brazil   v   china smeg    -    bb Round 21

Down to the Wire

by Mark Horton

If you wanted to be present at a great sporting moment, you just had to take a seat in the VuGraph theater for the last round of the Bermuda Bowl Round Robin.

You were guaranteed almost breathless excitement as the teams vying for qualification moved up and down the leader board.

This time around there was a whole raft of teams contesting the last few places. Apart from the two teams in the featured match, sixth-placed China SMEG and tenth-placed Brazil, there were anxious eyes searching out the results from the matches involving Sweden, South Africa, Japan and USA 2.

Join me as we watch the race to qualify.

Brazil needed to win this match by as much as possible. A really big win would probably put them in and might jeopardise China SMEG’s qualification.

Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	♠ A K 6 3 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ 10 ♣ A 8 6 5 4
♠ J ♥ A Q J 8 ♦ A J 9 8 ♣ K J 3 2		♠ Q 8 7 4 2 ♥ 7 5 ♦ K 6 5 3 2 ♣ 10
	♠ 10 9 5 ♥ 10 6 4 3 ♦ Q 7 4 ♣ Q 9 7

Open Room

3NT was a terrible spot, not least because the diamond suit was blocked.

North led the five of clubs for the ten, queen and king. Declarer continued with the ace and jack of diamonds, North discarding the three of spades as South won with the queen.

He switched to the nine of clubs and North cashed his winners in the suit, followed by the king of spades and a spade. When declarer put in dummy’s seven, South won with the ten and played a heart. Declarer put up the ace and cashed two diamonds, but that was down four, -200.

Closed Room

Should East have passed out his partner’s double of 2♠?

It would have earned a rich dividend.

3♦ was easy enough. Indeed it made an overtrick, +130 and 8 IMPs for Brazil.

However, it was a lead that did not last long:

Board 21. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	♠ Q 6 5 ♥ K Q 6 ♦ 9 8 5 ♣ 9 5 4 2
♠ 10 9 7 4 3 2 ♥ 7 4 3 ♦ A K J 2 ♣		♠ ♥ A J 10 9 5 2 ♦ 10 6 3 ♣ A 10 7 6
	♠ A K J 8 ♥ 8 ♦ Q 7 4 ♣ K Q J 8 3

Open Room

South’s speculative double rebounded.

He led his trump. Declarer took North’s queen with the ace and set about ruffing clubs and spades. Later on when he advanced the ten of diamonds, South covered with the queen, so twelve tricks rolled in, +790.

Closed Room

Here South led the king of spades, Declarer ruffed and not going flat out recorded eleven tricks, +450 and 8 IMPs to China SMEG.

Board 22. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	♠ ♥ A 8 7 2 ♦ K J 8 6 5 4 ♣ J 10 2
♠ A ♥ Q 10 9 6 4 3 ♦ A ♣ Q 9 8 7 5		♠ K Q 10 7 3 2 ♥ J ♦ Q 10 9 7 3 ♣ K
	♠ J 9 8 6 5 4 ♥ K 5 ♦ 2 ♣ A 6 4 3

Open Room

With perfect defence North/South can collect 800, but in order to do that South must start by leading a trump or a diamond.

South’s actual choice of the five of hearts (!) did not turn out well. North won and returned the suit, declarer ruffing and exiting with the king of clubs. South won and switched to a diamond (a trump is no better). Now declarer could win in dummy, cash the queen of clubs, ruff a club, cross to the ace of spades, cash a winning club and then exit, waiting to score the ♠KQ10 for one down, -200.

Closed Room

The advantage of playing in 3NT was two-fold – no one doubled and declarer has some hopes of eight tricks.

Board 23. Dealer South. All Vul.
	♠ A K 10 9 2 ♥ 7 4 3 ♦ J 4 3 ♣ J 2
♠ J 7 5 ♥ A J 2 ♦ K 9 ♣ A 10 6 5 3		♠ Q 8 ♥ K 10 9 8 5 ♦ A 10 7 ♣ K 8 4
	♠ 6 4 3 ♥ Q 6 ♦ Q 8 6 5 2 ♣ Q 9 7

Open Room

North led the ten of spades. Declarer won in hand and had to decide how to play hearts. Without a pause he cashed the ace and ran the jack – a rapid one down, -50.

You could hear the groans in Beijing.

Closed Room

Clearly East intended his bid of 3♥ to be forcing, but there was a major misunderstanding.

You could hear the cheers in Nanking.
South led the six of spades, which set up a trick and a parking place for declarer’s club loser. He played to ruff a diamond in dummy and the appearance of the doubleton queen of hearts gave him eleven tricks and +200.

Add that to the list of missed opportunities but it still gave Brazil 7 IMPs.

