Deal of the Day
The deal of Thursday was surely Board 6 from the morning match,
Round 6, where East/West have to overcome a pre-emptive overcall
and judge whether to play a small or a grand slam and whether in
no trump or in clubs.
Board 6. E/W Vul. Dealer East.
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ª 8 5 3
© 7 5 4 2
¨ 4 3
§ J 10 6 5 |
ª A Q 6 2
© K 10 9
¨ A Q 8 7
§ A 7 |
![Bridge deal](/Graphics/Hand/board3.gif) |
ª K 9 7
© A Q 8 3
¨ -
§ K Q 9 8 4 3 |
|
ª J 10 4
© J 6
¨ K J 10 9 6 5 2
§ 2 |
Around the room this was played in 6ª once, 6NT ten times, 7§ once
and 7NT four times. Does that mean that there were five unlucky
pairs bemoaning the three-two club break as their grand slams failed?
No, three times 7NT succeeded after a diamond lead in response to
South’s pre-empt. Only Karim Nabil for Egypt managed to avoid
the diamond lead, preferring a heart after this auction:
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
|
1§ |
3¨ |
Dble |
Pass |
4© |
Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
6¨ |
Pass |
7NT |
All Pass |
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Of course, the 6¨
response to RKCB pinpointed the void but it was still a good effort
not to lead the suit and it gained Egypt 17 IMPs when they might
have lost 13 on a diamond lead.
Chinese Taipei gained 13 for 7NT making against USA1, and Norway
gained 13 for 7NT making against France. It was flat in six in the
other matches except USA2 v Denmark.
West |
North |
East |
South |
Gjaeldbaek |
Hurd |
Schaltz |
Wooldridge |
|
|
1§ |
4¨ |
Dble |
Pass |
5¨ |
Pass |
5NT |
Pass |
7§ |
All Pass |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Mignocchi |
Henriksen |
Bathurst |
Marquardsen |
|
|
1§ |
4¨ |
Dble |
Pass |
5¨ |
Pass |
6¨ |
Pass |
6© |
Pass |
7NT |
All Pass |
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Mignocchi duly received a diamond lead to chalk up +2220 in 7NT,
while 7§ had to fail (OK, you could make it double dummy, but...).
And that was worth 20 IMPs to USA2.
Round 6 Poland vs England
Our main coverage of Round 6 features a different match and will
appear in tomorrow’s bulletin. However, there was one nice
piece of play on vugraph and we include it here. Poland won the
match by 32 IMPs, giving them a 22-8 VP victory.
Board 12. N/S Vul. Dealer West. |
|
ª
K J ©
A 10 6 4 ¨
K 6 3 §
K 5 4 2 |
ª
A 8 7 6 4 3 ©
K 8 5 ¨ 10
4 § 8 7 |
![Bridge deal](/Graphics/Hand/board3.gif) |
ª
Q 9 ©
J 9 3 ¨ A 9
8 7 2 § A
6 3 |
|
ª
10 5 2 ©
Q 7 2 ¨ Q
J 5 § Q
J 10 9 |
This deal featured a nice piece of play from Jakub Kotorowicz for
Poland. Both Wests passed as dealer. The English North/South pair
then bid 1© –
1NT and West overcalled 2ª,
where he played for +110 to Poland. At the other table Jakub Kotorowicz
opened the North hand with a Polish 1§
and East overcalled 1¨,
South bid 1ª and
West 2ª, over which
Jakub bid 2NT, where he played.
The lead was a low diamond to dummy’s jack and Jakub now
played on clubs. When East took his ace he led another low diamond
and Jakub won on table and led a low spade to his ace. Now he cashed
the remaining clubs and exited with the jack of spades. Had West
held both the missing spade honours, he would have been forced to
win this trick and eventually lead away from the king of hearts
to present declarer with his eighth trick.
owever, it was East who won with the ªQ
and cashed his diamonds. No matter, when he eventually was forced
to switch to a heart, the auction made it pretty clear where the
king would be and Jakub played low from dummy and once again had
the necessary second heart trick; +120 and 6 IMPs to Poland.
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