USA II vs Germany - Venice Cup - Round 4

In any contest, it seems that spectators usually prefer a high-scoring affair. Those who were not especially picky about high-quality play were well pleased with the efforts of Germany and USA II in the Venice Cup in Tuesday's first Vugraph match. In a contest which featured 13 double-digit swings in 20 boards, USA II emerged with an 87-80 win.
Just when it seemed that USA II had put the match out of reach, Germany stormed back to actually take the lead on the penultimate deal before suffering a 14-IMP loss on the final board.
Germany started as though they were the ones headed for a rout, as Mildred Breed and Shawn Quinn had a bidding accident on Board 2 for the first of the double-digit swings.

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

West	North	East	South
Von Arnim	Breed	Auken	Quinn
		1NT (1)	Pass
Pass	2ª (2)	Pass	3NT
Dble	4ª	Dble	All Pass
10-12

Meant as natural but Alerted by South as showing one minor suit.
Clearly the Americans were overboard, and the Germans were quick to apply the ax. Sabine Auken led the heart nine to her partner's ace, and von Arnim played the diamond ace and a diamond to Auken's king for a ruff. The defense still had the trump ace to come. That was 500 to Germany and a 12-IMP swing after Barbara Hackett and Katrin Farwig stopped in Two Spades with the North-South card at the other table.
USA II wasted no time striking back.

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

West	North	East	South
Von Arnim	Breed	Auken	Quinn
			1NT
Pass	3NT	All Pass

Von Arnim started with a low heart, which solved that suit for declarer and made plus 460 a trivial matter. Things were different at the other table.

West	North	East	South
Klar	Hackett	Schulle	Farwig
			1§
Pass	1¨	Pass	1©
Pass	1ª	Pass	2§
Pass	3§	Pass	3NT
All Pass

Warned by South's heart bid, Klar found the killing spade lead from the West hand, dooming declarer, could hold up the spade ace just once, to down one. That was 11 IMPs to USA II.
Germany slipped up on the next deal to hand USA II another big swing.

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

West	North	East	South
Von Arnim	Breed	Auken	Quinn
Pass	1ª	Pass	2§
Pass	2©	Pass	2ª
Pass	4NT	Pass	5¨ (1)
Dble	6ª	All Pass

(1) One or four key cards.

Auken led a diamond and Breed was soon claiming plus 1430. At the other table, Hackett and Farwig dropped the ball.

West	North	East	South
Klar	Hackett	Schulle	Farwig
Pass	2¨ (1)	Pass	2© (2)
Pass	2NT (3)	Pass	3§ (4)
Pass	3NT (5)	Pass	4NT
All Pass

(1) Weak two-bid in a major or a strong balanced hand.
(2) To play if North has the weak bid.
(3) 20-22 balanced.
(4) Majors?
(5) Both.
Farwig's invitational 4NT seems much too conservative, particularly with the aggressive Breed and Quinn at the other table. Twelve tricks in notrump were easy, but it was still 12 IMPs away.

On this deal, Quinn survived an error in the play to hold the team's loss to 1 IMP.

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

In the closed room, Hackett brought home 10 tricks in Three Notrump with the aid of a successful diamond guess. Quinn also made it, but only just.

West	North	East	South
Von Arnim	Breed	Auken	Quinn
			Pass Pass
Pass	1ª	Pass	1NT
Pass	2NT	Pass	3NT
All Pass

Von Arnim led a low heart, and Quinn cleared the first hurdle by putting up the king. When she played a spade from dummy, Auken put in the jack. Quinn took the king and played a spade to dummy, Von Arnim following with the ten. It was apparent the spade suit was not breaking and, unwilling to try to guess the diamond queen, Quinn exited dummy with the heart nine. Auken won the heart 10 and played a third round to her partner's hand. On the run of the hearts, dummy discarded down to the king and a low diamond plus the top two clubs. This was the position after Von Arnim cashed her heart winners:

	ª Q 6 © - ¨ K 6 § A K
ª 9 8 © - ¨ 5 4 § Q 9		ª - © - ¨ Q 9 3 § J 10 8
	ª - © - ¨ A J 8 § 7 6 3

Von Arnim exited with a diamond, taken by Quinn with dummy's king. If she had cashed dummy's clubs first, the play of the spade queen would have squeezed Auken in an ending that Quinn could not misguess. As it was, she cashed the spade queen first and had to decide which minor-suit card to throw from her hand. She chose the diamond jack, which was correct, and she scored up the game.
After that 1-IMP loss, the Americans followed with 39 unanswered IMPs on the next four boards. This one typified Germany's troubles.

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

In the closed room, Klar opened the West hand Two Notrump and soon found herself in Four Hearts, which she had no trouble bringing in for plus 620. In the open room, again the auction went awry, this time for the Germans.

