| 48th European Bridge Team Championships | Page 3 | Bulletin 4 - Wednesday 16 August 2006 |
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Open Teams by Jos Jacobs After a good start on Sunday Turkey narrowly lost to Iceland in yesterday’s morning match to lie 5th in the table with 54 VP. Spain had not made such a good start but had scored 20 VP v. Ireland in the morning match to be in 8th position with 52 VP after 3 rounds. So with both teams close to each other and well over average, another good match was in prospect. As many boards were rather quiet I will incorporate some stories about what happened in the Russia v. Netherlands match as well. It looked as if the start of the match was very quiet, as few Imps exchanged hands on the first ten boards. This, however was not completely true, as this was board 5:
In many other matches, this hand was a push in 4♥ and rightly so. Against the Netherlands, a Russian declarer managed to go down in this contract when he did not take the right view in spades after being forced in clubs to give the Netherlands a 10-Imp swing. In our featured match the bidding in the Open Room was remarkable as you can see: Open Room
With the EW strength (if any) evenly divided between the two hands, it was not so easy for either of them to enter the bidding at any stage, even more so after South’s ambiguous raise to 3♦. The contract quietly went one down for +100 to Turkey. In the Closed Room, the auction was even more uneventful: Closed Room
At this table, NS gave their opponents every chance to enter the auction but apparently they did not bother. A curious way for Turkey to earn 3 Imps to lead 7-1 at this stage.At the end of the first half of the match we finally saw a substantial swing. It went to Turkey and they fully deserved it, in view of their superior bidding:
Open Room
In the Open Room, 2♦ was Multi and 3♣ asked partner to place the declaration in his own hand. Gur saw no reason to breach discipline. He had his anxious moments in the play, however. North led his top spades, declarer ruffing the second. He went on to cash top diamonds for spade discards but when South ruffed the second round he needed some luck. He won the club return and led the ♥10 to his queen. When this held, he could not lose more than just one heart trick. Contract made, Turkey +620. Closed Room
In the Closed Room, strange things happened. We have always been taught that playing in the trump suit of the weak hand generally is a sensible idea. This hand clearly confirms the value of this rule, even more so when North had the last word in the auction by expressing an explicit opinion about playing in the long suit of the strong hand. Though the defence lost a trick in the play the contract stood no chance whatsoever. Turkey another +200 and a 13-Imp swing. Yes, it could have been 15 Imps as well but who cares too much about that? This hand also caused a big swing in the Russia v. Netherlands match. Here are the two auctions: Open Room
2♦ was Multi and 3♥ was to play or correct. On the singleton diamond lead, Bertens won the ace throwing a spade from hand and immediately took the trump finesse. When this held, he cashed the ♥A, crossed to the ♣A and simply discarded two more spade losers on the top diamonds. Contract made, for +790 this time. Closed Room
The Dutch did not drop a trick on defence here so they collected another +500 to make it a very useful 15-Imp swing to them. They were leading by 18 now. A few boards later, we again saw a substantial swing in both our matches.
Open Room
On the lead of the ♠Q, ducked, and a spade continuation the defence collected two spades, a trump, a ruff and two hearts for a two-trick set and +200 to Turkey. Closed Room
North led his singleton heart won by dummy’s ace. Next came the ♠A and another spade but this did not help declarer too much. North won, cashed a top club and played a low club for his partner to ruff. Next came the ♥K and another so declarer’s ♥Q was ruffed out. North put declarer back on play with another top club, which left declarer with at least two more red losers. He was down three when he eventually misguessed the diamonds. Turkey another +300 and 11 more Imps to lead by 36. In the other match, the Netherlands recorded a strange type of swing. Open Room
2♣ was Precision-style and thus 2♥ was not forcing. East led a diamond to West’s king and the suit was returned, dummy winning the ace. Next came a spade to the queen, king and ace. East returned a diamond, ruffed by West who cashed two more spades. On the 4th round of spades everybody discarded a heart but the last spade ensured a five-trick set as East still had exits in hearts with declarer having to ruff dummy’s possible winners. Netherlands +500. Closed Room
On the fortunate lead of the ♠A and a diamond switch declarer managed to collect no less than seven tricks for a meager loss of 100 points. The swing of 400 gave the Netherlands 9 more Imps.
Open Room
This contract looks quite OK on paper but at the table it was a different story. Down two for a loss of 200 when Knap for Spain was polite enough not to double this. Closed Room
2♦ promised one major. Over South’s jump to 4♠ West could no longer make any sensible investigations so he settled for 5♣. This was a reasonable enough shot and West must have felt even more pleased with the sight of dummy after South ventured a double. There were quickly 11 tricks for +750 and 14 Imps to Spain. Their deficit had been reduced to 24 now.In the other match, Russia missed a great chance when the Dutch bid as follows in the Open Room: Open Room
This went four down but as nobody had doubled it brought the Russians only +400. Please note that the possible escape to 7♣ would have netted only 500 but only if EW had run… Closed Room
A simple inverted minor raise to a sensible but unlucky contract. Down two, 200 to the Netherlands and thus only 5 Imps to Russia. On the final board of the session, club preempts by West as dealer were popular. The only difference was the level. In the Latvia v. Italy match, for example, the hand was a push at 4♣ doubled, down 1100. Russia and the Netherlands shared the honours at the three-level, going down only 800 apiece. Reminiscences of Namyats were to be seen in our other match:
Open Room
Nothing special (!), Spain +800. Closed Room
For once, Wasik seemed to believe in a tremendous heart fit. When this came back to him, duly doubled, after a long huddle he decided to rather believe his partner than himself and went back to clubs. Two levels higher, so two more undertricks for a loss of 1400 and 12 Imps. All of a sudden, Turkey had won the match by 23-7 VP. The final score in the other match was 24-6 VP to the Netherlands. After being virtually last in the table, early in the morning when the Portuguese were going well against them, they found themselves back in 10th position, ready to join the chase for the Shanghai berths. |
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