The Way they are

By Kees Tammens

In junior bridge it is not easy to estimate the strength of the opponents. Against some countries you have never played a board and the age limit - even for juniors time does not stand still-is responsible for the fact that teams change every few years. So a world championship can come up with many surprises.
Pablo Ravenna from Argentina left a very fine impression in a neat 3NT in the match against the Netherlands

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

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 NT
2 §*	3¨**	Pass	3 NT
All Pass
* diamonds or majors
** hearts

Pablo wanted to protect his ¨AJ8 and the flat hand so he denied the 5-3 fit in hearts to end up in 3NT.
West led ¨K, on which East gave a discouraging ¨9. West now tried ©10 and the king in dummy won. A second heart went to queen and ace. West now played ª10 to queen and king and South was at the crossroads.
But declarer found an excellent answer. He ducked the ªK. East played back a diamond to the jack and king and West continued spades to ª8 and the ace. Declarer took his ¨A and crossed to §K to cash two heart tricks squeezing East in the process and scored §5 as his ninth trick.
10 IMPs to Argentina , when 4© was one down at the other table.

Innocent bystanders are often surprised by the enormous bidding activities of junior bridge players. Would that be the same in every part of the world?
Chinese Taipeh started well in their first round encounter against the Netherlands. Then, at about halftime their East/West pair all of a sudden was looking for blood.

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

West	North	East	South
	1 ¨	1 ª	Dbl.
Pass	1 NT	Pass	3 NT
Dbl.	Pass	Pass	Rdbl.
All Pass

A courageous 1ª-overcall to interrupt the North/South bidding sequence with West yielding the axe when the opponents nevertheless reached the obvious game. Now, Sjoert Brink, playing South, is not quite the person to let a chance like this go by. Fortunately no "doubt and run"-board and instead of a dull 430 all of a sudden 1000 in the Dutch column. After this board the tide changed all the way in favour of the Dutch.

A different playground

Kees Tammens' article The Way they are contained a beautiful hand, in which declarer survived in 3 NT.

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

Let's assume for a moment that South is declarer in 4© and West leads ¨K. Are the any chances to succeed as well?
The solution is "very easy" to find and just needs a couple of clever moves. Declarer should take ¨A and play a heart to the king which holds the trick. When he tries ©J, West takes the ace and switches to ª10. Dummy puts up the queen, East covers and declarer ducks! When East exits with a diamond, declarer ruffs and plays a heart to the queen to squeeze East!
This is the beautiful ending:

ª 9 3 © 6 ¨ - § K 10 9 8 immaterial ª J 8 5 © - ¨ - § Q 7 3 2   ª A 7 6 © Q ¨ - § A 6 5

What should East throw on ©6 to the queen? If he pitches a club declarer plays three rounds of clubs and throws East in to lead into his split ªA9 tenace. If East pitches a spade instead, declarer throws him in in spades to collect the rest after the inevitable club return. Only ª10 lead actually beats the hand.
Vincent Demuy of Canada went deep into this analysis as he wasn't happy at all, that he had failed to find a good solution to the problem at the table.

Give and Take

By Ib Lundby

In round no. 6 we saw a play in 2¨ when West led his singleton diamond through dummy's ¨KJ54, and East with ¨AQ10 took the ¨J with his ¨Q. Now, the only way to defeat the contract was to cash the ¨A and continue with the ¨10, thereby giving up a sure trump trick but preventing declarer making his contract on a cross ruff.
In round no. 8 there was a similar example where a defender had to give up a trick with AQ10 to hit the target:

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

Somehow East ended up in 4© and South led his singleton spade, declarer playing low from dummy. This time North has two ways to defeat the contract, either to win with the ªA and continue with the ªQ or win with the ªQ and continue with the ª10 - in both cases you can be sure that the alarm clock will wake up South, who ruffs, gives you a diamond ruff and gets a spade back.

