| 12th World Bridge Championships | Page 6 | Bulletin 5 - Wednesday 14 June 2006 |
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Round Up The Usual Suspects By two gentlemen of Verona When the Internet collapsed early in the afternoon the Vaupillon Recorder sent an emergency fax to the venue asking for an action packed report on one of the day’s big matches. Phoning for clarification your reporters were told to ‘Round up the usual suspects.’ That explains how we came to find ourselves at the table occupied by teams from the USA and Turkey for a round 2 match in the Rosenblum round robin. There was slight delay in the Closed room as North/South did not have a fully completed convention card and unaccountably Meckwell’s second language does not happen to be Turkish.
Open Room
In Vaupillon the West hand would be described as a ‘Bridget Bardot’ - i.e. shapely. I will confess that I was called away from the table for a few vital moments just after -North had bid Two Hearts, so the bids that follow may not be accurate. However the final contract was Four Hearts doubled and North – perhaps unwisely – led the nine of clubs and when South won at once the contract could no longer be defeated. Not a great result with ten tricks available in no trumps and eleven in diamonds. @Room:Closed Room
North led the ace of hearts and switched to the five of spades – not best – whereupon our intrepid reporter went for a glass of water as it was clear the contract was now going to make. After that surprising push the Americans moved ahead on the next deal:
Open Room
Yes, we know East is the dealer, but the board was rotated. North led the king of diamonds and declarer ruffed, cashed the top clubs and attacked hearts. When the smoke had cleared he was two down, -300. Closed Room
East led the five of hearts and declarer won with the ace and played a spade to the ace and cashed the king. His next move was a surprising one as he played a low club from dummy. West pounced on that and cashed the queen of spades followed by a heart. Declarer ruffed and had to do no more than play a diamond to the queen to chalk up his game. However, he cashed a top diamond and had to go one down, -100 and 9 IMPs to Nickell.
Open Room
Declarer won the diamond lead in dummy and played a spade to the jack and queen. He ruffed the diamond continuation, ruffed a spade, ran the ten of clubs, played a club to the jack and ruffed a spade. East overuffed and it was all downhill from here, -200. Closed Room
West found the excellent lead of the six of hearts, East’s ten holding the trick. The king of hearts left East on lead and he switched to the king of diamonds. Declarer was booked for three down, -300 and a 3 IMP loss.
@Room:Open Room
Closed Room
Despite his best efforts declarer could make no more than six tricks, - 300. That gave Nickell the first big swing of the match and they added another right at the end.
Open Room
In the good old days you could use Three Clubs to ask partner to bid suits up the line, but inflation has affected everything and Nickell had to start with Four Spades. He hit the jackpot this time and was soon claiming twelve tricks. Closed Room
A typical third in hand opening from Meckstroth picked off the suit in which North/South could make a slam and they made no attempt to go beyond game. It cost 12 IIMPs leaving Nickell comfortable winners, 36-6 IMPs. 22-8 VP. |
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