DAILY BULLETIN INTERNET EDITION Number 5 ••• Thursday 20 March 1997 Editors: Mark Horton, Brian Senior, Patrick Jourdain • Web Editor: Panos Pavlides

Results	Contents
OPEN, Semi-Final A, Sess 2 OPEN, Semi-Final A, Sess 3 OPEN, Semi-Final B, Sess 2 OPEN, Semi-Final B, Sess 3 SENIORS, Final, Sess 1 SENIORS, Consolation, Sess 1	OPEN PAIRS, 2nd Semi-Final session House of Cards by Kees Tammens The Psychic Squeeze Dangerous Double

The host nation has claimed twelve of the forty-four available places in the Open Championship Final. France come next with nine qualifiers, and Poland have seven. The three leading qualifiers are:

The four pairs to fight their way back into the main final via the B group are:

Only one pair could break through the 60% barrier in the first session of the final and that was enough for them to take the lead. The top of the table looks like this:

Peter Fredin & Magnus Lindkvist of Sweden had a good start to the Semi-final so the Bulletin observed their progress for four boards in the Second Session.

First they arrived at the Table of Andy Bowles & Shireen Mohandes of Great Britian:

Board 19. E/W Game. Dealer South. A J 9 A K J 5 Q 9 8 7 J 9 Q 3 K 6 5 4 Q 10 6 4 2 6 A K J 10 3 2 A Q 8 6 5 4 2 3 10 8 7 2 9 8 7 3 5 4 K 10 7 West North East South Fredin Bowles Lindkvist Mohandes Pass Pass 1NT 2 Pass 2! All Pass

The opening notrump was 15-17, and the 2 call was Asptro, showing spades and another. If the other suit was hearts then the hearts would be longer. This gave West a difficult call. He could guess partner's second suit. If he made the usual bid of 2 then his partner's next bid might well be 3 on a five card suit. So Fredin decided to risk 2 as a playable spot.

It was a disappointment to find dummy had only four trumps but the hand played well. North began with three rounds of hearts, so a diamond went from dummy. Declarer next cashed the top diamonds, and then led a third round. South discarded a heart so Fredin made his small trump in hand. He then took A and a club ruff. On the next diamond South threw her last club, and declarer ruffed with the queen. Next came the two of clubs. North ruffed this with the nine, dummy discarded and South under-ruffed with the two. Then came the last heart. Dummy ruffed low, so South over-ruffed, but dummy had to make the king of trumps later. Oddly, of course, declarer showed out on the first round of trumps, but he had made 8 tricks.

This was not an unusual score, because several tables made 9 tricks in clubs.

Board 20. Game All. Dealer West. J 7 6 9 6 3 K Q 9 5 2 Q 10 K Q 10 8 3 A K J Q 10 8 7 2 8 7 10 4 K 9 5 2 J 7 6 4 3 9 5 4 2 A 5 4 A J 6 3 A 8 West North East South Fredin Bowles Lindkvist Mohandes 1 Pass 1NT Pass 2 All Pass

The response of 1NT was not forcing. The rebid of 2 might have been less than four, which is why East did not raise.

North led K and a second diamond to South. Mohandes gave declarer a losing option by underleading her ace of trumps, and Fredin fell for it, playing low from hand. The defence made Q and two more aces, to hold declarer to eight tricks, a poor result given the lie of the cards. The next table was hosted by the Dutch pair, Janssen & Van Zutphen:

Board 23. Game All. Dealer South. 9 5 4 9 6 5 10 8 7 5 2 6 5 10 8 6 7 K 4 2 A Q J 10 7 3 9 6 4 K J A 8 4 2 Q 10 9 3 A K Q J 3 2 8 A Q 3 K J 7 West North East South Fredin Janssen Lindkvist v.Zutphen 2 Pass 2 2 2 3 3 Pass 4 Pass 4 All Pass

2 was artificial semi-forcing; 4 was a cue-bid, but North felt he had little extra to show after his free 3 bid!

West led a heart and Lindkvist won with the ace and switched to a trump. Declarer drew two rounds and then led the queen of diamonds from hand. East won and, realising the diamonds were running, switched to the ten of clubs. Declarer guessed right, putting in the jack and the defence could only take three tricks. This was a poor score for East-West as several North-South pairs had not reached game.

Board 24. Love All. Dealer West. K 9 8 Q 7 2 Q 10 9 5 6 4 2 A J 6 5 Q 10 3 2 J 5 10 9 6 4 A 7 4 2 K J 8 J 8 5 Q 3 7 4 A K 8 3 6 3 A K 10 9 7 West North East South Fredin Janssen Lindkvist v.Zutphen 1 Pass 1 Pass 1 Pass 2 3 All Pass

The opening 1 included balanced hands of 11-13 points, and South made a good decision to come in with 3, as East-West had reached their best spot.

