| 2002 European Teams Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 14 - Saturday, 29 June 2002 |
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Norway vs Italy Open Round 31 Thursday was to be a day on which some of the qualifiers finally would have to meet. As a prelude to Friday morning's VuGraph match between Italy v. Bulgaria the Vugraph audience would be served Norway v. Italy for breakfast and Spain v. Bulgaria, another match between two likely qualifiers, for lunch. As usual when two strong teams play each other, we saw some flat boards and some good bridge. In this report we will stick to some of the good bridge played here and there, though once again the best bridge mainly came from here. Italy had taken a 1-0 lead when both teams had to face the problems of board 4.
After Brogeland showed a club void with his repeated splinter, Sælensminde could cue diamonds and Brogeland then concluded to the slam which would have been an excellent proposition had he himself (South) been the declarer. With North to play the slam after his very light opening bid, Lauria was on lead for Italy, holding two aces. With one of them out of the question and the other one unlikely to run away, he selected the ©5 for his opening lead. This struck gold when declarer had to take the finesse. Versace won the ©K and returned an effortless diamond. One down, Italy +100.
Brogeland knew his opponents had found a fit and were sure to bid a game, so he could introduce his second suit freely. This proved a success as the save went down only two on the heart ruff. West led the ©A and switched to a club, not a spade, as 4§ had shown club control, but also implied four spades. Italy +300.
The most remarkable thing is that here too, South apparently could not show his red twosuiter over 1NT. When from the EW bidding it was not quite sure they were on their way to game, South at his next turn was reluctant to show his second suit, but instead tried his luck in defending 4ª. North duly led a heart but declarer was always in control after playing the ªA and establishing the clubs. Norway +620 and the first 8 IMPs to them. The score stood at 22-8. On board 10 both sides missed chances:
1© showed spades and 2ª therefore confirmed the extra length. When Lauria did not make any further move (not knowing there were 7 spades opposite) the Norwegians could score +140.
Lauria could have left his opponents in peace, but from the bidding he could deduce his side would have a fit as well. So he tried once more and…was allowed to play there. Sælensminde made the good lead of the ªA. When he continued
the ªQ Brogeland ruffed, but understandably returned a heart, thus
preventing a second spade ruff. Versace went one down only, Norway
+50.
Look at the difference in style. Whereas Sælensminde overcalled 1ª, Bocchi doubled for take-out, so Helgemo was on lead against 4© just one round of bidding later. Though 4© was defeated at some tables it is difficult to see why declarer should go down. Basically, he loses two trumps and either a diamond or a club trick, but not both, as there will always be time to establish the 5th spade. Win the spade lead and ruff a spade. East wins a trump play and leads a club to queen, king and ace. Another SPADE IS RUFFED and then a second trump goes to West who cashes his club and leads a diamond. The queen wins, the 4th spade is ruffed and the contract is claimable. It can certainly be left to Giorgio Duboin to play the hand like this. Italy +620 and 11 IMPs. A daring balancing bid by Brogeland almost paid off:
Knowing that partner must hold a good hand Boye Brogeland balanced with 3¨. This might have been costly had Versace stood the reopening double by Lauria, but when he went to 3© instead Lauria had to use his technique again to find a fine line of play. Instead of finessing the spades and playing a club up to the king at any time Lauria played for an elimination of the diamonds and a throw-in of either defender. The ©8 was led and won by the ©10 when North played low. On the subsequent play of the ©A the bad news was confirmed, and Lauria went on to play a diamond to the king which held. He ruffed a diamond, crossed to the ªA and ruffed another diamond. Next, he played the ªK and another. As it was North who won this trick, the §A had to be right after all, but had South won the trick he would have been endplayed as there still was a trump in dummy. Nicely done, Italy +140.
In the Closed Room, Helgemo-Helness reached the dangerously high three-level without any help from their friends. Duboin led the ¨A and continued the suit, Helness throwing a spade from his hand. A club from dummy was taken by North's ace, and declarer ruffed the return of the ¨Q. A spade went to the ace, a club to the king and the ©A was cashed. Another club went to North's queen and North exited with a spade. Now declarer had to lead trumps from hand and thus lost a diamond, two hearts and two clubs in all for one down, Italy +50 and another 5 IMPs to lead by 47-20. A beautiful non-standard lead by Lauria further increased the Italian
lead:
Nothing special to the bidding or the contract until Lauria led
the §Q. With the strong NT to his right, leading an honour instead
of a standard low card may work out well, and here it certainly
did. Declarer ducked and Lauria continued with a heart. Dummy played
the queen, Versace won the king and led a low spade to the queen
and ace, followed by another spade to the ten and king.
1NT showed the strong hand here, and Helness led a more straightforward §3 which immediately gave the 9th trick. Italy another +430 and 10 IMPs. The next board was in fact the 1st board we saw in the VuGraph
theatre. As far as first boards are an indication of what is going
to happen, this certainly came true this time.
A perfectly normal overcall when you cannot show twosuiters. Against the ricks of distribution, Brogeland had to go down two. Italy a cheap +200.
Not good enough to overcall, according to Giorgio (thank you, maestro) and thus a perfectly normal transfer to another unsuccessful spade contract. Only one down here, but Italy another cheap +50 and 6 IMPs. The score was 63-20. But an indication of the contrary was there when we saw the second
board on VuGraph:
When South showed a strong hand with spades, Versace was polite enough not to double the final contract. After all, the opponents were not vulnerable, but two down meant only +100 to Italy.
When Duboin did not show the strength for a classic Strong Two Helgemo was much more inclined to double. He was rewarded with the same two undertricks, but an extra 200 or 5 IMPs for his efforts. Well done. The final score was 69-25 or 24-6 V.P. to Italy. Norway were in some danger of losing their qualification berth, all of a sudden… |
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