| 45th GENERALI European Bridge Championships, Arona, Tenerife, Canary Islands | Thursday, 21 Juney 2001 |
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Belgium-Russia Open Series Round 9 The early afternoon´s match on Rama was between Belgium, who once again made a good start, and Russia, who had an even better start and were among the leaders at that moment. So yet another interesting match could be expected, and so it turned out. On board 1, the Russians nearly fell overboard in the Closed Room, but in the end just managed to land in a makeable contract. On board 2, however, they struck back:
On a club lead, dummy threw a heart. North won the ace and returned a trump, but declarer won, noting the fall of the jack, ruffed a club in dummy, crossed in diamonds and ruffed another club. He thus lost a club, a heart and a diamond and just made ten tricks. Russia +420. But what happens if South leads a trump?
It looks that declarer will be left with four losers, as he can
never nejoy the established ¨Q.
In the Closed Room, the play started along the same lines, but declarer played more safely as he only had to make nine tricks. Belgium +140, but 7 IMP´s to Russia. The score stood at 14-3 to Russia when Belgium registered a first swing:
The problem for the defence here was to avoid being thrown in. South led the ª7, won in dummy with the king. Gromov next took the diamond finesse. This lost, and a spade came back, won by declarer with his ace. When declarer next cashed his ace of trumps, South has to throw his ©K to avoid the throw-in. When he did not, it should have been plain sailing for Gromov, but it was not, surprisingly enough. ¨AK throwing a spade, and hearts. South is forced to play a club, on which it suffices to play dummy´s ten. When Gromov let the §8 run to his queen, he was one down after all. Belgium +100.
At this table, South led a diamond, making declarer´s life easy. Eleven tricks and 13 IMP´s to Belgium. The match had a new leader. But not for long:
Well, the Strong Club with its relays saw the Russians reach the proper contract. When South could not return a heart after being left on play with his ©K, an overtrick was born. Russia +420.
Well, the contract is too high, but double-dummy you cannot go down. Kaplan had a problem, however, when the ©K appeared in the first round of the suit. With nothing to guide him, he let South on play, hoping for the blank ©K. He was in good company for sure, as Kwiecien at another table followed the same line for Poland, but he guessed wrong as the cards lay. One down, some justice done, 10 IMP´s to Russia. Did anyone reach game on the next board?
On Rama, neither team succeeded:
Why then include this hand in the report? Well, as a tribute to Jansma and Verhees from the Netherlands. Playing against Poland´s Pszczola-Kwiecien as N/S, the auction started the same as in the Closed Rama Room, but after 3¨ Jansma simply did not pass, but he reraised to 4¨ and Louk Verhees gratefully accepted. Well done by them! Back to the Rama business.
Well, this was a quick and efficient auction, worth +2210.
Well, this was a slow and inefficient auction, worth only +1460. Once again, some justice done: 13 IMP´s back to Belgium. The fastest way to the grand was shown against
Italy. When West did not open, North invented 3©
and South had an automatic raise to seven. The whole bidding and
play of the board took about 30 seconds.
When Zvi Engel could open One Heart, the Belgians were in a good position to judge what to do right from the start of the auction. As it turned out, they might even have gone all the way to six, but Guy Van Middelem, one of the safest players of the hemisphere (no matter which one), decided to call it a day after Zvi Engel had made one more slam try by first passing and then pulling the double. Scoring +680 proved more than enough, for this is what happened in the Closed Room:
Probably, North should have realised that his trumps were too meagre to double 5¨ and that his four trumps to the king might well just be what partner was looking for. From the bidding, South will be short in diamonds anyway. One down, 100 to Russia but another 11 IMP´s to Belgium who had taken the lead, 40-33. On the very next board, the outcome hinged
on the lead.
South could not possibly find the lethal diamond lead and led a heart. Thus, declarer gained a vital tempo. He won the queen and first played ªAQ (North having to duck the queen) before ducking a club. When the clubs behaved, he had nine tricks. Russia +600.
For North, finding the diamond lead was much easier: he could stick to the golden rule of fourth best (or, in this case, the ten) from his longest suit, diamonds. A tempo behind, declarer cannot come to nine tricks before the defenders get five. Russia +100 here and 12 IMP´s back. The lead had changed hands again: 45-40 to Russia. Two boards later, both teams missed a good
chance, but full credit to Russia for making life difficult for
their opponents.
2¨ was Multi, but we will never know what had happened if Engel had doubled 3©. There were just ten tricks as a diamond can be given to East after ducking spades twice.
When Zlotov gave preference to the general nature of his hand over the four-card major, the slam possibilities were effectively gone. No score on the board. The match ended 55-40 or 18-12 V.P. to Russia. |
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