| 38th World Team Championships | Page 4 | Bulletin 10 - Tuesday 9 October 2007 |
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venice cup quarter-finals 4 China Global Times v England and Canada v Germany by Brian Senior
As the quarter-final matches moved into the second half, still with 48 deals to play, the closest match was the one in which England led China Global Times by 66-62, after three close sessions. Meanwhile, Germany had won all three sessions against Canada but led by only 108-80.3. With a relatively inexperienced team including one completely scratch partnership, the Canadians were doing better than most neutrals had expected and, as we were to see, their excellent performance was to continue in this fourth set.
Canada v Germany
For Germany, Anja Alberti jumped to 3♥, showing hearts and diamonds, over the 2♣ overcall, and Mirja Schraverus-Meuer raised to game. Alberti passed that and made 11 painless tricks for +450. In the other room, Julie Fajgelzon bid a simple 2♥ and Francine Cimon raised to game. Now Fajgelzon went on with a 4♠ cuebid and, when Cimon co-operated with a 5♦ cuebid, jumped to the small slam. Sabine Auken led a club to the queen, king and ace. Fajgelzon cashed the ace of spades, then played the ♥Q to Daniela von Arnim’s ace. Von Arnim returned the ♣10, covered by the jack and ruffed. Though Fajgelzon dropped the ♦Q, that was one down for -50 and 11 IMPs to Germany.
China Global Times v England
By bidding 3♦, Rhona Goldenfield showed a heart raise with diamond values. Michelle Brunner had extra major-suit distribution and judged that this would outweigh the misfit, the bulk of partner’s values rating to be wasted opposite her void. Goldenfield was completely minimum for her action and dummy left Brunner requiring a fair amount of good fortune if she were to bring home her contract. Tipped off by the auction, Yalan Zhang led ace and another club to Ling Gu’s king. Gu continued with a third club, which Brunner ruffed. She played the ♠10 from her hand and Zhang attempted to win with the jack, only to see Gu overtake to play a trump through. That combination of plays seemed to have simplified declarer’s task a little but, of course, Brunner assumed that the king of spades was also on her right to justify the overtaking play. She won the heart switch and played a low spade, ruffed in dummy, then the ♥J to her king. She played the ♠Q next but, when Zhang played low smoothly, ruffed it, ruffed a diamond back to hand, and played a spade. Zhang won with the ♠K, cashed the ♥Q, and played ace and another diamond, dummy taking the last trick for down three; -150. In the other room, Heather Dhondy overcalled 1NT with the North hand and Nicola Smith raised to game. Yiqian Liu bid her hearts now and Dhondy doubled, ending the auction. Dhondy could see that declarer must be very two-suited, in which case she would wish to ruff spades in the dummy. She therefore decided to lead a trump, even though that would often give up a trump trick. Yiqian won the heart with dummy’s jack and led the ♠7 to the ten and jack. A second heart ran to declarer’s nine and she led the queen of spades to tempt a cover. When none was forthcoming, she ruffed in dummy, dropping the ace, played dummy’s last trump back to hand, and led the ♠9. Dhondy won with the ♠K but the defence had only two clubs to come; +590 and 12 IMPs to China. Canada v Germany
Cimon overcalled 1NT and was raised to game. Auken did not bid out the West hand, so that ended the auction. Von Arnim led a low diamond round to Cimon’s nine, Auken throwing the ♠10, suit preference. Cimon played a club to the king and back to the queen and ace, took the ♣J and ♦A, then crossed to the ace of spades to cash the remaining clubs. She did not take the slight risk of the spade finesse, so had to settle for nine tricks; +600. Schraverus-Meuer did not overcall, a matter of personal style, but that is a pretty empty North hand and totally minimum for 1NT, so hard to criticise. Isabelle Smith responded 1NT, effectively ending any prospect of North/South playing in 3NT. Alberti overcalled 2NT, minors, and Sylvia Summers-Caley passed as West, but then introduced her hearts when the 3♣ preference came around. Schraverus-Meuer in turn competed to 4♣ and Smith went on to 4♥, which Schraverus-Meuer doubled. Like Zhang, Schraverus-Meuer found the killing lead of the ace of clubs, but she then found the disastrous switch to a low trump. Summers-Caley won in dummy and led a spade to South’s ace, and Alberti played king and another club, ruffed. Declarer led the queen of spades to the king and ruff, came back to hand with a trump, and played North for the ♠J; ten tricks for +590 and a huge 15 IMPs to Canada.
