| 12th World Bridge Championships | Page 4 | Bulletin 1 - Saturday 10 June 2006 |
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DRESS REHEARSAL By Mark Horton In August the eyes of the bridge world will turn towards Warsaw when the Polish capital plays host to the European Bridge Championships. The staging of a major International Championship represents a massive undertaking and to ensure that everything runs like clockwork from day one the organizers staged a dry run of the departments involved in the presentation of the Championships, using the Polish Division 1 Finals, (the Superligi) and a friendly Women’s International match between France and Poland as a backdrop. While producing a couple of Bulletins I also commentated on Bridgebase (www.bridgebase.com). Here is some of the action from both events. Lights, Camera, Action The setting for the Final of the First Division of the Polish League and the Friendly International between the hosts and the reigning Venice Cup Champions was the magnificent Hotel Intercontinental, which will be the nerve centre of the European Championships. The Hotel is located in the heart of the vibrant Polish capital, (and only a 3 Euro ride form the Airport!) and will delight both players and visitors alike. The fantastic Polish Bridge Federation site, www.pzbs.pl provided all the results and a detailed analysis of every board! I’ll start with the semi-finals of the First Division, and a couple of deals from the match between Praterm – Warsaw and Sakura – Krakow.
Open Room
When East opened with a classical Polish Two Clubs West relayed and discovered that he was facing a six card suit and a spade stopper. With 3NT looking to have little chance Five Clubs was clearly the best chance of making game. With a difficult lead South tried the ace of diamonds and then switched to a heart. Declarer won with dummy’s ace, crossed to hand with a spade and took the diamond finesse. He could get rid of his losing heart on the king of diamonds and play on clubs for +600. @Room:Closed Room
South led the seven of hearts and North continued the suit when declarer tried the jack. When South came in with the ace of clubs the defenders cashed out for two down, +200 and 13 IMPs for Sakura. The ubiquitous Two Club opening bid was also to the fore on this deal:
Open Room
I do not know the Polish adjective that might be used to describe West’s jump to 3NT – precipitous perhaps? Still with South being able to score a couple of club ruffs 4♥ was not going to make either. North cashed the ace of spades and on seeing an encouraging two from partner continued with a low spade. That was a fast two down, +100. Closed Room
My Polish friends tell me that it is not the style to open the North hand One Diamond, despite the poor quality of the club suit. Tant pis as the French might observe! The defence was merciless. East led his spade and declarer won and ducked a club. West won, gave East a spade ruff, got in with a heart and gave East a second ruff. With a couple of aces and two trumps still to come that was down four, -400 and 11 IMPs for Praterm. Night Games With only two sessions of twelve boards remaining Praterm led Sakura by just 7 IMPs. The evening session saw them extend their lead immediately.
Open Room
East led a spade and West won and switched to a club, East putting in the jack and dummy winning with the queen. Declarer played a club back to the eight and East won and played a spade. Declarer ruffed, cashed the top diamonds and the king of clubs and exited with a trump. East won, exited with a spade and the defenders had to score a heart trick for one down, +50. Closed Room
With the diamond suit under control perhaps East might have ventured a double – in any event it would have averted the debacle that was to follow. Trying to put East in West led the seven of hearts. That ran to declarer’s jack and he played a diamond, West discarding the five of spades – perhaps the king of hearts might have been more effective? Declarer played three rounds, putting East on play as West discarded a couple of clubs. Of course East switched to a spade, but it was the eight and declarer could cover with the nine. West won and perhaps reflecting that with the diamonds held it was impossible for partner not to have doubled holding the ace of clubs as well, tried the ace of spades. Finis, a remarkable nine tricks and +400. However, now the wind changed, with three big swings going in the opposite direction.
Open Room
Perhaps I am getting too old for this – I would have doubled 4♠, led the king of clubs and had my apology to partner ready. With the spades clearly all on your right and partner appearing to have something good in clubs (no 3NT from anyone) how can it be wrong? Even with the helpful lead of the five of hearts declarer had no hope at all, and was quickly two down, -200. Closed Room
With a horrible hand to lead from North again selected the five of hearts, (as would I) this time with more serious consequences. Declarer put up dummy’s nine and when that held he played three rounds of diamonds. The defenders were helpless – they could muster only three tricks in the black suits and declarer had a miraculous +600 and 13 IMPs.
Open Room
Clearly 4♥ was not in danger and when declarer eventually played a club to the jack he had eleven tricks, +450. Closed Room
Declarer found himself at an uncomfortable level when East/West were able to apply a lot of pressure in the bidding. West won the opening spade lead and switched to a trump. Declarer won in dummy, drew a second round, ruffed a spade, crossed to the ace of diamonds and ruffed dummy’s last spade. He cashed the king of diamonds and played a club. He was confident West was 5-2-2-4, but the location of the queen of clubs was in doubt. When East played low declarer went up with the king, came to hand with a diamond and exited with a club, hoping to endplay East. As the medical men would say, ‘The operation was a success but the patient died.’ The bill was 13 IMPs. Remarkably the set closed with yet another 13 IMP swing in the same direction:
Open Room
Facing an opening bid South drove to slam and West had to find a lead. As the cards lie only a diamond allows the contract to make and West was very unlucky when his choice of the seven of diamonds proved fatal. Declarer won in hand and overtook the ten of spades. East won and switched to a club but declarer could win the ace, draw two trumps ending in dummy and discard his losing clubs on the top spades. A breathless +1430. Closed Room
South made no move towards slam – just as well as West led a club, holding declarer to eleven tricks and winning anther bundle of IMPs. Last Round With just twelve deals to play, Sakura – Krakow led Praterm – Warsaw by 16 IMPs (really 15.8 because of the carry-over). After five boards they had added 2 IMPs.
