| 9th World Youth Team Championship | Page 2 | Bulletin 4 - Friday 22 August 2003 |
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Round Four – Thailand vs Denmark Denmark are one of a number of European teams fancied to give a good account of themselves in this tournament. In Round 4 they met Thailand, who surprised many people when they reached the semi-final in Brazil 2001. Today was not a great one for the Thais. Denmark led 2-0 after two boards, then Boje Henriksen made a truly wonderful decision for his side on Board 3.
In the Closed Room, the Houmollers bid up to 6§ under their own steam and Amornpong Vichayapaibunnag’s spade lead permitted Terasak Chitngamkusol to take his two aces for down one; –50. I will use this Thai pair’s first names from now on as the family names are both long and difficult for non-Thais. In the other room, Andreas Marquardsen contented himself with only one positive call on the West cards, showing spades and a minor then staying silent for the remainder of the auction. Sasibut/Trimankha got to 5§ then Trimankha thought long and hard before going on to slam. He no doubt imagined that his partner’s sequence would deliver the ªA instead of the ¨A – and I suspect that he was correct, in theory. Now it was Henriksen’s turn to think and at the end of a long hard study he came up with a bid of 6¨, vulnerable against not. He could not have imagined that this was about to make and mush have been charmed, first by the sight of dummy, then by the immediate appearance of the king of spades ion the first round of that suit; +1540 and 16 IMPs to Denmark.
Both declarers received the lead of the king of clubs but there was an important difference in that Marquardsen had been warned of the bad club split by Trimankha’s 2§ overcall while Amornpong had no such clue. arquardsen won the ace of clubs and played three rounds of diamonds for aclub pitch from hand then played a heart. He could ruff the third club high draw trumps and as it turned out there was no spade guess; +170. Perhaps Amornpong should have played the same way after the appearance of the §9 at trick one, but this would have left him reliant on a winning spade view and the clubs did not have to be breaking badly. He played trumps without throwing a club and ran into a club ruff for down one; –50 and 6 IMPs to Denmark when it might have been 6 IMPs the other way.
This was another great chance for Thailand to gain a major swing and once again the chance was missed. The Houmollers were permitted a free run when Terasak failed to come in on the West cards – an odd decision to my eyes. They looked at the possibility of slam but then settled in game and made only ten tricks after a diamond lead for +420. Marquardsen did come in as West, with a weak jump overcall of 3¨. Sasibut had to begin with a negative double and Henriksen ventured a very sporting, at the prevailing vulnerability, 4¨ raise. Now Sasibut was rather heavy for a quiet 4© but had no clear and descriptive slam try available. He solved his problem by taking control, trusting that there would be little diamond wastage on the hand, and asked for key cards. When he found that his partner held one key card he bid the small slam. A spade lead defeats 6© but, not unreasonably, Marquardsen chose a diamond. The ¨J ran to Trimankha’s queen and he played a heart. Marquardsen rose with the ©A and exited with the jack to dummy’s king. If clubs are no worse than four-two, it is a simple matter of ruffing out the suit to establish a second spade discard and Trimankha seems to have looked no further than that. When he continued with two rounds of clubs he had to go down one; –50 and 10 IMPs to Denmark, extending their lead to 34-0. The successful line is the black-suit squeeze against East. This will succeed whenever the hand with the king of spades holds four or more clubs. In other words, on the assumption that West does not hold the sxK for his weak jump overcall, and he has already shown up with ©AJ, it works whenever the line chosen at the table works and also on a five-one split, with the exception of the case where West holds a 0-2-7-4 shape including the §J. If at trick four declarer cashes the ªA, Vienna Coup, he will succeed on the actual lie as East cannot survive the run of the red winners, but he will also discover the need to revert to the club establishment line when West shows out, and still has a heart in dummy to get to the fifth club. So declarer’s line was a clear error and cost his side 21 IMPs.
