| 48th European Bridge Team Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 7 - Saturday 19 August 2006 |
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Seniors Teams - France v Denmark (Round 2) by Jos Jacobs The reigning Seniors Champions Denmark had begun these Championships by drawing with Sweden. As Sweden went on to beat Italy 20-10 they presented themselves as a team to be reckoned with. This will be kept in mind but first of all we are focussing on France, generally considered another serious contender for the title. As it happened, they hit upon Denmark at a very early stage of the Championship already. Drury worked to French advantage on board 3:
Open Room
Usually, a 5-4-3-1 shape is enough on which to accept an invitation and this board proved no exception. On the lead of a diamond to the ace and a diamond back declarer played a trump to the ace to minimise the chance of an adverse ruff. As he thus had to lose a trump trick he had committed himself to locating the ♣Q later – which apparently did not cause him any trouble at all. France +420. Closed Room
The more conservative Danish approach saw them stay out of game even when given a second chance. With the cards lying very well for declarer, Flemming Dahl even made 11 tricks but his team had lost 6 IMPs. Two boards later, the more careful Danish approach brought them rich rewards and rightly so:
Open Room
The game-forcing 2♦ did not make it easy for the French to convey the hand values to the other side of the screen. As a result they ended up in a slam that stood no chance after a diamond lead, as the entry to dummy’s clubs got removed prematurely. Denmark +100. Closed Room
The old-fashioned Acol Strong Two did a good job for the Danish as they were able to stop at a less dangerous level. When the trump queen misbehaved but the ♠K did not all was well for them, in spite of a marked diamond lead. The score of +650 made it a 13-IMP swing to their favour to take the lead: 19-6. On board 10, an unusual pre-empt followed by a cunning tactical action by Steen Moller made life very difficult for his opponents:
Open Room
Well, do you like it or not? Peter Lund, known world-wide for his reliable bidding (at least that’s what they say about him in Denmark so it must be true), for once fell from grace when he opened 3♣ on only a six-card suit. Next, his partner judged this was the ideal moment for a tactical raise, as he could see that the opponents had to be cold for a high contract in spades. With the strength (and the spades too, for that matter) nicely divided between the North and South hands neither of them felt they could enter the auction with any sufficient amount of safety so 4♣ became the final contract. When the defence led trumps in time Peter Lund had to go down four but this still could well be a good result for his side. France +400. Closed Room
Once Stoppa did not preempt with the East hand the Danish had an easy time. South could open his hand after which North could not be kept away from showing his trump support and game-forcing values. Denmark had an easy enough +620 for a 6-IMP gain to lead 28-11 with 6 boards to go. The French got their revenge on the next board:
Open Room
Well, the Danish avoided two traps on this one: the easy trap of 3NT and the advanced trap of the 4-3 heart fit, though the 5-1 split might not prove an insuperable problem. In fact, if hearts break 3-3 or 4-2 4♥ looks an excellent contract. When spades were 3-3 their final contract also proved an easy make: Denmark +140. Once again, the Danish pre-empted on a six-card suit, but this time Stoppa had an easy double: Closed Room
What is more: after Norris’ raise Stoppa could assume club shortness in partner’s hand so he confidently enough raised to game which was made without any trouble once Stretz put up the ♥A at trick two! France +400 and 6 IMPs back to trail 28-17 now. The Danish lead had gone up to 34-17 due to a French game off four top tricks when the final board arrived. For the third time in the match, the question of whether or not to pre-empt in clubs decided the outcome of the hand.
Open Room
When Steen Moller passed the West hand, Py could make his normal opening bid. Peter Lund, quite rightly not bothering too much about being vulnerable, made an announcement or two, but the French were not interested. South’s forcing pass over 5♦ enabled them to reach a fine slam which duly made when East did not have a singleton club to lead and defeat it. Who cares about a random 1400 flying by? France +980. Closed Room
Once again, the pre-empt caused trouble for the opponents. We will never know if the Danes would have reached their slam had Norris elected to bid 3♠ over 3♦ but in that case, they would have played it from the wrong side of the table… Denmark +490 here but a loss of 10 IMPs to give them a 16-14 VP win only: 34-27 in IMPs. |
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