| 1st World Mind Sports Games | Page 3 | Bulletin 8 - Sunday 12 October 2008 |
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Open Teams R13, Brazil v Denmark by Phillip Alder Before the start of this round, Denmark was third in Group A, 13 victory points ahead of fifth. Brazil was doing worse than expected, down in eighth, 12 victory points behind fourth, the last qualifying spot. This would be a good moment for Brazil to have an emphatic victory. I went into the Open Room, where Miguel Villas-Boas and the mercurial Gabriel Chagas were taking on Morten Bilde and Jorgen Hansen. One advantage of watching Chagas is that play proceeds at a respectable pace. We were through the 16 boards in 90 minutes. At the other table, Marcelo Branco and Diego Brenner faced Michael Askgaard and Gregers Bjarnarson. First, think about a bidding problem. With only your side vulnerable, you hold:
(a) 15-plus balanced or any 16-plus In the Open Room, Bilde led the spade seven, which ran to declarer's queen. Chagas led the heart king from his hand. West took his ace and returned a spade, declarer ducking this round and taking the next, East deceptively leading the jack, not the king. Now South had to take a heart finesse, running the ten. But trying to keep East off the lead, Chagas fatally played a heart to his queen and another heart. West won with his jack and, suitably deceived, shifted to a low club. It did not matter, though, because declarer had only eight tricks: two spades, two hearts, one diamond and three clubs. East had to get in with his diamond king to cash the spade king for down one. At the other table, a spade lead would have been fatal, but West understandably selected the heart six. Bjarnarson rose with dummy's king, played a diamond to his queen, and ducked a diamond to East's eight. A heart to West's ace and a heart to dummy's queen was followed by the diamond ace (no luck) and a diamond, putting East on lead, West having discarded two clubs and South having pitched his last heart. That left this position:
East's best play now was a spade, then, after declarer wins with dummy's queen and plays another spade, putting in the jack or king. Perhaps South would have read East for only three spades and tried another endplay. However, holding the king-jack, looking at the queen in the dummy and knowing declarer had the ace, did not make that look too clever. But when East returned a club, declarer took West's queen with dummy's ace, played a club to his jack and cashed the club king, West discarding the spade two. Having lost three tricks already, South had to assume East held the spade king. Declarer led a low spade, putting in dummy's nine when West played low. East took the jack and returned the seven, but declarer played low from his hand to make his contract. Plus 50 and plus 400 gave Denmark 10 IMPs. If you look at the deal using Deep Finesse, it will tell you that North can win nine tricks in notrump, but South can be held to eight. Here, though, North took eight and South nine. Humans will be humans. Momentarily back to the initial bidding problem. If you open one diamond, lefty overcalls one heart, partner makes a negative double to show four spades, and righty cue-bids two diamonds to indicate a game-invitational hand with heart support. What would you do now? Board 4 was flat, unlike...
I was sitting behind Hanson. When South bid two spades, I thought it would be a good idea to rebid three clubs in case the opposition went to four spades. But he jumped to four hearts and Chagas passed. Ah, I thought, no problem. Wrong! It went back to Villas-Boas, who surprised everyone by now bidding four spades. How could he bid only two spades, then, vulnerable against not, bid four spades? It seemed IMPossible -- until we saw his hand a moment later. Against four spades doubled, West began with three rounds of clubs. Declarer ruffed and played a spade to dummy's ace, East dropping the queen. Thinking that West had started with three spades and therefore short diamonds, South now played a diamond to his jack. When that held, declarer played a spade to dummy's ten. It lost to East's jack, but Villas-Boas claimed his contract. If Villas-Boas had jumped straight to four spades over two diamonds, surely West would have bid five hearts and the big score would have been lost. In the Closed Room, Bjarnarson opened three diamonds, as I suspect would many modern players. But when it went three hearts - pass - four hearts, he did not have the courage to bid four spades. North cashed his two top spades, then, thinking his partner had seven diamonds for his unfavorable-vulnerability pre-empt, and never guessing he could also have five spades, played a third spade. Branco ruffed in the dummy and discarded his diamond loser. And guessing what had happened, declarer played a low heart from the dummy, immediately claiming 11 tricks when South discarded. Plus 790 and plus 450 gave Brazil 15 IMPs. This board also had its weird side.
The bidding in the Closed Room was surprising. Once East heard of a spade fit, it looks strange not to have bid again. And one would have expected South to have made some sort of game-try, once his partner showed club length with, presumably, some diamond fit. West led a trump against three diamonds, East winning with his king and shifting to the heart king. Declarer took his 11 tricks: one heart, five diamonds and five clubs. When Chagas tried for game in notrump because of his diamond fit, East was happy to go quietly. Then he made the dirty-trick lead of the heart king. Declarer took the second heart in the dummy and ran the diamond queen, so went down two. There is something unsporting about bidding one suit and defeating the opponents' contract in a suit you did not mention. Plus 150 and plus 100 gave Denmark 6 IMPs. The next sizable swing was an echo of Board 5 and that last deal.
Bilde thought for ages over three notrump, as who would not? Eventually he passed. If East had passed quickly, Villas-Boas might have been there with four hearts. But now he decided to remain silent. North led a club, South smoothly winning with his ace and shifting to the heart jack. Five heart tricks later, that was down two with both five diamonds and five spades no sweat. Once again three notrump had been defeated with a suit the opposition did not have the courtesy to mention in the auction. In the other room, Brenner maintained the table style by pre-empting three diamonds. After that, an exciting auction ended in five hearts doubled, losing one spade, one diamond and two clubs. Plus 200 and plus 500 gave Brazil 12 IMPs and the lead by 31-18. With only the opponents vulnerable, you pick up:
What would you do? This was a good deal for the Bilde-Hansen methods, which I noticed Duboin and Sementa are also using. Bilde's two-heart rebid showed a limited opening bid, because with a good hand and both majors he would have rebid two clubs. Now Hansen had no inclination to bid again. The defense was accurate, holding declarer to eight tricks. In the other room, Branco raised to three hearts, and Brenner went on to four. The defense was less than perfect, but it is still took four tricks for down one. Plus 110 and plus 50 gave Denmark 4 IMPs. This was the only other exciting deal:
In the Open Room, the Danes use Acol, so one heart promised only four. This dissuaded West from jumping to three hearts. And East, despite his club void, went for the plus score. West led the heart two. East took two tricks in the suit and declarer conceded a spade for down one. Brenner, after hearing that his partner had four-card heart support, leapt to six hearts, which would have been one too high. But Bjarnarson wasn't going to risk that at IMP scoring, sacrificing in seven clubs. West led a heart, so the contract went down three. Minus 100 and plus 500 gave Brazil 9 IMPs. The final margin was 43-23 to Brazil, or 20-10 in victory points. However, neither team changed places in the table, Denmark remaining third, but now only 9 victory points ahead of fifth, and Brazilian staying eighth, but only 5 victory points behind fourth. |
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