For the first session of the Mixed Pairs we concentrate on two pairs. The first is the dangerous looking pairing of Gabriel Chagas of Brazil and China's Sun Ming, from whom we might expect plenty of action. The next World Championship after Lille is in Bermuda at the beginning of the year 2000, and we also take a look at Bermuda's only representatives at these championships, Roman Smolski and Vera Petty.

Board 3. Dealer South. EW Game ª A J 10 6 © Q J 3 2 ¨ J 5 § A 7 6 ª Q 9 8 ª 7 4 © 8 4 © A 10 9 7 6 5 ¨ K 6 4 2 ¨ A Q 3 § Q 9 5 2 § K 8 ª K 5 3 2 © K ¨ 10 9 8 7 § J 10 4 3 West North East South Hamaoui Chagas Zighelboim Sun Ming Pass Pass 1§ 2© Dble Pass 2ª Pass Pass 3© All Pass

2ª would, of course, have been an easy make for North/South. Facing an intermediate jump overcall, Steve Hamaoui decided to compete with 3©. Had Gabriel Chagas managed to double that, Hamaoui's gamble would have failed, but when 3© slipped past undoubled there was a chance for the Venezuelans to get a good score. Sun Ming led the jack of clubs, which ran to declarer's king. Zighelboim ducked a heart next , losing to the bare king. Now came a diamond switch. The winning play would have been to win on table to lead a heart, covering North's card, which would have resulted in one down and a good score, but declarer chose to win in hand and lay down the ©A, hoping to make her contract if both red suits divided evenly. On the actual lie, that meant three trump losers and six in all; down two for -200 and a very bad result for East/West.

Board 4. Dealer West. Game All ª Q © Q ¨ K J 9 7 3 2 § J 9 8 7 6 ª 8 ª K J 10 6 5 4 2 © 7 6 4 © K J 10 9 5 ¨ A Q 8 5 ¨ 6 § Q 10 5 4 2 § — ª A 9 7 3 © A 8 3 2 ¨ 10 4 § A K 3 West North East South Hamaoui Chagas Zighelboim Sun Ming Pass 2¨ 3¨ 3NT Dble 4§ 4ª Dble All Pass

The points came back straight away for the Venezuelan pair. Chagas opened a weak 2¨ and Zighelboim overcalled 3¨, showing both majors. I don't like Sun Ming's 3NT call very much and Hamaoui also expressed a negative opinion, a little more forcefully. When Chagas ran to 4§ and Zighelboim bid 4ª, Hamaoui didn't look very impressed with the proceedings, and even less so when Sun Ming added a double.

The opening lead was a top club, ruffed. Zighelboim crossed to the ace of diamonds and led a spade to the queen, king and ace. She ruffed the diamond return, cashed two trumps and slapped the king of hearts on the table. When the queen duly obliged, that was +790.

To beat 4ª doubled, South must lead ace and another heart to the first two tricks. Not easy, but partner is known to be very short in the majors and if he has no trumps it is likely to be an uphill struggle to beat the contract, so perhaps it is not an impossible defence to find.

Board 5. Dealer North. NS Game ª A Q 10 © 6 5 4 2 ¨ J 5 4 § A 5 3 ª K 6 ª 7 4 2 © A J 7 3 © K 10 8 ¨ A 9 2 ¨ 8 7 6 3 § K 8 4 2 § 10 7 6 ª J 9 8 5 3 © Q 9 ¨ K Q 10 § Q J 9 West North East South Gaude Smolski Erhart Petty Pass Pass 1ª Dble Pass 2¨ Pass Pass 2ª Pass Pass 3¨ 3ª All Pass

Smolski/Petty play negative redoubles, that is, a redouble would have shown a singleton or void spade, hence Smolski's strange looking pass. When 2¨ came round to him he competed with a simple 2ª. When West competed with 3¨, I would have thought that a double would have expressed his maximum with defence quite well. However, he preferred to take the push to 3ª.

The defence began with ace and another diamond. Vera Petty won in hand and ran the ªJ then played two more rounds of spade, ending in the hand. Next the §Q was covered by the king and ace, allowing declarer to take a finesse against the ten on the way back; +170. Obviously, an overtrick might have been saved had West not covered the §Q.

Chagas was able to start with a redouble and that was enough to allow his side to buy the contract in 2ª. Here West led a low club so the tenth trick was given immediately; +170.

