France vs Poland - Schools Round 9

First met third in the Schools Championship on Saturday morning with a lot at stake with only two more rounds to play after this one. Both teams looked good for a medal, but what colour?

Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	ª Q J 10 6 3 © 9 4 ¨ A 7 4 § A 8 4
ª 5 © A K Q 10 6 2 ¨ 10 9 6 2 § 10 6		ª A 9 8 7 4 © 5 3 ¨ K J 8 § J 9 2
	ª K 2 © J 8 7 ¨ Q 5 3 § K Q 7 5 3

It must be old age creeping up on me because I don’t see it as anywhere near automatic for that North hand, a 5-2-3-3 11-count facing a passed partner, to get involved. Both Olivier Bessis and Jakub Kotorowicz did come in over the pre-empt, Bessis with a 3ª overcall, Kotorowicz with a take-out double.

When Godefrey de Tessieres raised Bessis to game, Krzysztof Buras doubled, ending the auction. The defence began with three rounds of hearts, declarer ruffing high while Buras pitched a club. Now Bessis played a spade to the king and a spade back to the queen and ace. Buras won and returned a spade to the jack and Bessis exited with his last spade. Buras won and switched to the jack of diamonds and eventually came to a diamond trick to go with three trump tricks and his partner’s two hearts; three down for -800.

In the other room, Krzysztof Kotorowicz responded with a slightly conservative 4§ bid to the take-out double. Conservative, did I say, it says something about the advisability of the double that this maximum pass with a decent five-card suit could not even get close to going plus at the four-level. Two rounds of hearts were followed by a switch to a spade to the ace and a spade back for Julien Gaviard to ruff. Declarer lost an extra trick somewhere for two down; 200 and 12 IMPs to Poland.

Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª A 8 5 2 © A 3 ¨ Q J 9 8 § A K 7
ª K 9 © J 9 8 4 ¨ 7 6 4 § 10 6 4 3		ª J 7 6 4 3 © 6 ¨ A 5 2 § Q 8 5 2
	ª Q 10 © K Q 10 7 5 2 ¨ K 10 3 § J 9

Slam is poor as even given an even heart break it may still be defeated by a spade lead if East holds the king. Still, the spade lead will often not be found so the French pair can consider themselves to be a little unfortunate. The bottom line, however, was another 11 IMPs to Poland for +450 against -50.

Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul.
	ª K Q 9 8 2 © J 6 ¨ 8 7 § J 7 6 5
ª J 10 © 8 7 3 2 ¨ 10 9 5 § K 9 8 4		ª A © K Q 10 ¨ A K 6 4 2 § A 10 3 2
	ª 7 6 5 4 3 © A 9 5 4 ¨ Q J 3 § Q

In the Closed Room, Bessis did not have an opening bid in his methods so it was left to Buras to open a peaceful 1¨. Bessis made a protective overcall when that came around to him and Buras doubled for take-out. Tessieres seems to have been rather undisciplined now, raising to only 2ª but then coming again with 4ª when his opponents bid the heart game. It is much better tactics to bid all your hand in one go, raising immediately to whatever level of spades seems appropriate rather than taking the last guess. Here, that last guess was a singularly poor one as 4ª got doubled and had five unavoidable losers for -300.

Meanwhile, 4© was no great thing of beauty as a contract and, as can be seen from its fate at the other table, would have been very easily defeated. In the Open Room, Kotorowicz did have a systemic opening bid available to him, 2ª showing a weak hand with five spades and a four-card or longer minor. When South raised to 3ª over the double, Thomas Bessis doubled for a second time, giving Gaviard an unappetising set of options. As it happens, passing out the double would have been the winning action, but had east held a fourth heart, 4© might well have been correct. At least no-one could find a double of 4©. The lead was the king of spades. Gaviard won the ace and played the ©K, ducked, then the ©Q, won by South. Kotorowicz returned a spade and Gaviard refused to ruff with dummy’s ten, preferring to throw a club. North correctly offered a ruff and discard now and Gaviard, hating the whole thing, pitched another club from dummy and ruffed in his own hand. Gaviard led the ¨9 to dummy then tried the ace of clubs and a club towards his king. South ruffed in with the nine and returned his last trump to dummy. Declarer could take his remaining diamond winner but that was all; three down for -150 and 10 IMPs to Poland.

Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul.
	ª 10 © A 7 6 4 2 ¨ A Q 9 7 4 § 8 6
ª K Q © K Q J 8 3 ¨ 6 5 2 § J 5 4		ª A 8 6 4 2 © 5 ¨ J 8 3 § 9 7 3 2
	ª J 9 7 5 3 © 10 9 ¨ K 10 § A K Q 10

North’s choice of initial response to the 1ª opening decided this one. Where Kotorowicz contented himself with a semi-forcing 1NT, which his partner passed as game seemed improbable even opposite an 11-count, Bessis made a two-over-one response and Tessieres now forced to game. Kotorowicz finessed at trick one on a club lead, so holding himself to nine tricks for +150. Bessis made the ten top tricks he started with after a diamond lead for +630 and 10 badly needed IMPs to France.

