France v Iceland - Juniors Round Three

After two rounds, France were the leaders of the Junior competition. Indeed, had it not been for a 2 VP mobile phone penalty, they would have had a 100% score. How would they perform against Iceland, who were just below half-way, in Round Three?

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

In the Closed Room, the French 2ª contract drifted two off on an uninspired line from declarer; -200. In the Open Room, Bjarni Einarsson’s weak no trump (11-13) was doubled by Julien Geitner, ending the auction. There was no defence. Geitner led the king of spades and continued with a second spade when that was ducked. Einarsson won the second spade and played a diamond for the jack and ace. Geitner switched to the queen of clubs now and Nathalie Frey ducked this to declarer’s king. Einarsson cashed out for +180 and a 9 IMP swing to Iceland.

This was the only significant swing of the first 12 boards, after which Iceland led by 12-6 IMPs. From here, however, it was all France.

Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.
	ª K 3 © 10 9 5 ¨ K 8 7 2 § A J 9 7
ª Q J 10 9 8 7 2 © K Q 7 ¨ J 6 § K		ª 4 © J 4 ¨ A Q 9 5 3 § 10 6 4 3 2
	ª A 6 5 © A 8 6 3 2 ¨ 10 4 § Q 8 5

Where Geitner passed as dealer, his side eventually won the auction, Frey playing 3©. She won the spade lead in dummy and immediately played a heart, ducking to the king. Einarsson switched to his singleton club. Frey won the ace and played a heart to her ace then cashed two top clubs while Einarsson discarded spades. She played a spade to hand and ruffed the third spade then ruffed dummy’s fourth club. That was over-ruffed but she still had to come to a diamond trick for her contract; +140.

In the other room, Pall Thorsson saw an opening bid in the North cards. Guillaume Grenthe made a pre-emptive overcall that won the contract and with the ¨K onside 3ª was a very nice contract. France chalked up another +140 and 7 IMPs to move into the lead.

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	ª 6 © A Q J 9 6 2 ¨ A K 10 9 3 § 9
ª J 9 3 © 10 8 ¨ Q 8 7 6 § J 7 5 4		ª A K Q 5 4 © 7 4 ¨ 4 § A Q 10 3 2
	ª 10 8 7 2 © K 5 3 ¨ J 5 2 § K 8 6

Your choice of opening bid on the North cards says something about your philosophy of how the game should be played. Of course no-one could really criticise a 1© opening bid in third seat (except perhaps partner after it hasn’t worked out very well), but Thorsson’s 4© opening will appeal to players who like a lot of action and believe that the problems they cause the opposition will more than make up for their own loss of accuracy. Here, the only difference was that Pierre-Andre Labruyere escaped undoubled when Thorsson decided that he had said his piece, while Frey doubled Gudmundur Gunnarsson at the other table.

Neither defence was particularly hot and both declarers escaped with nine tricks; +50 for Iceland but +100 for France and 2 IMPs.

Five Hearts is makable courtesy of the diamond finesse, and I guess that if you were only going to take 4ª doubled one off you would rather risk the five level in pursuit of the vulnerable game bonus. Of course, it is possible to do a little better on defence to spades, as was shown at both tables in the vugraph match between Scotland and Belgium, where both tables declared 5ª doubled. On screen we watched Robert Carr for Scotland cash a top diamond then switch to ace and queen of hearts. His partner, Douglas Marshall overtook the second heart to play the jack of diamonds through and now there was no way for declarer to avoid the loss of a fifth trick as the defence had a force going against him. The fact that -500 was only worth a flat board shows the quality of the bridge in this match.

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	ª K 9 7 2 © A Q J 10 6 ¨ 5 § A 10 5
ª A 4 © 9 7 4 ¨ A K Q 2 § K Q 9 4		ª Q 8 © K 2 ¨ J 9 8 6 4 3 § J 7 2
	ª J 10 6 5 3 © 8 5 3 ¨ 10 7 § 8 6 3

The French pair reached 5¨ in straightforward fashion and Grenthe got a spade lead to dummy’s queen. He drew trumps and soon had 11 tricks for +600.

The auction in the other room was somewhat more complex. One Club was strong and the double showed both majors. One Diamond showed 4-7 HCP and from here the East/West auction was essentially natural, with 3ª showing values in the suit. Meanwhile, Geitner showed a good hand with longer hearts by bidding freely for a second time. Why Frey raised hearts and never showed her spades is a mystery to me (I would have been inclined to bid 2ª or even 3ª at my first turn) but it worked out very well in a rather strange way.

Frey led a heart against 5¨ doubled and Geitner put in the ten to find out what was going on in the suit. Gunnarsson won the ]K and drew two rounds of trumps then played the king of clubs off the table. Geitner won the ace and played two rounds of hearts, declarer ruffing, and it was all down to the club position. Remembering the auction, declarer could not imagine that South had five spades and only three hearts. Since she was marked with only three hearts for her partner’s 2©] bid, she surely had to be 4-3-2-4. Gunnarsson played the club jack then a club to the nine and shook his head sadly when that lost to the ten. His spade loser went away on the §Q but that was for one down; -200 and 13 IMPs to France.

Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª Q 5 4 2 © K Q 10 6 5 4 ¨ 9 8 § 2
ª A K 7 © 9 ¨ J 7 6 § K Q J 9 7 6		ª J 10 9 8 6 © 7 ¨ Q 10 5 4 3 § A 10
	ª 3 © A J 8 3 2 ¨ A K 2 § 8 5 4 3

There is little point in dwelling on the Closed Room auction - clearly somebody was on the wrong page of the system file. Two No Trump was three down for -150.

Back to the real world: Geitner made the simple man’s bid of 4© over Einarsson’s 2§ overcall and Gunnarsson showed his spades. Einarsson no doubt expected something a little better than a five-card jack-high suit, and asked for key cards. The pass over 5© showed one key card and Einarsson signed off in 5ª. Fortunately, this auction sounded rather strong to North/South also. Geitner actually alerted his own pass and said that maybe it was forcing, maybe not. When Frey passed it out he amended that to ‘obviously not’. Three rounds of diamonds for a ruff then a heart switch meant that 5ª had to go three down for -300; harmless enough with 5© cold the other way, and the French pair must have been quite pleased to find themselves gaining 10 IMPs for their slightly soft result.

Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
	ª K 9 8 6 5 3 © A 7 3 ¨ 7 § 10 7 5
ª Q 10 © K ¨ A Q 10 9 8 3 § K J 9 8		ª 7 4 2 © 10 8 6 4 2 ¨ 6 5 4 § Q 3
	ª A J © Q J 9 5 ¨ K J 2 § A 6 4 2

That doesn’t look like a French vulnerable weak jump overcall to me - clearly Geitner does not share the style of his seniors - and perhaps it didn’t look like one to Frey either, as she confidently jumped to 3NT in response. Einarsson tried the queen of diamonds but with that wonderful spade position it really didn’t matter what he led. Frey won the ¨K and played the ace of spades, on which Einarsson unblocked the queen in the hope that his partner might have sxJxx and gain the lead. Frey rattled off the spades and had sufficient confidence in her reading of the ending to play a club to the ace then lead the queen of hearts to king and ace. Next she played a heart to her nine and just conceded the last two tricks to Einarsson in diamonds; +660.

The North hand looks a lot more like a Nordic weak jump overcall and Frimann Stefansson clearly had less confidence in it than Frey had shown at the other table. He allowed his opponents to play 3¨, a contract which drifted a quiet one off for -100 but 11 IMPs to France.

The final score was 50-12 in France’s favour, converting to 23-7 VPs and extending their lead at the top of the table.