| 38th World Team Championships | Page 3 | Bulletin 10 - Tuesday 9 October 2007 |
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usa 1 v egypt - vc qf session 1 by Brian Senior
USA has won the Venice Cup more often than any other country, while this was a first appearance in the knock-out stages for Egypt. The Americans, who won the round robin qualifying stage, were heavy favourites going into the match, their cause not being harmed by the fact that they had the maximum permitted 16 IMP carry-over advantage to this match. The first big swing, however, went to the underdogs.
Nessrine Eldin did not come in with the South hand over the strong, artificial 2♣ opening, which you may guess would not be my style. JoAnna Stansby responded with a negative/waiting 2♦ and Debbie Rosenberg showed first her clubs then the spades over the 3♦ enquiry. When Stansby now jumped to 4NT, did Rosenberg respond to Key-card, showing the void? If so, she described her hand very well but went past the best slam in the process. Stansby converted to 6NT, ending the auction. Eldin had doubled for a heart lead and she duly got one, but now she found that she would have been better off not having hearts led. Had she won with the ace of hearts, she would have set up twelve tricks for declarer – though there is no immediate entry to the West hand, so the defence would still prevail on a minor-suit switch from South, this play would have been fatal had West held the ♣10 or ♦Q. But Eldin ducked the heart to Stansby’s king. Stansby ran the ten of diamonds, then played a second diamond to the jack and cashed her winners, conceding the last two tricks; –50. Hansa Narasimhan did come in over 2♣, but only with 2♥, which put no pressure on the Egyptian East/West pair. Maud Khouri passed and Lily Khalil cuebid 3♥, avoiding the risk of a take-out double being left in when she had a void. Maud responded 3NT and Lily leapt to 6♣, ending the auction. Narsimhan led her singleton diamond to the ten, queen and ace, speeding up the play. Lily drew trumps and gave up a spade; +920 and 14 IMPs to Egypt. Someone went off in 6♣ in one of the other matches, but it does look to be cold. On a passive trump lead you would cash a second trump, intending to claim if the suit broke two-two. When clubs prove to be three-one, you play to ruff two diamonds in the dummy and, with the minor-suit lengths being together, that produces twelve tricks.
Eldin passed the South hand, a little cautious for my taste, and heard her opponents bid smoothly to 4♥. She took her club winners and that was that; +650. Narasimhan opened 1♣ and, after Irina Levitina’s 1NT response, East/West were only looking to compete for the partscore, though Maud’s 2♥ response to the double looks again to be a little conservative. She made only ten tricks for +170 and 10 IMPs to USA1.
It was Noheir Omar’s turn to pass a borderline opening bid, though she had the excuse of being vulnerable. This time the conservative approach should have led to a substantial gain. Rosenberg/Stansby bid uncontested to 2♠, which had six losers. Eldin led the ♦7 to her partner’s ace, Rosenberg dropping the queen. Now it was necessary for Omar to switch or a trick would run away. No, she returned a diamond, won in dummy as Eldin played an honest nine. The contract could now be made if Rosenberg took a club discard on the diamonds. No, she led the ♠J and ran it. Now the contract was beatable again if Eldin won and led a heart or a club. Once again, no, as she ducked the spade. Finally, Rosenberg decided that it was time to stop this nonsense. She cashed a diamond for a club discard before repeating the trump finesse and had eight tricks; +110. Levitina opened the North hand and Narasimhan, looking at a 13-count, drove to game. Had she chosen to bid 3NT at her second turn, she would have found that she had nine tricks because the ♠A was where it rated to be and Levitina had fast tricks for her. But 5♣ was hopeless. There were four inescapable losers in the side-suits for down two; –200 and 3 IMPs to Egypt.
Stansby decided to upgrade her 16-count to rebid 2NT, showing 18-19 balanced. With the diamond suit not providing a single trick, this was not a success. Omar led the ten of spades, which Stansby ducked. North switched to a club and Stansby won in hand, then laid down the king of diamonds, losing to the ace. A second club was won in dummy and Stansby cashed the other club winner, then led a diamond, losing to the eight. Omar cashed the clubs, then three rounds of hearts and there was also a diamond for down five; –250. Maud opened 1NT, passed round to Narasimhan, who overcalled 2♣ to show the majors. Now Maud bid her six-card diamond suit and Levitina doubled. Levitina led her spade to Maud’s ace. Maud played three rounds of clubs, throwing a heart from hand, then a diamond, running it to the eight. Levitina led a heart to her partner’s ace and the ♠Q came back, allowing North to ruff away the king. North played the ♥K, ruffed, won the next diamond play and cashed her last diamond. There was still a spade to come for down one; –100 but 4 IMPs to Egypt.
Narasimhan opened an undisciplined weak two and Maud showed her major two-suiter. The 2♦ bid had done its job, pushing East/West way beyond their comfort level. In the Bermuda Bowl, Glen Holman of South Africa doubled 4♠ with the South hand after having opened 2♦ and collected a juicy +500. Maud’s contract drifted the same three off but for only –150. Eldin did not open the South hand and heard her partner overcall 2NT to show a two-suiter other than hearts and diamonds. Eldin gave preference to clubs. Omar had extra shape, so competed to 4♣ over 3♠, ending the auction. Stansby cashed the black aces, then finding herself awkwardly placed, guessed to switch to the king of diamonds, on which Rosenberg dropped the jack, a costly play as it turned out. Eldin won with the ♦A and led her heart. Stansby played low and the contract would have made comfortably had declarer put up the king, which was perhaps the play indicated by the auction and early play. However, Eldin put in the jack and now a trump return would have left her with no play. But Rosenberg won with the ♥Q and returned a diamond, and declarer was able to put in the eight, cash the ♦Q for a heart discard, ruff a diamond, ruff a heart and throw the last heart on the ♠Q. It remained only to ruff a spade low to get to dummy and the top three clubs won the last three tricks for +130 but 1 IMP to USA1.
After identical starts to the two auctions, Narsimhan competed with 3♠ on the South cards, while Eldin bid a very aggressive 4♠. Eldin’s 4♠ ended the auction, while Maud bid a very optimistic 3NT over 3♠, and Lily ran back to the relative safety of 4♣, ending the auction. Four clubs was hopeless. Despite the even breaks in both clubs and hearts, there were five unavoidable losers; two down for –100. Stansby led the king of clubs against 4♠, then switched to the six of hearts. Rosenberg won with the heart king and cashed the ace, Stansby following with the four. After some thought, Rosenberg continued with a third heart, allowing Eldin to get rid of a club from hand. When declarer drops the ♥Q, shouldn’t West play the seven, to make it crystal clear that she is not ruffing hearts, just in case partner thinks that declarer is falsecarding? Anyway, 4♠ could now be made double dummy, but was hardly likely to be so at single dummy. Sure enough, Eldin played ♠K and a spade to the ace, then switched her attention to diamonds. She hooked the ten on the third round, so had a discard for the remaining club loser, but there was a trump loser – one down for -100 and 5 IMPs to USA1. The set ended with Egypt having halved their deficit, and they now trailed by 29-37 IMPs. |
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