| 2002 European Teams Championships | Page 3 | Bulletin 3 - Tuesday, 18 June 2002 |
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Russia vs Poland Open Round 2 Sunday afternoon's second match on Vugraph was the encounter between Russia and Poland. This proved to be a low-scoring match with much good play from both sides. You will find a few examples below, as well as some of the more costly mistakes. The first board to be shown un Vugraph traditionally was board 19. Here, Petrunin found a very nice squeeze to land his heart game.
Martens led the ªA and exited with a trump. Petrunin ran this to
his queen, drew two more rounds of trumps and played the §K and
another, running it to West when East showed out.
Here the contract was played from the other side of the table, so Dubinin could lead his singleton club, which ran to the ten and king. Zmudzinski next cashed the ©A and then used his entry to dummy, the §A, to take the heart finesse. He also drew the last trump and then exited with a spade to West's bare ace. Endplayed now, West had to continue diamonds, but on play again with the third round of that suit, he could safely play on diamonds, so declarer had to go one down as there was no way to dispose of the spade losers. Russia +50 and 10 IMP's for an early lead. Board 1 was a push, but a strange one.
Lesniewski ducked the first diamond, but won the heart switch with the ace. Next, he led a low spade off dummy, Gromov playing low. Declarer inserted the 10, losing to the jack. Petrunin returned a spade, ducked to Gromov's king. Gromopv continued a diamond, the ace winning. Lesniewski then took a club finesse, won by Gromov with the queen, and another diamond went to south's jack. A second club was won by dummy's ace and the ªA was cashed, but as the clubs broke 5-2 declarer could not avoid losing a trick to the ª9 for one down.
This was not a success either, but in more normal fashion when declarer lost the four obvious tricks after a diamond lead. No swing. Poland missed a game due to some surprising bidding on Vugraph:
Eleven tricks of course, Poland +200. In the Closed Room, the Russians produced a more normal auction:
Of course, the same 11 tricks were made, but +450 and 6IMPs to Russia. Another scoring chance was missed by both sides:
2§ was natura, but after that good start the relays did not work to perfection. The early appearance of the ©Q, a relief for the many who were in 7NT, made the play easy. Please note that 7§ is a very good contract, as the spades can be established for the 13th trick. The Poles, however, did not get to the top spot either:
After the 1NT opening, the full trick-taking potential of the hand could no longer be described as exactly as needed to get to the grand. No swing again. Two boards later we had another small swing to Russia when they
found a good save in the Open Room:
Down one, Poland +100.
The slow approach by the Poles gave the Russians ample space for exploration and judgement, and they did well in going on to 5ª. Russia +450 and 8 IMPs. Board 15 looked like a routine game, but…
Well, on any lead you lose two spades and a heart. This proved to be true on Vugraph too, but Lesniewski had his anxious moments when Petrunin led a low spade. Gromov won the queen, returned the suit and ruffed the third spade with the ©Q. Winning the club continuation, Lesniewski now had to lay down the ©K and finesse the ©10 on the next round to the applause of the Vugraph public. Well played by both sides. In the Closed Room, on a less imaginative lead, declarer was not tested and in fact made an overtrick when North returned the ªQ after winning his side's trump trick. With only one board to play on Vugraph, Russia led 18-6 but this
was that last board:
No problems and 11 tricks, Poland +450.
Well, this contract has some play, but not enough. With the §K offside it had no chance at all, in fact. Poland +50 and the deficit reduced to 18-17 Board 19 we described at the start of this report. When Zmudzinski
did not match Petrunin's play in 4©, the Russians got their lead
back: 28-17. Then came the last board:
Play was over very quickly here. Martens led a low club, Petrunin called for dummy's king and when this held, claimed nine tricks. Russia +600. In the other room, however, intervention on a light twosuiter led
to a heavy loss for the Russians when the Poles found a perfect
defence:
EW found a reasonable 4-4 fit and as they also held some promising side suits prospects looked reasonable. The pattern changed dramatically, however, when Balicki led the ©Q and switched to a low diamond. Zmudzinski won and played three more rounds of trumps, North throwing spades. Declarer was in dummy now and played another diamond, possibly not his best move. South cashed his diamonds and exited with a club, won by declarer's ace. The only thing declarer could do now was cash out his winners and concede down four, 1100 to Poland and a swing of 11 IMP's to tie the match at 28-28. |
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