|
ROUND ROBIN ONE
by Barry Rigal
‘Why is it a round robin and not an octagonal thrush?’ asks Tacchi. I have no idea! But the fact remains that every team gets to play all the others in their group.
I sat down to watch Welland/von Arnim of USA/Germany take on the Bulgarians Kostatinov/Nalbatska, on what turned out in both rooms to be a very hard set for East-West.
The first three deals saw Welland lead by three IMPs, after von Arnim’s overcall of a strong club had led to her playing a 6-0 fit splitting 6-1, while Kostatinov/Nalbatska had retaliated by trying for game on a deal with three top losers in one side-suit and three finesses out of three losing, on a deal where Zia/Auken in the other room had managed to go plus.
Then both E/W pairs ran into real problems:
| Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul. |
| | ♠ J 7 3 2
♥ K 7 4
♦ 4
♣ J 9 7 6 4 |
♠ K 8 5 4
♥ J 8
♦ A 10 7 6 5
♣ 10 5 |  |
♠ A 10
♥ 6 5
♦ K J 9 3 2
♣ A K 8 3 | | | ♠ Q 9 6
♥ A Q 10 9 3 2
♦ Q 8
♣ Q 2 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Welland | Kostatinov | von Arnim | Nalbatska
|
| Pass | Pass | 1♦ | 1♥
|
| 1♠ | Pass | 2♣ | Pass
|
| 3♦ | Pass | 3♥ | Pass
|
| 3♠ | Pass | 4♣ | Pass
|
| 4♦ | All Pass
| | |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Ignatov | Zia | Mineva | Auken
|
| Pass | Pass | 1♦* | 2♥
|
| Pass | 3♥ | All Pass
|
* Precision
The defenders got their spade ruff against Three Hearts, but +100 was small consolation for the vulnerable game. Still, reaching game was far from easy on what was essentially an uncontested auction. Welland’s initial 1♠ call was forced systemically since doubling would have denied spades, and his 3♦ bid was not an underbid. Thereafter he quite reasonably back-pedalled somewhat, and it was hard for von Arnim to envisage the perfect mesh in the black suits. 150 meant 2 IMPs for Welland, who led 10-5 now.
Another missed opportunity for the Bulgarians came on the next deal.
| Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul. |
| | ♠ Q 6 2
♥ A 8 7 4 3
♦ 10 5
♣ A 10 4 |
♠ A 7 4
♥
♦ J 8 7 6
♣ K 9 6 5 3 2 | |
♠ K 5 3
♥ K 6 2
♦ K Q 9 3 2
♣ Q 7 | | | ♠ J 10 9 8
♥ Q J 10 9 5
♦ A 4
♣ J 8 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Welland | Kostatinov | von Arnim | Nalbatska
|
| Pass | Pass | 1♦ | Pass
|
| 2♥* | Pass | 2NT | Pass
|
| 3♥< | Pass | 3NT | All Pass |
* Limit raise in hearts
< Shortage
| West | North | East | South |
| Ignatov | Zia | Mineva | Auken
|
| Pass | Pass | 1♦* | 1♥
|
| 2♣ | 4♦* | Pass | Pass
|
| 4NT | Pass | 5♦ | All Pass
|
* Raise to 4♥, prepared to let partner sacrifice
5♦ can be defeated on a spade lead, but after Auken led a heart declarer had to ruff and guess which minor-suit ace North had. The winning line is to play a club at once. Now she can keep South off lead (covering the second club if necessary) to prevent getting forced. When declarer failed to find this line, she was down a trick – but that was still worth 3 IMPs when von Arnim gave up an extra undertrick in a vain attempt to find a way home in Three No-trumps. 10-8 now to Welland.
Board 6 was also hard to quantify at the table.
| Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul. |
| | ♠ 6 4
♥
♦ A J 10 9 7 5 2
♣ K Q 7 4 |
♠ A K 8 7 5 3 2
♥ K Q 2
♦ 8
♣ 10 2 | |
♠ Q 10
♥ J 10 9 7 3
♦ K Q 6 3
♣ 9 8 | | | ♠ J 9
♥ A 8 6 5 4
♦ 4
♣ A J 6 5 3 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Welland | Kostatinov | von Arnim | Nalbatska
|
| | | Pass | 1♠* |
| 4♠ | All Pass |
|
*Hearts
| West | North | East | South |
| Ignatov | Zia | Mineva | Auken
|
| | | Pass | Pass |
| 1♠ | 2♦ | 2♥ | Pass
|
| 3♠ | 4♦ | 4♠ | Dble
|
| All Pass
| | | |
Kostatinov did well not to bid 5♦, though a double of 4♠ must have been a live possibility. The defenders took only one heart ruff although South might have overtaken the club king at trick one – a defence that could hardly cost?
In the other room Zia never got clubs into the picture – although in theory this auction should show e.g. 7-4? But that second call was all Auken needed to get mediaeval on 4♠, and the defenders collected 500 on the same defence, to gain 7 IMPs and leave the match score 17-8.
The match went quiet until the final deal, where it was the turn of the N/S pairs to face an apparently insuperable problem.
| 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 | North | East | South
|
| Welland | Kostatinov | von Arnim | Nalbatska
|
| | | Pass | 2♦* |
| Pass | 2♠ | Pass | 3♦<
|
| Pass | 4♥ | All Pass
| |
* Multi
*Precisely two spades
| West | North | East | South
|
| Ignatov | Zia | Mineva | Auken
|
| | | Pass | Pass |
| Pass | 1♣ | Pass | 1♥
|
| Pass | 1♠ | Pass | 3♣
|
| Pass | 3♠ | Pass | 3NT |
| All Pass
|
The Bulgarian auction saw Kostatinov expecting a six-card suit for his partner’s vulnerable Multi, and a rather foolish game contract being reached as a result. Von Arnim led a club and Welland elected to cover after a little though. Declarer could see nothing better than to unblock the heart king and play back a club. Von Arnim ruffed and could cover all the bases by leading a high spade, knowing that her partner would ruff the next spade and that would lead to two down.
Auken’s problem at her fourth turn to speak was based on the fact that she was worried that Zia’s bid of three spades might be based on a no-trump probe, where a bid of Three Diamonds might promise rather more in that suit. As a result they played an even more hopeless game, but were at least able to hold the losses to down one, for 3 IMPs, and a win for Welland by 23-8.
|
