At last - a Vilamoura hand

Herman De Wael

When the European Championships were held in Vilamoura, Portugal, in 1995, I noticed that the coat of arms of that city had six hearts either side of the shield. I decided to call any 6-6 fit a Vilamoura hand, but such things are rather rare. I have come across a small number of them since, but yesterday for the first time, a Vilamoura hand appeared at European Championships. Sadly it was not a 6-6 fit in hearts, but in diamonds, but we should not complain.

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª A K 10 7 5 3 © J 8 5 ¨ 4 § A 8 2
ª J 4 2 © A ¨ A J 9 8 3 2 § Q 6 4		ª 6 © K 9 ¨ K Q 10 7 6 5 § J 9 5 3
	ª Q 9 8 © Q 10 7 6 4 3 2 ¨ - § K 10 7

The following results appeared at the 70 tables:

NS Pairs playing in Spades: (seven)
6ª once (-1)
5ªX once (=)
5ª four (+1:3;=:1)
4ª once (+2)

NS Pairs playing in Hearts: (43)
6© five (-1:4;-2:1)
5©X six (=)
5© 13 (=)
4© 19 (+1)

EW Pairs playing in Diamonds (20)
6¨X six (-2)
6¨ once (-2)
5¨X three (-1)
5¨ ten (-1:9;-2:1)

It is often strange to see that results that are infrequent in the field occur at both tables of a same match. For example, two of the six tables that played 5©X were in the Finland-Austria women's match.

The Germany-Israel women also had a flat board, both scoring +480. Ingrid Gromann opened the East hand 2§, weak in diamonds or strong. Elke Weber thought she knew what it was and she bid a waiting 2¨. When North overcalled 2ª and Ingrid passed, Elke knew something her opponents did not, so she passed 4ª fearing to drive them to slam. At the other table, Sabine Auken in North was faced with the difficult problem of what to do after 2¨ (weak) - 5¨. She chose correctly with 5ª and then made the twelfth trick in the same manner as her counterpart: by leading heart to the table and felling ©A and K on the same trick.

The board was flat in the Ireland-England Women's match as well, with the Irish East opening a weak 2¨, while the English one used a 3¨. Both Souths overcalled Hearts at the lowest level, both Wests raised to 5¨, and both Norths competing with 6©. In a heart contract, there is no reason to put the ©K on the ©J, so these contracts were hopeless.

Like London buses

Herman De Wael

You wait for nine years for a Vilamoura hand, and then suddenly two turn up on consecutive days.

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª A Q J 7 5 3 © Q 5 4 2 ¨ 5 4 § 9
ª 10 © A 8 3 ¨ A 8 7 § A K Q 7 5 3		ª - © K J 10 9 7 ¨ K 10 9 2 § 10 8 4 2
	ª K 9 8 6 4 2 © 6 ¨ Q J 6 3 § J 6

One pair, who shall remain nameless, had a Multi disaster. When one hand shows a six card major, and the other has six spades, he tends to guess that opener has hearts. So Four Hearts doubled is not as implausible as it sounds. Their opponents, who shall also remain nameless, then made a defensive error. They allowed North/South a trick, thereby reducing their own gain to only 2300.

More Penalty Records

by Jos Jacobs

To consider a penalty of 3400 a rarity is considered fully justifiable. In fact, it never before occurred during the European Championships. That’s also the reason why such a score attracts wide publicity, especially from the tabloids.

To see two instances of a 3400 penalty in the same round of a major Championship therefore must be a once in a lifetime sensation. In Round 15, a penalty of 3400 was conceded on Board 12, described in Sunday morning’s issue of the Bulletin, but earlier in the round there already had been another instance, though the full swing did by no means approach the 37 IMPs involved in the accident on the other board.

It all happened on Board 4 in the Italy-Lithuania match:

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

West	North	East	South
Birdalas	Bocchi	Poska	Duboin
Pass	1§	1ª	2§(i)
2ª	Pass	Pass	Dble
Pass	Pass	Rdbl	All Pass
(i) Transfer to diamonds

We were informed that the misunderstanding arose from the fact that East/West were not sure about their defence against the Italian 1§ opening. Apparently, East thought that 1§ was strong, so he showed either 5+ spades or at least 4-3 in the majors by overcalling 1ª. Duboin showed his suit in transfer mode by bidding 2§, but really made his presence felt at the second attempt. Bocchi was happy to sit and declarer managed just the two obvious tricks for a score of – 3400.

The swing amounted to 21 IMPs only, as the normal score for North/South was +660 in no trump, and Olanski and Vainikonis duly bid and made 4NT+1 for Lithuania at the other table.