The year was 1969 he was 19 years old. He started a partnership with Victor Goldberg which started well but finished badly mainly Goldberg was one of Scotland`s best ever players.
However it had the effect of Barnet being added to Scotland`s best three players - Goldberg, Silverstone and Coyle. In 1969 his team lost in the final of the Scottish Cup-Scotland`s main Championship but won in 1971 and in 1972.
At the end of 1971 his team with Sam Leckie reached the Gold Cup Final - the final of Britain`s premier teams tournament. They lost in the final.
In 1972 the same four along with Sam Leckie and John Matheson won the Gold Cup. This was the most important Bridge Championship In Britain only won once before in history by a Scottish team in 1969.
In 1971 he was the youngest ever player to win the Scottish Cup and in 1972 in Britain to win the Gold Cup.
When Rosenberg left for USA Barnet had another try with Goldberg. It was better this time.
Between 1979 and 1983 their team won three Scottish Cups. 1978/79 they took part in a Camrose winning series. In 1979 they played for Great Britain In the European Championships in Lausanne and finished 6th. In 1980 Shenkin-Goldberg won the Sunday Times Pairs and the following year finished last!
In 1979 they won a silver medal playing for Britain at the Common Market Championship in Salsmiagiorre, Italy.
"Our team was in the lead but our Captain wanted everyone to play the last match. Goldberg and I sat out. Joe Amsbury, a very nice man but totally uninsureable bridge player played the last set. He came out "just one bad board" he said . It proved to be a vul 3NXX which he defended making 3 overtricks for -2200!! We took second place as Italy took first."
I met George at Glasgow University when I was meant to be studying economics but was studying bridge. We won the Scottish junior pairs in 1972. The following year we were selected for two International matches in the Camrose trophy our first “caps”. They won both their matches and Scotland tied in the series with England. Also they won the Junior Camrose for under 26s and were selected to play for Great Britain in Delft, Holland. They had a great time under the captaincy of Albert Benjamin and the team finished in a respectable 6th place .
Memories from 1972 in Delft: "I made many new friends including Michel Abecassis from France, Sam Lev from Israel and Peter Schalz from Denmark".
"Poland won the tournament and Dave Kendrick one of our teammates tried to jump over a small canal and fell in!"
George was a wonderful partner who put down a great dummy for Barnet when he bid spades for the first time at the 7 level as a sacrifice with KJxxx and he was only down 4 x.
Patrick moved from Wales to Scotland to work with British Steel.
In 1973 and 1974 the partnership won two very large pair events in London, England. The first was the Evening Standard run by a large English newspaper. The second in 1974 was sponsored by Cutty Sark, the whisky company. It was played in two centers nationally and the prize was an all expenses paid trip to Las Palmas for the World Pairs. Barnet and Patrick finished in 18th place.
In 1974 they started their partnership with a loss against the Blue Team in a big money tourney in Monte Carlo. They led Garozzo , Forquet Belladonna and Avarelli at half time but fell away. Rosenberg was only 19.
In 1975 they won the British Juniors Teams for under 26s. They played the Camrose series for Scotland winning in 75/76. In 1974 they represented Britain in the Common Market Championship getting a bronze medal and winning a match against Belladonna and Garozzo in the process.
In 1976 they won the Sunday Times World Invitational. Played another winning Camrose series for Scotland 76/77 won the Gold Cup when Michael Rosenberg beat Barnet's record by a few months to become the youngest player ever to win it.
In 1976 they lost the British team trials for Monte Carlo by the smallest of margins - a big disappointment but did go to Philadelphia for the Bi-Centennial Celebrations. An exhibition match was played against Kaplan-Kay Jordan-Robinson, Goldman-Blumenthal. The Redcoats lost narrowly. The American seed had been planted for both.
In 1977 Michael moved to London to become a professional rubber bridge player. They played again in The Sunday Times but could only finish 6th. Although respectable it was a disappointment.
For Britain they played in Ostend and won another bronze and then in Elsinore, Denmark in the European Championship.
In 1978 Shenkin-Rosenberg played the Cavendish Invitational in New York and finished second when they could not find the answer to an opening lead problem.
For two years '75 and '76 they won the President's prize for services to Scottish Bridge.
"My partnership with Rosenberg was exciting as we were both young. He was only 19 when we started playing and had only learned bridge a couple of years earlier. Subsequently he won both a Rosenblum and a World Pair contest in Lille -an event he was particularly suited to with his strong powers of analysis."
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1982. Gold Cup winner. The famous comeback semi-final 52 down with 8 to play.
Represented Great Britain in Biarritz at the 1982 Rosenblum.
Represented Great Britain at the World Team Olympiad, Seattle1984.
Represented Great Britain 1985 at the European Championships Salsmiagiorre, Italy.
Winner BBL Cup 1985 teams.
"Coyle and I were fine as long as we did not discuss bridge hands. There was never any discussion. During the World Olympiad in 1984 the auction was such that twice I cue bid the opposition suit twice looking for a half stopper for NT. Coyle supported the Oppositions suit and we ended up down 3 in a ridiculous contract instead of a cold 3N. At the end of the session our captain the very nice late John Armstrong asked what went wrong. I told him to ask Coyle. The next evening at dinner he told me Coyle said I had pushed the tray through in such a way that he could not see the opposition`s overcall. He thought I was rebidding the suit. So it was my fault yet again!"
The winning Camrose team 1989 (Left to right) Les Steel, Barnet Shenkin, David Frew, Victor Silverstone, David Liggat, Sam Leckie (npc) and Roy Bennett
Represented Scotland 4 series-one winning series 1988-89
Biggest ever defeat of England 1989 59-31 victory points.
