnj	New Jersey	3
65	43.00	226	CAnb	New Brunswick	1
66	42.67	223	CAbc	British Columbia	3
67	42.50	191	UK	United Kingdom	2
68	42.00	44	USmo	Missouri	3
69	42.00	173	USco	Colorado	2
70	42.00	192	USsc	South Carolina	3
71	40.00	243	USnv	Nevada	1
72	40.00	245	USok	Oklahoma	1
73	40.00	252	BG	Bulgaria	1
74	39.50	241	RO	Romania	2
75	39.00	257	CZ	Czech Republic	1
76	39.00	260	USin	Indiana	1
77	30.00	288	GR	Greece	1

Scores 7W31 Main Challenge

Analyses Top March 2001 Scores

Bot’s Eye View

I posed these six bidding problems to some of the well-known bridge computer programs, and the results are tabulated below. (These results are not included in the “number of participants” shown above, nor in the calculation of the median or average score.) Most of the programs had different skill settings (thinking time), and this was set to the highest level.

Bridge Baron topped all the bots with an excellent score of 55. Second place went to Q-plus Bridge with 51, and third went to Blue Chip Bridge with 50. The scores and rankings, based on six specific problems, are not necessarily indicative of each program’s overall capability. The only thing certain is that if you managed to equal HAL’s score, you should be locked up with the key thrown away if you ever touch a deck of cards again.

March 2001 Rankings

Rank	Score	LC	Program version	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	55	US	Bridge Baron 11.0	X	2	2	5	3	3
2	51	DE	Q-plus Bridge 6.1	4	2	2	4	3	3
3	50	UK	Blue Chip Bridge 3.4.0	4	2	2	5	3	3
4	48	JP	Micro Bridge 9.01	P	2	2	5	3	2 NT
5	47	US	GIB 4.1.2	4	2	2	6	4	2
6	42	CA	Bridge Buff 8.0	4	2	2	4 NT	P	2 NT
7	34	US	Finesse Bridge 2.5	P	2	2	5	P	3
8	15	US	HAL 9000	4	P	2	5	2 NT	3 NT

Bots Tested (alphabetical)

Program	Author/Creator
Blue Chip Bridge	Ian Trackman and Mike Whittaker
Bridge Baron	Tom Throop and Stephen Smith
Bridge Buff	Doug Bennion
Finesse Bridge	Mark and Aaron Marin
GIB	Matthew Ginsberg
HAL	Someone with a warped mind
Micro Bridge	Tomio and Yumiko Uchida
Q-plus Bridge	Hans Leber

Scores 7W31 Main Challenge

Analyses Top March 2001 Scores

© 2001 Richard Pavlicek