| 1st World Mind Sports Games | Page 3 | Bulletin 7 - Saturday 11 October 2008 |
| |
||
|
WOMEN TEAMS R14, England v Poland “For all sad words of tongue or pen, the
saddest are these: It might have been.” by Mark Horton The first records of British-Polish contacts are from the 11th century (for example, the Polish cavalry invaded England with Canute, King of Denmark!). Thereafter, relations between the two countries were mainly friendly rather than close; neither mattered that much to the other. However, for much of this period Poland was a larger and more powerful player on the European stage than England. Nevertheless, history is full of "might have beens", for example the possible marriage between Mary Tudor, daughter of English King Henry VIII, and Polish King Zygmunt August. Zygmunt may or may not have had a lucky escape! The match between England, runaway leaders of Group E, and fourth-placed Poland featured some difficult deals. There was some excellent bridge, combined with a number of missed opportunities.
Open Room
Facing a third in hand five-card major opening, East was happy to content herself with a raise to the two level. North led the seven of clubs and South took the ace and switched to the five of spades. That ran to dummy’s queen and the jack of diamonds was taken by North’s queen. Declarer won the spade switch with the ace, cashed the queen of clubs, ruffed a diamond and cashed the king of clubs, pitching a diamond. There were several ways to make the contract now – indeed, if declarer decides to ruff a spade with the six of hearts an overtrick will be made. In practice declarer ruffed a spade with the two of hearts, so she made eight tricks, +110. Closed Room
East used Drury to discover that West had a normal opening. Why West made another move is hard to say. North led the ten of spades and when dummy’s queen held the trick declarer ran the jack of diamonds to North’s queen. A spade came back to the ace and declarer ruffed a diamond. A club to the queen allowed declarer to ruff another diamond and she then ruffed a spade with the two of hearts. North overruffed, and at this point a club should lead to two down. However, not unreasonably North played the king of hearts to pin dummy’s queen. That meant declarer could escape for one down, -50 – 4 IMPs to England.
Open Room
West could not support clubs, as the opening bid might have been based on a singleton. West led her diamond and East won and returned the nine of diamonds. West ruffed and played a spade. East won with the king and played another diamond, West ruffing and playing another spade. That textbook defence left declarer down before she had started, -100. Closed Room
When West led the king of clubs declarer could win, draw trumps and knock out the ace of diamonds for +620 and 12 IMPs. Do you think the auction suggests that North had a diamond fit, making the singleton lead more attractive?
Open Room
2NT promised 5/5 in the minors, or 6 plus diamonds. East’s raise to Three Hearts was in line with the aggressive approach of the partnership, but it was simply too high. Declarer did well to emerge with eight tricks, -50. Closed Room
I suspect that facing a partner who had bid all on her own to the three level South, with both majors under control, would have doubled 3NT, but as it was she was able to double Four Hearts, and then the retreat to Four Spades. Declarer did not make the best of the play, and finished three down, -500 giving England 10 IMPs.
Open Room
South led the three of spades and declarer won with dummy’s nine and played the nine of hearts, overtaking with the ten. She continued with hearts, discarding diamonds and North won the third round and played a spade, ducked to dummy’s ten. South won the next spade and exited with a spade. There was no real chance for declarer now, and she had to go one down, -100. Of course, with all four hands on view you can see that if declarer wins the first trick in hand with the king of spades and advances the queen of clubs the contract will eventually roll home thanks to the equally favourable diamond position. Discussing this deal over dinner, we eventually concluded that declarer probably has to hope for this type of situation to exist, but we had unlimited time to think about it, whereas declarer has only a few minutes. Closed Room
This time West was the declarer, and North led the six of spades. Declarer won in hand with the ten and played the king of diamonds. North took the ace and played another spade. When South elected to take dummy’s seven with the ace the hand was essentially over. South’s club switch was taken by the nine and declarer played the jack of diamonds, discarding dummy’s king of spades. North won and played a club and declarer took the king with the ace, cashed two spades and played a heart. One way or another she had to come to nine tricks, +600 and 12 welcome IMPs for Poland.
Open Room
You will recall that One Club could be based on a singleton, but as the auction developed West inferred that was not the case and the sound club contract was duly reached. There was nothing to the play, +110. Closed Room
Facing a 10-14 Two Club opener West took an optimistic shot at game, but North led the king of diamonds and the contract was swiftly two down, -200 adding 7 IMPs to England’s total.
Open Room
East led the five of clubs and declarer won with dummy’s ace and played two rounds of hearts. West won and played a second club, ruffed by declarer, who now made the strange play of a spade to the nine. West won with the jack, and returned a spade and with East withholding the king declarer had to lose two diamond tricks and was one down, -100. With careful play declarer can make eleven tricks, but a simple line for ten is to ruff a club at trick two, and then play two rounds of trumps. Closed Room
When North declined to overcall E/W stole the pot. 1NT was rapidly put to the sword by a heart lead, finishing two down, -200. That gave 5 IMPs to England – a big opportunity missed by Poland.
Open Room
In this position 1NT was 15-17 and might include a singleton, but preferring that to opening one of a minor is obviously a matter of style. There was obviously a misunderstanding about the meaning of East’s double, and when West passed East naturally assume her partner had some trumps. She started by cashing the king of spades and the ace of hearts, so declarer made an overtrick, +870. Closed Room
Four Hearts is simply too high – and the way the play went the defenders missed a chance to promote West’s queen of hearts, but it made no difference, +100 gave Poland 14 IMPs.
Open Room
North/South reached a sound spot. East led the eight of diamonds and declarer won with dummy’s queen and set about the spades, cashing the ace and then running the queen. It did not matter what East did – she elected to duck – declarer was bound to make an overtrick, +420. Closed Room
The stakes were much higher this time. At double dummy a low heart should defeat Six Clubs, but East, not unreasonably, led the eight of spades. Declarer took the free finesse, pitching a diamond – and that was already fatal. (Declarer has to discard a heart, then ruff a spade and play a diamond to secure a second trick in the suit and an entry to dummy. She can ruff another spade in due course, setting up the suit and then draw trumps, reaching dummy by ruffing a heart, or more spectacularly the ace of diamonds.) She cashed the ace of spades for another diamond pitch, ruffed a spade, cashed the ace of diamonds, ruffed a heart, ruffed a diamond and ruffed a heart. West overruffed and returned a trump, so that was two down, -200, 11 IMPs to Poland. Of course, one can forgive declarer, it was the last board and after trick one the contract looks cold – but that is the time to be especially careful. England had demonstrated why they were on top of the group, but Poland had salvaged something at the end and kept their hopes alive. The final score was England 51 Poland 40, which translated to 17-13 VP. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
| Page 3 |