West led a trump to the queen and ace. Declarer tried the interesting shot at trick two of leading the nine of trumps. West did well not to fall for this one (partner might have had king-queen doubleton of trumps), and put on the jack. Note, however, that declarer's attempted coup had actually cost. Had he simply laid down the top trump, and then, leaving the boss trump outstanding, played on hearts, he could have ruffed the last heart in dummy.

Next came a low spade. The king won in dummy and declarer drew the last trump. Next came a diamond to the ten and jack. The defence then played two more rounds of spades. Declarer ruffed and led another diamond. East won, and switched to a heart. This first round of the suit, rather surprisingly, went: Six, three, five, seven.

Declarer claimed the rest, just making. A discussion in Swedish followed. Our intrepid reporter thought it discourteous to enquire what had gone wrong so you will have to make your own guess. It may have been connected with declarer's earlier play. Note, however, that East cannot switch to a high heart, or declarer can genuinely pick up the suit.

After the shock of the first semi-final session I decided to take a look at our struggling champions, Piotr Gawrys and Krzysztof Lasocki, then watched the boards a second time at a random assortment of tables. Could the Poles get back into contention?

Board 17. Love All. Dealer North. K Q 10 9 K 9 4 A J 6 3 A 10 A J 6 4 Q 3 J 10 5 K 10 8 7 5 4 Q 9 Q 6 5 K J 8 7 3 2 8 7 5 3 2 A 8 7 6 2 2 9 4

The champions played this round against another struggling Polish pair, Puczynski and Winciorek. Puczynski opened 1NT as dealer and Lasocki doubled, showing a single-suited hand. Looking at a 12-count, Gawrys converted the double to penalties by passing after Winciorek had made the brave decision to pass with his two-suiter.

The favourable spade position means that 1NT is cold on any lead. In practice, Lasocki did not lead his long suit, preferring a safer looking J. Puczynski won in hand and led Q to the ace. Gawrys switched to a diamond but declarer won the ace and cashed his spades then led 9. Had he run this, the diamond position was such that the defense could only take one more trick before he got back in to cash the hearts and long spade. That would have been no less than ten tricks for +480 and a huge matchpoint score. Had he stopped to think what might happen at other tables, Puczynski might have realised that eight tricks might not be enough but he just rose with A and cashed the spade for +280.

Our second table features Britain's Collings and Jones facing La Fourcade and Henri of Belgium. Jones opened a strong no trump and after a pass by East Collings simply transferred to hearts. La Fourcade doubled the transfer but nobody was interested in competing so Jones was left to play 2+2 for a very poor score. The traveller suggested that the majority were bidding game so Gawrys/Lasocki's -280 would be a useful score.

Board 18. N/S Game. Dealer East. K 9 8 6 9 4 3 J 10 6 4 K 6 7 5 3 J 2 10 6 2 A K J 8 7 5 5 7 A J 10 9 3 2 Q 7 5 4 A Q 10 4 Q A K Q 9 8 3 2 8 West North East South Gawrys Puczynski Lasocki Winciorek 1 Dble 2 2 3 4 Pass 4 5 5 5 5 Pass Pass 6 Dble All Pass

Winciorek's takeout double made it convenient for Gawrys to show his clubs and this allowed East/West to discover that the deal was a double fit. Gawrys judged accurately at the end to save in 6 over 5 to achieve par; -500.

West North East South La Fourcade Jones Henri Collings 1 2 2 3 3 4NT 5 Pass 5 All Pass

John Collings preferred to start with a simple overcall and now La Fourcade could not show the clubs. On finding the diamond fit, Collings launched into Blackwood, simplifying slam exploration but giving up on spades. Now La Fourcade showed his clubs and Henri converted to 5. Collings passed that round, obviously intending Jones to do something, but Jones also passed. The winning bid of 5 is not easy to find and the difference between +300 from a double and the actual +100 did not look that significant on the scoresheet as most pairs were finding the spade fit.

Board 21. N/S Game. Dealer North. K Q 10 3 8 4 2 J 9 5 3 Q 7 J 7 8 6 2 A K 7 3 Q 10 6 4 K Q 7 6 2 K J 10 9 6 4 8 3 A 9 5 4 J 9 5 A 10 8 A 5 2 West North East South Gawrys Quantin Lasocki Abecassis Pass Pass 1 2 Pass 2 Pass 2 All Pass

This one looked very good for the Poles. Quantin led K then switched to a trump, won in dummy. Gawrys led a club to the king and a second club to the queen. Quantin went back to spades now, leading low to the ace, and back came a third spade, ruffed. Gawrys ruffed a club then drew trumps. The 3-3 break meant that he could cash all his clubs for +140.

