Mixed Teams Round 1

Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	♠ 8 7 6 2 ♥ Q 4 3 ♦ J 4 ♣ K J 7 5
♠ K 10 5 ♥ A 7 ♦ A Q 8 3 ♣ A 6 4 3		♠ A J 4 ♥ K 10 5 ♦ 9 7 6 2 ♣ 10 9 8
	♠ Q 9 3 ♥ J 9 8 6 2 ♦ K 10 5 ♣ Q 2

In the Closed Room Brigitte Battin took the liberty in third seat at favourable vulnerability to open One Heart. This had the effect of keeping East-West out of their normal spot of Three Notrumps. Bernard Goldenfield as West made two take-out doubles. Given their Lebensohl agreement East’s second response was stronger than going via 2NT, but the Pass over 2♥ limited her range. Three Diamonds made an overtrick for 130 to Holland. With no opposition bidding Covo was at the helm in 3NT on the helpful looking lead of ♠7. Wanting to be in dummy to tackle diamonds Covo put in the jack, but this was covered by the queen leaving him in hand. The best play in the diamond suit is of interest. The popular view is that it is best to start by running the six and if this loses to the ten or jack follow with a finesse of the queen. However, our computer tells us that, on second round, if South again follows small you should run the nine, playing for the suit to be 4-1 rather than for South to hold specifically K 5 4! A further snag is that crossing to dummy immediately weakens your major suit stops. Some declarers therefore at this point decided to start the diamonds by cashing the ace. This gains when North has bare honour or KJ or K10 doubleton (when the ace drops the jack or ten you later run the six) but loses when South has J10x and you misguess on the next round. On this occasion it looks as if either line works, but Covo, deciding to delay the diamond play, ducked a club. South won with the queen and played a second spade. Declarer won in dummy and finessed the ♦8. When this lost to the jack things took a nasty turn because John Holland, seeing dummy’s ♣1098, switched to the king of clubs, followed by the queen when it held. Suddenly declarer realised that if he took a second diamond finesse and it lost he would be down. After some thought he talked himself into laying down the ace of diamonds. If this did not drop the king he had a second string to his bow. South won the third diamond and cleared the spade. Now the last diamond was cashed. If North held ♥QJ he would be squeezed in hearts and clubs. But south took the last trick with the jack of hearts and the contract was one down for 6 IMPs to Holland. The last board of the match held plenty of interest around the room. North-South have 26 points but which game would they reach? 3NT would depend on whether East led a diamond. Four Hearts faces insoluble communication problems even though the jack falls in three rounds. Four Spades falls victim to a bad trump break though I heard of one successful declarer. (Jeremy Dhondy received a club lead, drew two trumps and overtook the heart king to continue clubs. East ruffed, drew two more trumps on which West discarded a diamond and the club king….. but then East played the jack of hearts! Declarer ruffed and was able to cross to dummy on the third club to reach the hearts and then return with the fourth club!) Even the best spot of Five Clubs contains a trap:

Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul.
	♠ A K 9 8 7 ♥ K ♦ 3 2 ♣ A Q 7 5 2
♠ Q ♥ 7 4 3 2 ♦ A 10 8 6 5 ♣ K 4 3		♠ J 10 5 4 2 ♥ J 9 6 ♦ K 9 7 4 ♣ 6
	♠ 6 3 ♥ A Q 10 8 5 ♦ Q J ♣ J 10 9 8

West’s very light third seat 1♦ ruled out 3NT. John Holland’s 4♦ call was meant as “Pick a game”. Brunner duly chose the best spot of Five Clubs. The defence cashed two diamonds and East then switched to a heart. Holland had to win in dummy to take and repeat the trump finesse. When East showed out on the second round declarer had to decide on which major to play. He began with ♥Q throwing a spade and then took stock. West was marked with five diamonds and three clubs and had followed to two hearts so he could not have four spades. If he had a doubleton spade he could over-ruff dummy, so for spades to come in the suit would need to be 3-3. If so it would cost nothing to test the hearts first. So Holland ruffed a heart and was rewarded when the jack fell. He could draw the last trump, and reach dummy’s good hearts with a spade ruff (Artur Malinowski was another to find this winning line). The contract was the same at the other table but diamonds had not been bid and Rhona Goldenfield led a heart. Declarer won in dummy, took the heart queen throwing a diamond, but then switched to spades. When West, Bernard Goldenfield, ruffed the second spade he played ace and another diamond. Declarer was locked in the wrong hand and could not prevent West making his club king. Curious isn’t it that when the defence find the best lead declarer found the winning line, but when they made the heart lead that gives declarer a quick discard, the game fails? This was12 IMPs to Holland who had emerged with a 15-15 draw. Mixed Teams Round 2 In Verona Roy Welland and his wife Crystal Henner-Welland were on different teams but the fact that both reached the semifinals of the Rosenblum made their fans think a merger would be as successful at bridge as it had been away from the table. That proved to be the case when they won the US major, the Vanderbilt, at their first attempt on the same team. Here in Antalya they aim to repeat that success with Roy partnering Daniela von Arnim, Crystal partnering Antonio Sementa, and, by the way, a third pair of Sabine Auken and Zia Mahmood. In Round 2 they met the Turkish team led by Akim Muhendislik. The first three boards all provided double-digit swings:

