Missed Opportunities

by Barry Rigal

The match between the Hungarians and the Swedes was perhaps the best played match we have seen on Vugraph - as was indicated by the low score in the match, the total of 54 IMPs changing hands in the match was comfortably lower than the total of any other match that round.

Board: 2. Dlr: East/NS
	♠ 10 8 3 ♥ K 9 4 ♦ A 8 5 2 ♣ A Q 6
♠ Q 7 5 ♥ J 2 ♦ K J 10 9 4 3 ♣ 10 4		♠ K 9 4 ♥ 10 7 5 ♦ 6 ♣ K J 9 7 3 2
	♠ A J 6 2 ♥ A Q 8 6 3 ♦ Q 7 ♣ 8 5

West	North	East	South
Szalay	Bertheau	Macskasy	Nystrom
		3♣	Dble
3♦	3NT	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Fredin	Winkler	Bjornlund	Dumbovich
		Pass	1♥
2♦	3♦1	Pass	3♥
Pass	4♥	All Pass

1 inv+

The action offered points of interest: first of all Szalay's three diamond call set up the right lead for East (while at the same time exposing his side to a large penalty of course) had he passed three clubs Bertheau would have declared three no-trumps, and on any lead but a diamond the contract would surely have made.

On the diamond lead, Bertheau ducked the first diamond in dummy and in hand. West was on lead, and could have defeated the contract by simply continuing with the king of diamonds, relying on the spade queen to be an entry. But he shifted to the club ten, and Bertheau accurately covered with the queen, playing clubs to be 6-2, then won the next club. What now, was the question.

Bertheau actually simply ran his hearts, but no pressure materialized, and he went down one for a flat board. In the other room they had declared four hearts by South on a club lead and diamond shift, and declarer had no real chance.

So what could declarer have done? The answer is that at trick four he knew East to be 6-1 in the minors. He needed hearts to split 3-2 to have any chance, and West's failure to continue diamonds at trick two almost marked East with the spade king - otherwise West would surely have set up his suit, expecting to get in later on and cash out. Equally if East had both spade honours, there was no real chance either since he had already set up his clubs. So declarer needs to play for split honors in clubs, and there is only one card in his hand that will allow him to make, independent of the location of the spade nine.

He advances the spade ten from hand, which East must cover, and he wins the spade ace in dummy, then runs five rounds of hearts. This is the ending.

	♠ 8 3 ♥ - ♦ A 8 5 ♣ -
♠ Q 7 ♥ - ♦ K J 10 ♣ -		♠ 9 4 ♥ - ♦ - ♣ 9 7 3
	♠ J 6 2 ♥ 3 ♦ Q ♣ -

On the last heart West must come down to four cards, and has the choice of keeping two spades and two diamonds, when he is thrown in with the latter suit to lead the former, or three diamonds and one spade, when declarer leads a low spade from dummy - and makes an overtrick!

A Beautiful Push

by Kauko Koistinen

In the 10th round match between Bulgaria and Finland some high level preemptive bidding propelled the Bulgarian pair into an inferior contract.

Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.
	♠ 10 8 2 ♥ 8 4 ♦ 10 ♣ A K J 10 4 3 2
♠ A Q 9 7 4 ♥ A K 9 6 ♦ J 5 4 ♣ 6		♠ K J 5 3 ♥ J 5 ♦ A Q 9 7 3 2 ♣ 7
	♠ 6 ♥ Q 10 7 3 2 ♣ K 8 6 ♣ Q 9 8 5

West	North	East	South
Aronov	Koistinen	Stefanov	Nyberg
	3NT*	Pass	5♣**
Dble	Pass	5♦	All Pass

* Pre-empt in either minor
** Pass or correct

Clas Nyberg started with his singleton spade to dummy's ace and Julian Stefanov proceeded with a small trump to the ace. Next came the key play, the heart ace-king followed by the heart nine discarding the club seven while North could no longer follow suit. South won an unexpected trick with the ten of hearts, but the link for the spade ruff was cut off and all declarer had to lose was one heart and one diamond. 'Well played', I had to acknowledge, with some bitterness in my mind, to my opponent after the board.

When comparing results I found out that the board was a push, same contract played exactly the same way by my team-mate Antti Elsinen. 'Well played', I had to acknowledge again, this time with complete satisfaction.