| 12th World Team Olympiad | Page 2 | Bulletin 13 - Friday, 5 November 2004 |
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Russia v England by Mark Horton England, with four former World Champions, started out as heavy favourites to beat Russia in the semi final of the Women’s Teams. However, their less experienced opponents were providing stern opposition and enjoyed a six point lead as the third session got under way.
The weak two on a five card suit is one of the ultra aggressive methods built into the Brock/Teltscher system. North might have raised premptively, but it would not have been easy to silence East. North led the ten of clubs and declarer won in dummy and played a spade to the king and ace. She won the club return, drew trumps and eliminated clubs ending in dummy. North was down to ©A8 ¨KJ92, South ©KQ10 ¨863. Declarer played a heart and South’s ten was allowed to hold. She exited with a diamond and when declarer played the five North inexplicably played the king rather than the nine. Declarer won and was now in a apposition to make the contract by endplaying North, but unsure of the distribution she went for the alternative of cashing the ace of diamonds first so the contract was one down, -100.
North led the ace of hearts, not a universal choice perhaps, and continued the suit. Now the contract had no chance at all, so there was no swing.
Four Spades needed a friendly spade position. The king was onside, but too well guarded, so nine tricks were the limit, -100.
The same number of tricks gave Russia +140 and 6 IMPs.
That was a fine effort by the Russian pair. South led the king of spades and declarer won in dummy and played back the nine. South won and switched to the jack of diamonds but declarer could win in hand and play another spade and claim ten tricks, +430.
The English pair could not match the effort of their counterparts at the other table. Declarer played the overcaller for the ace of hearts so made only ten tricks, +130, but a loss of 7 IMPs.
Facing a 15-17 no trump South’s jump to game was very aggressive, and the bad club break meant game had very little chance. East led the queen of spades and declarer won and crossed to dummy with a diamond to play on clubs. The defenders made no mistakes, East winning the third round and switching to a heart before reverting to spades. Declarer finished with seven tricks, -100.
One Club was 12/14 or 18/20 balanced or 11-15, 4-4-4-1. Declarer won the opening lead of the queen of spades with the king and returned the suit. East won and switched to the jack of hearts. West won with the king and returned the suit but declarer was in control and easily made her contract, +90 and 5 IMPs for Russia, who were gradually moving ahead.
It is a matter of style as to how one should deal with the North
hand, especially when facing a passed partner.
West led the king of hearts and declarer won in dummy perforce and played a low diamond to West’s nine. The jack of spades was covered by the queen and king and East returned the suit. Declarer still had to lose a trump and a club for one down, -100 and 6 IMPs to England.
North might have been better to rebid 2NT once South had shown some values (2© would have been the negative response). Six Diamonds was a poor contract, but it had the merit of being played by South, as it made the killing lead of a spade almost impossible to find. Declarer took the opening lead of the ten of clubs in hand and played a diamond to the king. When that held she came back to hand and played a diamond to the queen and a diamond. +920.
East led the three of diamonds and West took the ace and returned the four. Declarer won and cashed the top spades. In due course she had to rely on the 3-3 diamond break, +990 and 2 IMPs. Now came a moment in the match which the superstitious might regard with interest. On Board 27 England scored 4 IMPs to bring their total to 111 – ‘Nelson’. In its simplest terms, a ‘Nelson’ is the score of 111 runs (222 equals a "double Nelson" etc) at cricket. It is considered to be extremely unlucky - i.e. the batsman will be out next ball etc. This belief is held most strongly (but not specifically) by the Australians. (Combing the books of cricketing statistics tells us that in losing the 1954-5 Ashes series 3-1, Australia was twice dismissed for 111, as they were in the famous Headingley Test of 1981, when Botham made 149 runs and Bob Willis then took 8-34. So why a Nelson? Suggestion 1. The origins of this term lie in the erroneous notion that Admiral Nelson had one eye, one arm, and one leg; in reality, of course, Nelson lost an arm and an eye but retained the use of both legs. Suggestion 2. It is possible that the number refers to three of his great naval victories, perhaps Copenhagen, the Nile, and Trafalgar: - thus giving won-won-won. And how to avoid the omen? There is an old Gloucestershire superstition that to avoid a dismissal on the next ball, all the team, except the batsman, must have their feet off the ground. Whenever the score is on a Nelson, double-Nelson etc. umpire David Shepherd hops in the air until the score changes. (I duly alerted the England Captain during the interval between sessions, which may explain why Alan Mould could be seen hoping at the start of the fourth session – it was almost an hour before England advanced their score.)
East led the four of diamonds and the defenders played two rounds of the suit. Declarer won, played the queen of hearts, covered by the king and ace, cashed her top clubs and the jack of hearts and exited with a heart. West won and cashed the queen of clubs, East who had earlier discarded the nine of spades now discarded the two. When West played the nine of diamonds East left her on lead and the commentators on Bridgebase were rather rude about West failure to switch to a spade, her diamond continuation allowing declarer to escape for two down. Of course they had missed a point. East should have overtaken the nine of diamonds and retuned the six. Then her partner could not possibly have gone wrong.
The defence made no mistake this time, holding declarer to five tricks for a flat board. However, England were still on the dreaded 111.
Played by East 3NT is a fair bet. South led the king of spades and declarer won and had to view the clubs. When she played the queen English hopes rose, but were quickly dashe when South won and switched to a heart. Declarer finessed and could clear the clubs for nine tricks, +600. At the point where South switched to a heart it looks as if a low spade will lead to the defeat of the contract, but the contract might still be made if declarer takes an inspired view. She wins in dummy with the jack and takes the king and queen of diamonds. She cashes the king of clubs and when the jack does not appear the best play is to simply exit with a spade. In the nicest variation South can win, cash two more spades and lead a heart. Declarer finesses and then the ace of hearts squeezes North in the minors.
West’s dubious overcall meant North was on lead and the contract had no chance. Declarer lost four spades, and two clubs to go two down, -200 and 13 IMPs, easily the biggest swing of the set – nemesis immediately struck again:
Over the 15-17 no trump rebid Two Clubs would have been forcing, but South naturally preferred the more descriptive invitational bid. With good support for both her partner’s suits North’s decision to bid only Three Spades was somewhat conservative. South took no risks in the play and made exactly nine tricks, +140.
East led a diamond and declarer won with the ace and played a heart. East went in with the ace and switched to the king of clubs. West overtook that and played a diamond and declarer won, crossed to dummy with a heart and played a spade to the queen. East could win, but that was the last trick for the defence. +620 gave Russia another 10 IMPs. England could not advance their score on the final deal of the set. They were in serious trouble, almost sixty IMPs behind – and still on the dreaded number. |
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