England take the Early Lead
Soloway Shines in Defence

By Patrick Jourdain (Wales)

The England Ladies team had a convincing win in the European Championships and an excellent first day here in the Venice Cup, with a couple of 25-5s against Canada and Japan, and 20-10 over Italy. Here are two examples of England's accurate play:

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

The bidding was the same at both tables:

West	North	East	South
Goldenfield	Shimamura	Brunner	Fukuda
	Brock		Courtney
	Pass	1¨	1©
2©	3©	4¨	Pass
Pass	4©	Dble	All Pass

2© showed a good raise in diamonds.

Five Diamonds would have lost two clubs and a spade, so both East-Wests made the right decision to take the money out of Four Hearts.
The Japanese West led the queen of clubs and England lost only two spades and two red aces, for one down. 200 to Japan. Even without the helpful lead, the Souths at other tables often lost only four tricks. By leading towards the spades in dummy twice, West is forced to rise on the second round with the king of spades, and then dummy has two good spades to dispose of the clubs from hand, and avoid the club loser.
However, when Rhona Goldenfield and Michelle Brunner were defending Four Hearts doubled they ensured their club trick with spot-on defence. Goldenfield led a diamond to East's king and Brunner found the key switch to a club. Declarer won in dummy and led a trump to the king and ace. Goldenfield led a low spade to East's ace, and a second club from Brunner set up a club trick for West to cash when she was in with the king of spades. This was 500 and 7 IMPs to England.

The next round saw this play by Nicola Smith:

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

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Courtney	Manara	Brock	Ferlazzo
		Pass	Pass
1©	1ª	3ª	4ª
5©	All Pass

Open Room
West	North	East	South
De Lucchi	Smith	Rosetta	Dhondy
		Pass	Pass
1©	2ª	3ª	4ª
5¨	Pass	5©	5ª
Pass	Pass	Dble	All Pass

In the Closed Room Margaret Courtney (wife of Australian international Michael, and European champion just four years after taking up bridge) was allowed to play Five Hearts. This went only one off when she read the diamonds accurately. 50 to Japan.
In the Closed Room Heather Dhondy moved on to Five Spades, which was doubled.This was actually a popular contract. Its fate depends on whether declarer can set up a diamond trick to dispose of one of the losing clubs.
East led a heart. Nicola ruffed this in dummy and led a diamond. West rose with the ace, and switched to a club. Declarer won the ace, drew a round of trumps from hand, ruffed a heart, ruffed a small diamond, and ruffed the last heart. The crucial moment had arrived. Nicola read the position accurately, leading the jack of diamonds. It made no difference what West did. If she did not cover, the losing club would go at once; if she covered with the queen, declarer could ruff and return to dummy with the ace of trumps to reach dummy's established nine of diamonds. This card may have the soubriquet "The curse of Scotland", but the England captain, Jimmie Arthur, who is actually Scottish, was not complaining. His team had gained 13 IMPs.

The same deal saw a spectacular false-card at another table. It will be an early entry for next year's International Bridge Press Association's Defence Award. This is what happened in the Bermuda Bowl match between USA1 and Japan:

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Hanayama	Freeman	Hirata	Nickell
		2©	Pass
2NT	3ª	Pass	4ª
5©	Pass	Pass	5ª
6¨	Pass	6©	Pass
Pass	Dble	All Pass

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Hamman	Takano	Soloway	Shimizu
		Pass	Pass
1©	1ª	4©	4ª
5¨	Pass	5©	5ª
Pass	Pass	Dble	All Pass

In the Open Room East opened Two Hearts and West could have made things much more difficult for North. When West simply started with an enquiry Freeman was able to come in with Three Spades and that allowed the Americans to push East-West to Six Hearts doubled. This went two off for 300 to the USA.
In the Closed Room the final contract and the start of the play was as in the Ladies match. That was until declarer ruffed the second diamond.
Paul Soloway was sitting East. He could see that declarer had enough entries to dummy to set up the nine of diamonds, and was likely to guess the suit successfully, as Nicola Smith had done. When you feel declarer is on the right track, desperate measures may be required to deflect him.
On the second round of diamonds Soloway dropped the ten! Can you see how this affected declarer? East was marked with at least three diamonds. Why had the ten fallen? Obvious answer: East held Q 10 x. So declarer went back to dummy, and when Hamman played low on the next diamond, declarer ruffed, expecting to see the queen fall. When Soloway produced a small diamond, declarer knew he had been fooled, but it was too late. Not long after Soloway was recording +200 on the scorecard. The swing was 11 IMPs to the USA.