But the result did not stand. While Gawrys had explained his 2 bid as natural, Lasocki had told Quantin that he was not sure if it was natural. The French protested and said that Quantin had a negative double over a natural 2 bid but not if 2 showed some two-suiter. The ruling was 60%-40% to North/South.

It does seem remarkable that Lasocki should not be sure of the meaning of such a common sequence but he was rumoured to be ill yesterday and this may have some bearing on the matter, and perhaps on their dreadful first session.

West North East South Jansma Buchlev van Cleef Rauscheid Pass 2 All Pass

Jan van Cleef's 2 opening was either strong and artificial or a (possibly very) weak two in diamonds. Jansma played the odds in assuming it to be the weak variety (the last time I saw this sequence there was a choice of grand slams available), and passed. Buchlev of Germany thought a while about protecting but just didn't have sufficient. He passed and van Cleef lost the obvious five tricks; +90.

Board 22. E/W Game. Dealer East. 10 5 4 3 A Q 9 4 3 A 6 5 3 A K 8 6 2 J 9 8 K 5 4 2 A 10 8 7 6 J 2 K Q 2 J 10 8 7 Q J 9 7 10 7 6 3 K Q 5 9 4 West North East South Gawrys Quantin Lasocki Abecassis Pass Pass 1NT Pass Pass 2 2 2 All Pass

West North East South Jansma Buchlev van Cleef Rauscheid Pass Pass 1NT Pass Pass 2 Dble 2 All Pass

Both Wests opened a strong no trump and, after two passes, Abecassis and Rauscheid both did well to come in with their balanced hands, each using their systemic bid to show both majors.

Lasocki led J to the king, ducked, and Quantin led a club, ducking in turn when Gawrys put in the king. Gawrys switched to a heart for the queen and king and Lasocki played his second diamond through. Gawrys took two diamonds then exited with a club and Quantin cross-ruffed his way to seven tricks; -50.

Van Cleef led a trump and Jansma cashed a second round then switched to a low diamond to the jack and king. Buchlev took the heart finesse and van Cleef returned a diamond. Jansma took two diamonds and switched to a top club, ducked. Declarer had no further problems; the same one down for -50

Board 25. E/W Game. Dealer North. K 7 5 2 K 8 3 K 7 2 Q 8 2 4 3 Q J 10 9 8 6 7 6 2 A Q J 10 J 3 8 A K 10 7 6 4 J 5 A 9 5 4 A Q 10 9 6 5 4 9 3 West North East South Gawrys Mouiel Lasocki Multon Pass 1 2 Dble Rdble 2 3 Pass Pass 3 4 Dble All Pass

The simple overcall led to a competitive auction which finally ended with Gawrys doubling 4. He led a top club and needed to find a heart switch to get the contract two down. No, he cashed the other club and played a third round, ruffed and over-ruffed. Multon could now draw trumps and get one heart away on the K but had to concede two hearts for one down; -100.

West North East South Taciuc Schutte Bob Tesselaar Pass 1 4 Pass Pass Dble Pass 5 All Pass

The Dutch pair scored heavily when Tesselaar's pre-emptive overcall pushed the Romanian East/West pair over the edge. Bob had the unattractive options of passing out 4 and collecting an inadequate +50 or of bidding on or doubling. 4 would have been the winning action as it appears to make, but he chose the more flexible double. Alas, he caught Taciuc with quite a bit of playing strength, but for clubs. There was no way to avoid four losers after Schutte led a diamond and Tesselaar cashed A so that was two down; -200.

Board 26. Game All. Dealer East. Q J J 4 8 7 5 2 Q 9 7 5 2 A 8 4 9 3 2 10 7 3 2 K Q 6 K Q J 10 9 6 3 K 6 3 10 8 4 K 10 7 6 5 A 9 8 5 A 4 A J West North East South Gawrys Mouiel Lasocki Multon Pass 1 Dble Pass 2 All Pass

They say that matchpoints is a bidder's game but not this time. Gawrys made a rather ugly takeout double and Mouiel judged well not to get involved.

Multon led a spade against 2 and Lasocki won the ace, Mouiel dropping the queen. A heart went to the king and ace and Multon underled the K to Mouiel's jack. Now a diamond to the ace allowed Multon to cash the K while Mouiel ditched his remaining heart. A heart ruff, club to the ace and second heart ruff meant two down; -200 and a handy score for the French pair.

