Chemla (FRA) v Labaere (BEL)

Two rounds to go and Chemal of France and Labaere of Belgium met on table four, both looking for a good win to move into the top four and both knowing that a loss would end their hopes of making the semi-finals. The match started very quietly and after five boards Labaere led by 3-2 IMPs. Then the fun started.

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

Caroline van den Bossche opened with a weak two bid and Jean-Christophe Quantin overcalled Three Diamonds. When Guy van Middelem raised to Three Spades, it looked quite normal for Anne-Fred Favas to try Four Hearts, bolstered by her diamond fit. With a singleton heart, Quantin knew to correct to Five Diamonds, ending the auction. After a spade lead to the ace and a club switch, the contract just depended on avoiding a diamond loser. Quantin ruffed a spade and played the top diamonds, going one down when North turned up with a trump trick; -100.

After the same start to the auction, Valerie Carcassonne did very well to make a competitive double rather than bid 4© /¨. With a singleton heart and wasted spade values, Alan Labaere had an easy pass of the double. The defence had to come to three club tricks and one trick in each other suit for two down; -300 and 9 IMPs to LABAERE, ahead by 12-2.

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

It seems right to me that North should raise the Two Club rebid to Three Clubs, given that he has two aces along with his four-card support. Paul Chemla, then, deserved the swing earned by his raise. Both declarers made twelve tricks but that was +620 to Catherine D'Ovidio and only +170 to van den Bossche. CHEMLA gained 10 IMPs to tie the match at 12-12 IMPs.

Board 8 was a flat partscore but there was nothing flat about the last two boards of the set.

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

Van den Bossche chose not to make any kind of a heart raise at her first turn, and when Quantin overcalled Five Clubs she felt that a Five Heart bid would be too committal and so preferred to double. That ended the auction, of course, and was, at least in theory, the winning action on the board. However, van Middelem led the ace of spades and Quantin ruffed. He led a low diamond to the eight and king and van den Bossche cashed the ace of diamonds before switching to the queen of hearts. Quantin could take two ruffs in dummy and when the ¨Q appeared had 11 tricks for a huge +750.

Of course, if South does not cash the ¨A, the contract has to fail. Best is simply to switch to a trump, but anything else apart from a spade play is good enough.

Catherine D'Ovidio also chose not to make an immediate heart raise and Labaere tried a Three No Trump overcall rather than the more pre-emptive Five Club call chosen by Quantin. Carcassonne converted to Four Spades and D'Ovidio doubled. However, when Labaere in turn converted to the relative safety of his long suit, and Chemla did not double, D'Ovidio decided to try Five Hearts.

Labaere may have intended his double of Five Hearts as indicating a desire to ruff something - and that would clearly be spades after his run-out of that suit. If so, the message was not clear to East who led a club. There was no second chance for the defence who could take only one club and one trump; +650 and 16 IMPs to CHEMLA, moving into a 28-12 lead.

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

Van den Bossche's club holding was not an attractive one from which to lead but the auction suggested that she should lead from the stronger of her minor-suit holdings and she finally did so. Alas, van Middelem did not read the eight as a small card and, after winning the §A, switched to a diamond. Favas won the ace of diamonds and cashed the queen, throwing dummy's remaining club loser away. She was on the road to making her contract now, needing only to cross to dummy to play a heart up. Alas, she actually led a low heart from hand instead. Van den Bossche played low so her partner's bare jack won the trick. He played a club for dummy to ruff and now Favas played a second trump. Van den Bossche was able to cash her other top trump, drawing the last trump in the dummy, and the defence could cash a club and a diamond for three down; -300.

The different response meant that the contract was played from the other side. Chemla had an even less attractive club holding and led the ¨J instead. Labaere won in hand and played ace of spades then ruffed spade. He cashed the two top diamonds to get rid of his clubs, then played the queen of hearts, pinning the bare jack. He made ten tricks for +620 and 14 IMPs to LABAERE.

The match ended in a 28-26 IMP, 16-14 VP win to CHEMLA. It was a win, but other results meant that they were now further behind the top four than before and would need a big win in the final round if they were to qualify.

Results	Contents
Mixed Teams Swiss R10, R11, R12, R13, R14 Semifinals SF	Mixed Teams Round 9 Mixed Teams Round 11 How to Qualify Double Trouble