A Team Effort

By Patrick Jourdain (Wales)

The disappointment four years ago of the Israeli Ladies team at missing the Venice Cup in Tunisia when they had qualified has been balanced by the invitation to make the extra spot here, needed when the host nation France joined the 16 teams already qualified to make an odd number. This invitation came too late for details of the team to be included in the Programme so here they are:
Ruth Liberman, Migri Tzur-Campanile, Daniela Birman, Matilda Poplilov, Hanita Melech, Nurit Naveh, non-playing captain: Yossi Engel.

On Day 1 Israel had two good wins and a loss to USA1. Here is an excellent all-round team effort from the 17-13 win over the world champions from the Netherlands in Round 3

Round 3 Israel v. Netherlands

Board 11. Dealer South. Love all.
	ª Q 7 5 3 © 9 8 6 4 ¨ Q J 8 6 § 2
ª A K © J ¨ K 9 5 4 3 2 § Q 8 6 3		ª J 10 8 6 4 © K 10 7 5 3 ¨ A § A J
	ª 9 2 © A Q 2 ¨ 10 7 § K 10 9 7 5 4

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
V.d. Pas	Birman	Vriend	Liberman
			Pass
1¨	Pass	1ª	Pass
2§	Pass	3©	Pass
3NT	All Pass

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Poplilov	Pasman	Campanile	Simons
			Pass
1¨	Pass	1ª	2§
Pass	Pass	Dble	All Pass

In the Closed Room Ruth Liberman as South avoided the borderline overcall. Left to their own devices the Dutch reached Three Notrumps. More from a desire to avoid the lead of another suit, Daniela Birman chose to lead her singleton club. This went to the jack and king. A second club went to dummy's ace effectively killing declarer's hopes of setting up the spades. Marijke van der Pas therefore concentrated on the diamonds, cashing the ace, over to hand with a spade, and then king and another diamond.
When the suit did not break the contract was in big trouble. Birman led a heart to her partner's queen and the ten of clubs cleared declarer's remaining stopper in the suit. There was nowhere to go for tricks, and when declarer exited with another diamond she was actually four down, making only two clubs, one spade, and two diamonds. This was 200 to Israel.
At the other table Anneke Simons as South chose to overcall (as many did) and the Israeli East-West showed the killer instinct. West Passed allowing East to re-open with a double showing extra values, and then West Passed again going for the penalty. What would you expect the outcome to be? 500? Think again. This is what happened:
Matilda Poplilov cashed two top spades and switched to the singleton heart, which ran round to declarer's queen. With few options available declarer tried to make her ace of hearts while the going was good. Unfortunately the going was bad. West ruffed the ace, and put East in with a diamond. East cashed a heart (West discarding a diamond) and then led a fourth round of the suit. Declarer ruffed with the ten and West refused to over-ruff, discarding instead another diamond. Declarer was able to exit with a diamond to West's king, leaving this end-position with West on lead:

	ª Q 7 © - ¨ Q J § 2
ª - © - ¨ 9 5 § Q 8 6		ª J 10 © 7 ¨ - § A J
	ª - © - ¨ - § K 9 7 5 4

West led a diamond which Migri Campanile ruffed with the ACE of trumps, declarer of course, being forced to under-ruff. A side-suit was ruffed by South and over-ruffed by West. Now the last diamond was ruffed by East's jack promoting two more trump tricks for West.
Declarer had made one heart and two trump tricks only. Five down meant a further 1100 to Israel, and 16 IMPs.