Board 11. Dealer North. None Vul.
	♠ 10 8 5 4 3 ♥ A ♦ 9 6 5 2 ♣ 7 6 3
♠ Q 9 7 ♥ K J 10 ♦ A K J ♣ A Q 9 8		♠ A K 2 ♥ Q 6 5 4 ♦ Q 10 7 3 ♣ J 4
	♠ J 6 ♥ 9 8 7 3 2 ♦ 8 4 ♣ K 10 5 2

Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	♠ A J 4 ♥ 10 5 4 2 ♦ A J 10 6 3 ♣ A
♠ K 2 ♥ A J 9 7 6 ♦ 9 2 ♣ 9 8 5 2		♠ 9 5 ♥ K 8 ♦ K 8 7 5 4 ♣ K 7 6 3
	♠ Q 10 8 7 6 3 ♥ Q 3 ♦ Q ♣ Q J 10 4

Bahceci, having Passed originally, felt his West hand was now worth a take-out double. Welland’s redouble showed three spades, and though they had not specifically discussed the point, the support redouble has become such standard practice in the USA that Dani was on the same wave-length.

When East protected with Three Clubs and Dani pressed on in spades Welland, who likes to play the markets, saw a chance to teach East a lesson. East turned the dice. The lead against Four Spades doubled was a small club putting the lead in dummy. Dani began with ace and jack of diamonds. If East covers declarer can actually make 11 tricks by taking the trump finesse. But East withheld the diamond king so Dani disposed of a losing heart. With ten tricks secure Dani now switched to trumps, happily conceding the two black kings and a heart for 790 and a swing of 12 IMPs to Welland team when the auction stopped at Two Spades at the other table. The next deal was a further big swing:

Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.
	♠ A J 8 ♥ A Q J 10 9 2 ♦ 8 7 6 2 ♣ –
♠ 10 7 6 5 3 ♥ 5 3 ♦ J ♣ Q J 7 6 5		♠ K Q 9 2 ♥ K 8 6 4 ♦ K 5 4 3 ♣ 2
	♠ 4 ♥ 7 ♦ A Q 10 9 ♣ A K 10 9 8 4 3

The Two Club response was game-forcing. Welland had shown six hearts and four diamonds in the auction (though it is just possible some might make the 3♦ call on a three-card suit in search of 3NT) so Dani had a close choice over Four Hearts. After due consideration, she Passed. This proved the winning decision for at the other table the declarer in Five Diamonds went two down. East led the spade king against Four Hearts. Welland won, ruffed a spade, and cashed a top club ditching his last spade. With no convenient route back to his own hand he played a second high club and threw a diamond. East ruffed and switched to a diamond. Crucially Welland finessed the queen. He ruffed a club with the queen of hearts. This was over-ruffed and East gave West a diamond ruff, but that was all for the defence. Declarer had lost three trump tricks but nothing else. The Welland team had gained 13 IMPs. On the next board the auction is a simple 1NT-3NT and North was on lead with: ♠ 10 8 4 ♥ A J 4 2 ♦ J 9 ♣ A J 10 7 From an unpleasant set of options what is your choice? I would guess that a diamond lead would be the least popular, but that is the only one to avoid giving away the ninth trick immediately, and declarer has a chance to endplay you later. In practice Welland gained 1 IMP when both tables succeeded. This was strange partscore for the Welland team:

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	♠ K J 8 5 4 ♥ 9 5 4 2 ♦ K 8 7 ♣ A
♠ Q 7 6 2 ♥ A 8 7 6 3 ♦ 6 5 ♣ 6 2		♠ 10 9 3 ♥ K ♦ A J 10 9 4 ♣ Q J 10 3
	♠ A ♥ Q J 10 ♦ Q 3 2 ♣ K 9 8 7 5 4