Iceland vs Sweden - Juniors Round One

A clash between two Nordic countries is almost always exciting, and this confrontation was no exception, providing plenty of entertainment for a near capacity VuGraph audience. If the players were hoping to have time to settle they were quickly disavowed.

Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª 5 2 © J 7 6 ¨ K Q J 8 7 4 § 10 9
ª J 10 8 4 © A K 3 2 ¨ A 5 § A 6 5		ª A K 3 © 10 9 8 5 4 ¨ 10 § K 8 3 2
	ª Q 9 7 6 © Q ¨ 9 6 3 2 § Q J 7 4

The response of Two No-Trumps is a popular treatment, but North, who had surprisingly passed at his first turn, threw a spanner into the works by getting into the bidding. Clearly East-West were not on the same wavelength as to the meaning of the double, and when declarer escaped for one down it looked as if Sweden were off to a good start.

Shortly before the Championships, Nystrom and Stromberg represented Sweden in the Nordic Open Championships, and had the best result in the Butler scoring table. They made a solid start, easily brushing aside their opponents preemption to reach the easy game. The bidding and the position in the club suit made it easy for declarer to record eleven tricks. +450 meant Sweden were ahead by 8 IMPs.

Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª K J 10 5 © 8 6 4 2 ¨ 10 7 6 § J 3
ª 8 4 3 © A 3 ¨ 8 4 § K 10 9 8 7 2		ª Q 7 2 © K Q J 10 9 5 ¨ 9 2 § Q 4
	ª Q 9 7 6 © Q ¨ 9 6 3 2 § Q J 7 4

The negative response to the strong club made North the declarer, and East after winning the first trick with the king of hearts, switched to the queen of clubs. Declarer took dummy’s ace and returned a club. West won with the queen and continued the suit, hoping for a trump promotion. Declarer ruffed with the ten of diamonds and drew trumps. Using the information he had about the distribution he elected to play East for the queen of spades and collected an excellent +400.

The consensus of opinion was that West’s double promised either clubs or the red suits. When South doubled at his second turn the diamond fit was lost and the dubious no-trump game was reached. Dubious in theory perhaps, but not in practice, as West led a club, and declarer rapidly ran for home. No swing.

Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul.
	ª A 2 © 4 ¨ 8 6 4 3 2 § A 9 6 5 4
ª J 8 6 4 © A Q J 9 8 7 ¨ K Q § 7		ª 10 9 5 © K 5 2 ¨ 10 9 5 § K Q J 3
	ª K Q 7 3 © 10 6 3 ¨ A J 7 § 10 8 2

North’s spectacularly successful double was influenced by the fact that East thought for 158 seconds before accepting his partner’s game try. That was far too long to arrive at a dubious decision, and it cost 500, as North led the ace of spades and another.

North led a diamond, and South took his ace and switched to the king of spades. North was careful to overtake and return the suit to ensure one down, but that was 9 IMPs away, as Sweden moved ahead 17-0.

Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª A K 10 9 © K J 2 ¨ A 7 § A 8 6 2
ª J 4 2 © Q 10 9 8 7 3 ¨ K Q § 9 5		ª Q 8 3 © A 6 4 ¨ 10 9 8 3 § J 4 3
	ª 7 6 5 © 5 ¨ J 6 5 4 2 § K Q 10 7

North was delighted to pass his partner’s take-out double, and when declarer took the wrong view in trumps the Icelandic pair lost another 500 penalty.

When East wisely decided against raising hearts, North-South reached the no-trump game. East led the four of hearts, and declarer took West’s queen with the ace. He crossed to dummy with a club, and played a spade to the ten. On this layout he was now assured of nine tricks, so Iceland had opened their account with 3 IMPs.

Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul.
	ª A K Q 7 6 © J 8 7 ¨ A 10 7 4 § 2
ª J 8 5 2 © 10 6 4 ¨ K J § A K 9 5		ª 10 3 © A 9 3 ¨ Q § Q J 10 8 7 6 4
	ª 9 3 © K Q 5 2 ¨ 9 8 6 5 3 2 § 3

Five Hundred was definitely the magic number at this table, as it appeared for the third time in the space of four boards.

It is not so easy to defeat Three No-Trumps, as North must switch to a heart at an early stage. North, possibly getting the wrong signal from his partner, started with three top spades, and declarer claimed nine tricks. +600 and a rather useful 15 IMPs for Sweden.

The Icelandic team did well to stage a recovery in the second half of the match, and it started on this board:

Board 10. Dealer East. None Vul
	ª J 9 5 © A K Q 7 3 ¨ 7 3 § A 7 3
ª Q 10 4 © 10 ¨ K Q J 9 6 5 2 § 9 2		ª K 7 2 © 9 6 5 4 2 ¨ 10 4 § K 6 5
	ª A 8 6 3 © J 8 ¨ A 8 § Q J 10 8 4

This time it was East’s turn to produce a spectacular double. The king of clubs proved to be well placed, there was a diamond trick, partner’s ten of hearts came in handy, and there proved to be two tricks in spades. +500 was the reward for East’s enterprise - see how kind we are with our choice of adjective!

Declarer won the opening lead of the king of diamonds with the ace, and played a heart to the jack and a heart, expecting to be able to claim. West’s failure to follow suit on the second round was a blow, and left declarer in serious trouble. He could only arrive at seven tricks for -300, but that was still 6 IMPs for Iceland who went on to reduce their deficit to 12 IMPs, giving Sweden a solid 17-13VP win.