Rough Start

by Brent Manley

As the host nation for the tournament, China made the first appearance on vugraph at the world championships. All in all, the first day was not what the hosts had hoped for. This was one of their early missteps.

Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	♠ Q J 5 ♥ K 4 3 ♦ Q J 9 8 4 3 2 ♣
♠ A K 10 8 4 2 ♥ 8 5 ♦ 5 ♣ K Q 10 8		♠ 6 ♥ J 10 7 2 ♦ A 7 ♣ J 9 6 5 4 2
	♠ 9 7 3 ♥ A Q 9 6 ♦ K 10 6 ♣ A 7 3

Peter Trenka started with his singleton spade, taken by Peter Barczy with the king. He switched to the ♣K at trick two, and when Fu Zhong showed out, there was nothing to the defense. Declarer was limited to five tricks for minus 200.

Haojun Shi started with the ♠A, switching to the ♣K, ducked by Laszlo Harangozo. The next card out of West’s hand was the ♣8, but Zejun Zhuang made the good decision to play low, keeping the suit from blocking. Harangozo won the ♣A and played a diamond. Zhuang won the ♦A and returned a club. Shi, who apparently forgot that the ♣8 knocked out the ace earlier, won the ♣10 instead of playing the king, letting declarer off for two down. A huge swing for Hungary followed on the next board.

Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul.
	♠ A J 10 8 4 ♥ A 9 8 7 6 ♦ 2 ♣ 8 7
♠ Q 9 5 ♥ 10 4 2 ♦ K Q 8 ♣ J 9 6 3		♠ ♥ K J 5 3 ♦ A J 10 9 7 4 ♣ K Q 10
	♠ K 7 6 3 2 ♥ Q ♦ 6 5 3 ♣ A 5 4 2

It takes a heart lead and a heart ruff (or a heart switch after the unlikely lead of the ♣A) to defeat 5♦. Even after Zhao led a spade, however, Trenka had to play well to land the doubled contract. Declarer ruffed the opening lead, pulled trumps, knocked out the ♣A, overtook the ♣10 with the jack, discarded a heart on the ♣9 and called for a low heart. With a count on the South hand, declarer knew his only chance was to find South with a singleton ♥Q. There were no more entries to dummy, so it would not help to find North with both missing heart honors. Declarer therefore put up the ♥K and was rewarded when the queen fell. He lost just two tricks for plus 750.

Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	♠ K 9 3 ♥ Q J 8 5 ♦ K 10 4 ♣ 6 5 3
♠ J 10 8 ♥ A 4 ♦ A J 7 5 2 ♣ J 10 8		♠ A Q 6 ♥ 10 6 3 2 ♦ Q 6 ♣ A K 4 2
	♠ 7 5 4 2 ♥ K 9 7 ♦ 9 8 3 ♣ Q 9 7

West	North	East	South
Barczy	Fu	Trenka	Zhao
	Pass	1NT	Pass
3NT	All Pass

South started with a spade to the jack, king and ace. The ♦Q was ducked all around, and at trick three declarer played a low club from hand. South played low, and dummy’s jack won. A club to the ace was followed by a diamond to the jack. North won and returned the ♥Q, but it was too late. Declarer had four diamonds, four clubs, three spades and a heart for plus 490. At the other table, declarer had to contend with a much more challenging lead.

West	North	East	South
Shi	Szalay	Zhuang	Harangozo
	Pass	1NT	Pass
3♣	Pass	3♦	Pass
3NT	All Pass

Harangozo found the diabolical lead of the ♥7. Zhuang looked this over for a time before rising with the ace. The contract is still makeable from there, but declarer must take care. A spade finesse should be followed by a club to the king and the ♦Q. North must duck or declarer’s task is trivial. After that, declarer plays to establish three club tricks (anything works) to go with three spades, two diamonds and one heart. At the table, Zhuang won the ♥A, played the ♠J, which held, then followed with the ♣J. Now he was doomed. The defense took their three heart tricks, leaving declarer one short – he had three spades, three clubs, one heart and one diamond. That was another 11 IMPs to Hungary, now leading 33-0. China was behind 33-3 when the team finally had a big swing.

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.
	♠ A J 9 8 6 ♥ K 8 ♦ K J 10 9 7 2 ♣
♠ 10 7 5 3 ♥ A J 4 3 ♦ A 3 ♣ Q J 2		♠ K 4 ♥ 10 7 6 5 2 ♦ 6 5 ♣ K 9 7 6
	♠ Q 2 ♥ Q 9 ♦ Q 8 4 ♣ A 10 8 5 4 3

Barczy’s uninspired led of a low spade made Zhao’s work easy. Zhao ducked in dummy, East won the ♠K and continued the suit. Zhao, in hand with the ♠Q, played a diamond to dummy, West ducking, pulled trumps and drove out the ♦A. The ♥A was the only other trick for the defense.

Zhuang and Shi did much better.

Zhuang started with a low club, taken by declarer with the ace. The ♠Q was passed to Zhuang’s king, and a second round of clubs began the forcing defense that declarer could not survive. He ruffed and played two high trumps, hoping for a 3-3 split. The 4-2 break was fatal, however, and declarer was two down for minus 100 and 11 IMPs to China. This deal, the penultimate of the set, helped China to a useful gain.

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	♠ Q 5 4 ♥ 10 7 4 ♦ A 10 6 ♣ Q 9 8 3
♠ 10 9 7 3 2 ♥ A Q 6 ♦ Q 2 ♣ 7 6 5		♠ A K 8 6 ♥ J 9 3 ♦ K J 9 7 3 ♣ 10
	♠ J ♥ K 8 5 2 ♦ 8 5 4 ♣ A K J 4 2

Perhaps it was the surprise of Shi’s jump to game after passing twice that prompted the rash double by North. The opening lead was a club. South won the ♣K and switched to the ♠J. From there, Shi had no difficulty figuring out the position of the spade suit, and he scored an overtrick for plus 690. The last deal gave China a chance to pull almost even in the match, but it worked out very badly instead.

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	♠ K 8 7 6 ♥ 5 ♦ A K J 10 9 ♣ 8 4 3
♠ Q 5 ♥ A Q 6 3 2 ♦ 6 5 3 ♣ A 7 2		♠ A 9 ♥ K 10 9 8 7 ♦ 7 ♣ K Q 10 9 5
	♠ J 10 4 3 2 ♥ J 4 ♦ Q 8 4 2 ♣ J 6

There was nothing to the play as Barczy scored up a disappointing plus 680. Disaster struck at the other table.

Zhuang’s 4♣ was obviously meant as a fit-showing jump, and he did well to press on with a cuebid of 4♠ after Shi signed off. Shi, obviously confused by the sequence, surprised everyone by passing 4♠. After a trump lead from South, Zhuang had four tricks for minus 600 and a15-IMP loss on a deal that could have earned the Chinese a 13-IMP swing.

The final score was 57-26 for Hungary.