Open Room
I thought North had a close decision at his second turn. The six card suit suggested making an invitation, but his values were very soft. Exploring for game proved to be a good decision as West led a diamond and declarer could win, unblock the spades, come to hand with a diamond and play two more rounds of spades throwing clubs for +650. Closed Room
The effect of South’s double was to make North declarer. East cashed a top heart and was not hard pressed to find the club switch for a rapid one down and 13 valuable IMPs for the trailing team.
Open Room
3NT was a swift two down as East led the king of hearts and followed with a low one, cashing out when he came in with the ace of diamonds for +200. South might have been better to double again, which would either have produced a penalty or led to a contract of 5♦. That would have given declarer a chance to show off by putting the pressure on West, who has to look after both black suits. Indeed, I am assured by my finessing friend that there is no way to defeat 5♦. Closed Room
It is not clear why West felt compelled to raise, but it gave North/South a chance they did not hesitate to take. There was nothing to the play, declarer losing the obvious six tricks for -500, a loss of 12 vital IMPs.
Open Room
Closed Room
Once again East elected to double rather than overcall 1♠ – no doubt Eric Kokish is gnashing his teeth (I admit I am too) – but this time East/West found the spade fit and reached the playable game. South led a diamond and north won and played a second round, ruffed by declarer. If he plays South for the queen of spades then he has excellent chances of making game, although the defenders can still make life difficult. However, he played a spade to the king and the hand was already over, declarer finishing two down, -200. It was the team from Krakow that advanced to the final where they scored a convincing victory. Ladies Please! I happened to be in the lobby of the Hotel when Bénédicte Cronier arrived. She complained of being tired, having had to get up at 07.00 for the trip to the airport. It was impossible to sympathise, as by the time she left her apartment in Paris I had already been up for two hours. There was an early set back for the French team as Bénédicte had left her convention cards at home. It was only after some complex financial negotiations had been concluded that we provided her with copies via Anna Gudge’s excellent website, www.ecatsbridge.com. Both teams comprised three pairs, and they were using the ‘Star’ formation, where the anchor pair compares scores with both their other pairs, meaning all three pairs would play each of the 108 boards – and they think a marathon is tough!
Open Room
If you presented the North hand to a bidding panel they might well be split down the middle between 2♥ and North’s actual choice of 2NT. East led the five of spades and declarer won with the king. The layout of the spade suit, combined with the potential to endplay East meant that declarer was well placed to make her contract, and that remained the case even though her next move was a low club, rather than the ace. She took three rounds of the suit, leaving the queen stranded in dummy and then exited with a spade. East had already parted with a couple of spades and when she went up with the ace declarer was assured of at least one overtrick. She won the spade exit in dummy, cashed the resurrected club queen and, East having discarded a heart, exited with ace and another heart. East could cash a spade but then had to lead into the diamond tenace, giving declarer a well played +180. Closed Room
See what I mean about the choice of rebid? Declarer won the opening club lead, cashed the ace of hearts and then played on clubs, East refusing to ruff. In the fullness of time declarer came to nine tricks, +140. This was immediately followed by a deal where at two of the three tables East/West pressed on to a slam:
Open Room
If East’s jack of diamonds had been in spades this would have been almost laydown, but as it was declarer had to negotiate the trump suit. North led a diamond and declarer won with dummy’s jack, crossed to the ace of hearts and played a spade to the nine, king and ace. (I wonder if South considered ducking that?) Back came a diamond and declarer won with dummy’s ace and took the spade finesse – as who would not? Closed Room
This time North led a heart so declarer won in hand and played a spade to the king and ace. She won the heart return in dummy and finessed in spades for a flat board. At the third table Poland stopped in 3NT to pick up a useful swing. Notice that if North were to play the nine of spades from nine small that would leave South with ♠AJx, so they would have to win the first round of spades.
Open Room
North might have considered some alternative to a simple 5♥, but she was doubtless concerned by her lack of aces. One idea that is gaining ground is to use 4NT in this situation as a cue bid in spades, promising support for South’s suit and a decent hand. West cashed the king of spades and switched to a diamond, so declarer claimed +480. Closed Room
Here, where the stakes were higher East overtook the king of spades and exited with a heart, leaving declarer to divine the diamond position. Declarer ruffed a couple of clubs to get a picture and naturally played West for the vital queen. As usual, virtue was not rewarded and I was reminded of a comment by Andrew Robson – ‘You work out who has three diamonds and then play for the hand with the doubleton to have the queen. Who said diamonds are a girl’s best friend? Leading Question Suitably refreshed by the splendid breakfast buffet on offer at the Intercontinental Hotel there was a little bit of time before the start of play to review some of the previous day’s action. This deal from the second session of the women’s match caught my eye, because it illustrates yet again the importance of the opening lead.
Closed Room
Open Room
This time North reopened with a strength showing double and South decided to go for a penalty. Trust me gentle reader, if you always make the best lead you will win every prize the game has to offer. To my untrained eye it looks obvious to lay down a top spade and have a look at the dummy. If you do that it should not be impossible to find a switch to hearts – simplest is the ace followed by the nine – when there is no way the contract can succeed. However, South led the six of clubs and declarer had a vital tempo. North took the ace and switched to a diamond for the queen and king, South playing a second club. Declarer won in dummy and ran the ten of diamonds. When that held she played a third diamond, cashed the jack of clubs and ruffed a club with the ten of spades. That gave declarer five tricks and she could not be denied three more in trumps for +470. Doubling low level part scores can be a risky business unless you have very good trumps. As one famous player once remarked of an unsuccessful double, ‘Did you need the extra fifty points?’ France won this friendly International with something to spare. Enjoy these wonderful Championships here in Verona, but if you have time (and if you don’t then find it!) make sure you visit Warsaw in August. |
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