| 48th European Bridge Team Championships | Page 3 | Bulletin 6 - Friday 18 August 2006 |
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Open Teams - Bulgaria v Italy (Round 9) by Jos Jacobs For Wednesday morning another top match was scheduled as Italy, the perennial leaders as one might say, had to put their unbeaten record at stake against another of the well-placed teams. Bulgaria were to be their opponents. The latter were occupying third place before the match started after their excellent performance on Tuesday. So far, Italy had been slow starters but somehow they had always been able to overcome any initial deficit and turn it into an eventual victory. This match proved to be an exception as for once they had a flying start, due to superior judgement in partscore situations:
Open Room
Once Stefanov decided not to act over 2♣ the spades were lost forever, as Lauria’s simple raise effectively shut out everybody. Italy +110. Closed Room
The weak NT worked well for N/S here as when West could not show his clubs immediately, and North put in a transfer to spades, enabling Nunes to locate the fit. One overtrick and another +170 for Italy, 7 IMPs. And the next board:
Open Room
By contrast, the weak NT worked badly for NS here as there simply was no clear fit. The final contract was not that bad, but the breaks were, so Aronov had to concede down two when Versace led an obvious trump. Though it might even have been down three; Italy had scored +200 here. Closed Room
This time, Marashev could show his major-minor two-suiter over 1NT but it happened to be the wrong moment to do so. 2NT asked for the minor but at this table too, declarer could not handle the bad breaks and went down three, for another +150 to Italy and 8 IMPs more. After two boards the score thus stood at 15-0 and the Italians began to feel very, very relaxed… Not for long however, as Bulgaria almost completely closed the gap on the next board:
Open Room
Though 3♥ showed spades and at least some values, Versace could not conceive a way to both show his clubs and the spade fit. When he settled for what looked like the safest game contract, Italy had lost a great chance. On the normal diamond lead he made all the tricks, of course. Italy +720. Closed Room
As East had shown some outside values as well with his double over 3♦ the jump to 6NT was a fair shot rather than a wild gamble. The appearance of the ♣Q in dummy must have made West feel very happy. Bulgaria +1440 and 12 IMPs back. On board 4, Bulgaria levelled the match but then they gave it away again on the next board:
Open Room
After his minimum weak two, Lauria showed no further interest in Versace’s exploratory activities so the Italians settled for game and scored +480 when the defence did not cash their second red ace in time. Closed Room
Obviously, Marashev read the jump to 5♦ as a void. When Fantoni led a diamond nevertheless and dummy put down his singleton, the contract could no longer be made once Nunes won his ace. Italy +50 and 11 IMPs back. An interesting board turned up next:
Open Room
3NT showed a four-level opening in either minor. When Stefanov showed spades and another with his reopening 4♦ Versace had a difficult decision to make over Aronov’s 4♠. No doubt he expected to make 5♣ but dummy proved to be a little disappointing. Bulgaria +200. Closed Room
Fantoni too most likely expected 5♦ to be a make but this time it was Nunes who must have been a little disappointed in seeing the dummy. Bulgaria +100 and 7 IMPs to trail by 4. Some extra undertricks and a small partscore swing had seen the Bulgarians into the lead by 6 IMPs when this nice misfit arrived on board 13:
Open Room
In the Bulgarian version of the Strong Club the 1♥ rebid over the negative 1♦ is ambiguous, so the strong twosuiter did not get revealed until the three-level. That was far beyond the safety limit already but they went on to a hopeless game which EW did not bother to double. On a diamond lead and continuation the result was down four, +400 to Italy. Closed Room
Not that the Italians fared much better. On a diamond lead, overtaken by West who led his trump, Fantoni went up with the ♠A and played the ♥AK and a low one, ruffed in front of dummy by East. This way, he managed to go only one down for a loss of 100 points and a rather substantial gain of 7 IMPs to retake the lead by just 1 IMP. The Italian lead had gone up to 11 as a result of two of those typical tiny partscore swings: the same contracts making in one room and going down in the other etc. Then came board 18 to settle the issue:
Open Room
Now this would have been an interesting hand if South had ventured 3NT, as happened in some other matches. To beat it, West has to lead a spade to East’s ace and then East has to switch to the ♦9. If declarer wins this, he will lose three diamond tricks once East takes his ♥A. If he ducks, the defence will revert to spades and establish three tricks in that suit together with the two red-suit tricks. A top diamond lead by West is not enough, as declarer will win this and go after the hearts, losing no more than two diamonds and two aces. In the more peaceful 3♣ an overtrick was made for +130 to Bulgaria. Closed Room
As one could expect from Fantunes, they quickly reached 3NT and Petkov decided to go for the save. On the actual layout this proved too expensive anyway…Italy +800 and 12 IMPs to lead by 23 now. Another victory looked secure. The difference between the two teams in their partscore approach came to light again on the next board:
Open Room
On the lead of a top diamond and a club switch, this quiet contract quietly went one off when North tried a spade after being given his heart trick. Bulgaria +100. Closed Room
In the other room, Petkov did his best to find a fit but his partner was not quite on the same wavelength. With the spades in particular breaking badly declarer could not handle the contract, and went three off for +300 and another 5 IMPs to Italy. On the last board, another typical tiny partscore swing brought the margin to 31 IMPs, good for yet another Italian victory, the ninth in a row, this time by 21-9 VP. |
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