| 48th European Bridge Team Championships | Page 4 | Bulletin 7 - Saturday 19 August 2006 |
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Open Teams Norway v Italy & Hungary v Ireland (Round 14) by Jos Jacobs Friday, August 18 on paper looked a difficult day for Italy in the Open. They were scheduled to play Norway in the morning and the Netherlands in the evening. So for the Bulletin staff it was an easy day: reports on these two matches certainly had to be written. On Thursday, Hungary had consolidated their position very well, though they had to play a number of the not so well placed teams. Their Friday programme looked interesting enough too: Denmark in the morning, Sweden in the afternoon and Bulgaria in the evening. So the choice of further matches was even easier: an eye should be kept upon all three! On the first board there was a swing on both our featured matches but for different reasons. The Italian NS got overactive whereas the Hungarian NS were too passive:
Open Room
Optimum for NS duly reached. Norway +130. Closed Room
Well, had the ♠9 been the ♠J game would have made but as it was, Nunes had to concede one off. Norway another +50 and the first 5 IMPs of the match. The other match: Open Room
Here, Bjarnarson’s bold overcall shut out everybody though one feels Honti might have doubled with his diamond fit in spite of not having four spades. Denmark +140 which was a good score to start with. Closed Room
When Winkler made the more normal overcall of only 2♥ the Danish couple were never in trouble and could settle for 4♦ in comfort. Denmark another +130 to gain 7 IMPs. On the next board there was an accident in the Hungary-Denmark match:
Open Room
1NT was forcing of course but EW apparently disagreed on the meaning of the ensuing double. The final contract, however, could not be beaten so Hungary scored a surprise +180. Closed Room
With the opposition not producing any noises here Hungary had no trouble in reaching an easy enough game and scored another 420, thus earning themselves a 12 IMP swing. We had to wait until board 11 for the next substantial swing. Apart from that, it also was a remarkable one as for once, Lauria-Versace were completely outbid in the slam department.
Open Room
Maybe, the explanation for all this is that after the 1NT overcall, showing minors, the meaning of 5♦ was no longer 100% clear. Anyway, Italy registered a rather disappointing +510. Closed Room
When Salensminde could show his red twosuiter over 2♠ Brogeland was in a position to suggest useful values straight away. Some nice cuebidding at the six-level did the rest.Well done, Norway a fully deserved +1510 to lead by 16 now. In the other match, there also was a swing on this board: Open Room
Maybe, Askgaard could have bid one more for the road as Bjarnarson’s jump to slam certainly showed something useful outside hearts too. As it was, the Danish had to be content with +1010. They actually were in good company as the grand was bid by only 10 pairs in all, including women (4) and seniors (1), not to mention those who went off in 7♦. Another of those five pairs to reach the grand in the Open series was the Hungarian pair Dumbovich-Winkler: Closed Room
4♠ was the overture to a nice little series of cuebids at the five-level and that was all Dumbovich needed. Well done by them too, though it earned them only 11 IMPs. At this point, the Hungarians led by 39-16. Many more quiet boards were to follow but near the end, Lauria rose to the occasion once more:
Open Room
This is a perfectly normal spade game in EW and it’s perfectly normal to go one down in it, as happened at many tables. Five declarers made 10 tricks by dropping the blank ♠K behind the ace and it’s no surprise that one of them was Italian. As his team was still 12 IMPs down at this point, Lauria’s moment of magic could not have come at a better time. Italy +620. Closed Room
When the Norwegians did not bid game, the play did not matter any more. Nine tricks were duly made but 10 IMPs had gone to Italy, only 2 down now with just the last board to play. An honourable draw was in the air…but this was the last board:
Open Room
Versace’s rebid of 4♦ made it virtually impossible for the Norwegians to get to 4♥. Helness could not reasonably rebid a suit of this quality and Helgemo of course could not support his partner on ♥K10 bare. So they allowed Versace to play 4♦ which was one off on the spade ruff. Norway +100. Closed Room
Brogeland’s slower approach made it possible for Fantoni to rebid his suit and now, Nunes could support his partner so the Italians reached game. Understandably, East doubled this, only to find out that the contract could not be beaten. So Italy had once again managed to conjure up a win, 36-27 or 17-13 VP out of what had looked like another defeat just two boards earlier. Anyway, Norway too had managed to consolidate its position reasonably well. In the other match, there also was a swing on this last board. It went to Denmark who badly needed it: Open Room
Bjarnarson’a approach was even slower than Brogeland, but Honti did not bother to bid game, so Hungary had to be content with +170 only. Closed Room
Here, Dorthe Schaltz took the bull by the horns when she overcalled a brave 4♥ over Winjkler’s nasty 4♦ opening pre-empt. She was rewarded with a suitable dummy and thus managed to make her contract easily enough. Denmark +620 to recoup 10 IMPs, making their final score 49-36 or a win by 18-12 VP to Hungary who therefore had started well on their difficult day. |
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