West North East South Taciuc Schutte Bob Tesselaar Pass 1 Pass 1NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 2NT Pass 3 All Pass

Taciuc did not come in over 1 and the Dutch pair got uncomfortably high under their own steam. Schutte chose to go back to the 5-2 spade fit rather than pass 2NT, which would have been a better spot but still likely to fail.

Taciuc led a diamond and Tesselaar won and played a heart to the jack and king. Bob switched to a trump and two rounds left declarer in dummy. He took the losing club finesse and had to lose two more hearts plus a diamond to be two down; -200.

Board 1. Love All. Dealer North. 9 4 A 7 K J 9 6 3 10 9 7 4 6 5 2 A J 10 7 Q J 9 5 2 K 10 8 3 7 5 Q 8 2 K 5 2 6 3 K Q 8 3 6 4 A 10 4 A Q J 8 West North East South Gawrys Kurka Lasocki Svoboda Pass Pass 1 Pass 1 Dble Rdble 3 3NT All Pass

Lasocki's double of 1 allowed Gawrys to put the pressure on with a pre-emptive jump to 3. Kurka of the Czech Republic bid an aggressive 3NT and played there.

It was not difficult for Lasocvki to find the heart lead at this table. Kurka won the second heart, played a diamond to the ace and ran the 10, losing to the queen. Lasocki, who had unblocked the ten on the second heart, now cashed the K, Gawrys playing low, and led his last heart. Gawrys had to win that and so the defense could not get their club trick; two down for -100.

West North East South Corn E.Schippers Chevalley H.Schippers Pass Pass 1 Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 2NT Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 3NT All Pass

1 was strong and 2 showed an unbalanced positive with no five card major. 2 enquired, 2NT showed at least 5-4 in the minors, and 3 asked about major suit stoppers. 3 showed a heart stopper so Henk Schippers tried 3NT.

It was a little harder to find the heart lead here but Chevalley judged correctly that dummy had needed to hear about the stopper before he could bid 3NT. She duly led a heart and Elly Schippers won immediately and ran the 10 to the king. The defense took their hearts now but there was no possibility of a diamond trick so the contract was again two down.

Board 2. N/S Game. Dealer East. 8 6 5 4 3 A 8 2 A J 7 3 4 10 9 Q J 4 3 K Q J 9 7 10 8 2 K Q 9 6 5 A K Q 10 8 7 6 A K 7 2 10 6 5 4 J 9 5 3 2

Both Lasocki/Gawrys and Chevalley/Corn began 1 - 2 - 2 - 3, both non-forcing. Chevalley passed that while Lasocki ploughed on with 3, which ended the auction.

Against Corn's 3, Elly Schippers led a spade. Henk cashed a second spade and switched to his diamond to the eight and ace. North cashed A then gave a diamond ruff on seeing a discouraging ten from partner. Henk now gave a ruff and discard. Corn ruffed in hand but then played top clubs from hand, not considering the finesse. He was two down for -100.

Svoboda cashed two top spades against 3, thought for a moment then played a third spade, giving a ruff and discard. Lasocki ruffed in dummy and led 10. When Kurka played low, Lasocki thought for a few seconds but then rose with the king. He could no longer pick up the diamonds and had to go one down; -50.

It didn't look as though our champions were getting the sort of running they needed to get back into things and so it proved as they scored just under 50% in the session. We could safely say that we would be seeing new champions crowned on Saturday afternoon.

On Tuesday morning Piotr Gawrys was not looking very awake. After around twenty boards of the session, things had been going well for Lasocki/Gawrys, mainly because of the the mistakes of their opponents. Gawrys confided to me, Bridge is a game and I like to play the king. The lack of excitement worried him a little. Pointing to the other side of the screen he added, I fear that he (Lasocki) is going to invent some bid and go for 800. This was the next board and Gawrys picked up a nice hand.

Board 9. E/W Game. Dealer North. Q 10 5 K J 5 2 10 7 6 4 3 2 A 4 3 2 K J 8 7 9 7 3 Q J 6 K 9 7 4 8 K 5 A Q J 9 8 9 6 A 10 8 5 4 2 A Q 10 6 3 - West North East South Papakyriakopoulos Lasocki Filios Gawrys Pass 1 1 Dble Pass 2 3 4 Pass Pass 4NT Dble 5 Pass Pass Dble All Pass

South roared a lot with the red two-suiter and could not keep quiet after East/West bid to game.

