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Right start, wrong Finnish!
Kari Mäkikangas
| Round 6. Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul.
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| |
ª
A J 8 6 3
© K Q 8
3
¨ K 7
§ 7 6 |
ª
2
© A 9 5
¨ 10 9 8 5
4
§ Q J 10 8 |
 |
ª
Q 9 7 5 4
© J 6 4
¨ 6 2
§ A 5 4 |
| |
ª
K 10
© 10 7 2
¨ A Q J 3
§ K 9 3
2 |
The contract is 3NT by South, and West
leads the queen of clubs.
We know that the Finnish declarer played
hearts after winning the third round of clubs, but still this
deal went to or X-files, because after a heart to the nine and
king, declarer played a diamond to the queen and the ten of
hearts. When West played the three, declarer let it ride.
The team awarded him a candy, and abandoned
him for two days to allow time to analyse suit-combinations.
Its OK with Juniors
Many of the people here play regularly
on OK Bridge, so we know they will be interested in the latest
news of the second Internet World Bridge Championships, provide
by our old friend Henry Francis. It also occurred to us that
you might like to let people know your OK bridge handle. We
will happily publish any that are handed in.
Shades of Alphonse Moyse
Alphonse Moyse would have been proud.
The man who became famous for his espousal of playing games
in 4-3 fits would have had nothing but admiration for Bjorn
Wenneberg and P.G.Eliasson of Sweden. They found their 4-3 spade
fit, and avoided the ill-fated 6-4 club fit. They did this despite
the fact that Geir Helgemo of Team Turbo, Norway, made a negative
double over 1D-2C.
This board, in the second half of a Region
5 semifinal in the OKbridge second annual Internet World Bridge
Championship, made the difference. Sweden gained 11 IMPs, then
held on for a 1-IMP victory, 59-58, and a place in the regional
final
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Israel Team Profile
Asaf Amit, 25, is
the veteran of the team, playing his third European Juniors
Championship. He is busy studying for a second degree in computer
science.
His partner here is Yaniv
Vax, 23, who works for e-bridge, an internet bridge service,
and also a bridge club located in his own home. This year he
won the national Israeli teams championship, playing in partnership
with his father, and with his npc as a team-mate.
Yossi Roll, 25,
is getting married this summer, and he will welcome IMPs as
wedding gifts. He is ‘officially’ a student of accounting, but
devotes most of his time getting updated on sports news and
looking for casinos. He ‘works’ as a poker and rubber bridge
player and when he has some spare time also works in the airport
in the security department.
His partner is Ranny
Schneider, 24. He works for a financial company, in his
parent’s bridge club, and studies business management. He feels
jealous about this partner getting married, and is looking here
for suitable candidates.
They are the current Israeli
junior champions, and won a major pairs tournament, just a few
weeks before coming here.
Inon Liran, 25,
who lives in a kibbutz, used to be a professional musician,
playing the cello inn an orchestra, but now he studies for a
degree in computer science. He tells everyone he has executed
a ‘non-serious squeeze’, but no one seems to understand what
this means.
Aran Varshavski,
25, is married, and works for a software start up. He has driven
all the hotel staff crazy with providing him with Kosher food,
because he cannot enjoy the cuisine here in Talya hotel.
The npc is Michael Barel,
30, working as a software engineer in a high-tech company. He
played in the junior championship in 1994 in Arnhem, where three
of the current juniors played in the schools team which won
the bronze. (One of each partnership, Asaf, Ranny and Aran).
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| Board 5. IMPs. Dealer North. N-S vulnerable.
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| |
ª
A 9 5
© J 8 6
5
¨ 10 2
§ A 9 7
3 |
ª
10 8 6
© K Q 10 4
3 2
¨ 7 6
§ J 10 |
|
ª
K 7 4
© 9 7
¨ A K J 9 5
4 3
§ 5 |
| |
ª
Q J 3 2
© A
¨ Q 8
§ K Q 8
6 4 2 |
| Table 1 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Helgemo |
Wenneberg |
Osbak |
Eliasson |
|
Pass |
1¨ |
2§ |
| Dbl |
Redbl |
3¨ |
3ª |
| Pass |
4ª |
All Pass |
|
Helgemo’s negative double could easily
have steered the Swedes away from spades, but Eliasson decided
to bring his four-card suit into the action on his second turn.
Wenneberg, with two aces and a fit in both black suits, bravely
bid the spade game
Helgemo led the heart king, and Eliasson
immediately attacked trumps, crossing to the ace, and continuing
the suit. B.G. Osbak rose with the king and led his last heart,
but Eliasson pitched the diamond queen as Helgemo won with the
queen.
He returned another heart to dummy’s jack,
and Osbak ruffed and Eliasson overruffed. He drew the last trump
and claimed with all good clubs, losing a diamond at the end.
Plus 620
| Table 2 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Kristrom |
Furunes |
Olofsson |
Aaseng |
|
Pass |
1¨ |
2§ |
| 2© |
3§ |
4¨ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
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The bidding was too high when it got back
to Lasse Aaseng. He liked his hand but didn’t feel he was good
enough to go to 5} - which would have gone down one trick on
two diamond losers and a spade. Bidding 4[ seemed far too great
a gamble, so he passed. Jon-Egil Furunes, North, had good defence
- two aces - and not enough to bid on to 5}, so he too passed.
After an opening spade lead to the ace
and a spade continuation, Olofsson had to go down one, losing
two spades, a club and a heart. Minus 50. But that still represented
an 11-IMP gain in a match that was won by a single IMP.
Nineteen nations still remain in the competition.
The United States still has 11 teams in Regions 4, 5 and 6.
The other countries remaining are Spain, Great Britain, the
Netherlands, Ireland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Israel,
Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Argentina, New Zealand, China, Australia
and Germany.
The tournament will climax with a final
in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, on Thursday, November 16, 2000
which also will be the opening day of the American Contract
Bridge League’s Fall North American Championships in Birmingham.
Each team reaching the final will be awarded $5000.
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