| 45th GENERALI European Bridge Championships, Arona, Tenerife, Canary Islands | Friday, 29 June 2001 |
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France vs Italy Open Series - Round 30 Thursday´s first match was scheduled to kick-off at 13.45 hrs., so the non-Seniors present here were supposed to enjoy a morning off. In the programme, two matches drew attention: Norway v. Bulgaria, possibly the opportunity for the latter to continue the good work of the day before, and for the former an important match as well, because a loss might result in Norway dropping out of the top five again. The other interesting-looking match of course was the derby between two of the all-time greats in European bridge: France and Italy. Tradition has it that this match will always go on Rama, no matter how the rest of the schedule looks like. Once again, the decision to put this match on rama proved an excellent one. We saw some wonderful bridge, but certainly the French would have preferred to see a less one-sided match.
This straightforward auction made it difficult for South to take the right decision over 5§. The contract went down two, 500 to Italy.
Lorenzo Lauria had a subtle device at his disposal. Knowing about partner´s shortness in diamonds, Versace had little trouble in going for the penalty. Well done, Italy another +300 and the first 13 IMP´s. In the Norway v. Bulgaria we saw the same two auctions. As Helness
too bid 4¨, the Norwegians registered the same favourable swing
as the Italians.
Look at the advantage of bidding 4© without further ado. Who would not bid, green v. red, on the West hand? WRONG! You will get doubled for down five and -1100. Italy another 10 IMP´s.
Apparently, Quantin treated 4NT as RKC with diamonds as trumps. Maybe, had he been able to respond with clubs as trumps, the slam on a finesse would have been avoided. In a pairs event, six of a minor down one would not be a dramatic result: if you get the ©Q lead against 3NT you are bound to finesse the clubs for your contract, but it loses and you will lose five more spades to go down two.
Here, a spade was led so the defenders took five tricks and there it rested. The hand was a push after all. On the next board, a brave double by Allegrini brought the French
a small gain instead of another huge loss:
2§ showed both majors. The contract went down one, Italy +100.
3¨ showed both majors. Lauria, holding the best hand around the
table, had to take some action when 3© came back to him. He made
a successful shot by bidding 3NT, but how could Versace know?
Forcing relay and good hand, after which a natural continuation saw them reach the correct slam without much trouble. Italy +1370. In the Israel v. England match, the English reached 6¨ by West
due to their system agreements. Ophir Herbst hit the jackpot when
he decided to lead a low spade as North. Declarer ducked and who
can blame him? Israel +100 and a slam swing in their favour.
Either player might have done a little more here. France +620, but another 13 IMP´s gone.
Guided by the double, Giorgio Duboin turned the play of this hand into the highlight of the afternoon´s Rama session. An initial spade lead probably defeats the contract, but quite understandably Multon cashed two top diamonds first, before switching to a spade. Duboin took the ace and advanced the +10, covered by South and won by the queen in hand. Next came three rounds of clubs, Duboin ruffing out South´s queen. Now the moment had come for the key play: the last diamond from hand, on which dummy threw a spade! Multon won and returned a fourth diamond, but Duboin could ruff this with the ace (throwing a spade from hand) and play a club through South, ruffing in hand to ruff his last spade with the eight and finishing off the trump coup against South with another club. Italy a beautiful +590. In another match, Alain Labaere for Belgium showed how to make
4© without the help of a double. North had opened and rebid diamonds
and supported partner´s spades. He led three top diamonds.
Labaere ruffed the third diamond with the ace and next ran the
©10 which held the trick. With the ªA still there as an entry,
he could afford now to ruff out the clubs and give South his trump
trick. After that, South, with only spades left, had to surrender.
Very well conceived indeed and a useful +420 to Belgium.
Palau would have had some reason to copy Labaere´s line of play, but when he ruffed the third diamond with the ©10 in dummy South could overruff and lead a spade. With the side entry to the clubs gone, the contract could no longer be made. Italy another +100 and 12 IMP´s. Near the end, we saw the French close the gap a bit with some
useful partscore swings, until we reached the penultimate board.
As usual, this hand had been the first to be displayed in the
Rama Room, and it looked like a big swing to France. This is what
had happened:
Both 2¨ and 4¨ were transfers. 2NT refused hearts but was forward-going, hence the jump to 4¨ by Bocchi. For once in this match, the Italians were very much at the wrong
side of the score. On perfect defence, the contract went down
three: ¨A, diamond ruff, ªA, ªJ to queen and king, §A (!) and
another diamond ruff. Six tricks, 800 to France. To the Rama audience,
it looked as if it would be a tense match, but this did not quite
come true.
The same defence here as in the Open Room, but as the level was not so high the damage was only 500. France +7 IMP´s. The final score, however was 56-23 or 22-8 in V.P. to Italy. They were catching up on Russia more and more, whereas France got further behind the top five for the moment. |
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