| 48th European Bridge Team Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 10 - Tuesday 22 August 2006 |
| |
||
Women Teams - France v Germany (Round 11) by Mark Horton This was a match for to savour – the teams who had fought out two terrific Venice Cup finals in recent years, with one victory each. It was Germany who scored first.
Open Room
Four Clubs asked West to show her major suit via a transfer. Nothing much to the play, as you can see, +650. Closed Room
Its hard to evaluate the West hand facing a 2NT opening bid, but when she showed her club control it was entirely reasonable for East to try for the slam bonus. With trumps failing to behave the contract was one down, -100, 13 IMPs for Germany.
Open Room
East led the six of hearts and West took the ace and returned the ten of clubs. Declarer won, cashed the jack and king of spades and then played the queen of diamonds and a diamond, claiming when the jack appeared, +1430. Closed Room
Once again the opening lead was a heart and after taking the ace West switched to the eight of diamonds. Declarer took East’s jack with the ace and expecting to be able to claim cashed the ace and queen of spades. When West discarded she was in trouble, but all was not yet lost. She crossed to hand with a club, ruffed a heart and drew the outstanding trumps. At this point she can cash the king of hearts which would leave West, down, to ♦962 ♣J10, with no good discard. A momentary aberration saw declarer play the queen of diamonds first and she had to overtake and rely on the diamond break. That meant she was one down, and a huge gift of 17 IMPs for France.
Open Room
South’s protective action paid a big dividend as partner delivered all the right cards. The defence started with the king of clubs and a club to the queen. Declarer ruffed, unblocked the heart suit, ruffed a club, drew the last trump and played a diamond to the ace and ran the jack of spades. West won and returned a low club and declarer won in dummy and played a spade, putting up the ace for an excellent +170. Closed Room
North led the jack of clubs and declarer won with the ace and played the queen of diamonds, eight, five, three, followed by another diamond ducked and a third round taken by North. Smith peters were in use, so it looks as if South had discouraged clubs, which ought to make it easy for North to unblock the hearts and play a spade, however perhaps still suffering from the previous deal North played the ten of clubs and declarer was up to nine tricks, scoring a tenth when South later ducked the king of spades. +180 gave France 8 IMPs.
Open Room
West led the eight of hearts and the defenders played three rounds of the suit, South ruffing and playing a club, three, ten, ace. The jack of hearts was ruffed and overruffed and West exited with a club to dummy’s jack. Declarer cashed the ace and king of spades and had to go one down, -100. If instead of cashing the top spades declarer plays three rounds of diamonds, then ruffs a diamond high and plays a club she can make the contract. Not easy, but not impossible. Closed Room
With nowhere obvious to go West decided to take her chances defending. East led the king of hearts and West unblocked the queen. Declarer won the spade switch in dummy and played a club to the ten and the jack of clubs, East ducking twice. She crossed to dummy with a diamond and played the king of clubs discarding a diamond. East won and cashed the jack and ace of hearts and declarer claimed plus two, +580, 12 IMPs for Germany, back in the lead, 27-25 IMPs.
Open Room
Elimination is one of the strongest weapons at declarer’s disposal, and it came to the rescue on this deal. Declarer won the heart lead in dummy, ruffed a heart, played a high club to the queen, ruffed a heart high, cashed the king of diamonds, crossed to a club, cashed the ace of diamonds, ruffed a diamond and exited with a spade. North did her best, winning with the ace and returning the queen, but declarer was home, +400. Closed Room
That was well bid and declarer claimed ten tricks as soon as dummy appeared, +430. As on this deal France was picking up odd IMPs here and there, but as the match drew to a close their lead became more substantial.
Open Room
Obviously this contract had no chance at all and declarer drifted three off, -300. Closed Room
To defeat Three Clubs West has to lead a diamond on the go – only machines can do things like that! Declarer ducked the spade lead and when the defenders played two rounds of clubs declarer was soon claiming +110 – a loss of 5 IMPs.
Open Room
When East denied a four-card heart suit there must be a case for West to simply take a pot at 3NT. When she bid Three Hearts, showing hearts and clubs East began to envisage a club slam – and if West had for example ♠A5 ♥Q862 ♦8 ♣AK9543 she would be right. It was a surprise when the tray came back – but in clubs there are no more than ten tricks, +130. Closed Room
South led the six of spades and declarer had ten tricks. This could have been avoided if North had overcalled One Diamond – I wonder why she didn’t? France had picked up another 7 IMPs and after the next board things got more serious for Germany.
Open Room
* Heart raise The defenders started with three rounds of diamonds and declarer won in dummy and took the club finesse. She played a spade to the ten and ace, won the spade return and repeated the club finesse and drew the last trump. When she got the heart wrong she was +110. Closed Room
I am not a fan of the Three Spade bid, as it risks pushing the opponents to a level they may not reach under their own steam. South cashed the ace of spades and continued the suit. Declarer won in dummy and took the club finesse. She knew South did not have the ♦AK so now it was routine to play her for the queen of hearts. A spectacular +620 delivered 11 IMPs. France were sure of victory now, but Germany finished on a high note.
Open Room
East led the queen of spades and declarer, believing East to have a six-card suit, made the normal – but effectively fatal – play of ducking. East switched to a diamond, and declarer won in dummy and naturally played a heart. East won and played a diamond and the defenders could not be denied the tricks they needed to defeat the contract, +200 when declarer later finessed in clubs. Closed Room
Here declarer knew East held seven spades, so it was surprising that she ducked the first trick. However, when East switched to the ace of hearts the hand was over, +600 and 13 IMPs for Germany. Was this a match that France had won or that Germany had lost? In the score book the result was 57-40 IMPs, 19-11 VP. Leaving no stone unturned in our efforts to come up with bridge deals to entertain you even though there was no play yesterday we have traveled back in time to 1983 and the semifinal of the Polish Cup between Wisla Krakow vs. Ursus Warszawa.
Open Room
2♠ Michaels 4NT RKCB 5NT 2 aces + 2 kings 6♥ a void or singleton Dble Lightner double Rdble Lightner redouble! West naturally led a club - he could have saved the day by preferring the ace of hearts - ruffed and overruffed. West had shown at least a five-card heart suit in the bidding and was now known to hold seven clubs. His missing card had to be a spade, heart or diamond. South played a diamond to dummy and when West discarded the play was simple. Thanks to the priceless ♦109 declarer could play trumps from dummy three times and pick up East's trumps. At the other table 7♠ doubled was two down, so Ursus won 22 IMPs and eventually progressed to the Polish Cup final. There is a final point to our story. This deal has been commemorated in the splendid set of mugs that carry the Championship logo. Each of the four displays one of the hands on the inside - as you can see from the photograph. You can pick up a set for PLZ 60. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
| Page 2 |
