In the round of 16, many matches were decided at half time already, taking into account the IMP margins reached. Among them Soroldoni v. Quantin, maybe the biggest shock of the round as the Italo-American team with a distinct Sanmarinese flavour took a 60-IMP lead, and also Lévy v. Chagas where the score stood at 52-0 or so (see elsewhere in this issue). There were only two matches in which the margins at half time was by one figure only: Lemaitre v. Bertheau (23-28) and Canesi v. Bar (33-25). Statistically speaking, the toughest second half battles should occur here, so off we went to watch them.

After an easy game for a push on the first board, this was the second:

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	ª 4 © K J 10 6 5 3 ¨ A 7 5 4 § 7 5
ª K J 10 8 7 5 2 © A 7 ¨ J 8 § 8 6		ª A 9 3 © 8 2 ¨ K 10 3 § A Q J 9 2
	ª Q 6 © Q 9 4 ¨ Q 9 6 2 § K 10 4 3

Normal bidding by all four players led to a normal result. Down two, 300 to Bertheau.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Nystrom	Counil	Bertheau	Naltet
3ª	4©	4ª	5©
Pass	Pass	Dble	All Pass

Normal bidding by all four players led to a normal result. Down two, 300 to Bertheau.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Dechelette	Magnusson	Lemaitre	Midskog
Pass	2©	3§	Pass
4ª	All Pass

Here, the situation changed dramatically when Dechelette adopted different tactics. The 2© opening bid had not quite expressed the full attacking value of the hand and thus it was no surprise that West’s 4ª at his second attempt silenced everyone as South had not raised hearts earlier. On the lead of the ¨A and a diamond declarer made 11 tricks, Lemaitre +650 and 8 IMP’s.

Strange things happened on board 19:

Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª Q 6 5 4 © A ¨ A Q J 9 8 4 3 § 8
ª 7 © Q J 8 6 2 ¨ 5 2 § Q J 10 5 2		ª K J 9 2 © K 9 7 5 3 ¨ K 7 § A K
	ª A 10 8 3 © 10 4 ¨ 10 6 § 9 7 6 4 3

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Nystrom	Counil	Bertheau	Naltet
			Pass
Pass	1¨	Dble	1ª
2©	4©	Dble	Pass
Pass	4ª	Dble	Pass
5©	All Pass

Wouldn’t you back East and rather be a defender here?

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Dechelette	Magnusson	Lemaitre	Midskog
			Pass
Pass	1¨	Dble	Pass
3©	4¨	4 NT	5¨
Pass	Pass	5©	All Pass

Here, the spades got out of sight completely, but we are still wondering if West’s Pass over 5¨ gave East any clue about his number of aces…

Needless to say, the board was a push.

Two boards later, the automatic extra chance proved decisive:

Board 21. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª 9 7 5 3 © Q 8 7 3 ¨ K J 8 § J 4
ª J 2 © K 10 9 2 ¨ 10 9 6 5 4 § K 7		ª K Q 8 © J 5 ¨ Q 3 2 § Q 10 6 5 3
	ª A 10 6 4 © A 6 4 ¨ A 7 § A 9 8 2

After an auction not worth mentioning both South’s were playing 1NT. Holding 150 Aces they no doubt opened 1NT as quickly as they could. Both Wests led a low diamond, according to taste either the four or the five. As the ¨Q will stay at her original place anyway (unless you are playing against magicians) it does not cost to play dummy’s eight first. This time it would cost you the contract if you would forget this simple truth, as they did at one table…so 5 IMP’s to the good guys, whoever they are.

The next board was a more serious affair, however:

Board 22. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª K 9 6 © Q J 7 ¨ A Q 9 7 2 § 5 3
ª 7 3 © 9 8 6 3 ¨ 6 § A K 10 9 8 6		ª A 2 © A K 4 2 ¨ 10 8 5 4 § Q J 4
	ª Q J 10 8 5 4 © 10 5 ¨ K J 3 § 7 2

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Nystrom	Counil	Bertheau	Naltet
		1NT	2ª
3ª	4ª	Pass	Pass
Dble	All Pass

Here, the 14-16 NT clarified the position for West beforehand, so whatever action South would take, West would know he could go on. For EW, 4© is easily on, so in theory, NS took a good save. It might have been a very good save had the defence been less immaculate. West led a diamond won by dummy’s ace. A low trump was called for, but East was quite awake. She rose with the ace and first played the §J on which partner contributed the 10. Next, she continued the ¨10 for her partner to ruff. The ©9 came back now, so she knew that two hearts and one more club were there for the taking. Very well done, down three and 500 to Bertheau. Would it be enough?

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Dechelette	Magnusson	Lemaitre	Midskog
		1¨	2 ª
All Pass

As the range of the 1¨ opening is less defined than the NT-range at the other table, West was in some trouble after the weak jump. This time, his waiting tactics did not work, as he is still waiting…To make things worse, they did not find the perfect defence (see Open Room) needed to BEAT 2ª. So the contract made, in fact even with an overtrick, and Bertheau had gained an unexpected 12 IMP’s to go clearly into the lead.