West	North	East	South
Von Arnim	Breed	Auken	Quinn
	Pass	Pass	Pass
1§ (1)	Pass	1©	Pass
1NT	Pass	2¨	Pass
2©	Pass	3§ (2)	Pass
4©	Pass	4ª	Pass
5©	All Pass

(1) Strong.
(2) Indicating a 3-5-4-1 pattern with 8-9 high-card points.
Von Arnim meant Four Hearts as a signoff, but Auken took it as asking for key cards and the partnership was too high. Auken had a chance for 11 tricks on Quinn's opening lead of a low spade, but Auken put up dummy's queen and could do no better than 10 tricks and minus 100. Another 12 IMPs to USA II.
At the halfway point, the Americans led 65-13.
Germany struck back on the first board of the second half when Hackett-Farwig barreled into a cold Six Diamonds after a light opening by Farwig while Quinn and Breed had to cope with interference from Auken and stopped in a diamond game. That was 11 IMPs to Germany, and Von Arnim helped her side to another 12 IMPs with brilliant play to land a slam on the next deal.

Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	ª K 10 5 2 © Q 9 6 2 ¨ Q 10 5 § Q 6
ª 3 © A J 10 5 3 ¨ A J 7 4 § 10 8 3		ª A J 9 8 7 © K 8 7 ¨ 3 § A K 5 2
	ª Q 6 4 © 4 ¨ K 9 8 6 2 § J 9 7 4

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Klar	Hackett	Schulle	Farwig
Pass	Pass	1ª	Pass
1NT	Pass	2§	Pass
2©	Pass	4©	All Pass

Hackett led a trump and declarer could do no better than 11 tricks. At the other table, the Germans had higher ambitions.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Von Arnim	Breed	Auken	Quinn
1©	Pass	1ª	Pass
2¨	Pass	2NT	Pass
3§	Pass	3©	Pass
4©	Pass	4ª	Pass
5¨	Pass	6©	All Pass

Breed didn't find the killing trump lead - she started a sneaky low club - but Von Arnim still had to play perfectly to land the ambitious slam. She considered the contract for a long time before playing to trick one, but she was flawless from there:
Club ace, spade ace, spade ruff, diamond ace, diamond ruff, spade ruff, diamond ruff, club king, spade ruff, diamond ruff, followed by a club from dummy. North, down to all trumps, was forced to ruff her partner's club winner and lead into von Arnim's heart tenace. Twelve tricks and 11 IMPs Germany.
Germany earned another 10 IMPs with a game swing on Board 13, closing to within 20 IMPs. After the match's only push and a small swing, Germany scored another major gain.

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	ª Q 10 6 © Q J 10 6 2 ¨ 9 5 3 § J 3
ª 8 5 3 © 9 7 ¨ A K Q J 4 § K 9 8		ª K J © A K 8 4 ¨ 7 6 § Q 7 6 5 4
	ª A 9 7 4 2 © 5 3 ¨ 10 8 2 § A 10 2

West	North	East	South
Klar	Hackett	Schulle	Farwig
1¨	Pass	1©	Pass
1NT	Pass	3NT	All Pass

Hackett led the heart queen, taken in dummy. Klar played a club to the king, which held, then she misguessed spades by playing to the king. From there, Klar had no way to scramble a ninth trick and she finished at minus 50. It went differently in the Vugraph room.

West	North	East	South
Von Arnim	Breed	Auken	Quinn
1¨	Pass	1©	1ª
Pass	2ª	2NT	Pass
3NT	All Pass

Quinn led a low spade to the three, queen and king. When Auken tried to sneak a club through, Quinn was alert and grabbed the ace. After Breed raised her spades, Quinn knew that declarer's jack was dropping, so she put the spade ace on the table. Unfortunately for their side, Breed failed to unblock the spade 10 and Auken was home with an overtrick. That was 12 more IMPs to Germany, now down only 11.
Germany pulled to within 3 IMPs when Breed and Quinn got too high on this deal.

Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	ª A 9 7 6 5 4 3 © A K ¨ 5 § K 4 3
ª J 8 2 © 9 8 6 5 3 ¨ 9 6 2 § J 7		ª - © Q 4 2 ¨ Q J 8 7 3 § A Q 10 5 2
	ª K Q 10 © J 10 7 ¨ A K 10 4 § 9 8 6

West	North	East	South
Klar	Hackett	Schulle	Farwig
		1¨	Pass
Pass	1ª	2§	2¨
Pass	4ª	All Pass

Schulle led the diamond queen and Hackett was soon claiming her contract with an overtrick. That was good for Germany because of what happened at the other table.

West	North	East	South
Von Arnim	Breed	Auken	Quinn
		1¨	Dble
Pass	2¨	Pass	2ª
Pass	4NT	Pass	5ª
Pass	6ª	All Pass

Breed, with seven-card support for partner, can be forgiven for her enthusiasm opposite partner's takeout double. As long as Von Arnim didn't lead a major, Quinn had no chance for 12 tricks. Indeed, Von Arnim started with partner's suit, breaking up the squeeze Auken was going to be subjected to on a major-suit lead. There was no hope for the slam after that and Quinn duly went down one as Germany closed to within 3 IMPs after trailing by more than 50.
Germany took the lead with a game swing on the penultimate board, but the largest swing of the match - 14 IMPs - went against them on the final board. In the open room, Quinn and Breed found their way to 4NT but made it on power. At the other table, Hackett and Farwig reached a contract of Six Clubs that had plays, but Farwig finished down three after a series of poor guesses.
It is likely that, considering all that went on in the wild match, that either side could feel fortunate it wasn't worse.