Belgium v England – Open Round 19

by Jos Jacobs

When this match started on Sunday evening, Belgium had dropped from fifth to sixth in spite of two wins, as they were only narrow ones by 16-14 each. On the other hand, England too had registered two victories but, as they were by 23-7 and 20-10 respectively, they had gone up from 14th to 10th at that point. Would the English be able to go on at this pace?

At the beginning of the match, it did not look at all like that. The Belgians very much had the better of the exchanges, registering three swings in succession. Here they are:

Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª 6 3 © 10 9 5 3 ¨ 9 7 6 § A 9 6 5
ª Q J 7 © A Q 8 2 ¨ K Q J 8 § K J		ª A 10 9 © J 7 6 ¨ 10 4 3 2 § 10 8 7
	ª K 8 5 4 2 © K 4 ¨ A 5 § Q 4 3 2

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
A. Labaere	Jason H.	V. Labaere	Justin Hackett
	Pass	Pass	1ª
Dble	Pass	2¨	Pass
2NT	Pass	3NT	All Pass

	Alain Labaere, Belgium

Jason Hackett led the ª6, the nine from dummy and the five from Justin. Declarer now drove out the ¨A and Justin, on lead with it, shifted to a club. Alain Labaere played the king, maybe to encourage a club continuation if North happened to be able to win the trick. If this was his plan, it worked to perfection as North did indeed win the ace and returned the suit. Of course, another spade at this point would have defeated the contract, as declarer would have only eight tricks before the defenders could get five. As it was, Labaere had his nine tricks and Belgium had made a good start to the match, 400 to them.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Price	Coenraets	Simpson	Neve
	Pass	Pass	1ª
1NT	All Pass

On a heart lead, Price even made ten tricks, but his score of +180 meant a loss of 6 IMPs for England.
There was a more serious loss for them to come on the next board:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
A. Labaere	Jason H.	V. Labaere	Justin Hackett
		3¨	Dble
5¨	6§	Pass	6©
Pass	6ª	All Pass

The aggressive Belgian pre-empts put pressure on the Hacketts, as they must have felt slam was in the air but had no room left to sort it all out. Twice, they were in a making contract, but their last landing spot, the 4-4 fit, was too hot to handle.

On the lead of the ¨A, the percentage play would be to take the double finesse in spades. Jason played accordingly and thus went quickly one down; Belgium +100.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Price	Coenraets	Simpson	Neve
		2¨	2©
3¨	Dble	Pass	4©
All Pass

With far less pre-emption against them, the Belgian North/South once again had a relatively quiet road to a very sound contract. When the hearts broke, there were 12 tricks for another +680 or 13 IMPs to them.

And the next board:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
A. Labaere	Jason H.	V. Labaere	Justin Hackett
			1§
1ª	1NT	Pass	3NT
All Pass

In spite of holding a fair hand, Alain Labaere kept quiet when his opponents bid 3NT against him. This proved a sensible thing to do as partner would not have provided too many useful values for a profitable save, red v green. Though 3NT will go down on a heart lead (of course found by an Italian playing against Switzerland), the actual spade lead from East made nine tricks quite straightforward; England +400.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Price	Coenraets	Simpson	Neve
			1§
1ª	1NT	Pass	3NT
4§	Pass	4ª	Pass
Pass	Dble	All Pass

At the other table, David Price did bid on over 3NT, a move he was to regret shortly afterwards. With no real fit between the East/West hands he got doubled in 4ª. On a club lead, his trumps were shortened fatally right from the first trick, so he could not avoid down three. Belgium scored +800 for 9 more IMPs to lead 28-0.
It wasn’ t over yet:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
A. Labaere	Jason H.	V. Labaere	Justin Hackett
2§	2ª	3¨	All Pass

The Belgians’ Multi-like 2§ placed the declaration in the East hand. This turned out to make a lot of difference, as we shall see. South led the ª7 to North’s ace. North continued a club away from his ace, dummy’s king winning as declarer did not have the option Jason was hoping for. A club came back to Jason’s §10 and now, finally, a heart was led to the ten and queen. This proved far too late as declarer could ruff his last club, shed a losing heart on the ªK and draw trumps. This way, Alan Labaere lost a trick in each suit to just make his contract; Belgium +110.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Price	Coenraets	Simpson	Neve
2¨	2ª	3¨	Dble
All Pass

	Olivier Neve, Belgium

When the English could not use the same gadget as their Belgian counterparts, West had to open 2¨. North and East both duplicated the bids made at the other table, but Neve made an aggressive take-out double of 3¨ which Philippe Coenraets elected to pass.

