| 3rd European Open Bridge Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 5 - Wednesday 20 June 2007 |
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Russian Gambit Overcomes French Defence by Mark Horton Taking a well earned break from the rigorous task of writing the Championship Diary, I finally got to watch some bridge, the big match of the Round of 16 between Russia & Mouiel – and it turned out to be rather good You may recall that when Napoleon invaded Russia the strategy of the Russian commander General Kutusov was to withdraw deeper and deeper into Russia – and wait for snow. (Not an obvious route to success in the Mediterranean.) However, after conceding some early ground to their formidable French opponents the Russian team began to counterattack. The match started quietly and after five boards Mouiel led 4-0.
Open Room
You might like to keep this auction in mind, as both sides were faced with a similar problem in the second half of the match. With no club stopper East rebid her hearts but then supported spades. Against Four Spades North led the five of clubs and declarer won with the ace and played a diamond. North put up the ace and returned a diamond, declarer winning with dummy’s king, discarding a club, playing a club to the queen, ruffing a club and playing ace and another spade. Even supposing North had a holding from which a trump lead looked attractive, the contract can always be made, either by pinning North’s ♦10 at some stage, or by squeezing South. Closed Room
Here East did not raise spades, which led to a decidedly dodgy final contract. South led the eight of clubs and declarer elected to put up dummy’s ace. A diamond went to the jack and queen and South switched to the queen of hearts. Declarer won, ruffed a diamond and played ace of spades and a spade. The defenders had plenty of tricks in hand now, and the contract was three down, -300 and 14 IMPs to Mouiel, ahead 18-0. If declarer had put in the queen of clubs at trick one and then played a diamond North would have to put up the ace of diamonds to be sure of defeating the contract.
Open Room
The defence started with three rounds of diamonds, dummy’s queen winning trick three as declarer discarded a club. A spade to the queen held and now declarer played a club to the ace, a heart to the ace, a club to the king and ruffed a club. When West discarded declarer cashed the king of hearts and ruffed a heart. A club from dummy ensured ten tricks, +620. Closed Room
The play to the first three tricks was identical, but at trick four declarer played a spade to the ace and followed it with a low spade to the jack and king. The combination of those two plays was fatal as the 4-1 break doomed declarer to defeat. –100 gave Russia 12 IMPs. The Russians added a couple of small swings to lead 21-18 going into the last deal of the half:
Open Room
Once East showed a heart control West pressed the accelerator and drove to slam. Declarer won the opening heart lead and took the club finesse. When it held she cashed a top diamond and came to hand with a diamond. The 4-1 break was annoying, but declarer repeated the club finesse and advanced the queen of spades. When North covered she claimed all the tricks, +940. Closed Room
Declarer took all the tricks, but +440 meant a loss of 11 IMPs, leaving Mouiel ahead 29-21.
Open Room
Four cards in the other major and a side suit void were no bar to South starting with a weak two. West put his head on the block by bidding Three Diamonds but miraculously escaped unscathed. (As it happens I know that North was temporarily distracted by a discussion with a Director about a possible missing IMP from the first half and found to his horror that he had passed.) With support for all three suits I know some players who would reopen with a double (me for one). As you can see Three Diamonds was an uncomfortable spot. North led a club and declarer finessed and then discarded a heart on the ace of clubs. It was all down hill from there, down two, -100. Closed Room
When West came in over South’s multi North opened fire – it was the charge of the Light Brigade into the Russian guns all over again – or as one French supporter said, ‘C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas le bridge.’ (Its not that bad, but the line is irresistible.) Being a level higher meant another trick had to be lost, down three, -500 and 9 IMPs to Russia, giving them the lead by 1 IMP. Before we leave this deal I cannot resist revealing this auction:
One of the players at this table is a world champion – I wonder if you can guess which position they occupied? Or this one:
Once again you have to spot the world champion. Okay, enough of this, back to our featured match.
Open Room
Declarer won the opening lead of the king of spades in dummy and played a club to the nine and king. East returned a club to dummy’s ten and declarer played a heart to the king, a diamond to the queen and cashed the ace of diamonds. When a heart to the queen held declarer claimed ten tricks, +130. Closed Room
South was happy to defend – and how right she was. Two Spades, a heart, two diamonds and two clubs added up to another 500 point penalty and another 9 IMPs, Russia leading 39-29.
Open Room
Declarer won the opening lead of the jack of diamonds, and cashed four rounds of hearts. East’s doubleton suggested length elsewhere, so declarer cashed the king of clubs and crossed to the queen of clubs. After cashing her club tricks she cashed the ace of spades (East had covered ten of clubs) and exited with a spade, making eleven tricks, +460. Closed Room
The stakes were considerably higher in the replay. West led the jack of diamonds and East won and returned the suit. Declarer won and cashed the ace of clubs on which East deviously contributed the eight. When declarer continued with the king of clubs the contract was one down, 11 IMPs to Mouiel, ahead 40-39.
Open Room
Six Clubs is not a great contract, but South had to lead something, and since she could be reasonably confident of taking a spade trick she followed the advice of the great Benito Garozzo by making an attacking lead. She played partner for the least needed to defeat the slam, the queen of diamonds, but a diamond lead was fatal. Declarer won with dummy’s queen and took a losing spade finesse. She won the heart switch with dummy’s ace, played a spade to the ace and ruffed a spade with the nine of clubs. The 3-3 break provided a parking place for dummy’s losing hearts so that was +1370. Closed Room
North led the nine of diamonds and South took the king and returned the suit. With the spade finesse wrong declarer could make no more than nine tricks, +600 but a loss of 13 IMPs, leaving Russia ahead 55-42.
Open Room
This miserable contract required North to hold ♣Kx and for diamonds to be 3-3 – not much of a percentage – and with neither materializing it was two down, -200. Closed Room
Declarer made the same ten tricks, +630, recovering the IMPs lost on Board 20 to close to just 2 IMPs.
Open Room
With an awkward lead East went for a trump. That put declarer up to nine tricks and he ran all but one of his tricks before exiting with the queen of clubs. The defenders had made no mistake discarding and East went up with the king and exited with a club to West who returned a heart. One down, -50. Closed Room
There is little doubt that any player who could make the winning lead on every deal would win every honour the game has to offer. East already has a hat full of medals, but with the same awkward problem the ace of hearts presented declarer with a tenth trick, +420 and 10 IMPs, Russia 67-55.
Open Room
With no inkling that East/West had a diamond fit North led his singleton. Declarer won in hand, drew trumps ending in hand and played a heart. When North ducked he put up the king for +650. North thought a club lead might have defeated the contract, but as the cards lie I don’t see how declarer can go down, especially as the bidding marks North with the ace of hearts. Declarer can even afford to see the king of diamonds get ruffed. Closed Room
With East playing a one-note samba spades were never mentioned. The defenders collected two spades, one heart and a diamond for two down, +300, but a loss of 8 IMPs. That put Russia well ahead and they held on to win this thrilling match, which contained a lot of good bridge from both sides, 75-61. |
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