Dutch Stepping Stone Netherlands defeated Poland 22-8 in Round 6 of the Girls Championship, with this well-played hand from Meike Wortel contributing significantly to the margin of victory. Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.   ♠ Q 9 5 ♥ K 5 ♦ 9 4 ♣ A Q 10 4 3 2 ♠ J 7 4 3 2 ♥ A J 9 2 ♦ K Q 8 7 ♣ - ♠ A ♥ 8 3 ♦ 10 5 3 2 ♣ J 9 8 7 6 5   ♠ K 10 8 6 ♥ Q 10 7 6 4 ♦ A J 6 ♣ K West North East South   Michielsen   Wortel     Pass 1♥ 1♠ 2♣ Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass   The Polish West led the king of diamonds and collected a discouraging five from her partner. West saw no attractive switch so continued with the queen of diamonds anyway, won by Wortel’s ace. She cashed the king of clubs then did very well to run the eight of spades to East’s bare ace. East erred by returning the ♦10 to declarer’s jack and Wortel led a spade to the nine then cashed dummy’s two club winners. The second of those clubs forced West to come down to two hearts if she wanted to keep her diamond winner but that was not good enough in this ending.   ♠ Q ♥ K 5 ♦ - ♣ Q 10 4 ♠ J 7 ♥ A J 9 ♦ 8 ♣ - ♠ - ♥ 8 3 ♦ 3 ♣ J 9 8   ♠ K 10 ♥ Q 10 7 6 ♦ - ♣ - Now Wortel could cash the queen of spades and play the ♥K. West could duck to prevent an entry to declarer’s hand but a second heart now forced her to win and, after cashing the diamond winner, West was obliged to return a spade for declarer tin the last trick with her king; nine tricks. Note that, had East retained the ♦10, playing back the ♦3 when she won the spade, West could have put her in with it to cash a club at the end for down one. Still, a nice stepping stone squeeze for Meike Wortel and the Dutch Girls, on their way to winning the second European Girls Teams Championship. The Unlucky Expert Consider this deal from Round 9 of the Juniors series and try to work out how it was that South was able to make his contract of 4♥ at one table – no, West neither led nor switched to a club at any stage. Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.   ♠ K 9 ♥ A K 10 8 4 ♦ J 10 9 ♣ 9 7 6 ♠ J 7 5 2 ♥ 6 ♦ K 6 ♣ A Q J 10 8 2 ♠ 10 8 4 3 ♥ 7 5 ♦ A 8 7 5 3 ♣ 5 3   ♠ A Q 6 ♥ Q J 9 3 2 ♦ Q 4 2 ♣ K 4 West North East South Happer   Green 1♥ 2♣ 3♣ Pass 4♥ All Pass       When England played Hungary, the Hungarian South duly reached the normal contract of 4♥ and Duncan Happer led the king of diamonds. Well, that would seem to be a good start for the defence, would it not, but Ben Green started thinking and, after due consideration, overtook to switch to a club. The defence had two club tricks and one diamond but that was all; +620. Lest this defence appear to be completely insane, consider a hand where West is 3-1-4-5, making declarer 4-5-1-3. Declarer is known to hold one of the ace and king of clubs or partner would have led that suit. Now, with at least one of dummy’s losing clubs going on declarer’s spades – even ♠AJxx sees the queen ruff out and leaves the defence with just one diamond and two club tricks, the only defence is to overtake the diamond and lead a club, hoping for partner to win the queen and ace and play a third round for a ruff. The story was presented to us by our esteemed vugraph commentator. Barry suggests that he might well have defended in exactly the same way at the table. I think Barry is being a little kind to Ben and that, in real life, Barry would have got it right. Why? Consider that the defence chosen requires partner to hold a 3-1-4-5 distribution including ♦KQ and ♣AQ. He may or may not have the ♣J, ♠Q or ♠J. Perhaps it is a matter of personal style, but I would have doubled 1♥ for take-out rather than made a two-level overcall on a five-card suit when holding opening values. What do you think, unlucky or over-imaginative? Belgian Brilliancy Almost everyone went three down in 3NT on this deal from Round 8 of the Juniors and Girls series, but Steven de Donder of Belgium brought his contract home in the match against Czech Republic in the Juniors. Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.   ♠ K J 5 ♥ Q 7 ♦ A J 8 7 ♣ A K Q 5 ♠ Q 2 ♥ 10 8 6 5 3 2 ♦ K 6 ♣ J 3 2 ♠ A 10 9 8 7 4 ♥ A 9 ♦ Q 9 ♣ 8 7 4   ♠ 6 3 ♥ K J 4 ♦ 10 5 4 3 2 ♣ 10 9 6 At almost every table the auction was a simple 2NT – 3NT or something similar and East led a spade to the queen and king. Most declarers led out ace and another diamond, hoping that East would have to win the trick and would not be able to attack spades effectively. Of course, that did not work out so well for declarer and there was a string of –150s on the vugraph screen. De Donder looked more deeply into the hand. He saw that East could, and surely should, unblock the king of diamonds from a doubleton and that, even if he did not do so, there would still be the possibility of his switching to a heart with good effect should West have the ace of that suit. At trick two De Donder led the seven of hearts to dummy’s king and continued with a low diamond to his jack. That lost to the king but East was powerless. If he defended passively then the ♦Q would fall under the ace and declarer would have all the tricks he required to bring home his contract, so East played ace and another spade, more in hope than expectation. That gave De Donder two overtricks for a great +460 and 12 IMPs to Belgium. Note that the even club break means that it is no use for East to win the heart at trick two. If he does so then clears the spades declarer has two tricks in each major, one diamond and four clubs – nine in all. Nicely played.

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