| 48th European Bridge Team Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 2 - Monday 14 August 2006 |
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Open TEams - Ireland v Netherlands (Round 1) by Jos Jacobs Prior to these Championships the Netherlands certainly looked like one of the teams with a good chance to qualify for Shanghai 2007, the next Bermuda Bowl. They had participated in Estoril, though they just failed to reach the knock-out stage there. Before that, they had done very well as a team in both Tenerife 2005 and Istanbul 2004, winning a gold medal and a silver one. Istanbul 2004, the World Team Olympiad, also saw a recent big match between the two countries involved in this first-round encounter, as they had to face each other in the quarterfinals, both teams having survived the first of the knock-out rounds there. On that occasion, the Netherlands recorded an easy enough victory and went on to finish the event as runners-up. For the Irish this match thus could be a good chance to get their revenge for what had happened in the past when they played the Dutch. The first board immediately saw the Dutch into the lead when they judged the situation better than their opponents.
Open Room
The disadvantage of introducing 5♣ is that partner will have to guess your actual strength. This certainly came true in another match, when an Italian West (no mean performer of course, as we all know) raised his partner to slam over 5♣ only to go down one more. When 4♠ lost the normal four tricks The Netherlands had scored +100. Closed Room
In spite of this useful dummy Hanlon could not possibly bring home all 11 tricks so +100 again to the Dutch for a 5-0 lead. On the next board the Irish hit back with double force:
Open Room
In a completely natural and quite decent auction the Dutch reached a respectable contract for a score of +440 when South did not bother to lead his ♥A. Closed Room
After his partner’s raise Hanlon knew that there would be play for a slam and thus after some hesitation he bid it. It all came down to the ♣K behaving. Though rumours are that it’s often a singleton behind the ace, this time its early appearance ensured the contract in the easiest of fashions. Ireland +940 as Ramondt too had not bothered to lead his ♥A. After only two boards, the score thus stood at 11-5. More trouble for the scorers on the next episode:
When the diamonds behaved, declarer lost just a club and three trump tricks due to East’s superior spade spots. Had declarer held the ♠98 and dummy the ♠32 instead, this might well have been a different story…As it was: The Netherlands +100. Closed Room
The game you really want to be in is 3NT. There are nine top tricks if the diamonds behave. How to get there is another problem which Westra-Ramondt could not solve in spite of an impeccable auction. Any suggestions? Nine tricks duly made, +150 to The Netherlands and 6 IMPs to level the match at 11 all. More action on the next board, be it at only one table:
Open Room
The 2NT gadget, showing a weakish minor suit hand, backfired when Bertens gave preference for his partner’s clubs instead of launching a heart offensive. Maybe he was hoping to get a second life with so many spades out but both Irishmen made polite passes. When the two relevant queens came down in quick succession EW could write a rare +190 into their column. Closed Room
McGann judged his hand worth a straightforward opening bid and must have felt pleased when he first got the chance to introduce his second suit and next heard his partner rebid his hearts. We can forgive him for not raising this to slam. Playing safe he ensured 11 tricks by establishing the diamonds and ruffing two losing spades. Ireland +650 and a juicy swing of 10 IMPs. We saw an even bigger swing on the next board, and again Ireland were at the positive end of it:
Open Room
Maybe or even probably East should have passed 5♣ but that would not have been a success either. Undertricks are cheap at this vulnerability so the Irish only scored +150. Closed Room
The Open Room result turned out to be more than enough for the Irish when the Dutch NS were led into temptation by either preempt. McGann had the last word on this and a simple spade lead for a ruff brought the Irish +500 more and 12 IMPs. They led by 22, all of a sudden, as the score after only 5 boards had stood at 33-11 to Ireland. The revenge was getting some shape. On board 7 the Dutch just slightly overbid to reach a not unreasonable vulnerable game which had to go down two with a finesse wrong and trumps 4-1. The Irish stayed on firm ground and thus added another 7 IMPs to their tally. Two boards later, the Dutch recovery started:
Singleton aces do not disqualify a strong hand for an opening 2NT so Bertens’ approach worked well when the spade fit was easily revealed and the king of trumps behaved. Netherlands +1430. @: Closed Room
In the Closed Room, McGann could only guess at what was really going on so his decision to go after a big penalty looks completely sensible. The Irish duly got their +800 but lost 12 IMPs in the process to lead by 16 at the time. However there was another major swing on the next board, much to the disappointment of those Dutch supporters whose hopes had just been raised again:
Open Room
When Bertens did not open, it almost looked as if Bakkeren’s 2♣ opening (showing a diamond weak two in this case) made it inevitable for the Irish to end up in the most popular of contracts. When Bakkeren did not lead his ♥J but led a club instead, beating the contract had become well and truly impossible. Ireland +600. Closed Room
When NS took a conservative stance after Hanlon’s opening bid another vulnerable game was gone. Netherlands +140 but 10 more imps to the Irish. Not very much happened after this first half of the match. Watching on BBO I saw one major swing on board 18, again to Ireland, but on the Official Score Card of the Open Room this board was scored as a push when I went over to check it. However, as these lines are being written the Official Score Card of the Closed Room, for which the Dutch NS are responsible, was still missing. So the final result of the match is provisional but at this moment it stands at 61-30 or 21-9 V.P. to Ireland. They definitely have done very well as their score can only go up into the 23-7 area to make their revenge even sweeter. |
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