| 47th European Bridge Team Championships | Page 3 | Bulletin 6 - Friday, 25 June 2004 |
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Round 12 Iceland vs Poland Jos Jacobs reports on the progress of one of the pace setters, while the Editor shows you how Italy fared in their match with a Welsh team that was looking for a sixth successive victory. The Championships are at one third of the program now. So far, Poland have been living up to their reputation, staying solidly enough in 3rd spot. Iceland, however, have not been doing so well this time, but in this match, they once again showed why they will remain an opponent to be reckoned with. On the opening boards, we saw a number of consecutive partscore swings each way to set the pace for the match. I will show you two examples of them, before we move over to the really hot stuff. First we see the dramatic start of Italy v Wales:
When East opened Three Hearts, South took the simple route and bid a direct Five Diamonds. There were eleven winners – until the trump break came to light, -50.
When East led the king of hearts and continued with the seven, declarer simply discarded a losing club from dummy. West won and switched to the king of clubs. Declarer won, played a spade to the ace, cashed the ace of diamonds, then drew trumps and claimed, +420 and 10 IMPs. The first of these small swings went to Poland who thus went off
to a 5-0 lead, but Iceland struck back
Under his system, Kowalski was obliged to open 1NT, so Baldursson could double for penalties. When the transfer and the reply came back to Jònsson, he showed his modest values in the minors with 2NT, which enabled West to choose 3§ as the final contract. With the diamonds 3-3 a contract in the other minor might make as well, but 3§ definitely was a very good place to be. Just made with the loss of the obvious club, diamond and two spade tricks. Iceland +110.
Under his system, Thorvaldsson had to open 1§ and thus effectively stole the opponents’ suit. Puczynski could do little better than overcall 1NT, but this contract stood little chance on a heart lead. The clubs cannot be successfully finessed and exploited as dummy is short of entries. Even a low club away from the ace did not help, as North won the queen and simply continued a low heart to the eight and jack. After winning his ¨A in the 3rd round of the suit, South was able to lead a third heart to seal the fate of the contract. Iceland another +100 and 5 IMPs.
North’s conservative pass of 1© produced the swing on this board. Over the 3¨ rebid, it was far from obvious that further action would have been a success. When the Poles sold out to 3¨, making nine tricks proved easy. Iceland +110.
At the other table, another Pole took a conservative, but respectable view when he passed the double of 1¨. As a consequence, it was North who was obliged to say something now, so the club fit was soon revealed. After that, South could not be kept out of competing up to the four-level, but with all the spades well-placed, ten tricks in clubs were no problem either. Iceland another +130 and 6 IMPs. Over now to the hot chili peppers. On the first of them the auction had made the difference:
At another table however, when declarer advanced the ¨6, South ducked! Finessing the nine now by playing low in dummy looks a much better chance than putting up the ten or even the king, so all credit to this defender. As we cannot possibly tell how often South found this defence, we cannot yet mention the name of the one South player who for sure found this defence.
Playing at lower stakes, Chmurski was treated to the §K lead as well, so he could not go down as the cards lay. Play ended with a ruling by the TD on a disputed claim of the balance by declarer, but nine tricks were always there. Poland +140 but 10 IMPs to Iceland.
To defeat Four Spades the defence has to cash two clubs and then play diamonds – effectively impossible looking at the South hand. Declarer won the opening heart lead in dummy, discarding a club, played a few trumps and then a diamond. South took the ace and played back the queen, and a few moments later declarer had claimed, +620.
The less aggressive action saw South enter the auction, and his side secured the contract. Even if West, or East, (in the style of Rixi Markus) had gone on to Four Spades, South may well have found a club lead. Of course, Four Clubs had to down, (double dummy even One Club is too high) but declarer emerged with seven tricks and 10 IMPs. On the next board, Poland struck back when the Iceland EW lost sight of the spades:
Of course, 1NT can easily conceal one or two four-card majors after the double, but this time the Icemen were very unlucky. Baldursson’s 2§ rebid looks automatic, but the right contract had been missed by a mile. On a heart lead and a switch to a low trump, declarer could ruff two hearts in hand and cash two top spades before continuing trumps, removing South’s last trump. In the end, Baldursson managed one more spade trick, a club and a diamond, so he made his contract after all. Iceland +90.
