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England
vs Israel
Ladies Series - Round 16
Six rounds to go and the English women were still in the lead,
though with Austria breathing down their necks. In Round 16 they
faced Israel, who were still very much in the hunt for a medal
and a trip to Bali. An important match then for both teams. The
match began very well for the English.
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Board 2. Dealer East.
N/S Vul.
|
| |
ª A K 6 3
© J 9 8 7 4 3
¨ Q 8
§ 2 |
ª 9 8 5
© K
¨ A 5 3 2
§ A Q J 4 3 |
 |
ª Q
© A Q 10 6
¨ K 10 7 4
§ K 8 7 5 |
| |
ª J 10 7 4 2
© 5 2
¨ J 9 6
§ 10 9 6 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Dhondy |
Zur-C |
Smith |
Levit-P |
| |
|
1§ |
Pass |
| 2§ |
2© |
Dble |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Liberman |
Brunner |
Birman |
Goldenfield |
| |
|
1¨ |
Pass |
| 2§ |
2© |
3© |
Pass |
| 4¨ |
Pass |
5§ |
All Pass |
Migri Zur-Campanile, Israel |
|
Daniela Birman opened 1¨
and heard her partner respond in her other four-card minor.
When Michelle Brunner overcalled 2©.
Birman showed a good club raise by cuebidding 3©.
Ruth Liberman showed her diamonds and the partnership came
to rest in 5§.
Six Clubs is makeable on a spade lead if you are in it but,
of course, Liberman played safe for five; +400.
Nicola Smith had opened 1§
and heard an inverted raise from Heather Dhondy. When Migri
Zur-Campanila also overcalled 2©
and Smith doubled for penalties. Dhondy passed that and Smith
led off with a low club. Dhondy won the ace and continued
clubs, declarer pitching a diamond, as she did again on the
third club. Now Smith switched to a diamond to the nine, ace
and ruffed with the four. Zur-Campanila led the seven of hearts
and Smith played low after some thought. Dhondy won her king
and played a diamond. |
Declarer does not know that the ªQ
is coming down and, with the bidding and play to date suggesting
that the suit was more likely to be 3-1 than 2-2, the odds were
that it would not do so. If she ruffs the diamond and plays off
the top spades and the queen does not fall, East will ruff, cash
her remaining hearts and play a minor-suit winner. Declarer has
only one trump left so cannot come to a second spade trick and
is four down. So Zur-Campanila pitched a spade on the diamond.
Smith won the king and cashed a top heart before playing a club.
Declarer ruffed the club and played off the top spades, smiling
ruefully when the queen appeared. She was three down now for -800
and 9 IMPs to England.
Had West held ªQxx,
East could have ruffed the second one and cashed her last heart
but would then have had to give a trick to dummy's ¨J,
for three down, saving a trick. Or if she discarded on the spade
declarer could exit with a trump and again come to a diamond trick.
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Board 3. Dealer South.
E/W Vul.
|
| |
ª K 10 8 3 2
© 10 4
¨ 8 2
§ 8 6 3 2 |
ª 9 7
© A Q 9 6 5 3
¨ A Q
§ Q 9 7 |
|
ª J 5 4
© J 8 7
¨ K J 9 5
§ A 5 4 |
| |
ª A Q 6
© K 2
¨ 10 7 6 4 3
§ K J 10 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Dhondy |
Zur-C |
Smith |
Levit-P |
| |
|
|
1¨ |
| 2© |
Pass |
3¨ |
Dble |
| 3NT |
Pass |
4© |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Liberman |
Brunner |
Birman |
Goldenfield |
| |
|
|
1NT |
| 2© |
All Pass |
|
|
Dhondy made an intermediate jump overcall and Smith showed a
good raise by cuebidding 3¨. Ruth Levit-Porat's double told her
partner not to lead diamonds, and now Dhondy bid 3NT - as who
would not? Smith did well now, working out that there might be
a serious weakness in a black suit if the partnership had so much
in diamonds. She went back to 4© and that made a comfortable +620.
The defence led a low spade and South won with the queen. Now,
had she returned her low spade and North played a club through,
declarer would have had to play hearts for no loss to make her
contract; maybe she would play South for K10x. In practice Levit-Porat
played ace and another spade and Dhondy was in no danger.
In the other room, Liberman overcalled 2© over Rhona Goldenfield's
weak no trump and Birman could not scrape up a raise; +140 and
10 IMPs to England.
The score remained at 19-0 to England through a series of flat
boards. Then things got even better for the leaders:
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Board 11. Dealer South.
None Vul.
|
| |
ª J 6 5 4
© A J 2
¨ 10 2
§ K 9 6 2 |
ª A Q 10 9
© Q 9 8
¨ A 8 6
§ 10 5 4 |
|
ª K 8 7 3
© 10 7 6 5 4
¨ K Q 7 3
§ - |
| |
ª 2
© K 3
¨ J 9 5 4
§ A Q J 8 7 3 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Dhondy |
Zur-C |
Smith |
Levit-P |
| |
|
|
1§ |
| 1ª |
1NT |
4ª |
All Pass |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Liberman |
Brunner |
Birman |
Goldenfield |
| |
|
|
1§ |
| 1ª |
2ª |
4ª |
5§ |
| Pass |
Pass |
5¨ |
Pass |
| 5ª |
Dble |
All Pass |
|
Five Spades is, of course, a phantom sacrifice, on the assumption
that the defence to 5§ takes its spade trick before declarer can
get her singleton away courtesy of the heart finesse. But Birman
liked her shape and, expecting her partner to have a fifth spade,
went on to the five level as a two-way shot. Five Spades was doubled
and drifted two down for -300.
