| 37th World Team Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 11 - Wednesday 2 November 2005 |
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Sweden v Egypt (Bermuda Bowl) Not In The Cards Going into the fifth set of their Bermuda Bowl quarter-final match against Sweden, Egypt were in need of a rally. They trailed by 40 IMPs and required some swings. With 32 boards to play, there was still time for the Egyptians to make a move. This deal, the second of the set, did not help the Egyptian cause.
Peter Bertheau could not bid his long club suit at his first turn because it would have sounded like a cuebid in support of diamonds and, when the bidding came back to him, he would have had to bid at the four level, so went quietly. Fredik Nystrom started against 3♥ with the ♦K. Bertheau ruffed out the ace and returned a heart. Tarek Nadim went up with the trump ace and played another trump. Nystrom won the ♥K, cashed two more diamonds and played a club to his partner’s queen. A second round of clubs was ruffed in dummy, followed by a spade to the ace. Nystrom discarded his second spade when Nadim played the ♣J from hand to ruff, so Nystrom could ruff the ♠K for the second undertrick; Plus 100 to Sweden.
Magus Lindkvist’s 1♥ bid showed spades. Walid El Ahmady showed his good club suit at his second opportunity, thenoptimistically bid the notrump game at his next chance. Tarek Sadek obviously thought the 3NT bid indicated some sort of support for diamonds. El Ahmady could have taken eight tricks in 3NT, but he was two down for Minus 500 in 5♣. Egypt now trailed 182-130. The margin had grown to 187-130 when this deal came up - more bad news for Egypt.
It’s likely Bertheau would have led a heart against 3NT even if Nystrom had not doubled East’s cuebid. But althoughMohamed Samy Ahmed Heshmat was sufficiently warned that 3NT was going to be a dicey enterprise, he bid it anyway and was quickly two down.
The defense by Peter Fredin and Lindkvist was deadly accurate. Fredin started with a heart to the jack and ace (Lindkvist’s 1NT rebid showed clubs - it was a coincidence that he had a stopper in hearts). El Ahmady got out of his hand with a diamond to the ♦10 and West’s jack. A spade came back, taken by the ace. El Ahmady played a heart to the king in dummy, followed by a club to his king. Now he could only play a spade, but Fredin won the queen and played a diamond, ruffed by declarer. Another spade went to the queen, and a third round of diamonds was ruffed. El Ahmady played a heart to West’s queen, but Lindkvist still had a diamond to exit with and declarer was two down. That was a further 9 IMPs to Sweden. The Swedes tacked on another 4 IMPs on a deal that might have represented a swing for Egypt.
Heshmat and Nadim bid well to a good contract, and Nadim played expertly. He ruffed the second heart, cashed the ♠A and played a spade to dummy’s queen. He then overtook the ♦K with the ace and ran three more tricks in that suit. The defense was limited to two trump tricks and one heart, and Nadim had a good Plus 420. No doubt he was disappointed to learn later that his team lost 4 IMPs.
As Sweden appeared to be headed for the club slam (Fredin, however, apparently had the Pass card out), El Ahmady’s double of 5♣ was nominated by one of the vugraph commentators for a less-than-complimentary bidding award. There were lines of play that might have resulted in a defeated contract, but Fredin did not select any of them. Sadek started with the ♥A and continued with the king (El Ahmady playing a deceptive queen). Fredin ruffed, played a spade to the queen and a low club from dummy. El Ahmady split his club honors, Fredin winning with the trump ace. He then cashed the ♠K and played the ♦J from hand. The ♦A was next, followed by the ♦Q. Fredin ruffed the fourth round of diamonds high in dummy and played a low heart. El Ahmady had no answer for this. He ruffed with the ♣7, but Fredin overruffed and could claim. He could play the ♠K, discarding a heart. El Ahmady, down to all trumps, could ruff but then would be on lead with the ♣J 5 to play into dummy’s ♣Q 8. That was Plus 550 and more IMPs for Sweden. The final board of the set was a fitting end to a disastrous effort by Egypt.
El Ahmady had no difficulty with this contract, and in fact finished with 11 tricks for Plus 150 after Fredin started thedefense by leading the ♦Q. He later continued the suit, eliminating declarer’s natural loser in trumps, and the Swedes both pitched spades as the defense progressed to give El Ahmady an extra trick in that suit.
Bertheau’s 1♥ bid did not necessarily show hearts, so Nadim’s double is not completely unreasonable. It did not work out well, however, as Bertheau was not unhappy to be doubled at the one level, especially after he saw dummy. Nadim started with the ♠8 to the three, queen and ace. The ♣K went to East’s ace. The ♥Q won trick three after Nadim switched to a trump. A club was ruffed, the top two diamonds cashed, then a spade went to the king in dummy and a third club was ruffed. Bertheau got out of his hand with a spade to East’s jack. Nadim had nothing left but trumps, so he had to lead into the ♥A J in declarer’s hand for the second overtrick. That was Plus 360 and 5 IMPs to Sweden in a 53-6 pasting of their opponents. |
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