| 9th World Youth Team Championship | Page 7 | Bulletin 10 - Friday 29 August 2003 |
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Italy vs Denmark Final Segment 4 (Boards 49-64) At the half-way point in the 96-board final of the World Youth Team Championship, Italy held a comfortable lead of 143.67-77 over Denmark. It was important that the Danes make some inroads into the Italian lead in the last set of the day, just to sow a few seeds of doubt in their opponents’ minds and give them a less restful night’s sleep.
Furio de Bello opened 2§. Weak with at least four-four in the majors, and Bjorg Houmoller’s double showe a good hand. The second double was for take-out and when Jonas removed to 3¨ Bjorg took this to show values, Lebensohl.style, so converted to 3NT. Stelio could not be sure of defeating 3NT as the opening could have been based on an even weaker hand than was actually the case, but he knew that he must have good chances so doubled. After a spade lead Bjorg had only seven tricks without playing on clubs and, when she did so, Stelio could win the ace and cash four spades for down one; –200. At the other table, there was no opening bid from East so Mazzado could open the South hand with a strong club. The same game contract was reached but there was nothing in this auction to tempt Martin Schaltz to double. He led a spde, of course, and that led to the same one down but only –100; 3 IMPs to Italy.
Jonas made a weak jump overcall and Bjorg’s 4§ also promised diamond support. Four Clubs did not improve Jonas’ hand and anyway was more to do with the lead and helping partner to judge in competition than in getting to game. Jonas settled for 4¨, however, as the cards lay there was no problem in coming to eleven tricks; +150. Lo Presti overcalled only 2¨, perhaps closer to the mark when holding two outside aces, and East and South in turn showed constructive raises of their partner’s suits. When Schaltz bid the heart game, Lo Presti could not be sure who might be making what, but 5¨ had two ways to gain, if either game was making. Schaltz doubled the final contract but again there was just a spade and a club to be lost; +750 and 12 IMPs to Italy.
The natural 1© opening permitted Stelio to come in immediately with a take-out double. When he doubled for a second time to show a strong hand, that convinced Bjorg that she had done sufficient with the South hand, particularly as she had some useful defence to 2ª. Bjorg cashed two top hearts then switched to the queen of clubs for dummy’s ace. A diamond went to the queen and king and Bjorg played a third top heart. Furio ruffed that in dummy and played a diamond to hand then took the spade finese and cashed the ªA. The ¨K was ruffed but declarer was in control, losing just the ªK from here; eight tricks for +110. Mazzadi’s strong club opening kept Schaltz quiet at his first turn but he doubled the natural 1© rebid. At this table East/West found their best fit when Kare Gjaldbaek responded 2¨. Facing a strong club and rebiddable heart suit, Lo Presti was willing to compete to 3© on the North cards and that pushed his opponents to 4¨, ending the auction. Mazzadi led his singleton club to dummy’s ace and Gjaldbaek played a trump to the ace. Mazzadi cashed two top hearts then exited passively and the defence had to come to a spade trick in the ending; down one for –100 and 5 IMPs to Italy. Things were looking very bad for Denmark, who had conceded 23 unanswered IMPs in the first seven boards of the set to trail by 77-166.67. Now, however, they started a determined comeback.
The respective Wests showed similar ranges with their 2NT rebids, 18-19 for di Bello, 18-20 for Schaltz. Furio followed a path to show a mild slam try in diamonds but while Stelio was willing to show his heart feature he did have a minimum and was not willing to proceed beyond 3NT; just nine tricks for +400 after a club lead through the ace. Gjaldbaek started with a 2¨ relay then asked and discovered that his partner had diamonds. He simply blasted the diamond slam and left the opening leader to get on with it. There is, of course, no lead to beat 6¨ played by East. Mazzadi actually chose a low club and when dummy’s queen held the trick declarer merely required on eof two major-suit finesses; +920 and 11 badly-needed IMPs to Denmark. On a passive lead, declarer will take the spade finesse and double heart finesse, the latter creating a parking place for his club loser.
Would you open 3© with the South hand? A matter of style, no doubt, but it is pretty aggressive at the vulnerability. The final contract was not affected by the pre-empt, with both Wests declaring 4ª. Jonas led a heart to the ace and Stelio played a club to his ace
then ruffed the ©Q
befor eplaying a spade up. Bjorg had to win the ªA,
of course, and she switched to a diamond to the queen, king and
ducked. Declarer won the club return and played king and another
spade, but Jonas could simply cash the §J
for down one; –100.
(i) Hearts Six Hearts is a very good contract with declarer able to establish the diamonds to set up a club discard from hand. The Danish North/South pair were given a little more room in the auction and were better able to judge to go on to six. Fit-jumps are a very good idea in principle, but here the 4§ bid allowed South more options than would have a simple 4ª. Both declarers made twelve tricks after a spade had been cashed; +480 to Italy but +980 to Denmark.
Both West players bid 2NT to show a two-suited take-out. When Jonas jumped to 4ª on the North cards he pressurised Furio into trying 5¨ with his four-card support. Jonas doubled that and the contract was one down when Bjorg cashed the ace of trumps then switched to a spade. There were just two clubs to be lost; down one for –200. Lo Presti simply doubled the 2NT call and that left Gjaldbaek free to bid a quiet 3¨. When Lo Presti now bid 4ª there was no temptation for the Danes to go on to the five level and Schaltz doubled, perhaps hoping to get a heart ruff. Gjaldbaek led the ace of spades and switched to a club. He won the next spade and switched to a diamond and the defence had to come to two red tricks from here for down one for –200 and 9 IMPs to Denmark.
Both Souths overcalled 1NT. Schaltz made an aggressive double of this while Stelio passed. Where West was silent, Jonas just jumped to 4ª, while over the double Lo Presti contented himself with 3ª, which was more pre-emptive than anything. Both declarers made eleven tricks; +200 to Italy but +450 to Denmark and 6 IMPs to the Danes. After the depressing start to the set, Denmark had com eon strong and led in the session by 52-24, but there was to be one last sting in the tail of the set as Italy gained an important swing.
Bjorg opened 1§ and in combination with Jonas’ pass over the take-out double, that left the di Bellos with plenty of room to explore. Having discovered that they had no eight-card major-suit fit, they settled for 3NT. A good choiceon this layout and after a club lead Furio ran for home; +400. The natural 2§ opening and pre-emptive raise to 3§ made life quiet a bit more difficult in the other room. When Gjaldbaek was prepared to give up on 3Nt and cuebid 4§, the awkward four-three spade fit was reached. The defence began with two rounds of clubs and Schaltz tried to keep control by pitchin ghis prospectice third-round heart loser. But the defence persisted with a third round of clubs and, when Mazzadi got in with the ace of spades, a fourth round. Declarer had to lose trump control on that defence and Schaltz was down two for –100 and 11 IMPs to Italy. After 64 deals, it was Italy by 178.67-129. |
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