SWING
IS KING
In round No.5's match on VuGraph China scored a maximum victory
over Chinese Taipei after 19 swingy boards, so everybody in the
audience expected more IMPs going one way or the other when a far
from boring last board was diplayed on the screen.
Board 20. Dealer West.
All Vul.
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|
ª K 10
9 5 4
© 7
¨ K Q J
5 3
§ 8 5 |
ª
8 7
© A 9 2
¨ A 7
§ A K 10
9 6 2 |
![Bridge deal](../../../Graphics/Hand/Board3.gif) |
ª
A Q J 2
© K 10 5
3
¨ 10
§ Q J 7
4 |
|
ª 6 3
© Q J
8 6 4
¨ 9 8 6
4 2
§ 3 |
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At both tables the bidding started the same way, with both teams
finally reaching the grand after some bold jumps. Here's e.g.
Chinese Taipei:
West |
North |
East |
South |
Chang |
|
Zheng |
|
1§ |
1ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3§ |
Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
4© |
Pass |
7§ |
All Pass |
And there comes China:
West |
North |
East |
South |
Zhang |
|
Shao |
|
1§ |
1ª |
Dbl. |
3¨ |
4§ |
4¨ |
4NT |
Pass |
5¨ |
Pass |
7§ |
All Pass |
Both East players liked their hand very much - especially
after North's 1ª
overcall and partner's jump to 3§.
So sooner or later they both bounced into 7§
and after a nervous moment both declarers wrapped up thirteen
tricks due to the successful spade finesse.
A grand slam push! All right, but is this really worth a
story? Yes indeed, because it was the only push in the whole
field! Elsewhere this hand created huge swings due to six
different contracts. Let's therefore move on to the other
tables and check the results over there:
Let's start with two more grands. Thailand reached the
grand even without a jump to 3§:
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Yinglei Chen, China
|
West |
North |
East |
South |
Trimankha |
|
Limsinsopon |
|
1§ |
1ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
2§ |
Pass |
4§ |
Pass |
4© |
Pass |
5¨ |
Pass |
5© |
Pass |
7§ |
All Pass |
This was worth a full 20 IMPs as USA 1 got lost in 4©
down one, when West decided to show his three card heart suit after
partner's negative double:
West |
North |
East |
South |
1§ |
2§ |
Dbl. |
2¨ |
2© |
Pass |
3¨ |
Pass |
3NT |
Pass |
4© |
All Pass |
Israel also followed the "Far East"-approach:
West |
North |
East |
South |
Amit |
|
Vax |
|
1§ |
1ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3§ |
Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
4© |
Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
5¨ |
Pass |
7§ |
All Pass |
When Brazil stopped in 6§,
bidding the grand gave Israel 13 IMPs:
West |
North |
East |
South |
Machado |
|
Brum |
|
1§ |
1ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3§ |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
4§ |
Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
4© |
Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
6§ |
All Pass |
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|
One can easily see, that if the opponents give East the space to
splinter his diamond singleton on the second round, it works out
very well, as partner now knows that all points East holds are working.
Still Brazil was a bit unlucky to lose IMPs on the board as bidding
to six was good enough for Norway and Canada to pick up 12 and 13
IMPs respectively.
Norway started with a creative 1 NT-opening, which made life a
little more difficult for East:
West |
North |
East |
South |
Harr |
|
Kvangraven |
|
1NT |
Pass |
2§ |
Pass |
2¨ |
Pass |
3§ |
Pass |
3¨ |
Pass |
3© |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
4§ |
Pass |
4¨ |
Dbl. |
4NT |
Pass |
5¨ |
Pass |
5ª |
Pass |
6§ |
All Pass |
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|
It seems that East started with Stayman, then tried to find out
West's distribution with relys of 3§
and 3ª, later on
showed interest in a club slam and finally blackwooded all the way
to only six, when West told him that he did not have ªK.
Argentina in the other room also thought that the long club suit
wasn't worth mentioning. When North found a 2ª-intervention,
all East could do was to double only to hear his partner jump to
3NT(+2) and pass this out:
West |
North |
East |
South |
1NT |
2ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
Canada's East player did not have the splinter available and
stopped in six although North "bid the ªK":
West |
North |
East |
South |
Demuy |
|
Heller |
|
1§ |
1ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3§ |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
4© |
Pass |
6§ |
All Pass |
The trouble is, that West will take the 3ª
cue bid as 3NT orientated as it does not show the excellent club
fit. After 4© now
it seems the too much bidding space is already lost to investigate
the grand in detail.
For their opponents, USA 2, East/West took a very conservative view
at their cards, which even left room for North/South to allocate
their diamond fit:
West |
North |
East |
South |
1§ |
1ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
2§ |
2¨ |
2ª |
3¨ |
3© |
Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
5§ |
All Pass |
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Does this mean, that you can score IMPs playing in 5§
only? Oh no, Australians East/West pair collected a whole bunch
for just that:
West |
North |
East |
South |
1§ |
1ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3§ |
Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
5§ |
All Pass |
|
|
Even the splinter didn't get West excited here. He must have
been relieved to hear, that his Dutch opponents got to the wrong
game at the other table, after a successful two-suiter intervention
by North/South:
West |
North |
East |
South |
1§ |
2§ |
Dbl. |
4¨ |
4© |
All Pass |
|
|
When this contract went two off, Australia was happy to take 13
surprise IMPs.
Reaching game only was also good enough to take part in the minimum
IMP-exchange in the match between Egypt and CAC, when nobody got
interested in a club slam. Egypt tried out the 1NT-opening again:
West |
North |
East |
South |
1NT |
2ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
Here East had a negative double available which of course didn't
help either, so once again 3NT become the final contract, with West
taking all thirteen tricks.
CAC also got to 3NT and lost 3 IMPs when declarer made only ten
tricks:
West |
North |
East |
South |
1NT |
Pass |
2§ |
Pass |
2¨ |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
No intention to find out about West's distribution here, so
the club fit was missed once again.
The last results given one might get the impression that you can't
win much playing in 3 NT, but we have one more table to go and still
one big swing is yet to come for France, who played in - guess what?
- 3NT!
The French pair also went for the "infamous" - but in
the meantime familiar - 1NT-opening:
West |
North |
East |
South |
1NT |
2¨ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3§ |
Pass |
3¨ |
Pass |
3© |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
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After North's 2¨
East/West found out a lot about their stopper for no-trumps but
nothing their club fit and made 3NT with an overtrick.
At the other table it was disaster time, when Denmark reached the
six-level, but played in the wrong suit!
West |
North |
East |
South |
1§ |
1ª |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3§ |
3¨ |
4NT |
5¨ |
6© |
All Pass |
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After the fog had cleared up West had finished down six and France
had collected 15 IMPs.
Although quite understandably this board wasn't to everybody's
taste hopefully we will get more of these "boring" no
swing-boards in the course of this championships!
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