Round Eleven – England v France

Matches between England and France always have a little added spice, there having been a long rivalry between the two countries. Going into this one France were lying in fourth place but with several teams close enough behind them to threaten their qualification for the knock-outs. England were not completely out of contention but would need to put together some serious wins over the last two days of the round robin.

The match was largely about slam decisions, with no less than five in the first ten boards.

Board 1. None Vul. Dealer North.
	ª 10 4 3 2 © A ¨ A K 3 § A K 6 4 2
ª 5 © J 9 7 3 ¨ 8 7 5 2 § J 9 8 3		ª A 9 7 © Q 8 6 2 ¨ 9 6 4 § Q 7 5
	ª K Q J 8 6 © K 10 5 4 ¨ Q J 10 § 10

West	North	East	South
Gold	T.Bessis	Burgess	Gaviard
	1§	Pass	1ª
Pass	4©	Pass	4NT
Pass	5§	Pass	6ª
All Pass

West	North	East	South
G.Grenthe	Birdsall	J.Grenthe	Hydes
	1§	Pass	1ª
Pass	2¨	Pass	2©
Pass	3ª	Pass	4NT
Pass	5¨	Pass	6ª
All Pass

Neither North/South pair had any difficulty in reaching the cold slam on this first deal. Thomas Bessis was happy to splinter in his bare ace over the 1ª response and that was sufficient to see Julien Gaviard launch into RKCB, bidding the small slam upon discovering that an ace was missing.

Gareth Birdsall preferred not to splinter when his singleton was an important card so invented a reverse and only supported spades at his third turn. Again, South now used RKCB, Alex Hydes then bidding the small slam. Flat at +980.

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

West	North	East	South
Gold	T.Bessis	Burgess	Gaviard
			1§
Pass	1¨	Pass	3§
Pass	3ª	Pass	3NT
Pass	4NT	Pass	6NT
All Pass

West	North	East	South
G.Grenthe	Birdsall	J.Grenthe	Hydes
			1§
Pass	1¨	Pass	3§
Pass	4§	Pass	4©
Pass	6§	All Pass

The first three bids were identical but then Birdsall agreed clubs with his ten-doubleton while Bessis preferred to show the spade feature then make an invitational raise when Gaviard could bid no trump. Gaviard had an easy acceptance and jumped to 6NT. Over the club raise, Hydes cuebid the heart control, which was what Birdsall had been hoping for, and he now jumped to the club slam. Both declarers made all 13 tricks when the clubs divided evenly; +940 for Hydes but +1020 for Gaviard and 2 IMPs to France.

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

West	North	East	South
Gold	T.Bessis	Burgess	Gaviard
	Pass	2§	Pass
2¨	Pass	3NT	Pass
6NT	All Pass

West	North	East	South
G.Grenthe	Birdsall	J.Grenthe	Hydes
	Pass	2¨	Pass
2ª	Pass	2NT	Pass
3¨	Pass	3©	Pass
4¨	Pass	5©	All Pass

The English East/West pair had a simple quantitative auction to the no trump slam which is simply on the heart position; +990. At the other table Guillaume Grenthe made an artificial value-showing response then transferred to show his hearts. Something went horribly wrong with the French auction as they reached the ugly spot of 5© and could be grateful that there were only two trumps to be lost; +450 but 11 IMPs to England.

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

West	North	East	South
Gold	T.Bessis	Burgess	Gaviard
			1©
Pass	1ª	Pass	2§
Pass	2¨	Pass	3§
Pass	4§	Pass	4¨
Pass	4©	Pass	4ª
Pass	5§	Pass	6§
All Pass

West	North	East	South
G.Grenthe	Birdsall	J.Grenthe	Hydes
			1©
Pass	1ª	Pass	2§
Pass	3§	Pass	4§
Pass	4©	Pass	6§
All Pass

North has an awkward call over the 2§ rebid, being a little heavy for a simple raise, as selected by Birdsall, yet a little short of the game-forcing fourth-suit bid chosen by Bessis. Both pairs clearly set trumps in a slam auction by bidding 4§ and it was easy from there; +1390 and no swing.

The third possibility for North to consider over b2§ might be an invitational jump to 3© on his strong doubleton. Four Hearts will quite often be the best game contract and 3© does have the merit of showing North's strength more accurately than either of the main alternatives.

Board 8. None Vul. Dealer West.
	ª J 3 © J 7 6 5 ¨ J 9 7 3 2 § 8 2
ª A 9 6 5 © 10 8 4 ¨ 10 8 § K Q J 4		ª K 7 2 © K Q 2 ¨ K 6 5 § A 10 9 6
	ª Q 10 8 4 © A 9 3 ¨ A Q 4 § 7 5 3

West	North	East	South
Gold	T.Bessis	Burgess	Gaviard
Pass	Pass	1§	Pass
1ª	Pass	1NT	Pass
3NT	All Pass

West	North	East	South
G.Grenthe	Birdsall	J.Grenthe	Hydes
Pass	Pass	1NT	Pass
2§	Pass	2¨	Pass
3NT	All Pass

We had a short break from the slam deals and saw a nice piece of card-reading from Ollie Burgess for England. In the Closed Room, Hydes led a passive club against 3NT and declarer was never close to making nine tricks; down two for -100.

Gaviard took a long time to lead on vugraph, finally selecting the four of spades after having previously withdrawn both a club and the more exotic ©9 from his hand and put them back. The spade lead gave Burgess a chance as it went to the jack and king. He crossed to a club to lead a heart to the queen and ace and Gaviard returned the ªQ, ducked, then switched to a club. Burgess ran his black tricks, coming down to two hearts and two diamonds in hand. Both defenders have to retain two hearts or declarer can establish a second heart trick by force to make his contract, but that means that neither can keep a third diamond. At trick ten Burgess, who surely suspected that the ace was offside from Gaviard's refusal to ever lead the suit, played a diamond to the king and ace. Gaviard cashed the ¨Q then had to lead his low heart. Burgess quickly put in the eight, forcing the jack and giving him his ninth trick for +400 and 11 IMPs to England. No doubt Burgess got the heart right because Gaviard had won the ©A in tempo and had he held the ace-jack he might well have ducked or, at the very least, considered doing so.

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

West	North	East	South
Gold	T.Bessis	Burgess	Gaviard
		Pass	1§
Pass	1©	Pass	1ª
Pass	2¨	Pass	2©
Pass	4©	All Pass

West	North	East	South
G.Grenthe	Birdsall	J.Grenthe	Hydes
		Pass	1§
Pass	1©	Pass	2©
Pass	4©	All Pass

The fifth slam deal of the session but neither pair got close to it. Hydes raised hearts immediately with his three-card support and Birdsall had no clue that the hands might be fitting so well so raised to game. The French consider three-card raises to be almost heresy and it was no surprise when Gaviard preferred to first show his spades. When he next supported hearts, there was no guarantee that he would hold more than a doubleton, but perhaps it was a little lazy of Bessis to not explore a little in case his partner had his actual shape, when North has some very useful cards. Flat at +680.

England came out on top in the match by 33-21 IMPs, 17-13 VPs.