| 38th World Team Championships | Page 6 | Bulletin 3 - Tuesday 2 October 2007 |
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Egypt v poland - bb Round 4 by Brian Senior Prior to their fourth round, clash in the Bermuda Bowl, Poland had three wins out of three while Egypt had started with two losses out of three, so were a little more in need of a good result. In a generally low-scoring affair, the Egyptians got what they needed to put some momentum into their push for a place in the last eight.
Piotr Gawrys, for Poland, opened 2♥, showing a weak hand with at least five-five in hearts and any other suit. Suspecting which that other suit would prove to be, Bartosz Chmurski passed rather than look for a miracle. Mohamed Heshmat led the ace of diamonds. Gawrys ruffed and led a low spade towards dummy’s bare queen. Heshmat went in with the ace and switched to the ♥4, to the jack and ace, and Gawrys played two more rounds of trumps, throwing clubs from the dummy. Heshmat switched to a low club so Gawrys called for a low card from dummy, his only real chance. Tarek Nadim won with the jack of clubs and switched to king and another spade to the jack; down one for -50. Walid El Ahmadi opened 3♥, which ended the auction. Jerzy Skrzypczak also tried the ace of diamonds. ElAhmadi ruffed and played three rounds of hearts, South winning the queen and switching to ace, jack and a third spade. Boguslaw Gierulski won with the ♠K but that was it for the defence; +140 and 5 IMPs to Egypt.
The respective Wests decided this deal by their choice of rebid. Tarek Sadek contented himself with bidding out his shape, rebidding 2♦, then passing El Ahmadi’s simple preference. Gierulski led the ♥8. Sadek won the ♥A and played a spade. South went in with the ace and played a club through. Sadek rose with the ace, then cashed the king of spades before switching his attention to diamonds, leading the king. Gierulski won the ace and played king then jack of clubs, ruffed. Sadek now cashed two diamonds before playing the ♠J. With the even spade split, the ♠Q was the last defensive winner; +140. Chmurski, perhaps feeling that his failure to open a Polish club, limiting his hand to 17 HCP, gave him a measure of safety, rebid 2NT. Gawrys raised himself to 3NT and Heshmat led the ten of clubs to the queen and king. Nadim returned the jack of clubs to dummy’s ace, and Gawrys played on diamonds, Nadim winning immediately to play his last club. Heshmat cashed his two club winners, then switched to the ace of spades, the setting trick, followed by the ♠8. Gawrys went up with the king, played the ♥J to his ace, then cashed the diamonds. The last diamond squeezed Heshmat, who smoothly bared the heart queen. When Gawrys now judged to take the heart finesse, he lost the last two tricks to the pair of major-suit queens; down three for -150 and 7 IMPs to Egypt.
There was a disaster for Poland when, presumably, Gawrys pulled the wrong bidding card and didn’t notice until it was too late - clearly 6♠ makes no sense - forcing Chmurski to convert to 6NT. Still, all was not necessarily lost it seemed, as the opening lead was a club to the queen and ace. Chmurski led a spade immediately, hoping to find the ace onside combined with some good fortune elsewhere. When the king lost to the ace, Heshmat cashed two more spades for down two; -100. With the Egyptians bidding smoothly to the heart slam, it seemed that Poland would concede a major swing on this board, but it didn’t turn out that way. Against 6♥, Skrzypczak cashed the ace of spades then switched to a low trump. Your grandmother and mine would make this one courtesy of the perfect club position, but El Ahmadi is far too good a player to follow such a simple line as to take the club finesse. Instead, he drew three rounds of trumps, unblocked the diamonds, then played ♣K and a club to the ace. Declarer’s last club went away on the king of diamonds and he next led the six of clubs off the table. Had the five and seven of clubs been switched, the contract would now have succeeded as El Ahmadi would have had no option but to ruff a club, playing for an even break. But on the actual layout a ruffing finesse position had been established and that was the option for which El Ahmadi played; down one for -50 and one imagines a pretty relieved El Ahmadi when he scored up and discovered that he had still gained 2 IMPs.
Heshmat’s 2♦ overcall did not excite Nadim sufficiently for him to get involved in the auction, so Gawrys was left to play in 4♠ on a club lead. He won with the ace and played a spade to the queen and ace. When Heshmat tried to cash a club, Gawrys could draw the last trump and give up a heart; 11 tricks for +650. Skrzypczak preferred an unusual 2NT overcall to get both minors into the game. Naturally enough, that caused Gierulski to look with more enthusiasm at his hand and he bid freely at the four level, encouraging South in turn to bid once again, pushing the Egyptian East/West to the five level. Here too, the lead was the king of clubs to dummy’s ace. Gierulski followed with the ♣7, reverse carding, but South played a low club upon winning the ace of spades at trick two. Had he found a diamond switch, rather than played to put partner in to lead a diamond through, El Ahmadi would have had to pick up the hearts without loss to make his contract. Mind you, he might well have managed just that, as the defence has a lot of discards to make on the run of the spades. On the actual club continuation, El Ahmadi could ruff, cash the jack of spades, then play a heart to the king and a low heart back to his seven, a classic safety play. Though the heart lost to the ten, declarer had the rest for a flat board.
Nadim opened a top-weight weak 2♠ and played there. With no attractive opening lead, Gawrys tried a low club away from the ace. Nadim won in hand with the queen and played the ♦10. Gawrys took the ♦A and played ace and another club to dummy’s king. Nadim led the ♠9, which Chmurski won with the ace and gave his partner a heart ruff. There was still the queen of spades to come but that was it; eight tricks for +110. Gierulski opened 1♠ and it was natural for the Poles to reach 4♥. Of course, this contract can be beaten, but Skrzypczak managed to bring it home. Sadek led the two of diamonds, won by El Ahmadi, who switched to the ♣2. Declarer put in the ten and Sadek played low, presumably to show an odd number. The low diamond was ruffed, the ♥A cashed, and now declarer played the queen of clubs. El Ahmadi won with the ace and returned the suit to declarer’s king. After cashing all the trumps, declarer led a spade up and Sadek had no option but to win with the ace and put him back in hand with a diamond; a rather fortunate ten tricks; +420 and 7 badly needed IMPs to Poland. The last board helped the Polish cause a little but Egypt still came out on top by 27-15 IMPs, 18-12 VPs. |
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