The opening lead of the K was ruffed and declarer played a spade. West took the A and returned the suit, East winning with the jack. His continuation of the A was ruffed and declarer played a heart to dummy's king and ruffed the remaining spade. He cashed the A and ruffed a heart. A club from dummy was ruffed with the Q and overruffed by the K. West exited with a diamond and that meant +500 for East/West.

Well, at least Gawrys had had some excitement but it was his Greek opponents who collected a top and left Piotr to explain to his partner why he did not take +800 against 4!

The Greeks increased their gains with some superior bidding on the next board.

Board 10. Game All. Dealer East. Q 10 9 3 2 A J 8 J 9 7 3 2 J 7 4 A K 10 8 6 5 3 2 6 A 8 5 10 6 5 3 2 - K 10 8 4 A 5 9 K Q J 7 4 K Q 9 7 4 Q 6 West North East South Papakyriakopoulos Lasocki Filios Gawrys 2 2 Pass 4 4 Pass 4 Pass 5 Pass 5 Pass 7 All Pass

You might think that East was conservative at his second turn but we couldn't possibly comment. When West not only showed a club control but one in hearts as well, East had heard enough and bid what he was going to make.

Jan van Cleeff, Editor of Bridgemagazine IMP, and Jan Jansma are one of the pairs the Netherlands have their hopes on. The practical approach adopted by van Cleef on this same board was less successful.

West North East South 2 2 Pass 4 6 Dble All Pass

Which approach would you prefer?

When Irena Chodorowska reported this story to the Bulletin she said: In Poland we call this the Slavenburg Coup. It was achieved in defence by Jarek Kolton on a deal from the first session of the semi-final A:

Board 12. N/S Game. Dealer West. A K 10 5 3 Q 2 9 7 2 10 4 3 6 9 8 7 2 K 9 7 4 A 6 A K Q 5 3 10 8 4 A J 7 K 8 5 2 Q J 4 J 10 8 5 3 J 6 Q 9 6 West North East South Kolton Zajkiewicz 1 1 Dble Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 3 Pass 4 All Pass

West opened a Strong Club, and East's double showed at least six points.

As the cards lie, with the clubs so favourably placed and North unable to ruff higher than dummy on the third heart, it looks as if declarer should have no trouble in making 12 tricks.

The defence began with two rounds of spades. Declarer trumped and went for heart ruffs. On the third round North threw a spade. The heart was ruffed in dummy and declarer came back to hand with a trump to lead a fourth heart. North could not afford another spade discard so it looks natural to let a club go. However, Kolton saw that this would reveal the club position. So, mentally placing himself with the queen of clubs, he 'discarded' a small trump. West over-ruffed in dummy, ruffed a third spade to come back to hand, and cashed the rest of his trumps. On the last trump North had to keep his spade, as dummy still had the nine, so North had no choice but to throw a club.

Declarer was a competent player and his mind went back to North's earlier discard of a trump. Yes, it looked as if North held the queen of clubs and had been squeezed by the last trump. Feeling satisfied with himself, declarer rejected the club finesse and was surprised when North followed to the second round with the ten. He had been held to 11 tricks by North's psychic squeeze.

Marijke van der Pas was relieved when this deal from the third qualifying session of the Open pairs championship was over.

Board 1. Love All. Dealer North. Q J A 10 8 7 2 A K 10 3 Q 8 K 10 7 4 3 A 9 5 2 3 6 J 5 2 9 8 7 6 K J 9 2 10 7 4 3 8 6 K Q J 9 5 4 Q 4 A 6 5 West North East South Van der Pas Vriend 1 Pass 2NT Pass 3 Pass 4 Dble 4 Pass 4NT Pass 5 Pass 6NT All Pass

South's 2NT was a game forcing heart raise and North's reply of 3 simply said that he was not minimum. When South bid 4, Marijke thought it would be a good idea to tell her partner that she had a well placed card in that suit. A few moments later she found herself on lead against a slam and with an awkward choice selected the 2.

Declarer put in dummy's ten and when that held he made a brave try by playing the queen of spades from the table! East naturally went in with the ace and switched to a club, taken by declarer's ace. After unblocking the queen of diamonds he crossed to dummy with a heart and proceeded to take all his red suit winners. When the final heart was played Marijke was the potential victim of what is sometimes known as a 'cucumber squeeze'. (We have no idea how the term originated!).

She was looking at the two black kings and dummy had the matching queens. Her problem was to know if declarer's remaining card was a club or a spade. Thankfully she had been paying attention and did the right thing so the contract was one down. It was only while North was entering the score that a horrible thought occurred to her: suppose North had played in six hearts. Then a club lead would have allowed the contract to make as the losing spades can be discarded on two winning diamonds.

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