| 47th European Bridge Team Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 8 - Monday, 28 June 2004 |
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Open Room - Germany vs Austria Ever since the World Championships in Yokohama where these two teams fought out one of the most incredible matches in the history of the Venice Cup, this has been a match not to miss. We were treated to a real slugfest of difficult deals, with no quarter asked or given.
1§ strong Six Diamonds is obviously a poor contract, but it does have a little bit of play – it can be made if East leads a heart, but the sequence in spades was an obvious choice. Declarer won the opening lead and passed the queen of hearts to West’s king. In due course she was two down, -100.
1§ strong West led the three of diamonds – nothing helps if declarer reads the cards – and Declarer won with dummy’s ace and then overtook the queen of diamonds with the king and forced out the jack of diamonds. East won and switched to the ten of clubs and declarer won, cashed her diamond tricks and finessed the jack of spades. She then took her winners in that suit and exited with a spade. East could cash the king of clubs, but then had to lead into the heart tenace. A well played +430 and a nice 11 IMP start for Austria.
If declarer elects to play on hearts rather than spades, the 3-3 break, combined with the diamond finesse, is enough to make the game, and maybe declarer should play like that, as if North did not hold the ace of hearts she would probably have won the ace of clubs at trick two.
North led the two of clubs and South won and continued the suit. This time North took the queen of clubs and played a third round. Declarer won and played a heart to the king and a heart. She was in control now, losing only two hearts and two clubs, +600 and 12 IMPs, giving Germany the lead, 20-16. It did not survive the next deal.
East was not interested in going on as West was limited by her pass over South’s intervention. Declarer was allowed to make twelve tricks, +680.
2¨ 0-2 controls When West showed an ace Pony Nehmert bid the slam that she knew was almost certainly no worse than a finesse – and if West had delivered the queen of hearts it would have been lay down. Declarer won the opening spade lead and played the queen of clubs – maybe South would cover – and went up with the ace. She eliminated and played a heart to the king. No luck this time, -100 and 13 IMPs for Austria.
3© Transfer North led the jack of hearts and declarer won and advanced the jack of spades. North played low without a flicker and declarer naturally cashed her top spade and subsequently took the diamond finesse for one down, -50.
Even without the helpful lead Nehmert might have made the slam. Say South leads a heart. Declarer wins in dummy, ruffs a heart, cashes a top spade, crosses to a club, ruffs a heart, crosses to a club and runs the jack of spades. If it loses there is still the chance of the diamond finesse, plus the possibility that South will be endplayed. I don’t say you should play this way, but you might, especially if you are student of the law of symmetry.
Declarer made eleven tricks, +150.
Meckwell with skirts on! South led the six of clubs and declarer won in hand, unblocked the king of clubs, came to hand with a diamond, cashed the ace of clubs, closed her eyes and played a diamond to the king. She was so delighted she simply claimed nine tricks, +600 and 10 IMPs.
South led the nine of clubs and North played low, declarer winning with the king. She cashed the ace of spades, played a spade to dummy, drew another trump and then took a winning heart finesse. She drew the last trump to leave this position:
Remember that South led the nine of clubs. That denied the ten, so the position in the suit was clear. On that basis only an endplay can succeed. Declarer must play a diamond to the ace, ruff a diamond and then play the ace of hearts and a heart. Not easy, but not impossible.
This time South led a heart and for the king and ace and declarer crossed to dummy with a diamond to take the spade finesse. When the queen appeared she won, cashed a top spade, North discarding a heart, crossed to dummy with a spade, North discarding a club and played a club. North correctly went up with the ace and had only to play a high diamond to ensure the defeat of the contract. When she played a heart declarer could win, draw the last trump and play on clubs for ten tricks, +420 and 10 IMPs.
1NT 10-12 When East heard about the heart support she bid the excellent slam, +920.
As Andrea Reim pointed out, she bid a little bit too quickly, realizing that 4ª would have been a better bid. +420, and 11 badly needed IMPs for Austria.
Declarer won the spade lead in dummy, finessed in clubs, cashed the ace, ruffed a club and played the top spades discarding hearts. North ruffed and played a heart to declarer’s ace. Now a diamond misguess meant declarer had made ten tricks, +130.
If South finds the challenging heart lead declarer will have to duck twice and then get the diamonds right when the spades don’t break, the five of clubs gave declarer time to get the diamonds wrong. When North didn’t switch to a heart declarer emerged with eleven tricks and the same number of IMPs. Germany had done the business to the tune of 80-42 IMPs, 23-7 VP, but they still trailed Austria in the table. |
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