The Hunt For New Records

by Jos Jacobs

During these Championships, new records have already been set as to the biggest penalty (3,400) and the largest swing (37 IMPs). In Wednesday morning’s Vugraph match, we saw a few new records coming up on board 4.

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

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
P. Schaltz	Atabey	D. Schaltz	Kolata
3ª	4¨	Pass	5¨
All Pass

This quietly went two down on a heart lead. Denmark +200.

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Zorlu	M. L. Madsen	Assael	L.L. Madsen
2¨	3¨	Pass	3NT
Pass	Pass	Dble	All Pass

In the Closed Room, things went out of hand. The bidding looks quite innocent, but Assael’s double certainly was not. Either Lund Madsen could have saved the day by taking shelter in 4¨, but when neither did, it was up to Zorlu to find the heart lead already suggested by the double. When he did, the Turkish defenders took the first 12 tricks in the majors, for a score of 2,300 and 19 IMPs to them.

As we all saw on Vugraph, after this board the Turkish team went on to blitz Denmark by a humiliating score of 116-16 IMPs, converting into no peanuts at all to Denmark.