2002 European Teams Championships Page 4 Bulletin 3 - Tuesday, 18 June  2002


Good - Better

A good defense in the closed room was beaten by an even better one in the open. It all happened when Spain met The Netherlands in Round Three of the open.

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

Closed room
West North East South
Torres De Wijs Frances Muller
    Pass Pass
1© 2¨ dbl Pass
2© 3¨ Pass 3NT
Pass Pass Pass  

José Ignacio Torres led a top spade, saw the dummy and went into the tank. When he finally to got out of it, he did the right thing: tabling the §Q. Declarer won the king, played a diamond to the ace and the ©Q. West won the ace and continued in clubs. A smooth down one. Good defense though a diamond switch at trick two and a possible diamond continuation would do also, since declarer is bound for a suicide squeeze. Still, in the open room defense did even better, much better:

West North East South
Jansma Ventin Verhees Lantaron
    2ª * Pass
Pass 3¨ Pass Pass
3ª Pass Pass dbl
Pass 3NT Pass Pass
Pass      

* "Muiderberg": five spades and a minor, 0-7 HCP

With his seven bagger Juan Carl Ventin didn' t want to stand his partner's double, but tried 3NT. The spade lead by East went for the ten and the king. Like in the closed room Jan Jansma switched to §Q. Declarer won the king and, in view of the bidding, not unreasonable played a diamond to the jack. When the smoked cleared 3NT was "five in the mountains" as they say in Holland.



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