| 12th World Team Olympiad | Page 3 | Bulletin 6 - Friday, 29 October 2004 |
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Round 9: USA v Poland – Women
Two similar auctions saw the respective Souths declare 3NT with all of West’s suits having been bid by her opponents. Ewa Miszewska chose the best lead of the ª3, which ran to the king and back came a second spade to dummy’s ace. Randi Montin played a diamond to her ace then a club to the ten and jack. Back came a diamond to dummy’s king and, with no entry to hand, Montin was obliged to play ace and another club to West’s eight. She eventually established the long club but that gave only seven tricks for down two; -200. Tobi Sokolow preferred the lead of a low heart and, when running that to the ten proved to be successful, Anna Sarniak was much better placed. She too finessed the §10 and back came a heart. She won in dummy and played ace and another club and back came a third heart. Sarniak won, gave up a heart and, after Sokolow had cashed the heart winner, back came a diamond. Sarniak rose with the king, cashed the long club and took the diamond finesse for her ninth trick; +600 and 13 IMPs to Poland.
Janice Seamon-Molson ventured a double of 1NT where Ewa Banaskiewicz did not have that systemic option. Against Montin, Miszewska led a club to the ten, jack and king. Montin passed the ª9 to the king and Banaskiewicz switched to a low heart, run to dummy’s ten. The ¨J was run to the queen and back came a club. Montin won and played a diamond to the ten then a diamond to the king and ace. Miszewska plugged away with another club and Montin won, cashed the established diamond, and conceded the rest for down one; -100. Sokolow also led a club, the nine, which lost to the queen. Sarniak led the ª9 to Molson’s king and she switched to a low heart to declarer’s king. The ª8 was ducked and now Sarniak cashed the top clubs before exiting with the ªJ and hoping that someone would have to give her a diamond trick. It was not to be. Molson won the ªA, cashed the hearts and played a diamond through and that was down two for –500 and 9 IMPs to USA.
Banaskiewicz’s 2© overcall put a lot more momentum into the auction than did Molson’s take-out double. Despite the big heart fit, Sokolow was only prepared to go as far as 3© at this vulnerability when facing what might have been only a three- or four-card heart suit, so Grazyna Brewiak was allowed to play 4ª. Brewiak ruffed the heart lead, cashed a top trump and played ace and another club. Molson won the §Q, cashed the §K, and had to give the eleventh trick with her next lead; +450. Facing an overcall, Miszewska was happy to compete first to 4© then to 5© over 4ª. Now Jill Meyers, who had big spades and relatively little defence, misjudged the hand by going on to 5ª, where she was doubled. She too ruffed the heart lead and cashed a top spade but now she saw a different possibility for success. She played a low diamond now and Banaskiewicz hopped up with the king and played §Q to dummy’s ace. Meyers ruffed the heart then cashed two diamond winners before exiting with a club, hoping that the trick would be won by a hand that had begun life with a doubleton honour. Not this time, as the defence took club tricks for down one; -100 and 11 IMPs to Poland.
There would have been two disappointed North/South pairs when it came to score up this deal with their teammates. Sokolow made the normal 4¨ pre-emptive overcall and Brewuiak cuebid 5¨ then went on to slam over Sarniak’s sign-off, making a grand slam try along the way. Perhaps, if North’s bidding is to be trusted, there is a case for a spade lead now, who knows? Sokolow led a diamond and Sarniak could win, lead the queen of hearts to the ace and play four rounds of clubs to discard the spade loser; +980. Miszewska underpre-empted with 3¨ and that left room for Meyers to wheel out Exclusion Key Card. Alas, the 1430 response meant that the Americans were too high, at least in theory. Surely, after the use of EXCB, West should choose a black-suit lead? No, Miszewska led a diamond and the same line of play produced the same twelve tricks and ‘just another dull flat board’ at +980.
Meyers/Montin use a 3NT opening to show a four-level pre-empt in an unspecified minor and that North hand seems to fit the bill nicely. When Banaskiewicz overcalled 4ª, Montin bid 5§, pass or correct, and Miszewska first doubled then went on to 5ª over Meyers’ conversion to 5¨. Three rounds of hearts followed by the ace of diamonds meant a quick two down for –200. Brewiak opened with a natural 4¨ pre-empt and Sarniak allowed Molson to play 4ª. Again, three rounds of hearts followed by the top diamond meant down one; -100 but 3 IMPs to USA. Notice that if declarer is going to drop the ¨K, it takes three rounds of clubs to defeat 5¨. Maybe that is easy if West is on lead, but certainly not if 5¨ is played by North.
Sokolow led a spade to the ace and Molson switched to her singleton club. Sarniak suspected that, with the ªA already seen to be in the East hand, the ¨A would be onside more often than not. In that case a club ruff was the big danger and she therefore played ace and another heart. Alas, Molson won, put her partner in with the diamond, and duly received her club ruff for down one; -50. Miszewska led a club and now declarer could not be sure who had the shortage in the suit. Also, she did not know about the ªA and so had less reason to feel good about the diamond position. While the play of ace and another heart is still tempting, it appears to be less attractive than at the other table. Nonetheless, Montin put in dummy’s §J, led a low heart off the dummy then, after a few moments pause, went up with the ace and followed the same line a sat the other table. That was a chance missed for USA; down one for –50 and a flat board.
I am sure that Sarniak’s 2© rebid was systemic facing the 2§, two-over-one response. Certainly, the Poles had no trouble in stopping at a safe level. Sokolow led the ten of spades to the queen and ace and Sarniak played the §Q. Sokolow took her ace and switched to a low diamond, which was run to the eight (an interesting play from Molson) and nine. Sarniak cashed a top spade, throwing a diamond from dummy, then took the ‘marked’ diamond finesse, losing to the king. Back came a spade to her jack and she played three rounds of clubs, establishing the fifth card in that suit while losing a club and a spade; nine tricks for +600. I am less sure if Montin’s 2© rebid was systemic, though my main evidence to the contrary is the fact that Meyers went on over 3NT, which she might not have done had she been aware of her partner’s handtype. Anyway, Montin bid a firm 4NT and there matters rested. Here the lead was the ª9 to declarer’s jack. Montin led the ¨10 now and Miszewska broke a basic rule of defensive signalling when she followed with the seven, a card she could not afford. Banaskiewicz won the ¨K and returned a spade to declarer’s ace. Montin played the queen of clubs and Miszewska won the ace and returned a club, keeping declarer out of her hand. Montin won the club and cashed the other club winner, cashed the ¨A, then exited with a club, establishing the fifth card in the process. The play of cashing the ¨A had removed East’s safe exit in that suit, but all she needed to do now was to exit with a spade and declarer would be a trick short. But Banaskiewicz erred badly by switching to a heart and there was no losing option for declarer who suddenly had a second heart trick, an entry to the spade winner, and ten tricks in all; +630 and 1 IMP to USA instead of 12 the other way. Poland won the match by 36-20 IMPs, 10.25-18.25 VPs, after a slow play penalty. Both teams were still looking good for the knockout stages. |
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