Winner BBL teams Cup 1994.
Winner Scottish Cup 92/93 - winner national Swiss Teams 1992.
Gold Cup: Second 1991/92, Second 92/93.
Represented Great Britain in Portugal in 93 and the European championships at Menton France 93.
Winner Scottish Cup 1994.
Winner imp pairs Israeli Bridge Festival.
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Irving was my good friend.
1985 Winner Year end Harpers pairs London.
1985 Bronze Medal Maccabiah Games.
1987 Third Staten Bank Invitational pairs (Cap Gemini).
1989 Winner Proton Invitational teams Taiwan.
1989 Bronze Medal Maccabiah Games.
Winners of the Spring Foursomes, 1979. Barnet Shenkin, Irving Gordon, Victor Silverstone and Victor Goldberg.
Nickname Haggis. When Rose took ill in 1993. Barnet played with him at the 1993 Maccabiah Israel. They won a silver Medal.
The following year when Boris Schapiro was ill, Barnet played with Haggis in the Macallan (who had taken over the sponsorship of the Sunday Times). They finished a respectable 7th.
On two occasions they played and were very fortunate to finish first in the Portland Pairs. This is a simultaneous national mixed pairs event played in different centers in Britain held over two days 3 sessions.
"In 1998 I moved to USA. The partner of my golfing friend Mike Becker was not available so I played with him in the Reisinger .Our team Bobby Wolff and Dan Morse Hugh Ross and the late Peter Nagy led during the last session. We finished a very close third".
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An old friend Barnet had met in 1972 they got together and played some in 1999. They reached the quarter finals of the Vanderbilt before losing by 3imps in the quarter final. Then they were in a team that won the National Swiss at Vancouver.
Sam is a tough partner. A kibitzer watching them play came up to Barnet later and asked me how they did. "We won 20-0 ", he told her. Oh was the reply "By the sound of your partner I thought you had lost 20-0".
The same year they reached the semi-final of the Spingold but then had the customary loss to Nickell. However Barnet did take some pleasure in their team defeating Zia-Rosenberg, Levin - Weinstein on the way there.
Barnet has been friendly with Zia since the early seventies and has eaten many curries with him. His choice of dishes is usually excellent.
The whole time Barnet lived in Britain he only played with him one time in a Gold Cup team. Their team reached the finals but Zia was elsewhere on a ship making a program for TV. Our team finished second.
He played on two occasions with him in Iceland 1999 and 2000. Each time they won the teams and were third in the pairs. Had Barnet played better they would have won both events.
For more information on Zia see characters.
A friend from Glasgow who also had settled in Boca Raton. They played for a year in the Nationals. They played twice with Boye Brogeland and Erick Saelsminde, Norway.
In the Vanderbilt in Washington Alabama they played a match v Onstott that went to double overtime. All the playing rooms were closed they had to score outside in the carpark. They won but lost a close match to Cayne the next day. The same year they finished second in the National Swiss Teams playing with Benito Garozzo and Lea Dupont.
They played a few nationals and finished 4th in the Blue Ribbon Pairs. In the team trials they reached the quarter finals but then lost a close match.
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When Barnet and Maggie moved to Boca they became friends with Mark and Janice. Barnet played golf with Mark who was a fine player.
In the year 2001 they played in the team trials for the Bermuda Bowl on team Ekeblad. Two teams were to qualify that year. Instead of taking 1-2 they had a repechage idea when defeated teams could get back in.
Surprisingly their team made the final undefeated and even more surprisingly they led Nickell after 105 boards of the 120 board final. Although Mark and Barnet had a decent final set against Meckstroth- Rodwell it proved 15 boards two many and Nickell prevailed as usual.
They then lost a second final against Rose Melzer who went on to win the Bermuda Bowl.
Barnet played one more time with Mark in Montreal in the Rosenblum. They qualified for the Ko’s but lost to a strong Indonesian team that made the final.
Mark was a good friend to many and his early passing was a shock and loss to his family and many friends.
Bob and Ora were friends of Barnet and Maggie who run the bridge club in Boca. They teamed up last minute to play in the 2003 Vanderbilt. Their team was Kamil-Fleisher Pavlicek-Rautenberg. They had a completely unexpected run reaching the final . They disposed of Cayne on the way, a team containing Levin-Weinstein. In the final they played --- you guessed it - Nickell who played way too well to give them any chance. They earned a bye to a late stage of the team trials but the team elected to pass. They also played more recently in a Reisinger team last minute in 2007. They made the final day and were running well but faded at the end.
Barnet played on two occasions with Marty. They finished 4th in the national imp pairs and they played in the National Swiss in Orlando 2004 and were part of the winning team.
In 2004 they started to play together and were part of the team that won the Grand Nationals. The following year they lost in the final.
Members of the winning squad in the GNT, Championship flight: front, Barnet Shenkin, Jim Mahaffey and Michael Seamon; rear, Jeff Meckstroth, Gary Cohler and Eric Rodwell
In 2006 they reached the quarter final of the World Championship in Verona, Italy.
In 2007 they played two big tournaments in China and in Turkey. In China 30 teams they led the Swiss but lost early in the KO. Turkey was an Open European Championship with a large field. They again led the Swiss but lost in the round of 16.
In 2006 they played a regional 4 handed in Naples with Balicki-Zmudzinski and won their first 11 matches.
In 2007 they played in Orlando with Pepsi-Zmudzinski and won 8 running matches.
One thing about being on a team with Mahaffey you would not go hungry. He enjoys good food and wine.
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