Round Eight – England vs Thailand

With just three boards to play in their Round Eight meeting with England, Thailand was taking something of a beating, trailing by 13-51 IMPs. However, they came on strong over those last three deals to hold the loss to a mere 3 IMPs, 48-51 or 14-16 VPs.

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

West	North	East	South
Kitchakarn	Birdsall	Chongteerachote	Burgess
		Pass	1ª
Dble	Rdbl	2©	Pass
3©	Pass	Pass	4§
All Pass

West	North	East	South
Woodcock	Sasibut	Levy	Trimankha
		Pass	1ª
Dble	1NT	Pass	3ª
Pass	4ª	All Pass

I commented in a separate article that neither North player had seen fit to show their values over West’s take-out double, so I was pleased to see that both Norths bid immediately in this match.

In response to Jaturong Sasibut’s 1NT response, Taweesith Trimankha jumped to 3ª and was raised to game. Andrew Woodcock cashed the king of diamonds to get a count signal then switched to the jack of hearts, the play that required least to break the contract. Here, of course, it merely lost him his heart trick, but it was a good attempt, I think. Trimankha got the spades right to make twelve tricks for +680.

Gareth Birdsall began with a redouble then left it up to his partner when the opposition bid and supported hearts. Ollie Burgess’s 4§ looks seriously misdirected to me with that shape. Personally, if my partner could not double 3© for penalties then I would take a shot at 4ª, with 3ª being my second choice. Birdsall passed 4§ and Burgess took ten tricks for +130 but 11 IMPs to Thailand.

Board 19. E/W Vul. Dealer South.
	ª A Q 9 6 5 2 © 9 6 3 ¨ J 4 § 9 5
ª K 10 8 4 3 © K ¨ K 2 § A K 8 6 2		ª J © Q 10 4 2 ¨ Q 10 8 5 3 § Q 10 7
	ª 7 © A J 8 7 5 ¨ A 9 7 6 § J 4 3

West	North	East	South
Kitchakarn	Birdsall	Chongteerachote	Burgess
			Pass
1ª	Pass	1NT	Pass
2§	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Woodcock	Sasibut	Levy	Trimankha
			1©
1ª	Pass	1NT	Pass
3NT	Dble	All Pass

Burgess passed the South hand and Kitchakarn/Chongteerachote had a peaceful auction to 2§. The lead was a heart to the ace followed by a trump switch round to dummy’s seven. Patnarin Kitchakarn led a diamond off the dummy and Burgess went in with the ace to switch to his spade for the king and ace. The ¨J was won by the king and a spade was ruffed and over-ruffed. The contract was still in no danger from here and Kitchakarn made it exactly for +90, allowing North to ruff the diamond return but then ruffing high on the next spade and cashing the ©Q.

In the other room, Trimankha found a thin 1© bid and Woodcock overcalled 1ª. When Ed Levy could respond 1NT, Woodcock had sufficient to raise to game, or so he thought. Looking at that beautiful spade stack, Sasibut doubled the final contract and Trimankha led a low heart to the bare king. Levy led a club to the queen and tried a diamond towards the king. Trimankha went in with the ace of diamonds, Sasibut dropping the jack, and switched to a spade. With no further entry to the dummy to get at the ¨Q, declarer could come to only seven tricks. Sasibut won the ªQ and played the ©9 for ten and jack and Trimankha exited with a low club while the diamonds were still blocked. The defence came to a spade and two more hearts in the ending; –500.

Board 20. All Vul. Dealer West.
	ª A 3 © A 10 9 ¨ J 5 3 § 9 8 7 5 2
ª Q 10 2 © Q 8 7 6 ¨ Q 7 § A Q 10 4		ª K 7 4 © K J 5 4 3 ¨ A K 9 8 2 § -
	ª J 9 8 6 5 © 2 ¨ 10 6 4 § K J 6 3

West	North	East	South
Kitchakarn	Birdsall	Chongteerachote	Burgess
1§	Pass	1©	Pass
2©	Pass	4©	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Woodcock	Sasibut	Levy	Trimankha
1©	Pass	2¨	Pass
2NT	Pass	3©	Pass
3NT	Pass	4§	Pass
4©	Pass	6©	Pass
Pass	Dble	All Pass

The Thai East/West pair made tis one look very easy as they sailed into the heart game without making any sort of atry for slam; +650.

Meanwhile, something went badly wrong for England in the other room. Woodcock showed a minimum balanced hand with four or five hearts with his 2NT rebid and normally only four hearts when he followed that up with 3Nt at his next turn. Four Clubs was a cuebid and 4© a sign-off. Finally, the leap to 6© was an error, as evidence the fact that there were two aces to be lost. Sasibut’s final double was a little greedy but it worked out fine this time, even if it did not actually gain him any IMPs. One down meant –200 and 13 IMPs to Thailand, who had scored 35 IMPs over the three deals.