China Global Times v England
Liu made a simple 2♥ overcall and was left to play there. Dhondy cashed the ace of clubs, then continued with the jack, Liu ruffing. She cashed one top heart, then exited with a diamond to Smith’s nine. Smith returned a diamond to Dhondy’s ace and she switched to a spade, which ran to declarer’s ten. Liu cashed the king of hearts now and had eight tricks for +110. Brunner also made a simple overcall but, when Gu reopened with a double, raised herself to 3♥ as she was always going to compete over whatever her opponents bid, so wanted to make life more difficult for them. Zhang doubled for penalties and led the ace and king of clubs, ruffed. Brunner cashed a top heart, then exited with a diamond to the ten and queen, and back came a club. Brunner threw her remaining diamond loser so Zhang won but, while there were two trumps to be lost, there was no need for a spade guess any more as the third spade could be discarded on the ♣10; down one for -100 and 5 IMPs to China. Canada v Germany
Auken went for the full-blooded overcall of 4♥, where she was doubled. The play went club, club, ruffed, heart ace, diamond, diamond, spade switch from North; down two for -300. Summers-Caley overcalled 2♥ and Schraverus-Meuer made a support double. Summers-Caley competed to 3♥ over 2♠, but there was no double. She received a spade lead to the jack, queen and king, and cashed a top heart before exiting with the ♣Q. Back came a spade to the ten and there the play record ends. Declarer came to nine tricks, so my best guess is that she cashed the third spade then exited with a diamond and was forced to ruff a club, exited again and was given another ruff, after which North lost one of her trump tricks. Anyway, the end result was +140 and 10 IMPs to Canada.
China Global Times v England
Smith opened a natural 1♣ and Liu overcalled 3♦, raised to 4♦ by Wenfei Wang over Dhondy’s negative double. When that came back around, Dhondy doubled again, ending the auction. Dhondy cashed the king of spades, then switched to the ace of clubs, ruffed. Liu played the queen of spades, so Dhondy won the ace and continued with the jack of clubs, again ruffed. Liu ruffed her last spade in dummy and passed the ten of diamonds to Dhondy’s king. Dhondy exited with a club and, in the fullness of time, the defence came to three heart tricks; -800. Gu opened a Precision 2♣ and Brunner overcalled 3♦, negative-doubled by Zhang. Gu showed her spade suit so Zhang cuebid, then passed the 4♠ sign-off. Not wishing to risk adverse ruffs, Gu won the heart lead and cashed the top spades, so made only 11 tricks; +650 but 4 IMPs to England.
China Global Times v England
Wang made a down-the-middle simple overcall of 1♠, then bid game when she received spade support, while Goldenfield preferred 4♠. When Dhondy saved in 5♦, Liu had reason to imagine that she was facing an all-round strong hand, so doubled. At the other table, Brunner had not yet shown her spade support and had considerably less reason to think that her side had sufficient defence to defeat 5♦. She saved in 5♠, ending the auction. Against 5♦ doubled, Wang cashed the queen of spades, switched to the king of hearts and continued with the queen of hearts. She then reverted to spades. Dhondy ruffed and rattled off all the diamonds, squeezing Liu between hearts and clubs; down one for -100. Gu led a diamond against 5♠. Zhang won and switched to ace and another club; down one for -100 and 5 IMPs to China. Canada v Germany
Here both Easts overcalled 1♠. Von Arnim knew she was facing values and a heart suit, so went on to 5♠ over 5♦. Fajgelzon led a diamond, which Cimon won and switched to two rounds of clubs; down one for -100. Summers-Caley raised to 2♠ as West, and Smith raised herself to game. When Alberti went on to the five level, Summers-Caley started doubling. Smith led ace of spades, then king and queen of hearts against 5♦ doubled. Her next play was the ten of clubs. That tangled declarer’s entries for the squeeze, so Schraverus-Meuer had to go two down for -300 and 9 IMPs to Canada.
