Scotland v. Rest of World

In Tuesday's second round, at table 3 an interesting-looking match was scheduled. For the first time ever, a team was playing under the flag of Scotland in a European Championship. They had to face a very transnational team: Portuguese teaming up with Germans, but…

The first board meets very well with the dreaded qualification: 'A typical computer hand.' This at least was the players' comment after the deal was played. Apparently, it does not matter any more if the boards are dealt at the table or not.

Board 1. Dealer North. Love All ª A K Q J 7 6 3 © 3 2 ¨ A 9 8 4 § — ª 5 ª 9 4 © A J 10 9 5 © K Q 8 7 6 4 ¨ J 5 2 ¨ 7 3 § 9 6 3 2 § A 7 4 ª 10 8 2 © — ¨ K Q 10 6 § K Q J 10 8 5

When Les Steel had to bid again, all his useful bidding space had been consumed already. Maybe, Fiona McQuaker should have made one more noise, holding so many nice controls. As it was, the grand was never in sight. Scotland +510.

When Yuen had to bid first, he consumed nearly all his useful bidding space straight away. As 4¨ showed nine tricks in spades, Pony Nehmert was quick to make one more noise, holding so many nice controls. By bidding 4© she asked for an outside control and when this turned out to be in clubs she had no hesitation about the small slam. So here as well, the grand stayed out of sight by a mile, but +1010 was good enough to get 11 IMP's.

Nothing very much happened on the next four boards. The score stood at 14-5 when board 6 appeared:

Board 6. Dealer East. EW Game ª 8 6 © Q 9 5 ¨ 7 4 2 § K J 7 4 2 ª K 10 7 4 3 ª Q 5 4 © A K © J 8 7 3 ¨ K 10 8 ¨ 9 6 § A 10 5 § 9 8 6 3 ª A J 9 © 10 6 4 2 ¨ A Q J 5 3 § Q

On a diamond lead, there are nine tricks available in spades, but the suit was never mentioned. Nor were the clubs, but at least they were introduced into the play when North led a club. Declarer took the §Q with his ace and led a spade to the queen and ace. South returned the ¨Q won by declarer's king. When the ªJ did not show up in the second round of the suit, declarer was lucky that South had no more clubs left. Three spades, two hearts and one trick in each minor just added up to seven tricks.

In the Closed Room, things started in a more orthodox fashion, but once again West refrained from introducing his spades. Against 2¨ West led his top hearts and the §A before switching to a spade, declarer taking the queen with her ace. This was followed by the ¨AQ, West winning the king and returning a club. The hand was effectively over now, as the ©Q is a late entry to the good clubs anyway. Declarer actually made an overtrick for another +110 and 5 IMP's to the Transnationals.

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

These things can happen when you are playing a 12-14 notrump. On the lead of the §8 (!) by West the defenders cashed the first five tricks and South had to find discards. She threw two hearts and a diamond, after which East played ©A and another. West won his ©K and exited with the ¨Q into the tenace, but after her three diamond tricks declarer had to open up the spades to lose three more tricks for down four, vulnerable. The Transnationals +400.

Well, there looks little reason to blame anyone here on missing the NT game. Clubs have to break 2-2 and the diamonds should be 4-4 or blocked. The final contract therefore looks about par, but as it was, it scored only +150 and the Scots had lost 6 more IMP's to trail by 25-5 now.

One extra undertrick on board 9 had made it 27-5 when the last board arrived.

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

In view of the opponents' bidding, the West hand got better and better. After a heart lead and a spade switch, declarer played two rounds of trumps and went after the diamonds. When the ¨Q came down in two rounds, declarer had no further problems. In fact, there never would have been any, because the short diamonds and the short trumps were in the same hand. The Transnationals +750.

After the Neapolitan-style 2§ opening bid, showing either five clubs and another suit or at least six clubs, NS did well not to bid too much. This made the situation less easy for West, who contented himself with a one-level raise only. Twelve tricks were duly made when North did not play his ace in the first round fo the suit. So Scotland scored +170, but lost another 11 IMP's. The final score was 38-5 or 24-6 in VP's.

Results	Contents
Mixed Teams Swiss R5, R6, R7, R8, R9	Mixed Teams Round 2 Mixed Teams Round 3 Mixed Teams Round 5 Early in the Morning