This hand also appears elsewhere in the bulletin, as at least one of the defending pairs managed to find the winning line to score two down in 4©.

Leads and more

By Kees Tammens

In round no.1 in their match against the Netherlands Chinese Taipei bid quickly to 6 NT on board 19:

West	North	East	South
1 ª	Pass	2 NT *	Pass
3 NT	Pass	6 NT	All Pass
* balanced gameforcing

Now, you have to find a lead from ªJ53 ©5 ¨10742 §J9543. Which card do you choose? Bas Drijver from the Netherlands selected ¨7 and found partner with ¨AQ behind dummy's king! On any other lead declarer will claim twelve tricks. Now, was it a piece of luck or competence?

In round no.7 against Israel Bas had to make another lead

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

West	North	East	South
1¨	1ª	2ª	Pass
3 §	Pass	3ª	Pass
3 NT	All Pass

This time it took him even less seconds to get to the winning solution: ©8 on the table and North/South took the first five tricks.

But there was much more in the match between Israel and the Netherlands in round no.7. It proved to be eventful with many opportunities to score points. Israel struck the first blow:

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

West	North	East	South
1NT	Pass	2¨	Pass
2©	Pass	4NT	Pass
?

Identical bidding at both tables so far; as 4NT was invitational for six with a five-card heart suit and a balanced hand. The Israeli West liked his five good spades, bid 6NT and made it with a friendly heart split, while the Dutch West passed because of his minimum no-trump opening.
Would it be technically correct to try 5ª over 4NT suggesting a slam in a possible 5-3 fit and leaving the option to sign off in 5NT? An interesting question.

Then it was Netherlands' turn to score. And again Bas Drijver was in the "driver's seat".

Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.   ª 9 7 5 3 © 9 8 6 5 3 ¨ 3 § K 6 4 ª 6 © A J 4 2 ¨ Q 7 4 2 § Q J 9 5 ª J 2 © K Q ¨ A J 10 8 5 § 10 8 7 2   ª A K Q 10 8 4 © 10 7 ¨ K 9 6 § A 3

West	North	East	South
	Pass	1¨	Dble
1©	Pass	2§	2ª
3¨	3 ª	Pass	Pass
4 §	4 ª!	Pass	Pass
5 ¨	Pass	Pass	Dble
All Pass

Bas already thought about whether to raise 2ª to four but with §K badly placed for North/South he was satisfied with a part score. When West continued with 4§, Bas could picture South's entire distribution: six spades, almost for sure two clubs and - with East/West probably having nine cards in diamonds - three diamonds. So South had to be 6-2-3-2. With either ¨A, §A,(or §Q) or ©A North/South could easily come to nine or ten tricks in spades (West has a singleton spade, so the ªK in East can be finessed).
And what about West, who could let North/South play quietly in 3ª and now all of a sudden had to cope with game? He knew that Bas is not a fool and believed that ten tricks were there waiting for North/South. But his save proved to be as expensive as the North/South game. After ªA and a ª3 Lavinthal from North, South continued §A, club to the king and a ruff for three down. At the other table the Dutch East/West pair was left to play in 4§ undoubled.

The final blow Bas executed on board 19:

Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.   ª 7 5 © K J 2 ¨ A K 10 5 2 § J 9 2 ª Q 10 8 3 © 5 ¨ 8 6 § A K Q 6 4 3 ª 6 4 © Q 10 9 8 6 3 ¨ Q 4 3 § 10 5   ª A K J 9 2 © A 7 4 ¨ J 9 7 § 8 7

West	North	East	South
			1ª
2§	2¨	Pass	3¨
Pass	?

We all know the "opening bid + opening bid = game" arithmetic, which usually applies, but not on this board. With ¨Q and ªQ badly placed nine tricks are the maximum for North/South. And North indeed found again the right answer. He gave up his hopes of a non-vulnerable game and passed to score +110.
After a lot of smoke had cleared the Netherlands had won by a small margin with many exciting IMPs (65-59) changing hands.