Board 6. Dealer East. EW Game ª A K J 10 4 © A 7 6 ¨ Q 10 9 § Q 3 ª Q 9 5 ª 6 3 2 © K Q J 3 2 © 10 4 ¨ A ¨ K 7 5 3 § K J 9 6 § A 7 5 2 ª 8 7 © 9 8 5 ¨ J 8 6 4 2 § 10 8 4 West North East South Gaude Smolski Erhart Petty Pass Pass 1© 1ª Dble Pass 2§ 2ª Pass Pass 2NT Dble 3§ All Pass

Both tables arrived in the same final contract and both Norths led a top spade. The defence has little option but to take the second spade and their ruff. If they do not take their tricks, dummy's spades will eventually go on the hearts. The trouble is that, after South has ruffed a spade, it is normal for declarer to play clubs from the top, dropping North's queen. There seems no way round this for the defence.

Petty took her ruff and switched to a diamond and Gaude (SWI) duly won and dropped the club. Sun Ming switched to a heart after taking her ruff. Chagas won the ace and played a fourth spade, hoping for a trump promotion. No such luck. Sun Ming ruffed in with the §10, but all that did was to guarantee that declarer would get the trumps right. +110 for East/West at both tables.

Board 7. Dealer South. Game All ª 8 7 4 3 © A Q 7 6 2 ¨ A 3 § 10 8 ª A Q J 9 ª K 5 2 © J © K 8 4 ¨ K J 7 4 ¨ Q 10 8 6 2 § K 7 6 3 § 9 4 ª 10 6 © 10 9 5 3 ¨ 9 5 § A Q J 5 2 West North East South Mould Smolski Benson Petty Pass 1ª Pass 1NT Pass Pass 2© 2ª 3© All Pass

The four-card major opening made it easy for East/West to compete to 2ª, pushing their opponents to the three-level. That should have led to a plus for East/West but the defence slipped badly. Joyce Benson led a spade to Alan Mould's ace and he switched to his ©J for the queen and king. It surely cannot be correct to switch to a club now but that is what Benson did. The finesse lost and Mould cashed the ªQ, but his diamond switch came too late. Smolski won, drew trumps and cashed clubs for +140.

Wildavsky (USA) had to open 1§ because he was playing a five-card major system. Perhaps he could still have competed with 2ª over 2©, but he preferred 2NT, facing 8-11 balanced, to invite game. Sun Ming led the ©10 to jack and ace and Chagas continued the suit. When Ann Raymond won the second heart she led a diamond to the jack and ace and the defence took the hearts then the §A for down one; -100.

Board 8. Dealer West. Love All ª 9 6 5 © A 7 6 ¨ Q 10 5 3 § A 10 4 ª K Q J 8 4 ª 10 7 3 2 © K 10 8 © J 2 ¨ A 6 ¨ J 9 8 2 § Q J 6 § 7 5 3 ª A © Q 9 5 4 3 ¨ K 7 4 § K 9 8 2 West North East South Mould Smolski Benson Petty 1ª Pass Pass 2© Pass 3© All Pass

Would you balance with a double or a 2© overcall on the south cards? Petty chose the overcall and Smolski raised her to 3© - they would have been pushed there anyway, of course. The ªK went to the ace and Petty played ace and another heart, ducking when the jack came up. She ruffed the spade return and played a club to the jack and ace then a diamond for king and ace. Mould cashed the king of hearts and forced declarer's last trump with another spade. A diamond to the ten and jack saw a club return to the king. Petty tried to split the diamonds now and when they failed to oblige had to settle for seven tricks; -100.

Sun Ming preferred to double 1ª. Chagas bid his diamonds then doubled 2ª to show his maximum. That gave Sun a tough problem. Probably some sort of scrambling 2NT is best, but in a strange partnership there is a lot to be said for keeping things simple and her actual choice was 3¨, ending the auction.

Chagas won the spade lead and played ace and another heart, again ducking the jack. He ruffed the spade continuation and played a third heart to the king, East pitching a club. Another spade was ruffed and the ¨K played to the ace. Again a spade was played and again declarer ruffed. Now Chagas played the §A and a club to the king. With East down to nothing but diamonds, another club now would have forced her to ruff and lead into the ¨Q10 at trick twelve. However, Chagas was not sure of the distribution and led a heart instead. That allowed West to ruff in with the ¨6. Chagas discarded his club and East had to over-ruff and lead into the diamond tenace after all, so the contract just made for +110 and a lot of matchpoints. Had West held the ¨8 or ¨9 instead of the ¨6, the defence would have prevailed once declarer chose to play the fourth heart in the ending.