I am not sure what was going on in the Closed Room. Terasak overcalled 1ª, which is fine with me, but I am not sure that he should have doubled 3§, even if that looked to be a free shot at showing his second suit, when holding only 6 HCP. The message seems not to have got across to Amornpong, who left 4ª doubled in when he could have converted to 5§, which is only down one and therefore a good save despite the vulnerability. Even with the fall of the ªQ, 4ª doubled cost –800. Marquardsen did not come in on the first round but made a pre-emptive jump raise when Henriksen could overcall in clubs. The vulnerability stopped him from going on to 5§, however, particularly as spades had been bid on his left. Four Hearts made exactly for +620 to Thailand but 5 IMPs to Denmark. This was beginning to look ugly for the Thais and as Denmark picked up 6 Imp swings on each of the next two deals the score was up to 51-0 after nine deals. At last, there was a small ray of light for Thailand:
Terasak’s 4§ opening caught a raise from Amornpong who, of course, just had to guess at whether his values would be well-placed. Terasak got the trumps right for a useful +600. Henriksen had a toy for the East hand, 2©
showing a weak hand with both majors. Trimankha’s double was
a curious effort as it is normal to play this as either a good hand
or perhaps for take-out and he has neither. Probably, the Thais
are simply not be used to this particular weak opening and have
not practiced against it. Whether or not it would have been possible
for East/West to get to game after the 2©
opening even if left to their own devices I rather doubt, but South’s
double would have discouraged either of his opponents from making
an optimistic choice and they duly stopped in 3§.
Note North’s silence, suggesting that perhaps the double did
not promise the earth. Three Clubs made eleven tricks when Sasibut
led the ¨K and Trimankha
overtook to switch to a club and Marquardsen guessed right; +150
but 10 IMPs to Thailand.
Houmoller’s 1§ opening saw his opponents bid and raise spades and now he could do no more than compete in his six-card suit, making no less than twelve tricks on a spade lead for +170. South, for whom a negative double would have shown either four hearts or a strong hand, never had a sensible way to show her values. Sasibut’s strong no trump opening made everything very straightforward. Trimankha’s raise to 3Nt was a shade on the aggressive side but the final contract was an excellent one and it was certainly time for the Thais to get stuck in to this match. The opening lead was a low spade and sasibut held up until the third round. Technically, he should have played ace and another club now, gaining against bare king with East and spades five-three. In practice, Sasibut crossed to the ace of diamonds to take the club finesse and had an overtrick for +630 and 10 IMPs to Thailand. The margin was looking a little more respectable now at 21-51 but any hopes Thailand had of coming back into the match were dashed by two quick game swings to Denmark.
Terasak simply did not bid enough in the Closed Room. Although it is true that East’s sequence could have delivered only a doubleton spade and 6 HCP, it could, as here, have been a good deal stronger. It looks normal to go on with 3¨ over 2ª, and that would have seen one or other of the good games reached. On the lead of the king of clubs, Terasak made ten tricks for +170. In the other room the danes were favoured by their lighter two-over-one style. It was routine for Marquardsen to drive to game as soon as his partner responded 2§. The lead against 3NT was adiamond to the ten, queen and king. Marquardsen crossed to the queen of spades and cashed the jack also before playing the ©J to king and ace. Now he cashed out the spades and North threw a heart. A diamond to the ace was followed by the ©9, covered and dropping the eight. Now Marquardsen had twelve tricks for +690 and 11 IMPs. Note that picking up the heart suit was worth an extra IMP despite the Thai East/West pair not having reached game.
Jonas Houmoller took a practical shot when he jumped to 3NT rather than worry about a possible club game. After a heart lead he took his nine tricks for +400. Marquardsen’s 1ª response created more of a problem for sasibut, for whom a jump to 3NT when holding a small singleton spade would have been a big position to take even when allowing for the fact that partner had suggested some spade length. Sasibut’s choice of a 2ª cuebid was not a success when Trimankha passed it. Clearly someone forgot the system – my guess is North but I could be wrong. The lead was the king of hearts to declarer’s ace and Sasibut played three rounds of clubs, throwing dummy’s heart loser. Marquardsen ruffed and switched to a low spade for the queen and ace and declarer played a diamond to the jack and king. Henriksen led a heart now for dummy to ruff and Sasibut played the ¨Q. Marquardsen won and played the ªJ to the king. As both defenders held a heart, declarer had to come to one more heart ruff when he next played the ¨10 for East to ruff; down one for –100 and another 10 IMPs to Denmark. Thailand outscored their opponents by 5-2 IMPs over the last six deals of the match but that was not quite sufficient to prevent Denmark from achieving a maximum 25 VPs. The final score was 76-27 IMPs, 25-2 VPs. Denmark followed this up with a 25-4 win over Uruguay to give them a perfect 50 VPs out of 50 on day two of the championships. |
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