In the Open Room, the auction started very quietly, until Chmurski went into top gear. He passed the double, but his bold jump raise in spades was enough to encourage Puczynski to bid game. The contract had to be played very carefully, as the spades might well be 4-1, but declarer showed the right way to perfection. Hearts were led and continued, declarer ruffing. Next came the §K, won by North who returned the suit. Dummy won the trick and a low diamond was played to the TEN! When the eight appeared, Mariusz knew enough. Three rounds of spades, the last club and a second diamond finesse brought in the required amount of tricks. Poland a fine +620 and a well-deserved (and much needed) swing of 11 IMPs.
East led a club and declarer won, cashed two more clubs discarding a heart from dummy, then took the ace of spades and played his last club, discarding another heart as East ruffed. He was not hard pressed to come to seven tricks, +80.
This was an unlucky hand for the weak notrump. South led the ten of hearts and North won with the king and played clubs, South discarding a heart on the third round and overuffing Declarer’s seven with the eight on the fourth. Declarer won the heart return in hand and played a spade to the jack and ace. North won and gave South a heart ruff. Declarer won the spade exit in dummy and decided to play a trump, rather than ruff a spade to hand and lead towards the queen of diamonds. Now he was four down, -800 and 12 IMPs to Italy, who were in complete control. If you are a bit out of breath after these two stories, you can relax a little nowwe have one more partscore affair coming up for you:
When Tuszynski could introduce his clubs, the proper contract was easily reached. The Poles lost the obvious four tricks. Poland +110.
Chmurski’s pass of 1NT may look a little conservative again, but the effect of it was spectacular. Declarer won the lead of the ªQ and led a low heart to the nine in dummy. Another heart went to the ace and Chmurski cashed the ªJ on which Puczynski contributed the ten. The diamond switch, already obvious from the sight of dummy, thus had become obligatory, so the defence collected five diamonds, four spades and one heart for down four! Poland another +400 and an unexpected 11 IMPs from a harmless enough looking board. Back to the fireworks on the next board:
The raise to 4ª put NS under pressure when North was far too strong to pass it. South did not take the right view this time, which proved very costly. Down four, Iceland +800.
The different approach by the Poles gave their opponents much more time to exchange informations, which they used to perfection. Magnusson’s second double could only be for penalties, looking at the auction. Well done for a useful +100 to Iceland and a huge swing of 14 IMPs.
2NT was a general try, which Jònsson himself accepted when the tray came back with partner’s slightly encouraging 3ª on it. On a club lead, the play presented no problems. Declarer won, finessed in spades, won the heart return and played another trump. When South showed out, he put up the ace and was able to discard the heart loser when the clubs broke 3-3. Iceland +620.
At the other table, the 1§-opening did not work so well. When North overcalled 1NT, East could only double this. When 2© came back to him, he introduced his spade suit, but Puczynski could do nothing more than offer a polite raise. So a very good game had been missed. Poland +170 but Iceland 10 IMPs to lead 54-27 at this stage. Poland recouped one major swing when they found a good save:
It looks completely normal to open 4ª in 4th position and play there. In the Closed Room, this is exactly what happened and ten tricks were duly made. Poland +620.
In the Open Room, Puczynski set the fire alight by opening a shaded 1¨ third in hand. The Icelanders had no problem in finding their spade game, but by making an opening bid, West had launched his partner into the attack. Chmurski kept on bidding clubs and finally got doubled when he rebid them a second time. With the trump position revealed now, he lost a trick in each suit except trumps for a loss of -100 and a gain of 11 IMPs. Thus, the final score in this match had become: 54-43 or 17-13 to Iceland in V.P.
1§ 10-22, 2 or more clubs I wonder if West was close to passing 3NT, which is the only genuinely
making game?
North cashed his top clubs and then put the ace of diamonds on the table. South encouraged and that was one down, +100 and another 12 IMPs to see Italy home 80-15, 25-3VP. |
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