| 38th World Team Championships | Page 4 | Bulletin 11 - Wednesday 10 October 2007 |
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italy v south africa - bb qf session 2 by Phillip Alder
After the first session, South Africa led Italy by 48.7 IMPs to 7. Into the Open Room came Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes to play North-South against Tim Cope and Glen Holman. The Closed Room saw Norberto Bocchi and Giorgio Duboin East-West against Chris Bosenberg and Neville Eber. On the first board, East-West had two 5-2 minor-suit fits, both of which could be held to eight tricks. Italy played in three diamonds and South Africa in three clubs. It was harder to defend against diamonds, so Italy gained 4 IMPs for plus 110 and plus 50. Over the next five boards, Italy gained one overtrick IMP. These did include a well-bid six clubs by the East-West pairs. Then came the seventh deal:
The North-South notrump range made a difference here. In the closed room, where Bosenberg started with a strong notrump, East settled for four diamonds. But when North in the open room had to open one club, because one notrump would have been weak, East went the whole hog and bid five diamonds. A spade lead would have held declarer to ten tricks, but both Souths led a club. Minus 150 and plus 600 gave South Africa 10 IMPs and the lead by 46.7. An extra undertrick gave Italy 5 IMPs; then ...
(a) 10-13 points, 5-plus clubs, unbalanced
(a) Do not lead a heart (unless your suit is very strong) In the open room, Cope naturally led a low heart, which declarer won with his jack. Fantoni played a club to the dummy, then called for the diamond king. West won with his ace and shifted to a low spade, declarer putting in his jack. When that brought out the ace and the clubs were two-two, North had eleven tricks. In the closed room, though, Bocchi, partly aided by his partnership's interesting approach to the double of the three-heart cue-bid, found a brilliant opening lead: the spade ten. Declarer won with his jack, led a club to dummy's ace, and played the diamond king to force out West's ace. Now Duboin led the spade queen, and understandably declarer got this wrong, covering with his king. Four spade tricks later, the contract was down one. Plus 400 and plus 100 gave Italy 11 IMPs. Those points were recouped with interest on the very next deal:
(a) Fourteen-plus points, five-plus spades
(a) Grand-Slam Force Nunes, not anticipating a slam, went for the spade game, which was made with two overtricks when the club king dropped under North's ace. The South Africans had an easy sequence when Eber supported clubs. East led the heart ten (Rusinow), covered by the queen, king and ace. Unable to reach the dummy for the club finesse, declarer cashed his trump ace, with gratifying results from his point of view. Now Bosenberg collected an overtrick. Minus 680 and plus 1390 gave South Africa 12 IMPs. The next board was flat, then South Africa gained another slam swing.
(a) Inquiry
Almost every table duplicated the Italian auction. But Cope looked for more, driving into a thin six diamonds. Three notrump came home with 12 tricks. Against six diamonds, North led the spade two. Declarer ducked this to South's king, won the next trick with dummy's spade ace, crossed to his hand with a trump and cashed his top hearts. His plan was to enter dummy with a trump and to ruff a heart, hoping to bring the queen down. Then, if she did not appear, to take a position. But when the heart queen dropped, Holman drew trumps and claimed, having two spades, four hearts, five diamonds and one club. Minus 490 and plus 920 was worth 10 IMPs to South Africa, now ahead by 55.7 IMPs. It was suggested that a club lead would probably have beaten the contract. Declarer could duck that trick and catch South in a black-suit squeeze, but as Hans-Olof Hallén pointed out, when the heart queen drops, declarer could pitch a club and a spade from his hand, cash the club ace, and ruff a club. When the king falls, West has twelve tricks via one spade, four hearts, five diamonds and two clubs. Italy gained 6 IMPs on a double partscore swing. Then there was this deal:
Five hearts doubled went down one, losing a trick in each side suit, and five diamonds went down two, losing two spades, one heart and one club, which gave Italy 5 IMPs. That was a small plus for the Europeans before another double-digit gain for South Africa:
(a) Balanced 13-15 with fewer than four spades
(a) Artificial inquiry Cope chose a good moment to overlook his three-card spade support, getting his side into the good six-club contract. Then, when his opponents reached six clubs, South gambled with a lead-directing double. North started with a spade, but declarer knew to play low from the dummy and made his contract, suffering just that trick-one ruff. If South had not doubled and North had found the same lead, declarer might have risen with dummy's ace. In the Italian auction, Bocchi asked questions and learned about his partner's hand. Then some control-bids led to the inferior slam, and some would say it got its just deserts. North led a diamond. Declarer won and ran the spade queen, after which Duboin could not avoid two spade losers. Note that Bosenberg did well not to double. First, the Italians might have run to six notrump and made that easily, with two spades, three hearts, two diamonds and five clubs. Second, Duboin might have made six spades, starting trumps by leading the eight (or two) from his hand and picking up the suit for the loss of only one trick. Plus 1090 and plus 50 gave South Africa 15 IMPs. After the last board was flat, South Africa had the lead by 59.7 IMPs (95.7-36) after one-third of the match. Would it be enough? |
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