Canada v Germany
Fajgelzon/Cimon had a very straightforward four-card-major auction to 2♠ which drifted one off for -100. In the other room, Alberti’s 1♣ opening permitted Summers-Caley to overcall 1♦, and Smith showed her hearts in response. The Canadians struggled up to 3NT, and Schraverus-Meuer led the ten of clubs to declarer’s jack. This was an ugly contract. Declarer led the queen of hearts to South’s ace, and back came a spade to the ten and jack, ducked. The spade continuation was won with the ace, and the ten of hearts led to the jack and king. Declarer tried to split the hearts now, and when they proved to be four-two, the contract fell apart. Summers-Caley ended up four down for -400 and 11 IMPs to Germany.
China Global Times v England
Both Easts opened 1NT. Gu passed the South hand, so Goldenfield was left to play there. Gu led the seven of hearts. Goldenfield won in dummy to lead a club to the jack and queen, and Gu found the switch that speeded up the play considerably of king then jack of diamonds. Zhang won with the ♦A and cleared the suit. Goldenfield cashed the ace of hearts, then tried a low club in the hope of dropping a doubleton ace. Zhang won cheaply and cashed the diamonds, then ace of clubs and declarer had to make two black tricks for down two; -100. Smith found an aggressive 2♥ overcall and, when that ran around to Wang, she reopened with a double as she held a good weak no trump with only a doubleton heart. Looking at two trump tricks, Liu left in the double and led a diamond to Smith’s jack. Smith played a heart. Liu went in with the queen and switched to a low spade for the nine and ace, and Wang returned a spade to the king. Smith played ace of clubs and ruffed a club, then a trump, which ran to Wang’s ace. She returned a diamond to declarer’s king, and Smith played the jack of spades. Liu won the ♠Q, cashed the ♥K and exited with her small heart. Smith had eight tricks for +470 and 9 IMPs to England.
Canada v Germany
After Fajgelzon passed a perfectly respectable 12-count, Auken’s mini-no trump stole the pot. Cimon led the two of hearts to Fajgelzon’s king, and back came the ten of hearts to the jack and ace. Auken played a club to her king, then a club back to Cimon’s jack. Cimon switched to a low diamond to the ace, and now Fajgelzon switched to jack and a low spade. Auken won the second round and played the ♦J, but that was won by the king. However, the defence failed to unravel their tricks and gave Auken one more winner at the end; down three for -150. Alberti opened the South hand and soon found herself in 3NT. The opening lead of the jack of hearts did not, as they say, exactly paralyse declarer, and Alberti soon had ten tricks for +630 and 10 IMPs to Germany.
China Global Times v England
Brunners’s weak no trump led to an uncontested auction to 4♥. The queen of spades was led to the ace and a spade returned to declarer’s king. Brunner drew trumps then played on clubs and lost two clubs and the spade; +620. Liu opened 1♦ and that led to a quite different auction. Dhondy overcalled 1♠ and Smith raised to game then, when her opponents bid the heart slam, saved in 6♠. That was a big position to take in front of partner, and might have been easier to avoid had she been able to make a fit-jump of 4♣ instead of the simple 4♠ raise at her previous turn. England had missed an opportunity for a big gain by defending the hopeless slam, but it remained to be seen if they would have a modest gain or modest loss on the board. Wang led the king of diamonds and continued with the jack. She should now have received a ruff, but Liu played low on the second diamond, losing to the queen. Dhondy led the queen of spades, losing to the king, and there was a heart to lose also; down three for -500 and 3 IMPs to England. China won the session by 34-25 to lead England by 96-91 IMPs with two sets to play, while Canada won the set by 52-36 but still trailed Germany by 132.3-144. Both these matches looked to be going down to the wire. |
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