Italy v Netherlads - Final Session 1

Italy and the Netherlands settled in Thursday morning for the first set of a long match of 128 boards, and the two teams served notice that it will be an entertaining and competitive championship round.

Italy picked up 1 IMP on the second board of the match and added 5 more when Bas Drijver mistimed the play in 2©.

Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª Q 7 © Q J 9 7 ¨ 10 4 2 § A 9 8 3
ª 8 3 © A 10 8 6 3 ¨ A Q 6 3 § Q 4		ª K J 6 5 2 © 5 4 2 ¨ 9 5 § K 6 5
	ª A 10 9 4 © K ¨ K J 8 7 § J 10 7 2

West	North	East	South
Versace	Prooijen	Lauria	Brink
			1§
1©	1ª	2©	All Pass

Ricco van Prooijen’s 1ª bid denied as many as four spades. He started with the ¨4 to the king and ace, and Alfredo Versace cashed the ¨Q and ruffed a diamond, continuing with a club to the queen and ace. A spade went to the jack and ace, and a club was returned to the king, followed by a club ruff and another diamond ruff. Declarer lost three trumps and two black aces but was home with eight tricks for plus 110.

West	North	East	South
Schollaardt	Bocchi	Drijver	Duboin
			1§
1ª	Dble	2©	All Pass

Maarten Schollaardt’s 1ª bid showed spades or hearts and a minor. Giorgio Duboin started with the §10 (Rusinow) to the king, followed by a diamond to the queen. Drijver erred by playing a spade to the jack, allowing Duboin to win and play the ©K to the ace. Now declarer didn’t have an entry to dummy at the right time for the fourth diamond ruff. He won the ©A, cashed the ¨A and ruffed a diamond, then cashed the ªK and ruffed a spade, but Norberto Bocchi overruffed and took East’s last trump with the ©Q before cashing the §A. Minus 100 meant 5 IMPs to Italy.

The Dutch broke on top with a big swing on board 6, however.

Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª 6 © A K 10 5 4 2 ¨ 6 4 § K Q 8 6
ª A K J 10 9 8 7 © 8 6 ¨ 3 § 7 4 2		ª Q 2 © Q 7 ¨ K J 9 5 § A J 10 9 5
	ª 5 4 3 © J 9 3 ¨ A Q 10 8 7 2 § 3

West	North	East	South
Schollaardt	Bocchi	Drijver	Duboin
		1§	1¨
4ª	Dble	Pass	5¨
Dble	All Pass

Schollaardt’s 4ª was going down two tricks, but with his thin values Duboin wasn’t comfortable sitting for the double. Schollaardt started with the ªK, switching to his singleton diamond at trick two. Drijver put up the king, and when he got in with the §A, he made sure dummy had no more trumps to lead through him, switching to the ªQ. Duboin pitched a spade on the §Q, ruffed a club, played a heart to the ace and, continuing to try to shorten his trumps, ruffed another club. He played a heart to the ace next, but Drijver was able to ruff the next heart and exit with hit fifth club. Duboin could not escape two down for minus 300.

West	North	East	South
Versace	Prooijen	Lauria	Brink
		1§	Pass
4ª	5©	Pass	Pass
Dble	All Pass

Prooijen’s 5© bid was a big position, but it was very right on this deal. Lorenzo Lauria started with the §A, switching to the ªQ at trick two. Versace over took with the ªA and continued with the king, ruffed by Prooijen. He quickly got the trumps right, banging down the ©A and ©K, when the diamond finesse worked he claimed for plus 650 and 14 IMPs to the Netherlands.

More IMPs came the Netherlands’ way when East/West at both tables played ill-fated heart contracts. The Italians were in 4©, however, three down, while the Dutch stopped at the three level for two off.

Italy tied the match on the next deal, bidding a good slam missed by the Dutch for an 11-IMP gain. Italy picked up another 7 IMPs on the following deal.

Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	ª 9 8 7 2 © K 8 4 ¨ A K J 7 3 § A
ª A K Q 10 6 5 © - ¨ 10 9 8 § 9 6 5 4		ª J © Q 10 7 5 3 ¨ Q 5 2 § K J 10 3
	ª 4 3 © A J 9 6 2 ¨ 6 4 § Q 8 7 2

West	North	East	South
Versace	Prooijen	Lauria	Brink
	1¨	1©	Pass
2ª	All Pass

Prooijen started with the top two diamonds, continuing with the jack, a clear suit preference signal, for South to ruff. Had Sjoert Brink returned a heart as requested, declarer would have been done in by the 4-2 trump split, eventually tapped out and limited to six spade tricks and a club. Brink, however, returned a trump, and declarer had the time to establish two club tricks for plus 110.

The Italians in the closed room did not err on defense, and the Dutch were one level higher.

West	North	East	South
Schollaardt	Bocchi	Drijver	Duboin
	1¨	1©	Pass
1ª	Pass	2§	Pass
3ª	All Pass

Bocchi started with the ¨K, then got the §A out of his hand, before continuing with the ¨A. When Duboin took his diamond ruff, he returned a club for partner to ruff. The defense still had a club trick coming, so Schollaardt was two off.

Another 9 IMPs were recorded on Italy’s side of the ledger when both Dutch pairs played 1NT on board 13 and each went minus 200.

The Netherlands struck back quickly.

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª A J 10 8 © 7 5 4 3 ¨ 3 § J 7 5 4
ª K Q 9 7 3 2 © Q ¨ K 8 2 § A 3 2		ª 6 5 4 © A 9 6 2 ¨ 9 7 § Q 10 9 6
	ª - © K J 10 8 ¨ A Q J 10 6 5 4 § K 8

West	North	East	South
Versace	Prooijen	Lauria	Brink
		Pass	1¨
1ª	Pass	2ª	3¨
Dble	Pass	3©	Pass
3ª	Dble	All Pass

Prooijen started with his singleton diamond, ruffing when Brink returned the queen to declarer’s king. A heart went to the ace, and declarer ruffed a heart, then played the ªK. He won the return of the ªJ, ruffed a diamond, then a heart, playing the §A and another club. He misguessed by playing the queen and was two down for minus 300.

West	North	East	South
Schollaardt	Bocchi	Drijver	Duboin
		Pass	1¨
1ª	Pass	2ª	3¨
3ª	Pass	Pass	4¨
All Pass

Schollaardt started with the ©Q to Drijver’s ace, ruffing the diamond return and exiting with the §2 (East had returned the ©2) to the 4, 9 and king. West still had the ¨K and §A coming, so Duboin was one down for minus 50 and 8 IMPs to the Dutch.

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	ª K 9 4 © A K Q 10 2 ¨ A 8 6 § 6 2
ª A 10 8 2 © J 5 ¨ Q J 4 § A K J 10		ª 6 5 © 9 7 6 4 ¨ 7 § Q 9 8 5 4 3
	ª Q J 7 3 © 8 3 ¨ K 10 9 5 3 2 § 7

Good bidding by the Dutch on the penultimate board earned them another swing.

West	North	East	South
Versace	Prooijen	Lauria	Brink
			Pass
1NT	2¨	2NT	3©
Pass	4©	Pass	Pass
5§	Dble	All Pass

Prooijen’s 2¨ bid showed a good hand with hearts (2© would have shown a lesser hand with hearts). Brink made an excellent bid to indicate at least a mild heart fit and some values, and Prooijen bid the unbeatable game. The loss for Italy would have been more substantial had Versace not taken the save. Versace could not escape two down for minus 300. In the closed room, the Italians did not get into the auction.

West	North	East	South
Schollaardt	Bocchi	Drijver	Duboin
			Pass
1NT	Pass	2§	Pass
2ª	Pass	2NT	Pass
3§	All Pass

The same nine tricks were available to Schollaardt and he recorded plus 110 for a 9-IMP pickup. When the Dutch earned an overtrick IMP on the final board, the set ended with Italy ahead 37-35.