Board 9. Dealer North. EW Game ª 10 6 5 3 © K 9 6 ¨ K 6 3 § 9 5 3 ª Q 8 ª A 9 4 2 © Q 8 5 4 © J 3 ¨ A J 9 5 4 ¨ Q 10 § Q 8 § K J 10 7 2 ª K J 7 © A 10 7 2 ¨ 8 7 2 § A 6 4 West North East South Siwiec Smolski Pasternak Petty Pass Pass Pass 1¨ Pass 2§ All Pass

South looks to have a normal opening bid, non-vulnerable, and when Petty chose not to make one her Polish opponents had a free run to 2§. Petty led ace and another club and Pasternak won and drew a third round of trumps then passed the ¨Q. Had Smolski ducked this declarer would have had to read the hand well but he actually won his king and switched to a low heart. Petty won the heart and returned a second one to the king. Smolski switched to a low spade now but declarer could rise with the ace and throw all her spades on the diamonds; +110.

Sun Ming did open the South hand and a competitive auction developed. Had Rebillard (FRA) passed his partner's double of 2ª, even Gabriel Chagas would have had trouble getting out with a decent result, but Rebillard took it out to 3¨. A spade lead would have led to a swift one down but Chagas led a club. Sun Ming ducked this and declarer decided that the suit was probably breaking 4-2 so did not continue clubs to set up a spade discard. Instead, he played a heart towards dummy. Now the winning defence was for Chagas to rise with the king and switch to a spade, but he ducked and now Sun was forced to win with no particularly attractive options open to her. She actually cashed the §A then switched to the ªK. Declarer won the ace and played another heart to the king. Chagas played back a heart for dummy to ruff. Had Sun held the ªQ, that would have set up a nice defence. Chagas could have won the ¨K, put Sun in with the spade and received a heart ruff. In practice, declarer threw his last heart on a club and passed the ¨Q. That lost but he had the rest; +110.

Board 10. Dealer East. Game All ª 3 © K Q 7 4 2 ¨ 8 7 6 5 2 § 9 2 ª A 6 5 ª Q J 8 4 2 © A J 9 3 © 10 8 6 5 ¨ A 10 3 ¨ Q § A J 6 § 8 4 3 ª K 10 9 7 © — ¨ K J 9 4 § K Q 10 7 5 West North East South Siwiec Smolski Pasternak Petty Pass 1§ 1NT 2© 2ª Dble All Pass

When Smolski competed with 2© over the 1NT overcall, Petty risked a thin matchpoint double of 2ª. She led the §K to dummy's ace. Pasternak played cae and another diamond, ruffing, then played the ªJ to the king and ace. She played a second spade to the queen then a heart up. Petty discarded a club so declarer won the ©A. Now a diamond ruff back to hand and a club towards the jack. Petty won the queen, cashed two spades and led her remaining diamond. Had that diamond been the four, Smolski would have been able to win and cash two heart tricks. But Petty had not foreseen the ending and had failed to unblock on the first round of diamonds. She had to give a trick to dummy's §J and, though dummy in turn had to give a heart to South; that was eight tricks and +670.

Declarer could have timed the hand better to get a club established while she still had control and now the defence would have been powerless. It is surely correct to play on the assumption that spades are 4-1 when you are doubled in 2ª with 23 HCP between your two hands and, since North competed with 2© and not 2¨, the distributions around the table are almost marked. One winning option, then, would have been to duck the opening lead.

Chagas preferred to compete with 2¨ over 1NT, perhaps leaving open the option of running to 2© if he heard a sharp double. That allowed Sun to compete with 3¨ over 2ª and now Rebillard bid 3© as a spade game try. Though Mme. Bernard signed off in 3ª, Rebillard went on to game, making an undisciplined acceptance of his own game try. Sun was on firm ground with her double.

Sun led the §K to dummy's ace. Bernard led ace and another spade to the queen and king and Sun switched to the ¨K. Bernard won the ¨A and ducked a spade to Sun. She played queen and another club to dummy's jack and now declarer ducked a heart, knowing that they had to be 5-0. Chagas won the heart and played back a diamond. Declarer threw a heart on that, ruffed the club return and drew the last trump. The ¨10 took care of declarer's remaining low heart; two down for -500 and a big board for Sun/Chagas.