| 2002 European Teams Championships | Page 5 | Bulletin 12 - Thursday, 27 June 2002 |
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Austria vs Turkey Open Round 28 Wednesday, June 26, 2002 was destined to be a great day in the history of Turkish sports. Their football team would get their revenge for the unjustified defeat against Brazil in the preliminary round of the World Cup as they would have to face the same opponent again, this time in their first-ever semifinal of this great event. The organisers of the Championships here thus quite rightly decided to put their focus on Turkey too. This was overdue, as the team had been doing quite well during the last few days and were trying to reach qualification from the 7th spot they were in when the match started. Meanwhile, Austria had recovered from their bad start and were just over average, so an interesting match of two competent teams could be expected. And so it proved: the match was very tight, well-fought and thus low-scoring. There were a few big swings, certainly at the start of the match. An early goal by Austria had given them a 1-0 lead when board 2 arrived:
1ª was Canapé, according to the Austrian methods. On a diamond lead, this contract had to go down two, Turkey +200. North seemed not to appreciate the value of her honours in partner's suits. She might have been right had partner's suits been not so good.
After 1©-2© Arigun would always settle for a heart contract, even when 3NT confirmed 4-3-3-3 with his partner. Turkey another +620 and 13 IMPs. Too much experimenting saw the lead change hands once again shortly
afterwards:
When West pressed on after the invitational 3¨, there was no safe haven for East. Please note the final double by North after South smoothly passed 4ª. The contract went three light for +800 to Felix Austria.
What a difference in approach! As East could not be sure of his partner's number of diamonds he did not even bother to bid again over 3§. So there it rested, North going one down for another +100 or 14 IMPs to Austria. With the score at 21-14 to Austria, board 9 came up:
The twosuited 2ª opening silenced East, and the automatic preemptive
raise to 4ª
When North could not open anything here, both east and West got the room to show they had some values between them. This made a double of the final contract the obvious move. Declarer went down two when he took sort of a safety finesse in trumps, trying to avoid down three in case the trumps would be 3-1. Austria +300 and 6 IMPs. A variation on this theme we saw a few boards later, but this time the swing went to Turkey:
On a spade lead and a club switch declarer had to go down two. Austria +100. This looked a good result for Turkey as NS are cold for 5¨. The inescapable heart loser cannot be cashed at any time by the defenders.
Here, Schifko opened only 3©, thus making room for Arigun to bid the most likely game under the circumstances: 3NT. East was not to be silenced however, holding the highest-ranking suit, so once again, a preempt was made. This time, it was North who could double as South clearly had shown some values by bidding 3NT. So here too, 5¨ proved impossible to reach, but collecting +300 gave Turkey a 5-IMP swing anyway. The score now: 29-22 to Austria. Then came the cruel board 13:
There was little Sascha Wernle could do to avoid going down 1100. However, with a slam on for EW this might be a good score after all. This hand caused havoc all over the room. We saw quite lot of telephone
numbers, but also a few pairs going down in 6© on an initial club
ruff. Even those who got doubled in 6© forgot to retreat to 6NT,
the only makeable slam.
When South overcalled only 2§, North thought this was the proper moment for an S.O.S. redouble. South then retreated to 2¨, which the Austrians did not dare to double. Instead, they climbed their way up to 4NT only and thus had to be content with +690 and to accept a loss of 9 IMPs. Turkey were in the lead again: 31-29. Italy showed the way to cope with the EW hands. When South ran to 2¨, West doubled and led the ¨K. This way, declarer could muster just his four trump tricks. Turkey were still 2 IMPs up when board 19 made its reappearance.
It had been played in the Open Room long ago, and it had left behind
some suspicion.
By opening 1ª in Canapé style (1§ would have been strong) Wernle had made it virtually impossible for his opponents to find their 4ª contract. On the other hand, Smederevac did not think of making 4© opposite a limited opening, so she contented herself with passing 4¨. This went one off, Austria +100. On the club ruff, 4© should go down one so this looked a good result for Austria.
When Gloyer just bid 1ª Schifko could no longer imagine he had such a useful hand, so the Austrians sold out to 4© which duly went down after a club lead. Austria another +50 to score 4 IMPs and win the match. The final score: 37-35 to Austria, but 15-15 in V.P. Turkey would not have to travel to Yokohama, but their chances for Bali had stayed alive. |
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