Argentina v Brazil

Orbis Venice Cup - Round 13

Though neither Argentine not Brazil looked likely to make the top eight in the Venice Cup round robin, matches between these long-time South American rivals are always fiercely contested. Their Round 13 match started with a bang with 42 IMPs changing hands in the first four boards.

Board 1. Dealer North. Love All ª 8 6 4 © 10 3 2 ¨ A K 6 § Q 10 9 8 ª A K 9 ª J 5 © K 4 © A Q J 8 6 5 ¨ Q J 9 8 3 2 ¨ 10 § A J § K 7 3 2 ª Q 10 7 3 2 © 9 7 ¨ 7 5 4 § 6 5 4

West North East South Tajtelbaum Esp.-Paz Amaral Safra Pass 1© Pass 2¨ Pass 2© Pass 3¨ Pass 3NT Pass 4§ Pass 4© All Pass

West North East South Iacarpato Gomes Garateguy Sampaio Pass 1© Pass 2¨ Pass 2© Pass 4NT Pass 5§ Pass 6© All Pass

For Brazil, Lia Tajtelbaum was prepared to leave the final decision about slam to her partner.

She showed a good hand by bidding round the houses but Marina Amaral was not sufficiently excited to go past game; +480.

In the other room, Malena Iacaprato simply too control with RKCB and bid the slam on finding that her partner had one key card.

On a club lead, Charo Garateguy could have played to ruff two clubs in dummy, but preferred to play on diamonds. The opening lead went to the jack, queen and king, and Garateguy played her diamond at trick two. Irene Gomes won the ace and returned a club to the ace.

When declarer played the diamond queen, she covered and Garateguy could ruff, draw trumps and claim; +980 and 11 IMPs to Argentina.

Board 2. Dealer East. NS Game ª K J 10 2 © J 9 6 ¨ A Q J § 9 3 2 ª 8 6 ª A Q 5 © K Q 10 © A 7 4 ¨ K 8 6 ¨ 5 3 2 § K Q 10 8 5 § A J 7 6 ª 9 7 4 3 © 8 5 3 2 ¨ 10 9 7 4 § 4

West North East South Iacarpato Gomes Garateguy Sampaio   1§ Pass 3§ Pass 4NT Pass 5§ All Pass

Three Clubs was a forcing raise and Garateguy asked for key cards but then settled for game on finding that a key card was missing. The opening lead was a heart to dummy's king. Declarer drew three rounds of clubs, eliminated the hearts and took the spade finesse. Then she played a diamond to the king and lost three diamond tricks for down one; -50.

There is a small extra chance which comes in. After drawing trumps, take the spade finesse and eliminate the spades then hearts before leading a diamond towards the king. South can play the ten, which seems from declarer's point of view to be good enough to avoid the endplay. However, it costs nothing to duck the first diamond anyway, and when North has her actual holding she has to overtake and is endplayed to let the contract make.

In the other room, the Brazilians bid 1NT - 3NT. After a diamond lead and spade switch, declarer made an overtrick; +430 and 10 IMPs to Brazil.

Board 3. Dealer South. EW Game ª A 7 4 © K 10 9 4 ¨ A 10 8 6 § 10 8 ª J 8 6 3 2 ª 9 5 © A J 8 5 3 © Q 2 ¨ K Q 4 ¨ 9 7 3 2 § — § J 7 5 4 2 ª K Q 10 © 7 6 ¨ J 5 § A K Q 9 6 3

West North East South Iacarpato Gomes Garateguy Sampaio     1§ 2¨ Dble Pass 3NT All Pass

West North East South Tajtelbaum Esp.-Paz Amaral Safra     1§ 2NT Dble Pass Pass 3© Dble All Pass

Showing both majors via a 2¨ overcall proved to be much safer than showing them by bidding an unusual Two No Trump. Where Iacaprato overcalled Two Diamonds, Gomes made a negative double and Marta Sampaio jumped to Three No Trump. She made that easily enough after a spade lead, but +430 was not enough to cover the action at the other table.

