Round 12 – Poland v Italy

It would have been fun to watch two pairs of brothers meet each other but, in this match between Poland and Italy, Lo Presti/ Mazzadi were again movie-stars for Italy on the vugraph-scene. Poland lined up Krzysztof Buras/Piotr Lutostanski on vugraph. In the Closed Room the di Bello brothers battled against the Kotorowicz brothers.

The match was important for both of the teams; Italy wanted to secure a win in the round robin to gain the right to choose their opponent in the semi-finals, while if Poland survived this round they would have a very good chance to be one of the top four teams and so make the knock-out stages.

On Board 5 the di Bello brothers sacrificed in 6© against 5ª and that went two down for -300. In theory you could beat 5ª but in practice it rather often will succeed. Wong/Ieong of China Hong Kong, found the correct defence against USA2’s Hurd/Wooldridge. In this match Buras doubled 5©; +100 and that was the first 5 IMPs of the match to Italy.

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

West	North	East	South
Lo Presti	Buras	Mazzadi	Lutostanski
		1©	4§
Pass	5§	Dble	All Pass

West	North	East	South
K. Kotorowicz	S. di Bello	J. Kotorowicz	F. di Bello
		1©	2§
Pass	2©	Pass	3©
Pass	5§	Dble	Rdbl
All Pass

I think Furio’s redouble was reasonable. After a heart lead and a club return declarer was doomed to go one down for –200. At the other table Lo Presti led ªA, a perfectly normal thing to do, and he was unlucky to find that this was the only lead to make the contract easy for declarer; +550 and 13 IMPs to Poland.

In the following auction 3NT shows shortage in hearts, 4§ is a cuebid and 5§ shows three key cards. What’s your lead sitting East?

ª 9 6 © K Q J 7 ¨ K 9 6 5 3 § 9 4

West	North	East	South
Pass	1ª	Pass	3NT
Pass	4§	Pass	4NT
Pass	5§	Pass	6ª
All Pass

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

West	North	East	South
Lo Presti	Buras	Mazzadi	Lutostanski
Pass	1ª	Pass	3NT
Pass	4§	Pass	4NT
Pass	5§	Pass	6ª
All Pass

West	North	East	South
K. Kotorowicz	S. di Bello	J. Kotorowicz	F. di Bello
Pass	1ª	1NT	Dble
3©	Pass	Pass	4©
Pass	4ª	Pass	5§
Pass	5©	Pass	5ª
Pass	6ª	All Pass

After five rounds of bidding the di Bello brothers ended up in the final contract of 6ª. East’s 1NT showed four hearts and a five-card minor and West tried to make life hard by a pre-emptive 3©. Stelio’s 5© denied a diamond control but the Italian brothers were short of space and ended up in slam anyway. East found the diamond lead and the defence cashed their two top diamonds; -50. Well done by East but not a very impressive bidding sequence by North/South.

In the Open Room 3NT showed heart shortage. When Mazzadi led ©K the board became a significant swing for Poland, 6© made in one room and beaten in the other; 14 IMPs to Poland.

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

West	North	East	South
Lo Presti	Buras	Mazzadi	Lutostanski
	1¨	Pass	1ª
Pass	2§	Pass	3§
Pass	3NT	All Pass

West	North	East	South
K. Kotorowicz	S. di Bello	J. Kotorowicz	F. di Bello
	1¨	Pass	1ª
Pass	1NT	Pass	3NT
All Pass

Stelio di Bello won the heart lead with the ace and established three club tricks. A heart came back and when declarer played a diamond up the contract was made, as he only had to take the spade finesse.
The beginning of the play was the same at the other table but when Krzysztof Buras ran ¨7 to East’s queen, back came another heart. West came in with the ¨A and cashed two heart tricks; one down and 10 IMPs to Italy. If the diamonds would be the other way around Krzysztof’s way of handling the diamonds would have been the right way to play.

At half time Poland was in lead by 30 IMPs to 15.

On Board 18 Lo Presti/Mazzadi stretched to a horrible 3© contract, declarer might scramble seven tricks if he was lucky but Lo Presti wasn’t; three off and 3 IMPs to Poland. The Kotorowicz brothers were in a similarly horrible contract – 3¨ on a four-three-fit – and went one down.

On the very last board the Italians took their chance to narrow the gap.

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

West	North	East	South
Lo Presti	Buras	Mazzadi	Lutostanski
1¨	Pass	1ª	2NT
3¨	4©	Dble	Pass
4ª	5§	Dble	5©
Pass	Pass	5ª	All Pass

West	North	East	South
K. Kotorowicz	S. di Bello	J. Kotorowicz	F. di Bello
1¨	Pass	1ª	2ª
Pass	4©	Dble	All Pass

It wasn’t easy for Jakub to realize his partner only had one defensive trick. Stelio’s accurate jump to 4© made it difficult for the Poles to find the right thing to do. I don’t sympathize with Jakub’s idea of doubling 4© and would rather pass with Eeast’s hand. On vugraph Paul Chemla pointed out that it would be obvious for West to remove the penalty double, but it at least wasn’t obvious for Krzysztof. At the other table Lo Presti didn’t want to play in defence and his removal to 4ª should indicate seven diamonds and three spades, which helped Mazzadi to find the right track. After East’s 5ª Lutostanski wasn’t sure of what was going on so he passed. 5ª went two off but when the di Bello brothers collected +990 in the Closed Room Italy gained 13 IMPs.

Poland made a solid impression, while neither of the Italian pairs played their best bridge in this match and would on that basis be quiet happy that the defeat wasn’t more heavy than 13 VPs to 17 (30-39 IMPs).