Board 27. Dealer South None Vul.
	ª 6 4 © J 6 4 ¨ A 8 2 § A K J 5 4
ª 3 © A 9 5 ¨ Q J 7 6 5 3 § 8 6 3		ª A K Q J 10 9 8 5 © 10 7 ¨ 10 9 4 § -
	ª 7 2 © K Q 8 3 2 ¨ K § Q 10 9 7 2

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Nystrom	Counil	Bertheau	Naltet
			Pass
2¨	Pass	4ª	All Pass

It certainly was an advantage here to be able to open a weak two even in diamonds, as this silenced North for the time being. When East introduced her eight-card suit South could not really take any action on her own, so there it rested. Just made, Bertheau +420.

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Dechelette	Magnusson	Lemaitre	Midskog
			Pass
Pass	1NT	4ª	4NT
Pass	5§	Pass	6§ (!?)
Dble	All Pass

Here EW did not have any gadget available, so once again West went into the bushes first. North opened a slightly off-shape 1 NT and, of course, East cleared the smoke. But now, South could show her twosuiter easily so the good save was found. For reasons we cannot reveal (but would we like to?) South bid one more at her next turn, so West came forward out of the bushes to throw an axe. That was +300 to Lemaitre, but still another 3-IMP loss. They had gone out by 15.

Over now to the other close match. Though we have to skip all the boards they played in the second half, there still was work to do for them as they were the teams to follow the Laws of Statistics right till the bitter end. One would suspect that, with 24 matches on, at least one of them would end in an exact tie (as you will probably know, the chances are better than even that in a group of 25 people two will celebrate their birthdays on the same date).

According to the Tiebreak Regulations four more boards would be played, followed (if necessary) by all sorts of Silver and Golden Goals. Here is the first of those four boards from extra-time, and it set the tone:

Board 17. Dealer North None Vul.
	ª Q 10 8 7 5 © 8 7 4 3 ¨ J 5 § 7 2
ª 2 © 10 9 6 ¨ A K 9 7 § A K J 4 3		ª J 6 4 3 © Q J ¨ Q 8 6 4 3 2 § 6
	ª A K 9 © A K 5 2 ¨ 10 § Q 10 9 8 5

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Cedolin	Jansma	Canesi	Van Ettinger
	Pass	3¨	Dble
5¨	Pass	Pass	Dble
All Pass

In second seat, 3¨would not be everybody’s choice, but had the EW hands fitted well, the contract would have been unbeatable. As it was, 5¨ went down one with no game on for NS, as their hands did not fit too well either, obviously. So first blood to Bar, +100.

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Herbst	Matricardi	Bar	Corchia
	Pass	Pass	1§
Pass	1¨	Pass	1©
2§	All Pass

In this room, the 1¨ negative response to the multi-purpose 1§ showed just less than 8 hcp, so everyone was in the dark. When North considered his hand not worth a raise to 2© it had to rest at 2§. North pass probably was justified, as he will end up as dummy in 4© if he bids. So far, so good.

Another matter is defending 2§. As you can see, the 1¨ negative had had the distinct advantage of eating up the opponents’ suit, but how to exploit it? The solution is to discard your two small hearts on the run of the diamonds. A heart was led to the king and South returned a trump won by Ilan Herbst with the Jack. He cashed two more top trumps and started playing on diamonds. Now, if South keeps the third spade, declarer cannot establish his third heart and cash it too. At the table the contract was made, so Bar scored another +90 for a useful first 5 IMP’s.

After a push on board 18 this was the third extra time exercise:

Board 19. Dealer South East-West Vul.
	ª J 8 2 © A K 3 ¨ 8 5 2 § A Q J 2
ª K 10 9 7 6 4 © 5 ¨ Q 7 3 § 8 7 4		ª Q 5 © Q J 8 4 ¨ A J 10 6 § 6 5 3
	ª A 3 © 10 9 7 6 2 ¨ K 9 4 § K 10 9

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Cedolin	Jansma	Canesi	Van Ettinger
			Pass
2¨	Dble	2ª	3©
All Pass

Well, one might say that NS missed a game here. With the hearts 3-2 and the ¨A right it would have been an easy make. Elisabeth van Ettinger must have felt very, very relieved seeing the real distribution, but with all the opponents’ noise around, this was not really a surprise any more, one might say... Bar +140.

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Herbst	Matricardi	Bar	Corchia
			Pass
Pass	1NT	Pass	2¨
Pass	2©	Pass	3NT
All Pass

With no opposing bidding NS sort of automatically ended up in game. Please note that 3NT is even worse than 4©: both contracts need a 3-2 heart break and the ¨A right, but 3 NT also needs short diamonds with the long hearts (or with West’s ©Q, for that matter). So this adventure got what it deserved, looking at the statistical odds: one down. Bar +50 and another 5 IMP’s

And so it went on. On the last board, Bar played a partscore on a combined holding of 25 hcp and Canesi were in 3 NT. Needless to say that the defender with the established suit also held the essential ace declarer was missing…

So the extra time produced a score of 17-0 to Bar, who thus emerged a little lucky winners. Bridge is a cruel game…