| 10th World Youth Team Championship | Page 4 | Bulletin 7 - Sunday 14 August 2005 |
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Israel v France The French Collection - by David Lusk But for the bridge paraphernalia, the area is reminiscent of a railway waiting room. Olivier Bessis is pacing around, firing systemic questions at Godefroy De Tessieres, who is studying his opponents’ card, as if patiently reading a newspaper. Eldad Ginossar sits staring into space whilst Ophir Reshif, boots removed, sits impassively in his stockinged feet, occasionally placing his head in his hands. The Open Room on vugraph starts ten minutes later than the other tables, so the four players must wait it out. Israel must do well to stay in the race for a finals berth, the French are keen to push the Polish team out of first place.
Open Room
Closed Room
West led the spade ace and switched to the ♣K. A helpful West dropped the jack and the club continuation left declarer with the prospect of taking the ruffing finesse in diamonds for the contract. That didn’t work and East had another club to play. At the other table, East was unaware that declarer was void in diamonds. He attempted to force dummy with a third round of spades, hoping to deny declarer the diamond suit. Thomas Bessis played the ace of diamonds and took the ruffing finesse, throwing clubs at each turn. The jack of diamonds took care of the last club. The French had collected their first big swing 12 IMPs. A well timed two- opening pushed the French out of their comfort zone on this hand:
Open Room
Closed Room
(i) Weak with both majors Hoffman’s opening forced North to 2NT. After Ofir started with the ♠A, there was no real play for the contract. The result was two light for 100. In the Open Room, West’s light 1♥ opening engineered the contract to East/West, even though they didn’t want it. The 5-1 diamond fit is no worse than any other two-level contract and Bessis did well to scramble out for one light. This was 5 IMPs to Israel, but it was France’s day for collecting.
Open Room
In the Open Room, North/South bid routinely to 3NT, making an easy ten tricks when the diamond J-10 fell doubleton. Would they have reasonably expected a loss on this board? In the Closed Room, Bessis knew he could sign off in 4NT if his move to 4♦ did not bring a favourable reaction from South. South loved the slam try in diamonds and, with ♦AQ and all those controls, co-operated fully to reach the slam. There is work to be done if East leads a club against 6♦, picking the lay-out of spades being an important part of the exercise. East’s choice of the ♥Q gave declarer some much needed breathing space. He took the first trick in handbefore leading to dummy’s two top diamonds, noting the fortunate fall of the jack and ten. Next came two top spades followed by the jack. West did not cover, so North ruffed anyway and drew trumps, discarding dummy’s small clubs. His next play was a heart to the nine and, when West showed out, he simply gave West his spade trick and claimed a high dummy. +920 against +430 meant that France collected 10 IMPs. The vugraph commentary suggested that the French were steady bidders but Thomas Bessis’ aggressive style added to the collection four boards later:
Open Room
Closed Room
A spade lead would have restricted declarer to just nine tricks in 4♠ but, in the Closed Room, East made the reasonable choice of the ♣Q. With communication available in diamonds, declarer had little difficulty in ruffing two clubs in dummy to make his contract; +620 to France. In the Open Room, Ginossar found the single jump overcall in spades. Whilst this may have satisfied the bidding purists, it gave Bessis the opportunity to show support for clubs, allowing Tessieres to find the 5♣ sacrifice. North led the ♦A and switched to a spade. South won with the ace and shifted to his lowest heart. Declarer declined the double finesse in hearts, rising with the king in order to win and gain access to dummy via a spade ruff. The ♣10 went to the king and ace before declarer played a diamond towards dummy. North pitched a heart and declarer could only manage nine tricks. The sacrifice added 8 IMPs to the collection.
Open Room
Closed Room
In the Open Room, Ginossar could have rescued himself to 2♠, but it is likely that the game would have still been missed. East led a diamond and declarer was forced from the outset. The defenders slipped a trick when East failed to give West a spade ruff but the contract was still one light; +200 to France. In the Closed Room, North bided his time until the auction subsided in 2NT. Then he came out with an amazing gadget 3♣ for the majors! As a result, South bid theimpregnable 4♠. East exercised amazing restraint when he refused to double but the damage had been done; +650 to France for a 13 IMP swing.
Open Room
Closed Room
Just when we were all thinking that things couldn’t get much worse for the Israelis, as their residual VPs kept slipping away, the French completed the collection with this board. The bidding in the Open Room was excellent. The coup de grace came when West showed extra length in lieu of the queen of spades. In reality, once the cuebidding started the destination was inevitable. The play posed no problems; +1430 to France. There is little in the bidding to suggest that the Israeli East/West even gained the sniff of a slam and the French gained a well-earned 13 IMPs. There is no doubt that this match was a rout and theIsraelis were pressured in the most impressive fashion, not by the occasion but by some very skilful and solid bridge from their opponents. Final Score: France 95 Israel 6 (25-0 VPs) |
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