USA2 vs Italy

Semi-final Segment 1 (Boards 1-16)

USA2 lined up Bathurst/Mignocchi on vugraph and Grue/Kranyak in the Closed Room. Opponents on vugraph were Lo Presti/Mazzadi with the di Bello brothers in the Closed Room. The vugraph-audience is still waiting to see the temperamental di Bellos on the vugraph-screen.

Stelio di Bello redoubled 5§ in a Round Robin match but that was defeated by one trick. On the first board he wanted revenge and launched the fireworks immediately when he went for the blue card again in 5§, perhaps to see which way the wind was blowing in this match, but there were three quick losers; 200 for USA2. At the other table Bathurst due to the early start (9.00 am!!) handled the trump suit poorly in 4© doubled; -500 and 7 introductory IMPs for Italy. The Americans had a 4 IMP carry-over but were now already 3 IMPs behind.

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

West	North	East	South
Lo Presti	Bathurst	Mazzadi	Mignocchi
Pass	Pass	1§	1©
Pass	2©	Dble	Pass
2NT	Pass	3¨	Pass
3NT	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Kranyak	S. di Bello	Grue	F. di Bello
Pass	Pass	1¨	1©
Pass	2¨	Dble	Pass
Pass	3§	Pass	3©
All Pass

Furio di Bello as South did his job by collecting ten tricks in 3©. In the Open Room Lo Presti went for a no trump game on the East/Wests cards! What went wrong in Lo Presti/Mazzadi’s auction? Mazzadi’s take-out double was reasonable but Lo Presti was hoping for more. To stop in 3¨ was the right thing to do as 3NT was three off after a heart lead; Lo Presti changed a 2 IMP gain to a 4 IMP loss.

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

West	North	East	South
Lo Presti	Bathurst	Mazzadi	Mignocchi
			1§
1ª	2§	3§	5§
Dble	Pass	5ª	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Kranyak	S. di Bello	Grue	F. di Bello
			1§
1ª	Pass	3¨	Pass
4ª	Pass	5§	Pass
5¨	Pass	5©	Pass
5NT	Pass	6§	Pass
7ª	All Pass

The Americans were a bit unlucky here when the diamond finesse failed. Bathurst/Mignocchi jammed the works for Lo Presti/Mazzadi by bidding clubs. Mazzadi didn’t know if Lo Presti had a diamond control or not and stayed at the five level. At least Lo Presti was relieved to lose a trick to the ¨K but, knowing the small slam was laydown, he probably was surprised when it time to score up. Italy gained 13 IMPs and was up by 14 IMPs.

In the other semi-final this board was a big swing for Poland. The Houmoller’s sacrificed in 7§ for –1400 but that was 17 IMPs to the Poles when Schaltz/Gjaldbaek went down in 7ª.

On Board 10 Lo Presti found a ruff for his partner, just enough to defeat 5§, and when the di Bellos stayed in 4§ that was a 6 IMPs gain for Italy.

Board 11. None Vul. Dealer South.
	ª J 6 4 3 © 10 9 5 ¨ J 8 6 2 § A 10
ª K 8 © Q 8 7 6 ¨ A 10 § K 9 5 4 3		ª A Q 10 9 7 2 © 3 ¨ K Q 5 3 § 6 2
	ª 5 © A K J 4 2 ¨ 9 7 5 § Q J 8 7

West	North	East	South
Lo Presti	Bathurst	Mazzadi	Mignocchi
			1©
Pass	2©	2ª	Pass
2NT	Pass	4ª	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Kranyak	S. di Bello	Grue	F. di Bello
			1©
Pass	2©	2ª	3©
4ª	Dble	All Pass

The defence can take three tricks in the early play then declarer has three options for trying to make the contract: a) play the spades from top, b) take a trump finesse or, c) make a trump-reduction. On the actual layout b) and c) would be successful but not a). Mazzadi didn’t play the cards in a proper order and he went down. With the trump-reduction this would be the ending when East is down to four cards.

	ª J 6 4 3 © - ¨ - § -
ª K 8 © - ¨ - § 9 5		ª A Q 10 © - ¨ 5 § -
	ª 5 © K ¨ - § J 8

North has discarded his last diamond on the fourth heart ruff. Since the defence has already won three tricks, taking the trumps from the top will not do the job. Declarer must ruff the diamond with the king of spades and his next move is just to cover North’s spade. Grue found the winning line as he scored +590; 12 well-earned IMPs to USA2.

Italy won 13 IMPs on the last board in this segment when Kranyak/Grue bid a sporting 6© with only 11 tricks while Lo Presti/Mazzadi were in a safe 4©. The first quarter was over and Italy had their toes in the final, leading by 54-24.5 IMPs. Denmark started with a 16 IMP carry-over and was now in the lead by 39 IMPs in the other semi-final.