Tajtelbaum overcalled Two NO Trump and Maria-Teresa Espinosa-Paz doubled then doubled again when Tajtelbaum removed herself to Three Hearts. Espinosa-Paz led a club and Tajtelbaum ruffed and gave up a spade. Chantal Safra won the spade and switched to the jack of diamonds to the king and ace. Back came a second club. Again declarer ruffed and gave up a spade, won by South. A third club came through and she ruffed. North over-ruffed and returned a trump. Declarer won and took a spade ruff but had only one more trump trick to come; three down for -800 and 9 IMPs to Argentina.

Board 4. Dealer West. Game All ª Q 10 9 6 5 3 © 3 2 ¨ A J 10 § 7 6 ª K J 8 7 ª — © J 7 6 5 © A 8 4 ¨ 3 ¨ K Q 9 8 7 4 § A Q 9 3 § K 8 5 4 ª A 4 2 © K Q 10 9 ¨ 6 5 2 § J 10 2

West North East South Iacarpato Gomes Garateguy Sampaio 1§ 2ª 3¨ 3ª Pass Pass 4§ Pass 5§ All Pass

West North East South Tajtelbaum Esp.-Paz Amaral Safra Pass 2ª 3¨ Pass 3NT All Pass

Iacaprato's thin One Club opening worked well as it helped her side to reach Five Clubs. A heart lead might have been more taxing, but on the actual spade lead declarer could throw a heart from dummy, win the heart switch and cross to hand with a trump to pitch the remaining heart on the king of spades. With diamonds 3-3 onside and trumps 3-2, there was nothing the defense could do; +600.

Tajtelbaum did not open the West hand. Espinosa-Paz opened a weak two as North and Amaral overcalled Three Diamonds. Tajtelbaum responded Three No Trump, as who would not, but her lack of a second diamond meant that she had no good source of tricks in that contract. She was one down for -100 and 12 IMPs to Argentina, ahead by 32-10.

Board 6. Dealer East. EW Game ª K 9 © A 7 6 2 ¨ A 5 § A J 9 8 3 ª Q 6 5 2 ª A J 8 7 © Q 9 © 10 8 4 ¨ K 6 3 ¨ J 10 9 4 § 10 7 5 4 § Q 6 ª 10 4 3 © K J 5 3 ¨ Q 8 7 2 § K 2

West North East South Iacarpato Gomes Garateguy Sampaio   Pass Pass Pass 1NT Pass 2§ Pass 2© Pass 4© All Pass

If you do not open One No Trump on the North hand, the auction might get messy, and I would guess that this was a popular action around the room. The Brazilians had a standard Stayman auction to Four Hearts and Garateguy led the diamond jack, covered all round. Gomes played the king of clubs, a club to the ace and ruffed a club. Next she cashed the ace of hearts and made the key play of a heart to the king, dropping the queen. She just lost a diamond and two spades for +420.

West North East South Tajtelbaum Esp.-Paz Amaral Safra Pass Pass Pass 1NT Pass 2§ Pass 2¨ Pass 2ª Pass 3§ Pass 3¨ Pass 3NT All Pass

Espinosa-Paz also opened One No Trump. Something went wrong with the Puppet Stayman auction because the 4-4 heart fit was missed. Three No Trump is definitely inferior to Four Hearts and it duly failed. By two tricks when declarer was not up to dropping both the doubleton queens, which might have given her a chance. -100 meant 11 IMPs to Brazil, who closed to 21-32.

Argentina had a couple of useful gains to extend their lead to 45-21, then came something more substantial:

Board 10. Dealer East. Game All ª J 2 © J 6 ¨ 8 § A K Q J 10 7 5 2 ª 10 9 5 3 ª Q 6 © Q 10 5 © K 9 7 3 ¨ K J 10 7 2 ¨ A 9 4 3 § 8 § 9 4 3 ª A K 8 7 4 © A 8 4 2 ¨ Q 6 5 § 6

West North East South Iacarpato Gomes Garateguy Sampaio   Pass 1ª Pass 2§ Pass 2© Pass 4NT Pass 5© Pass 6§ All Pass

West North East South Tajtelbaum Esp.-Paz Amaral Safra   Pass 1ª Pass 2§ Pass 2© Pass 5§ All Pass

Is there no middle ground between launching into Blackwood and effectively signing-off in game? The defense to the slam started with two rounds of diamonds, giving declarer some hope. However, when the spades failed to divide evenly, she Gomes had to go one down for -100 and 12 IMPs to Argentina for stopping safely in game in the other room. It seems that Argentina outbid their opponents on the board, but would South have gone on to Six Clubs if she had also held the ªQ or ©K? I think not.