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.
	ª K 8 6 © 9 5 4 ¨ A K Q 9 7 6 § 6
ª A Q 7 2 © J 10 3 2 ¨ J 8 3 2 § A		ª 9 4 3 © A Q 6 ¨ 5 § J 10 8 5 3 2
	ª J 10 5 © K 8 7 ¨ 10 4 § K Q 9 7 4

After identical starts to the auction, Kotorowicz was content to pass out 1NT whereas Olivier Bessis doubled to show a good hand including diamonds.

South started with the jack of spades against 1NT in the Open Room, covered by the queen and king. North cashed the queen of diamonds and South did the right thing by following with the ten. When North now switched to a heart, ducked to the king, it seemed that the defence was about to take the first eight tricks and beat the contract before declarer even got started. But South could not resist the temptation of dummy’s singleton ace, and switched to a small club. Declarer cashed two rounds of hearts then led the nine of spades to the ten and ace. After cashing the jack of hearts, e exited with a low spade to the eight and North, who was down to nothing but diamonds, had to give two tricks to dummy and allow the contract to scramble home; +90. No doubt North was very impressed when he discovered that his partner had a second diamond.

In the Closed Room, North’s double of 1NT convinced Buras to run to 2§, which suited Tessieres rather well, as he wasted no time in informing the rest of the table. The opening lead against 2§ doubled was the jack of spades, covered by queen and king. Bessis switched to his trump to dummy’s bare ace and Buras played a low diamond. Bessis went in with the queen and tried to cash a second diamond but Buras ruffed and played the §10 to Tessieres’ queen. He had to lose a total of four club tricks plus one trick in each side suit. The only good news was that trick one had left the spade suit frozen, so that the second spade loser eventually went away on the 13th heart. Still, that was two down for -300 and 9 IMPs for France.

That proved to be the end of the French mini-revival. From here on in they did not score another IMP, while Poland had a number of swings, including:

Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	ª 10 8 6 © Q 10 8 2 ¨ J 9 § J 10 8 3
ª K Q 2 © 9 6 ¨ Q 6 § A Q 6 5 4 2		ª A 9 7 3 © J 7 4 ¨ A K 7 5 § K 7
	ª J 5 4 © A K 5 3 ¨ 10 8 4 3 2 § 9

I thought that France were unlucky on this deal. In the Closed Room, Szymon Kapala opened a Precision-style 2§ and, after he had showed a single-suited minimum in response to an enquiry bid, Buras settled for 3NT. With the hearts dividing evenly, 3NT made exactly for +400.

In the other room, Gaviard opened 1§ and rebid his suit over the 1¨ response. When Bessis now bid 2ª. Which might have been just a no trump probe on a three-card suit, he made an intelligent raise. Bessis now showed club support, giving up on 3NT reasonably enough, I would have thought, and Gaviard reraised himself to game. With 3NT doomed on most 5-3 heart breaks and 4ª likely to be an uphill battle on an uneven spade break, 5§ looks to be the best spot. Alas, the much less likely 4-1 club break meant that Gaviard had to go one down after the defence had cashed two hearts at the outset; -50 and 10 IMPs to Poland.

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª A 8 2 © 9 2 ¨ A K 7 4 § 8 7 6 5
ª 7 © K 10 8 7 3 ¨ 10 9 8 § K J 3 2		ª Q 6 4 © A 6 5 4 ¨ Q 3 § A 10 9 4
	ª K J 10 9 5 3 © Q J ¨ J 6 5 2 § Q

Where Bessis was content to make a pre-emptive raise in the Closed Room, Kotorowicz looked for game in the Open, asking for a shortage. When he found that he was facing a club shortage, exactly what he wanted, he jumped to game. Gaviard led the ¨10 against 4ª and declarer rose with the ace then played a heart, in the hope of either attracting a trump switch or of gaining some useful information. There was no trump switch, but he did gain the information he sought. The heart went to the jack and king and Gaviard cashed the king of clubs before returning a heart to the ace. Bessis tried the ace of clubs now but declarer ruffed with his nine, played a spade to the ace then a spade to the jack. He drew the last trump then crossed his fingers and led up to the king of diamonds. When the queen fell he had a slightly fortunate +420. Tessieres made +140 in the other room, for a 7 IMP swing to Poland.

The Poles won the match by 72-22 IMPs, 25-5 VPs. Meanwhile, Norway was beating the Netherlands by 24-6 VPs, to leave them joint top with Poland, 11.5 VPs ahead of France. And in Round 10, the draw had thrown up the perfect pairing, Norway v Poland.

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