Wham, Slam, Thank You Ma’ams

We usually only hear about the action at the top tables in the Transnationals, but some of the best action can often occur lower down the field. The BRIDGE PLUS team features players from Romania, France, England and Sweden, and the English player was originally Bulgarian while one of the Frenchmen insists that he is actually not French at all but a Breton (the North-Western province of France) – you can’t get much more transnational than that! All three partnerships in the team are also of mixed gender.

Day Two of the event saw a number of slam swings in favour of BRIDGE PLUS.

Round 5 - Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	ª 8 6 © Q 10 9 8 5 2 ¨ K § K 9 5 3
ª A K 10 7 4 © 3 ¨ J 5 4 3 2 § Q 10		ª - © K 7 4 ¨ A Q 9 8 6 § A J 6 4 2
	ª Q J 9 5 3 2 © A J 6 ¨ 10 7 § 8 7

West	North	East	South
Jeaneteau		Ryman
			2ª
Pass	Pass	3ª	Pass
3NT	Pass	4§	Pass
6¨	All Pass

Jenny Ryman, Sweden

We have seen this deal before and know that a take-out double from East works rather nicely. But Sweden’s Jenny Ryman did even better with her 3ª cuebid, initially asking partner to bid 3NT with a spade stopper. That is what Yves Jeaneteau (the Frenchman) did, of course, but the 4§ continuation showed a good hand with both minors and now Jeaneteau blasted the diamond slam.

It may appear that the slam requires two finesses, but it is not quite so bad as that. Except on a club lead, declarer can try a heart towards the king. When the ace is onside a club can be discarded from hand, while whenever South has the ©A the club finesse is almost sure to succeed, given the weak 2ª opening. Anyway, the bottom line was that 6¨ proved to be quite cold for +920 and a double-figure swing to BRIDGE PLUS.

Round 5 - Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª K 6 © K Q 9 7 4 3 ¨ A 8 4 § K 5
ª Q J 5 3 2 © J 6 2 ¨ Q J 10 5 3 § -		ª 10 9 8 4 © A 10 ¨ K 9 6 2 § J 4 3
	ª A 7 © 8 5 ¨ 7 § A Q 10 9 8 7 6 2

West	North	East	South
	Stegaroiu		Marina
	1©	Pass	2§
Pass	2©	Pass	3§
Pass	3NT	Pass	4§
Pass	4¨	Pass	4ª
Pass	6§	All Pass

Marina Stegaroiu opened 1© and Bogdan Marina’s 2§ response was either natural and game-forcing or a Drury-type. Two Hearts confirmed a good opening hand and 3§ showed the game-force. When Marina made a clear slam try by bidding 4§, Stegaroiu cuebid then jumped to slam when Marina could show the ªA but deny the ©A; +920.

In the other room North/South bid 1© – 2§ – 2© – 5§ – Pass; 11 IMPs to BRIDGE PLUS.

Round 6 - Board 28. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	ª A K 10 © K Q 9 3 ¨ 9 7 3 § J 4 3
ª J 4 © 7 5 ¨ Q J 6 5 4 § K Q 9 6		ª 8 7 6 2 © J 4 ¨ 8 § A 10 8 7 5 2
	ª Q 9 5 3 © A 10 8 6 2 ¨ A K 10 2 § -

West	North	East	South
	Ryman		Jeaneteau
Pass	1§	Pass	1©
Pass	2©	Pass	4§
Pass	4ª	Pass	4NT
Pass	5ª	Pass	5NT
Pass	6ª	Pass	7©
All Pass

Four Clubs was a splinter bid and, when Ryman was willing to cuebid, she presumably had little club wastage. Jeaneteau checked on key cards, finding two plus the ©Q, then asked for kings. Six Spades showed either the ªK, or both minor-suit kings. Obviously, Jeaneteau could tell which option was actually held and now bid the grand slam.

Seven Hearts is by no means secure, looking at the two hands, but on the actual lie of the cards there were no problems and Jeaneteau soon wrapped up 13 tricks for +2210.

At the other table, North opened a weak no trump, South transferred, and West doubled the 2¨ bid. North completed the transfer and South jumped to game; +710 but 17 IMPs to BRIDGE PLUS.

Round 7 - Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª K 8 3 © Q J 9 ¨ A 4 § J 8 5 3 2
ª A Q J 7 6 5 2 © A 8 5 ¨ 10 § 7 6		ª 9 © 2 ¨ K Q 8 7 2 § A K Q 10 9 4
	ª 10 4 © K 10 7 6 4 3 ¨ J 9 6 5 3 § -

	Marina Stegaroiu, Romania

The Romanian pairing of Marina/Stegaroiu reached 4ª played by East after she had opened 2ª, weak or strong with both minors. South led a low heart to dummy’s ace and Stegaroiu led the singleton diamond towards her hand, North rising with the ace and switching to a club for the ace, ruffed. Back came a heart, ruffed in hand, and Stegaroiu played the two winning diamonds to pitch dummy’s last heart and club. When a diamond was ruffed and there was still the ªK to lose the contract had to fail by a trick.

Declarer saw that there was a winning line after ruffing the heart return, namely to ruff a diamond to get to dummy, cash the ace of spades, then cash clubs to get rid of the last heart loser. Of course, there was no reason to play that way, but you always worry after going down in a contract where you see a line of play that would have succeeded. Stegaroiu need not have worried as this was the auction in the other room:

West	North	East	South
	Queran		Senior
	Pass	1§	3©
3ª	Pass	5§	Pass
6§	All Pass

One Club was strong and Nevena Senior decided that, facing a passed partner, this was the time for a touch of aggression – who looks at the vulnerability anyway? Five Clubs stressed that the 1§ opening was based on a good club suit rather than merely high cards, and west raised to the small slam. Giles Queran (the Breton) knew what to do to that.

Declarer got a fixation with the idea that South would have a seven-card heart suit, even when that became virtually impossible, and so dropped an unnecessary undertrick. The contract was down three for –500 and 10 more IMPs to BRIDGE PLUS.

Having seen the above boards you might be wondering why BRIDGE PLUS is not amongst the leading teams in the event. Alas, not every board is a potential slam deal, or they might indeed be doing rather well.