Board 12. Dealer West. NS Game ª A Q 2 © A K 10 5 4 ¨ A 7 2 § K 8 ª K 6 5 ª J 7 3 © Q J © 8 7 3 ¨ K Q 8 6 ¨ J 10 9 4 § Q J 9 2 § 10 6 4 ª 10 9 8 4 © 9 6 2 ¨ 5 3 § A 7 5 3

West North East South Iacarpato Gomes Garateguy Sampaio 1§ Dble Pass 1ª Pass 2© Pass 3© Pass 4© All Pass

West North East South Tajtelbaum Esp.-Paz Amaral Safra 1§ Dble Pass 1ª Pass 2© All Pass

Sampaio outbid Safra on this one. After an identical start to the auction, Sampaio put more trust in her partner's combination of double then bid her suit, by inviting game. Gomes quickly raised herself to game and that was +650 against +200 in the other room; 10 IMPs to Brazil.

Argentina led by 62-40 with three boards to go.

Board 18. Dealer East. NS Game ª 7 6 5 2 © 9 6 4 ¨ Q 3 § A J 9 5 ª 8 ª K 3 © A Q 10 7 3 © K J 8 5 2 ¨ 9 7 ¨ A J 8 4 2 § Q 7 6 4 2 § 8 ª A Q J 10 9 4 © — ¨ K 10 6 5 § K 10 3

West North East South Iacarpato Gomes Garateguy Sampaio   1© 1ª 3ª 4ª 5© 5ª Pass Pass 6© 6ª All Pass

Three Spades was a splinter in support of hearts and Gomes did well to raise to Four Spades on the North cards given the vulnerability. That enabled Sampaio to compete with Five Spades over Five Hearts. Garateguy went on to Six Hearts, which is only one off and could even make on the lead of the ace of spades. With a shrug of her shoulders, Sampaio went on to Six Spades, ending the auction.

Six Spades can be made double dummy, but is unlikely to be made in practice as declarer must take a first round club finesse to get to dummy to pick up the spade. Sampaio ruffed the heart lead and played a diamond to the queen and ace. She ruffed the heart return and tried to get to dummy by ruffing the third diamond. When Iacaprato could ruff in with the eight in front of dummy, the contract had to fail. Iacaprato returned a club, run to declarer's ten. Disappointed to have gone down, Sampaio had taken her eye off the ball and now played a second club in an attempt to get to dummy, so suffered a second ruff for down two; -200.

West North East South Tajtelbaum Esp.-Paz Amaral Safra   1© 1ª 4© 4ª 5© All Pass

But -200 proved to be enough to win the board for Brazil. In the other room, Tajtelbaum made a straightforward raise to Four Hearts and again North, Espinosa-Paz, did well to compete with Four Spades. When Amaral bid on to Five Hearts, Safra passed! That is a surprising decision - perhaps she assumed that her pass was forcing, though there seems no reason why it should be. The lead of the ace of spades meant that dummy's diamond loser could be discarded and Amaral came home with 11 tricks for +450 and 6 IMPs to Brazil. Both teams ended the match by bidding to a cold slam. Sampaio made a simple One Diamond response then cuebid to force to game. She discovered that Gomes had long clubs and four hearts but no spade stopper or diamond tolerance. Slam did not have to be laydown, but it seemed practical to bid it. Sampaio chose Six No Trump. She won the heart lead in hand and played ace of clubs and a club to the ten and queen. She had 12 tricks for +1440. Safra started with a strong jump shift. She followed up by showing her spade controls and secondary club support, allowing Espinosa-Paz to bid Six Clubs. That was cold for +1370 but 2 IMPs to Brazil.

The final score was 62-48 to Argentina, converting to 18-12 VPs.