| 48th European Bridge Team Championships | Page 4 | Bulletin 14 - Saturday 26 August 2006 |
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Open Teams - Norway v Sweden (Round 30) by Jos Jacobs On Thursday evening, four rounds before the end of the championships, the great Scandinavian derby finally took place. This match happened to be the first match in a series of top matches for both the Scandinavians countries in contention, as Norway still had to play Ireland and Sweden would meet Netherlands and Iceland in their last two matches. Thus with the five main contenders for a Shanghai berth so close together, really everything still could happen. This Norway-Sweden match for once did not bring the usual fireworks so we will have to be content with a short review of the most interesting hands. Sweden had taken the lead on an extra doubled undertrick when Norway hit back:
Open Room
Careful bidding for a good result. Norway +130. Closed Room
Once Efraimsson cuebid instead of jumping to 3♦ his side was in trouble. One down, Norway +100 and 6 IMPs back. A few boards later a slam looked to be there:
Open Room
On the actual layout 11 tricks are the maximum, though the slam could easily have been cold if you look at the NS cards only. If trumps are 3-2 and diamonds behave you are home, even on a club lead. Even with the bad slit, Berteau had to be careful to defend accurately to avoid being endplayed in diamonds. A surprisingly large number of Easts failed to pass the test! One down, Sweden +50. Closed Room
More cautious bidding saw the Swedes land on their feet in 4♥, a very good place to be, today. Sweden +450 and 11 IMPs. The score now: 21-7 to Sweden. Two boards later, the difference in major suit approaches between the teams caused a precious little partscore swing:
Open Room
Just made. Norway +110. Closed Room
Just one down, Norway +100 and 5 IMPs back without any effort… But then:
Open Room
Theoretically, taking the save was wrong as game does not make. This, however, was the exception as we shall see. Anyway: Sweden -100 at this table. Closed Room
West led the ♣10 to East’s ace and the ♠10 came back. West overtook with the jack and went on to cash the ♠A. When his next move was to lead a diamond rather than a spade, declarer suddenly had the rest. Sweden an unexpected +420 and an equally unexpected gain of 8 IMPs to lead 36-12 now. Different lines of declarer play brought another swing, this time to Norway:
Open Room
On a diamond lead by East, declarer never was in trouble. When East discarded a heart on a top trump the suit could be ruffed out for an overtrick. Norway +450. Closed Room
At this table too, North was declarer but East led an aggressive ♥J which was won by the ace. Declarer ruffed a heart in dummy and cashed two top trumps, getting the bad news. Instead of going for the double diamond hook he led a club to his hand, ruffed a heart, crossed again in clubs and threw his club loser on the 4th round of hearts. East continued the ♣Q ruffed with the nine and overruffed with the jack. Now, a diamond came back, ducked to East’s queen. One more club now promoted the ♠8 into the setting trick. Norway +50 and 11 IMPs. Very unlucky or something. On the next board, half this gain went overboard again when Norway missed a game:
Open Room
3♦ showed a fair hand, worth about 3.5 ♥ but Helgemo judged he had already done enough. Norway +200 when everything was well-placed for declarer. Closed Room
The Bergen style worked well for the Swedes here and they registered an easy +450. They thus extended their lead to 42-23. Two more IMPs on the last board brought the final score of the match up to 44-23 or 19-11 VP to Sweden. The fight for the two remaining medals thus was completely reopened. |
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