| 3rd European Open Bridge Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 8 - Saturday 23 June 2007 |
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Mixed Teams Final - Part 2 by Mark Horton So far the play had not been distinguished, but that is often the case in the final of a major sporting event, as nerves and fatigue play their part. However, for the spectators, a match where there is a chance of a swing on every board is never dull, regardless of the quality of the bridge.
Open Room
South transferred and invited, but North did feel he had enough to accept – an entirely reasonable decision. (One day some will give a definitive answer to the question – with 24 points and a five card suit do you want to be in game – meanwhile put me down for a yes vote.) East led the nine of clubs, and declarer took West’s queen with the ace and set about the hearts. That led to nine easy tricks, +150 – and my guess would be that North/South expected to lose a few IMPs. Closed Room
When you are 20 IMPs behind, you are inclined to be more aggressive, even when there are still plenty of boards to play. With an awkward lead East went for aggression, choosing the four of diamonds. Declarer put up dummy’s jack and when that held he took a spade finesse. East won with the king and played the king of diamonds. Declarer won with the ace and played the jack of hearts, covered by the king and ace. A second heart went to East’s queen, and declarer claimed nine tricks, +400 and 6 IMPs for Russia.
Open Room
Responding One Spade was a systemic necessity, but it led to a contract that was deficient in top cards. North led the four of diamonds, covered by the queen and king, declarer discarding a spade. The defenders played two more rounds of the suit, East winning with the jack, as declarer parted with a spade and a heart. Rather than play the six of spades, a minuscule genuine chance if South held both outstanding aces (ignoring the possibility that South might fail to rise with the ace) declarer simply ran his clubs. The discarding was not too difficult, and he finished one down, -50. Closed Room
*1NT 12-14 <2NT Denies a club honour (West to South); Negative (North to East) Playing the contract the other way round put South on lead and exposed the seven card club suit. South led the seven of hearts and North took the ace and returned the queen. Declarer won with the king and tried the six of spades. When South played low, declarer ran for home, +400. However, as you can read elsewhere in this issue this board involved an appeal, and the director changed the table result to down one, -50. Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
Open Room
It looks as if Five Hearts was Exclusion RKCB and the response was enough for South to go all the way. East led the queen of hearts and declarer won in hand and with scarcely a pause played the king of spades. That was +2210. Closed Room
Hard to see what went wrong here, as presumably South had shown both suits. Whatever the reason it cost 13 IMPs. Just in case you are curious, on the lead of the queen of diamonds declarer got the trump suit wrong.
Open Room
3NT was trivial, declarer taking nine tricks on the lead of the queen of spades, +400. Closed Room
East’s more aggressive intervention took away a round of bidding, and with less room to maneoeuver North used RKCB and then bid slam. Six Diamonds is a decent contract, but with both minor suit kings badly placed and hearts 4-2 it had no chance. That was another 10 IMPs to Dhondy, ahead 68-37. To give you an insight into how fickle the bridge Gods can be, take a look at this deal:
Both black suit finesses are right and hearts are 3-3 – an easy 12 tricks – but neither side advanced beyond game.
Open Room
The motivation behind East’s bid of Two Diamonds is not entirely obvious, at least not to me, but who cares if it in any way contributed to North/South missing an easy vulnerable game. Closed Room
Once East had missed the obvious (sic) raise North/South powered into game. Declarer ducked the opening lead of the king of hearts, won the continuation of the queen of hearts in dummy and played a spade to the king and ace. She ruffed the heart return and played a spade. The appearance of the jack was not unwelcome and declarer won in dummy and played a diamond to the ten and ace, claiming ten tricks, +620 and 10 useful IMPs. Russia won the set 27-24 to trail by 17 IMPs. One had the feeling that if they could bring their A game to the table they were still favourites, but they only had 16 boards left in which to turn the tables. |
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