It was about now that Brazil started a game of musical chairs with South Africa, who were losing to Chinese Taipei. For the moment Brazil moved into eighth place.

Board 24. Dealer West. None Vul.
	♠ A K J 8 ♥ A ♦ K Q 7 6 4 2 ♣ 8 3
♠ 10 6 2 ♥ Q 10 7 5 2 ♦ A 10 3 ♣ A 10		♠ 9 4 ♥ K J 8 4 ♦ J 5 ♣ K Q J 9 4
	♠ Q 7 5 3 ♥ 9 6 3 ♦ 9 8 ♣ 7 6 5 2

Open Room

Did East bid 2♣ to remind himself to lead one?

When South followed the principle of always raising when you have four-card support, Brazil reached the spade game. There was a bonus when West doubled, as there was no way to defeat the contract, +590.

Closed Room

Hard luck for West, who could have left his opponents in 1♦ by finding a miraculous pass, but then saw them bid to 4♠.

Board 27. Dealer South. None Vul.
	♠ 10 6 5 ♥ Q 10 9 6 2 ♦ 3 ♣ A Q J 4
♠ Q 9 8 3 ♥ J 3 ♦ Q J 10 8 5 ♣ 8 6		♠ A J 4 2 ♥ 5 ♦ A K 7 2 ♣ K 10 7 3
	♠ K 7 ♥ A K 8 7 4 ♦ 9 6 4 ♣ 9 5 2

Open Room

A tremendous result for Brazil.

Declarer lost a diamond, a spade and a club, +420.

Closed Room

3♣ Fit jump

South led the ace of hearts and fatally continued with a second heart. Declarer ruffed and could have got home by simply playing the ace of spades and a spade, but when he crossed to dummy with a diamond to run the queen of spades, he had set up the diamond ruff that defeated the contract. Down one, -50 – still 9 IMPs to Brazil, but it should have been 13.

The effect of the 30 IMPs Brazil had scored was to move them not only ahead of South Africa, but also to overtake their opponents.

Meanwhile, Sweden was just about level with Indonesia, and Japan was being held by New Zealand. USA 2 were ahead of Norway, but it was beginning to look like they would need a maximum to have any chance.

Brazil were just about home and dry, but all those missed opportunities came home to roost on the very last deal:

Board 32. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	♠ 7 6 ♥ K 8 4 3 ♦ A J 10 9 2 ♣ A J
♠ A K 10 ♥ J 10 2 ♦ ♣ K Q 9 8 7 6 3		♠ Q J 9 8 2 ♥ 7 5 ♦ Q 7 4 3 ♣ 10 5
	♠ 5 4 3 ♥ A Q 9 6 ♦ K 8 6 5 ♣ 4 2

Open Room

Chagas thought long and hard before passing out 3♦.

That was safe enough – he scored +130, but 4♥ was obviously playable and very likely to be made.

Closed Room

West, perhaps thinking he needed a good result, took a shot at 4♥.

He led the king of clubs. Declarer won in dummy, and amidst the mounting pandemonium, returned the jack of clubs.

West cashed the ace of spades (would the king have been a better choice?) and I was sure East would drop the queen to show possession of the jack. Then West would lead the ten of spades and East would overtake and surely deliver the diamond ruff that would not only make Brazil safe but also take China SMEG out of the top eight.

No!

East followed with the two, and without giving it any thought, West continued with the king of spades. That was that, as to wild cheers declarer brought home his game – he knew how to play the diamond suit – and made the home team safe.

But the drama was far from over.

Despite this disaster Brazil were still clinging on to eighth place, just half a VP ahead of South Africa, who had one result to come.

As the scores from the other matches flashed up on the screen the result in the Closed Room from South Africa v Chinese Taipei appeared, 5♦-1 by North – a terrible result for the South African pair that left their supporters groaning.

After what seemed an eternity the result from the other room appeared: 3♠ by East, +140!

That gave South Africa 3 IMPs and retrieved one vital victory point that left them 0.5 ahead of Brazil.

There was still the chance of one final twist.

USA 2 were ahead of Norway and play had already finished in the Open Room. Meckstroth and Rodwell had posted three terrific results over the last four boards (losing only –140 on Board 29 with a cold vulnerable game being on for the opposition, making 2♥x for +470 on 31, and losing only 130 on board 32.)

Assuming reasonable results from the other table they would just reach the 42 IMP margin required for a maximum 25 VP and they would overtake South Africa.

Hamman/Lall duly bid and made game on Board 29, but on Board 30, where Meckwell posted a regulation +140, Hamman had to make a vital guess in 1NT and when he got it wrong, he was –500 and one American dream was over.

Can it get more exciting than that?

Watch this space!