North/ South did not compete so vigorously in the other room,
where Zur-Campanila's 1NT bid dampened her partner's enthusiasm.
The lead was a trump, and North must have been pleasantly surprised
to find her partner following to the trick. Dhondy won in hand
and crossed to a diamond to play a heart up, hoping to find South
with AJ or KJ doubleton. Levit-Porat went in with the king and
switched to the queen of clubs. That was ruffed in dummy and Dhondy
played a second heart to the jack. Back came a diamond, attacking
declarer's communications. Dhondy won in hand and played the ©Q
and now Zur-Campanila did something very strange when she won
and returned a trump. What she though was going on is unclear
- presumably she had seen a count card from partner that made
this defence appear to be safe. Dhondy could simply draw trumps,
throwing the fourth diamond on the last trump, and cross to the
diamond to cash the hearts; +420 and 12 IMPs to England, who led
by 31-0.
Israel got on the board with a 6 IMP partscore swing on the next
deal but the next big swing again went the way of England.
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Board 13. Dealer North.
All Vul.
|
| |
ª A K 2
© J 8 4
¨ A 10
§ 10 9 7 6 5 |
ª Q 10 8
© K Q 5 3
¨ K 7
§ Q J 4 2 |
|
ª 9 7 6 4
© 9 7 6
¨ 8 6 4 3 2
§ K |
| |
ª J 5 3
© A 10 2
¨ Q J 9 5
§ A 8 3 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Dhondy |
Zur-C |
Smith |
Levit-P |
| |
1§ |
Pass |
1¨ |
| Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
2NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Liberman |
Brunner |
Birman |
Goldenfield |
| |
1NT |
Pass |
3NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
Three No Trump is not the greatest contract in the world, but
as the cards lie it will normally make. Where Goldenfield simply
raised the weak no trump to game, Levit-Porat, who was also facing
a weak no trump type, merely invited.
Brunner won the spade lead and played ace and another club. Not
wishing to lead any other suit, Liberman simply played two more
rounds of clubs to get off play. Brunner made an overtrick now
for +630. That was worth 10 IMPs when Zur-Campanila scored +150
in the other room.
England led by 41-6 and looked to be on the way to a big win,
however, Israel hit back with two big swings in the last quarter.
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Board 16. Dealer West.
E/W Vul.
|
| |
ª A J 10 3 2
© A Q 6
¨ A 7 6
§ 10 6 |
ª Q 7 5 4
© K 4 2
¨ 4
§ Q 9 8 7 4 |
|
ª -
© 8 7 5
¨ K Q 10 9 8
§ A K J 5 2 |
| |
ª K 9 8 6
© J 10 9 3
¨ J 5 3 2
§ 3 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Dhondy |
Zur-C |
Smith |
Levit-P |
| Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
2§ |
| Pass |
2ª |
All Pass |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Liberman |
Brunner |
Birman |
Goldenfield |
| Pass |
1ª |
2NT |
3ª |
| 4§ |
4ª |
5§ |
Pass |
| Pass |
Dble |
All Pass |
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When Smith was unwilling to come in with her minor two-suiter,
Zur-Campanila was left to play in 2ª. Smith cashed a top club
and switched to the queen of diamonds, which declarer ducked.
Having had no clue from the auction, declarer was a little surprised
when the diamond continuation got ruffed. Dhondy switched to a
heart and declarer went up with the ace. She continued by cashing
the ace of spades, leaving herself with a loser in each major.
However, the contract was still safe for +110.
Birman came in immediately in the other room and went on to game
when Liberman bid only a slightly cautious 4§. To defeat 5§ doubled,
North has to find a heart lead. Not altogether surprisingly, Brunner
was not up to that one, preferring a trump. Declarer won and played
a diamond up, ducked, then cross-ruffed diamonds and spades to
establish the diamonds. She came to eleven tricks easily enough
for +750 and 13 badly needed IMPs to Israel.
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Board 19. Dealer South.
E/W Vul.
|
| |
ª A J
© A Q J 5 3
¨ A 8 7
§ A Q 8 |
ª Q 8 6 5 3 2
© K 4
¨ 9 4
§ 9 7 3 |
|
ª K 7
© 8 7 6 2
¨ 10 2
§ K J 10 5 2 |
| |
ª 10 9 4
© 10 9
¨ K Q J 6 5 3
§ 6 4 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Dhondy |
Zur-C |
Smith |
Levit-P |
| |
|
|
3¨ |
| Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
5¨ |
| Pass |
5NT |
Pass |
6§ |
| Pass |
6¨ |
All Pass |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Liberman |
Brunner |
Birman |
Goldenfield |
| |
|
|
2¨ |
| Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
|
Brunner did not consider a slam when Goldenfield opened with
a weak 2¨ bid. After a club lead into her tenace, she made all
13 tricks for +520.
Levit-Portat opened with a weak 3¨, which looks pretty middle-of-the-road
to me. Zur-Campanila asked for key cards then just in case, for
kings, settling in the small slam when the response denied a king.
Levit-Porat ducked the spade lead, trying to minimise the undertricks
should the heart finesse fail. She won the spade return, crossed
to hand with a diamond and ruffed the remaining spade high. Now
she drew trumps and took the heart finesse; +920 and 9 IMPs to
Israel.
England won by 44-29 IMPs, or 18-12 VPs - not as good as it had
looked earlier, but they still extended their lead by 2 VPs thanks
to Austria's only just pipping Spain by 16-14. Israel also were
still very much alive.
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