He then found the excellent lead of the ©6 on which declarer played the king from dummy, hoping to disrupt defensive communications if the suit broke 5-2. Neve won the ace and returned the ©J to declarer’s queen. Next came a low spade, but Coenraets rose with the ace, cashed his §A as well and only then played his last heart. South won and led the 13th heart on which declarer discarded a club, so North’s ¨10 scored the first undertrick with the ace of trumps still to come. Belgium collected a fine +500 and 12 IMPs more to lead by 41-3 at this stage.
In fact, the trump promotion is always there. If declarer ruffs high, North will discard, win the ¨A later on and play a spade, ruffed by South with the ¨9.

On Board 10, the English got IMPs back on a double partscore swing to trail by11-41, and then came:

Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	ª K 3 © J 7 ¨ 8 5 2 § Q 10 7 6 4 2
ª A Q 6 © 8 6 3 ¨ A K J 9 4 3 § J		ª 9 7 2 © K Q 9 5 ¨ 10 7 6 § 9 5 3
	ª J 10 8 5 4 © A 10 4 2 ¨ Q § A K 8

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
A. Labaere	Jason H.	V. Labaere	Justin Hackett
1¨	Pass	1©	1ª
Dble	Pass	2©	Pass
4©	All Pass

Of course, Alain Labaere knew, after his support double, that he might be putting his partner in a 4-3 fit but, with a singleton club, this might well be a good spot to be in. Not this time – with the trumps stacked behind East she went down five for the unusual score of +250 to England.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Price	Coenraets	Simpson	Neve
1¨	Pass	1©	1ª
3¨	All Pass

At the other table, with no support double at hand, David Price jumped to 3¨ at his second turn and there it rested; England +110 for a gain of 8 IMPs.

England lost seven of these IMPs on the next board when the Hacketts overbid to a hopeless game but, one board later, this loss was compensated for like this:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
A. Labaere	Jason H.	V. Labaere	Justin Hackett
		3¨	Pass
5¨	Pass	Pass	5©
All Pass

This hand was particularly suitable for the style of the twins, and 5© proved an excellent contract with only the AK of trumps away. England +450.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Price	Coenraets	Simpson	Neve
		3¨	Pass
5¨	All Pass

At the other table, the pre-empting did its job in keeping both North and South silent. The contract went one down, but England had scored 9 IMPs more to trail by 30-48 now.

And the English rally continued:

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	ª 10 6 2 © K 10 9 5 2 ¨ Q J § 10 9 4
ª K Q 9 8 5 3 © 8 7 4 ¨ 10 9 7 5 § -		ª 4 © A ¨ A 6 4 § A K Q 8 7 6 5 2
	ª A J 7 © Q J 6 3 ¨ K 8 3 2 § J 3

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
A. Labaere	Jason H.	V. Labaere	Justin Hackett
			1©
2ª	Pass	3NT	All Pass

That was simple and straightforward and Belgium chalked up +430.
In the Open Room, the stakes got higher when Coenraets ventured a double:

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Price	Coenraets	Simpson	Neve
			1©
2ª	Pass	3NT	Pass
Pass	Dble	Rdbl	All Pass

This was absolutely not the right moment to double. To make things worse Simpson, who held about ten solid tricks in his hand and could be sure about a spade stopper in dummy, was in a position to clearly express his opinion on the chances of the contract. This meant +1000 for England who now had come back all the way from 3-41 down to 41-48 down. What was going on?

We got to see that one board later.

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
A. Labaere	Jason H.	V. Labaere	Justin Hackett
2NT	Pass	3§	Pass
3NT	Pass	4¨	Pass
4NT	All Pass

Valérie Labaere was far from sure that 3NT would be the right spot, so she went on over partner’s response over 3§. This proved wrong when the hearts were wide open, but nicely distributed in equal portions between the opposition. The contract went down two when declarer discarded a club on the fourth round of hearts; England +200.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Price	Coenraets	Simpson	Neve
1§	Pass	1¨	1ª
2NT	Pass	3NT	All Pass

and ace. Declarer now cashed the top diamonds, but when the queen did not appear just played a spade to his nine to land his contract. The overtrick was there when the clubs provided five tricks. England gained +630 and 13 IMPs to take the lead; 54-48.

On the next board, they increased their lead to 65-48 when the Belgian North/South overbid to a hopeless slam and lost 11 more IMPs.

There were a few overtricks in the final boards and the result of the match thus became 68-48 to England, which is 19-11 VPs. We had been watching a remarkable recovery by the English and a most unwanted setback of the Belgian hopes.