Drive Like an Egyptian
by Stefan Back
If you drive a car and use the gas pedal and the brakes at almost the same time you will not achieve a smooth movement of the vehicle, but a rather bumpy ride. In bridge it is a little different. If you know your partner uses the gas pedal like, say, Juan Pablo Montoya does, you better be good at the brakes or you're disaster bound.
In the first half of the fourth round match of Egypt v China Hong Kong, Mahmoud Abdel Fattah proved to be the right brakesman for racing driver, Karim Nabil.
| Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul. |
| | ♠ 4 2
♥ A Q 8 7 5
♦ 10 8 4
♣ A 9 7 |
♠ 9 7 3
♥ K J 10 3
♦ K
♣ K J 10 8 4 |  |
♠ A 10 5
♥ 9 6 2
♦ A Q 7 5 3
♣ Q 5 | | | ♠ K Q J 8 6
♥ 4
♦ J 9 6 2
♣ 6 3 2 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Abdel Fattah | Ng | Nabil | Mak
|
| | | | Pass
|
| Pass | 1♥ | pass | 1♠
|
| Pass | Pass | Dble | 2♠
|
| All Pass
| | | |
West found an astonishing 'safety play' in the bidding by passing over 2♠. Would you have resisted the temptation to bid 3♣ when your partner has made a take-out double for the minors? I wouldn't.
The defence then avoided bumpy rides accordingly. West led his stiff ♦K and continued with a small club to his partner's queen. When South ducked, East carefully kept hisdiamond honours but returned his last club instead. South won the trick and played a spade honour to East's ace. Now Nabil cashed ♦AQ and then gave his partner a diamond ruff, South discarding his club loser from dummy. Unimpressed by this development, West continued with a third round of clubs and East was happy to over-ruff dummy for two down; Egypt +200. Well done but just good enough to lose only 3 IMPs, when Egypt at the other table went down three in 2♦.
And the brakesman struck again two boards later:
| Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul. |
| | ♠ K 9 8 6 4
♥ K 10 8
♦ 9 8 6
♣ K Q |
♠ A 10
♥ 7 2
♦ Q 10 3
♣ A J 10 8 5 2 | |
♠ Q J 7 2
♥ J 6 5 4 3
♦ K J 4
♣ 7 | | | ♠ 10 5
♥ J 9 7 5 3
♦ 10 6 5
♣ A Q 5 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Abdel Fattah | Ng | Nabil | Mak
|
| 1NT(i) | 2♥(ii) | All Pass
|
(i) 10-12
(ii) Both majors
Over North's mini no trump, East came in with another hand that hardly justifies a constructive bid. The vugraph audience even suggested a jump to 3NT on the West cards when Abdel Fattah took his time while considering his bid. In the end he found no bid at all, obviously all too familiar with his partner's style.
This time even 2♥ proved to be too high. The defenders started with a club to dummy's ace. Now Nabil played adiamond to the jack and ace. Mak now switched to a spade. Ng won with the king and played back another spade. After a heart to the eight and nine, a club to the king ruffed by East and another heart to South's queen, North/South were able to split their trump honours, when South gave his partner a club ruff for one down; China Hong Kong +100 and 3 IMPs, when the hand was passed out in the other room.
In the second half of the match our brakesman should have been less dominating as it easily could have been wrong not to share partner's passion for a 'gas pedal bidding sequence' on the following board:
| Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul. |
| | ♠ 10 9 8 3 2
♥ 7 6
♦ K 2
♣ K 5 4 2 |
♠ 7 6
♥ A Q 10 4 3
♦ Q 9 8
♣ A Q 7 | |
♠ A K 4
♥ K J 8 5 2
♦ A 5 3
♣ 10 9 | | | ♠ Q J 5
♥ 9
♦ J 10 7 6 4
♣ J 8 6 3 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Abdel Fattah | Ng | Nabil | Mak
|
| 1♥ | Pass | 2NT(i) | Pass
|
| 3♣ | Pass | 3♦(ii) | Pass
|
| 3NT | Pass | 4♦(iii) | Pass
|
| 4♥ | All Pass
| | |
(i) Game-forcing heart raise
(ii) Asking
(iii) Still interested in slam
East once again was very active but finally gave up when his partner did not show the slightest enthusiasm for slam. West should have co-operated at least after East's 4♦ bid. He did not hold a dead minimum, rather he had two aces plus the queen of trumps, so why not take your hands off the brakes just for once?
Of course, East again overbid his cards, because in the play – if you are in the borderline slam of 6♥ – you have to find the elimination line to succeed. Take the spade lead, draw the trumps, play two more rounds of spades and throw North in with a diamond to the ace and a coup en blanc in diamonds to North's king, who now has to return a club into West's tenace. Alternatively, you could go for two well-placed minor kings – a line that fails here. Egypt scored twelve tricks for a score of +480 and 1 IMP as the result was one trick less in the same contract at the other table.
Last but not least, West really lost a whole bunch of IMPs when once again his partner called for action and herefused to assist with a lead directing bid:
| Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul. |
| | ♠ Q 10 9 7
♥ A K 7 5 2
♦ 6 5
♣ Q 4 |
♠ A K 6
♥ Q 10 6 4 3
♦ 10 7
♣ 9 8 3 | |
♠ J 5 4 3 2
♥ 9
♦ Q 9 8 4 2
♣ A 2 | | | ♠ 8
♥ J 8
♦ A K J 3
♣ K J 10 7 6 5 |
In the other room Egypt had excellent result, when they doubled East/West in 3♠ to score three down for +500. If only our brakesman would have co-operated, as this is what happened at the feature vugraph table:
| West | North | East | South
|
| Abdel Fattah | Ng | Nabil | Mak
|
| | | Pass | 1♣
|
| Pass | 1♥ | 1NT(i) | 2♣
|
| All Pass
| | | |
(i) Spades and diamonds
Shouldn't West have told his partner that he is dying for a spade lead, if North ends up playing the hand? The bidding continued in the following fashion:
| West | North | East | South
|
| Abdel Fattah | Ng | Nabil | Mak
|
| | | Pass | 1♣
|
| Pass | 1♥ | 1NT(i) | 2♣
|
| Pass | 2♦(ii) | Pass | 3♦
|
| Pass | 3NT | All Pass
| |
(i) Spades and diamonds
(ii) Third-suit forcing
So North/South ended up in 3NT, which should go down on a spade lead (surprise, surprise!), but which made when East selected the ♦4 instead; China Hong Kong +600 and 3 more IMPs, the final score therefore being 51-43 in favour of China Hong Kong after a hard and well-fought match, which converted to 16-14 in VPs, corrected to 15-13 due to fines for slow play. |
