Schools Pairs - Session 2

by Peter Gill

This new World Bridge championship attracted an excellent entry of 68 pairs from 20 countries from USA, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. The event is for all bridge players born on or after 1 January 1986. One hundred and two players are born in the 1980s and 34 are born in the 1990s, the youngest player being 11 year old Anna Christa Ege from Denmark.

The early leaders after one of the four sessions were Joanna Krawczyk and Artur Wasiak from Poland on 66.88%. They topped the datums when their team from Poland won the 2005 European Schools Teams Championship in Riccione, Italy. Poland thus qualified for the 1st World Schools Teams Championship in Bangkok in August, which has a field of 16 teams from all over the world. Will they be World Champions by the time they go to Bangkok? Poland’s success at youth bridge happens because Poland has a successful youth bridge organisation, assisted by the sponsorship of Prokom Software. For the first two boards, Joanna Krawczyk and Artur Wasiak played Bronagh Considine and her 15 year old partner David Synnott from Ireland.

Board 1. Dealer North. Nil Vul.
	♠ 3 ♥ A J 10 ♦ A K ♣ A Q 9 6 4 3 2
♠ A Q J ♥ 8 7 6 2 ♦ Q 8 3 2 ♣ 8 5		♠ K 8 7 2 ♥ K Q 3 ♦ 10 6 5 ♣ K 10 7
	♠ 10 9 6 5 4 ♥ 9 5 4 ♦ J 9 7 4 ♣ J

West	North	East	South
Wasiak	Synnott	Krawczyk	Considine
	1♣	Pass	Pass
Dble	3♣	Dble	All Pass

Synnott’s immediate 3♣ bid put maximum pressure on the Poles who elected to play for penalties, affected by the scoring being pairs, but maybe also, with some uncertainty, perhaps, over the meaning of the double of 3♣. After a top heart lead, Synnott led a small club towards dummy’s jack, to make 10 tricks. Minus 570 scored the Poles only 2 matchpoints out of 66.

Board 2. Dealer East. NS Vul.
	♠ A K 10 9 8 ♥ K Q J 9 5 ♦ K Q ♣ 3
♠ Q J 4 2 ♥ A 3 ♦ 6 5 ♣ K Q 9 8 2		♠ 7 5 ♥ 7 4 2 ♦ 10 9 8 3 ♣ A J 10 6
	♠ 6 3 ♥ 10 8 6 ♦ A J 7 4 2 ♣ 7 5 4

West	North	East	South
Wasiak	Synnott	Krawczyk	Considine
		Pass	Pass
2♣	2♥	3♣	3♥
Pass	4♥	All Pass

2♣ was Polish Club, 6+ clubs and 11-14 points. Synnott said later that he should have overcalled 2♠ followed by 4♥. Double and 3♣ are other possibilities. Considine did well to make what is sometimes called a courtesy raise.

Synnott, who had taken his tricks very rapidly on the previous hand, gave the contract of 4♥ some thought before winning the ♦10 lead and sensibly playing ♥K from hand. Wasiak won the ace, and switched to a club which Krawczyk overtook to switch back to diamonds in case her partner had a singleton. Synnott won the second diamond, cashed ♥Q, happily observing the 3-2 break and claimed 11 tricks for 54 of the 66 matchpoints. It seems that Ireland has a promising 15 year old player in young David Synnott.

Board 5. Dealer North N/S Vul.
	♠ A J 9 ♥ Q J 7 3 ♦ 9 8 3 ♣ 10 4 2
♠ Q 3 ♥ K 9 ♦ A K Q 10 ♣ Q J 8 6 3		♠ 10 8 7 5 4 ♥ A 6 4 2 ♦ 7 ♣ K 7 5
	♠ K 6 2 ♥ 10 8 3 ♦ J 6 5 4 2 ♣ A 9

West	North	East	South
Wasiak	Petrasek	Krawczyk	Frank
	Pass	Pass	Pass
1NT	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♦	Pass	2♠	All Pass

I like Matej Petrasek’s choice of the lead of ♣A and a second club. Krawczyk did not pitch her third club on a diamond, which might have given her some hope of avoiding the club ruff, instead leading spades and suffering the ruff. 110 was worth only 4 out of 66 for the Poles.

A conversion by Wasiak from 2♠ to 2NT would have been a success on the actual hand, but probably a failure if partner was weaker. Also, his choice of a 1NT opening bid, which many experts would agree with, may have not been a popular bid in the Schools field. Bad luck. Bottoms for mysterious reasons seem to come in patches, and right now there was no stopping the run of poor scores. Peteris Betheris and Adrians Imsa from Latvia, who are in the Latvia team which is one of the 16 squads who have qualified for the 1st World School Teams Championship in Bangkok in August, were a tough pair to have to play when luck has abandoned you.

