The
Dutch Defence
By Kees Tammens
In the bundle of redoubled contracts and spectacular adventures
thre is also a lot of very fine bridge. Naarten Schollaardt and
Marcel Lagas of the Netherlands put up a neat defense to defeat
a modest 2ª on this deal:
Board 9/round 10 Netherlands vs Egypt
Dealer North. East/West
Vul
|
|
ª 8 7
5 2
© K 9
5
¨ 9 7 4
§ A J
9 |
ª
J 6
© 6 4
¨ K 10 5
3
§ K 8 6
4 3 |
|
ª
A 10 4
© A Q 8
7
¨ J 8 6
§ 7 5 2 |
|
ª K Q
9 3
© J 10
3 2
¨ A Q 2
§ Q 10 |
|
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
Pass |
Pass |
1§ |
Pass |
1ª |
Pass |
2ª |
All Pass |
|
|
|
East, Lagas, led §5 and the Egyptian declarer played §10(§Q seems
better). West, Schollaardt, put up §K to block the suit for declarer.
Now came a small spade for the king and a second spade for the ªJ.
West played a heart for ©Q and East made the necessary move by returning
¨J, queen and king. West cooperated beautifully by playing back
the ¨3. Declarer guessed wrong and played the ¨7, for the ¨8 and
ace. The drefenders still had to make the ©A, ªA and ¨10 for one
down.
Egypt is an unknown factor in the world of junioir bridge and has
played a good campionship so far. When an Egyptian player tried
to improve the world record for NOT supporting partner his opponents
were not really put to the test.
Dealer North. None
Vul
|
|
ª 4
© 10 6
¨ 8 7
§ K Q
9 8 7 6 5 4 |
ª
J 8 6 2
© 9 7 2
¨ A K 10
9 6 3
§ - |
|
ª
A 10 9 7 5
© A K 8
5 4
¨ Q 5 4
§ - |
|
ª K Q
3
© Q J
3
¨ J 2
§ A J
10 3 2 |
|
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
3§ |
4¨* |
Pass!!! |
4ª |
All Pass |
|
|
East's Four Diamonds promise4d both majors and West must have wondered
where all the clubs had gone but took a rather pessimistic view
in signing of in the spade game. Right he was with two inescapable
trump losers.
At the other table there was far more action
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
4§ |
Dbl |
5§ |
5¨ |
Pass |
6¨ |
Dbl |
All Pass |
|
|
|
Bas Drijver in the South seat of course raised to the thirteen
card fit and also had enough defence in the form of the ªKQ3 and
the heart stop to double the 6¨ contract. Righ he was: two down
for + 300 added to the +450 of the other table.
Vive
la Difference
By Ib Lundby
We have seen lots of ambitious 3NT contracts in Mangaratiba. On
this hand from round 11 the Australian declarer in the Open Room
went one down in 1NT. In the Closed Room 17 years old Martin Schaltz
from the "Schaltz-dynasty" (both his grand mother, father
and mother have won European or World Champion titles) on the very
same cards decided to fight for 3NT - and made it with an overtrick!
Session 11. Board
13. Dealer North. All Vul.
|
|
ª 10 5
3 2
© 5 3
¨ K 3
§ A K
8 6 2 |
ª
J 9 8
© 9 7 4
¨ J 9 8
§ Q 9 7
5 |
|
ª
A 7 6 4
© Q J 8
6 2
¨ A Q 10
§ 10 |
|
ª K Q
© A K
10
¨ 7 6 5
4 2
§ J 4
3 |
|
In 1NT South got a heart lead to the ©J and ©A and decided to handle
the clubs in a mysterious way: Low club to the 8 and 10 - and later
on he played a low club to the king. One down.
The bidding in the Closed Room:
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
Marquardsen |
|
Schaltz |
|
1§ |
Dbl |
1¨ |
Pass |
1ª |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
|
West chose the lead of the ª8, which ran to declarers' queen. It
is a long way from Copenhagen to Mangaratiba, but an even longer
way to nine tricks here, so Martin settled for five club tricks
by playing the §J, which won the trick. East's club holding had
to be singleton §10, §9 or doubleton §10 9. Because of East's double
and the principle of restricted choice Martin guessed that the §10
was a singleton and therefor continued with a low club towards dummy.
West's play of the §9 taken by the §K confirmed that South had made
the right decision, and the same story could be said when he shifted
to a low heart, and East chose to split his honours. The heart situation
now was obvious, but of course South would have finessed anyway.
After a club finesse and two more tricks in the suit South noticed
that West discarded a spade. Therefore he was able to take a heart
finesse, cash another heart trick and play the ªK to East, who had
to give dummy one more trick in diamonds.
A difference of four tricks!
|