Jack Retains Championship!

One IMP decides the 64-board final

After five days of computer-bridge competition, including a 20-board round robin, a 48-board semifinal and a 64-board final, Jack (Hans Kuijf, The Netherlands) nipped WBridge5 (Yves Costel, France) by 1 IMP. It came down to the last board.

Board 64. Dealer West E/W Vul.
	ª A Q 9 4 © K Q 3 2 ¨ 10 § K 6 4 2
ª K 6 2 © 8 7 6 4 ¨ A 9 6 § 10 8 7		ª 10 5 © A 10 9 ¨ J 8 5 4 § A Q J 9
	ª J 8 7 3 © J 5 ¨ K Q 7 3 2 § 5 3

West	North	East	South
Jack	WB5	Jack	WB5
Pass	1§	Pass	1¨
Pass	1©	Pass	1 ª
Pass	2 ª	All Pass

Opening lead §7

WBridge5 did well to stop in Two Spades and had to make nine tricks to tie the match. At the "other" table Jack had gone down one in four spades. West led the §7. There are four obvious losers, two clubs, one heart and one diamond. If declarer could time the play correctly nine tricks where possible on a cross ruff. However, when Jack returned the ª10 at trick two declarer guessed to play hearts first and diamonds second. Each defender, after winning their ace, returned a trump and declarer was held to eight tricks...and Jack was crowned Computer-Bridge World Champion.

For complete details about the championship go to www.ny-bridge.com/allevy/Montreal