Board 8. Dealer West. Nil Vul.
	♠ 10 ♥ K 6 ♦ 10 9 8 7 ♣ A K Q 10 8 3
♠ A J 9 8 7 4 ♥ – ♦ 5 2 ♣ 9 7 6 4 2		♠ K 6 2 ♥ 5 4 3 2 ♦ A Q J 6 3 ♣ 5
	♠ Q 5 3 ♥ A Q J 10 9 8 7 ♦ K 4 ♣ J

West	North	East	South
Wasiak	Betheris	Krawczyk	Imsa
3♠	4♣	4♠	5♥
Pass	Pass	5♠	Dble
All Pass

N/S made a series of good competitive bidding decisions, although 5♥ can be defeated double dummy if the defence leads clubs to kill dummy’s suit. Trick One went ♣A -♣5 - ♣J - ♣6. The heart switch was ruffed with ♠7. ♦2 went to the seven, queen and king, and another heart was ruffed. After a very long think, Wasiak decided to play for diamonds to be 3-3. He played a spade to the king, finessed ♠J successfully, drew the last trump and went three down, minus 500, when diamonds did not split. Since N/S were playing upside down count perhaps Wasiak thought that ♦7 was high from a three card holding. Minus 500 was worth 14 out of 66 for the Poles.

The overnight leaders had dropped to 10th place, so I felt it was time to leave their table. The new leaders, Leonardo Fruscoloni and Gaincarlo Trimarchi were about to play the youngest pair in the field, 11 year old Anna Christa Ege and 12 year old Amalie Koch-Palmund from Denmark, whose feet barely reached to the floor from their chairs.

Board 11. Dealer South. Nil Vul.
	♠ A K 7 ♥ A J 7 2 ♦ 8 5 3 ♣ J 9 4
♠ 8 4 3 2 ♥ 10 3 ♦ K Q 10 6 ♣ K10 8		♠ J 10 9 5 ♥ K 6 4 ♦ A 9 7 2 ♣ 6 5
	♠ Q 6 ♥ Q 9 8 5 ♦ J 4 ♣ A Q 7 3 2

West	North	East	South
TrimarcIh	Koch-Palmund	Fruscoloni	Ege
			1♣
Pass	1♥	Pass	2♥
Pass	3♥	All Pass

Perhaps in Denmark if you are 11 years old and have 11 points you should open the bidding. I am not sure whether Amalie Koch-Palmund took into account the lack of tricks in her dreadful flat hand or her partner’s aggressive approach to bidding, but her decision to downgrade her 13 count and make only a game try of 3♥ was a smart decision.

East led ♦7 to the jack and queen. Believing that declarer had ducked ♦A, West switched to a spade to the queen. ♥Q was finessed to the king, ♦A cashed and a spade played to the king. Koch-Palmund drew trumps and finessed ♣Q, making nine tricks for a 67% score. The Italians were still leading and faced the Americans Owen Lien and Kevin Dwyer, who were at that time in second place.

Board 9 Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	♠ A 7 5 ♥ A Q 3 ♦ K Q10 8 2 ♣ K 7
♠ Q J 3 2 ♥ 8 5 4 ♦ 9 7 5 4 ♣ J 5		♠ 10 ♥ J 10 2 ♦ 6 3 ♣ A Q 10 9 6 3 2
	♠ K 9 8 5 4 ♥ K 9 7 6 ♦ A J ♣ 8 4

West	North	East	South
Fruscoloni	Lien	Trimarchi	Dwyer
	1♣	Dble	1♠
Pass	3NT	All Pass

Lien’s 1♣ was strong, Double showed clubs and 1♠ showed a balanced 8-13 points I think.

Lien’s practical jump to 3NT right-sided the hand. When Trimarchi led ♣10, the best lead at Teams but not necessarily at Pairs, Lien had 12 easy tricks for an 83% score.

Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul.
	♠ 9 3 ♥ A Q 9 6 5 ♦ A J 5 2 ♣ A 9
♠ 6 2 ♥ K 10 8 2 ♦ K 10 9 3 ♣ 10 4 2		♠ K J 10 8 7 4 ♥ J ♦ 8 7 4 ♣ J 6 3
	♠ A Q 5 ♥ 7 4 3 ♦ Q 4 ♣ K Q 8 7 5

West	North	East	South
Fruscoloni	Lien	Trimarchi	Dwyer
		2♥	Pass
2♠	3♥	Pass	3NT
All Pass

2♥ showed spades, weak or strong. Dwyer opted for 3NT, then had the tough decision of whether to win the first spade or not. Eventually he ducked the ♠K, clearly the right play at Teams but not necessarily at Pairs. Dwyer then won the spade return and finessed ♥Q and cashed five clubs. West let go of a diamond and a heart, and East retained all his diamonds. Dwyer played safely for 11 tricks, by cashing ♠A then setting up a long heart trick, having discarded all the diamonds from dummy. This was worth 62% for the Americans.

By the end of the session, all the leading pairs we have looked at had dropped out of the top five places. Another Polish pair had taken the lead, with the Latvians Betheris and Imsa in 2nd place. Given my success in watching the leaders, I shall be hiring myself out (at very reasonable rates) to put a hex on any pair that the chasing pack would like, to take them out of contention in this event!