Juniors Round 16

We start our look at Round 16 of the Juniors with Board 6. At all twenty tables, South declared 4ª, often doubled. The contract has four losers, of course, but at only six of the twenty tables did the defence manage to defeat the contract.

Board 6. Dealer East. East/West Vul.
	ª 9 © Q 10 8 5 4 3 ¨ J 9 4 § A 6 2
ª A © K 6 2 ¨ A K 8 2 § K 10 7 5 3		ª 6 5 3 © A J 9 7 ¨ 10 7 6 § J 9 4
	ª K Q J 10 8 7 4 2 © - ¨ Q 5 3 § Q 8

At most tables South opened 4ª so his general hand-type was known but that was all. West usually began with a top diamond. There were a couple of ways in which the contract was let through. Firstly, East discouraged and West switched to a club - the obvious switch.

When I was given the hand as a problem that is what I did. The only question in my mind was whether to switch to a low club or to the king. It follows that I agree with those Wests who let the contract through in this fashion. I blame any East who discouraged. Partner, if playing the popular ace for attitude, king for count, would have led the king from ¨AKQ, so East knows that declarer holds the ¨Q. West would lead ace from ¨AKx(x) but, I think, king from ¨AKxxx, so South is known not to hold the dangerous queen doubleton, when a switch may be required to knock the §A off the table. All of which leads to the conclusion that East should encourage at trick one - given that the methods in use are the ones I have assumed. When East discourages, the obvious switch is a club and West is correct to find that play.

While the information gained may not help very much, there are those who will suggest that West should cash the ªA before making up his mind. Well, that is fine when declarer has 100 honours in spades but will cost a trick quite often when East has ªJxx or similar.

The second way in which the contract was let through was when West, having cashed some or all of his diamond and spade tricks, now tried a low heart and East put up the ace. That was ruffed out and declarer rattled off a stream of spades, eventually squeezing West in clubs and hearts for the tenth trick.

Maybe this mix-up is also avoidable. West might view that once he has decided to lead hearts at all he might as well switch to the king. Alternatively, East might decide that partner should not really have a singleton heart and doubleton spade, which is what is being played for when the ace of hearts is played, as he might then have overcalled 4NT or 5§, according to his minor-suit distribution.

For the record, the six successful pairs were: Olivier Bessis/Godefroy de Tessiers for France, Nikita Malinovski/Mikhail Krasnosselski for Russia, Martin Schaltz/ Andreas Marquardsen for Denmark, David Gold/ Alex Hydes for England, Janne Airaksinen/Tatu Hekinnen for Finland, and Berk Basaran/ Ozan Ugan for Turkey. Well done to them.

Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul.
	ª A Q 7 5 3 © K 9 7 3 ¨ K § Q 7 5
ª 8 6 2 © 6 4 2 ¨ Q 8 6 4 3 § 10 6		ª 10 4 © J 10 5 ¨ A J 10 7 5 2 § 9 4
	ª K J 9 © A Q 8 ¨ 9 § A K J 8 3 2

Estonia v Russia
West	North	East	South
Krasnosselski	Naber	Malinovski	Tihane
			1§
1¨	1ª	4¨	Pass
Pass	5¨	Pass	6©
All Pass

West	North	East	South
Rubins	Rudakov	Matisons	Zaitsev
			1§
Pass	1ª	Pass	3§
Pass	3©	Pass	3ª
Pass	4§	Pass	4©
Pass	4ª	Pass	5