Bulgaria vs Israel

Open Round 6

Last year in Tenerife, Israel qualified at the post while Bulgaria missed the last train. This time, Bulgaria made a better start than Israel, so even at these early stages both teams already had everything to play for. So it was a logical move to bring this match on the reinstated Vugraph.

The match started well for Israel, with a possible slam swing on board 20. We will come back to that later as no comparison was available at the time the board was shown. On the first board, Israel did well to reach a good partscore, but even a thin game was in the cards, bid and made at several tables in the room. Still, they took a 3-0 lead when Bulgaria let their opponents at the other table go down quietly in 3§. But then came:

AVIRAM Yoram, Israel

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

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Kalish	Karaivanov	Podgur	Trendafilov
		1¨	3§
Dble	3©	Pass	3NT
Dble	Pass	Pass	4§
4ª	Pass	Pass	Dble
All Pass

After 3© from Kalin Karaivanov, Trendafilov could foresee the defence against 4ª so he doubled. On a club lead, heart return and heart ruff the contract was smoothly one down. Bulgaria +100.

Well, apart from the double this board might not have been worth reporting, but this is what really happened in the Closed Room:

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Mihov	Barel	Nanev	Aviram
		1¨	2§
2ª	Dble	3ª	Pass
4ª	All Pass

One might expect the defence to be the same, but Michael Barel elected to lead a trump. Now declarer got a chance to make his contract thanks to the extremely lucky lie of the hearts. He drew trumps and after leading up to the ¨K to no avail, he eventually took the three necessary heart finesses to land his contract. Bulgaria another +420 and 11 IMPs.

On the next board, Israel judged the partscore situation much better:

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

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Kalish	Karaivanov	Podgur	Trendafilov
			1NT
Pass	Pass	2©	Pass
2ª	All Pass

Here we saw the weak NT in operation, this time even with a singleton honour (!) in it. Kalish did will to accept the transfer overcall, as this was the way to avoid a double. The contract went down three when declarer took the heart finesse before drawing trumps, as South could lead the 13th diamond after getting his two club tricks. When North ruffed with the jack, Q108 had promoted into two more tricks. Bulgaria an elegant +300.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Mihov	Barel	Nanev	Aviram
			Pass
2¨	Pass	2©	Dble
All Pass

Yoram Aviram had an easy double of the 2© relay on his passed hand, and Barel could only pass. Down two only, as there were no real promotion chances. But with the stakes increased, this amounted to +500 to Israel, 5 IMPs back.

Israel then went back into the lead when they out bid the Bulgarians on this one:

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

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Kalish	Karaivanov	Podgur	Trendafilov
	1©	Pass	Pass
Dble	Pass	2¨	Pass
Pass	2©	Pass	Pass
3¨	All Pass

We understand North's opening bid and South responding pass, but it is difficult to see what North meant with his three further calls. As a result, the Israelis were allowed to play in 3¨ and make 9 tricks for +110.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Mihov	Barel	Nanev	Aviram
	1©	Pass	Pass
Dble	1ª	Pass	2ª
All Pass

Barel took the chance to show a strong hand by bidding 1ª, and when South raised he silenced everyone. One overtrick only as there was no way to take the trump finesse. Israel another +140 and 6 IMPs, a lead by 14-11.

Bulgaria regained the lead on the next board when they bid a game, down only on an unlikely lead.
After a misdefence and a good save, both by the Israelis it stood at 24-18 to Bulgaria when this one came:

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

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Kalish	Karaivanov	Podgur	Trendafilov
	Pass	1¨	Pass
2§	Pass	2¨	Pass
3NT	All Pass

On Vugraph, Kalish surprised the world and the spectators by his very conservative rebid of 3NT. Of course, he played there and made 12 tricks on a heart lead.

In the Closed Room, the Bulgarians were one of many to show the way:

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Mihov	Barel	Nanev	Aviram
	Pass	1¨	Pass
2§	Pass	2¨	Pass
2NT	Pass	3§	Pass
3©	Pass	3ª	Pass
3NT	Pass	4¨	Pass
6§	All Pass

North led a spade so declarer had to finesse, but when this held the problems were soon over. Bulgaria +1390 and 12 IMPs.

A few boards later both teams had a chance to score:

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

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Kalish	Karaivanov	Podgur	Trendafilov
2§	Pass	2¨	Pass
3§	Pass	3¨	Pass
3©	Pass	4©	All Pass

Precision style, 3§ denying a major and 3© showing a fragment. As there was uncertainly with East about the diamond stopper, he then settled for the reasonable heart game instead of the cold 3NT. With the trumps 4-1, this contract had no chance and in fact went down two.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Mihov	Barel	Nanev	Aviram
2§	Pass	2¨	Pass
3§	Pass	3©	Pass
4§	All Pass

Precision style, a little more precise then in the Open Room, but nowhere near the top spot. Still, registering +150 was worth 6 IMPs. The score was 43-25 now to Bulgaria.

Israel had come back to within 10 IMPs when they suffered a very serious blow when the auction did not sound all that seriously:

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	ª K 9 6 4 3 © A J 10 9 2 ¨ 9 7 § K
ª A © K 4 ¨ K 10 4 § A J 10 9 7 6 2		ª J 8 7 2 © Q 8 7 5 ¨ 8 § Q 8 5 3
	ª Q 10 5 © 6 3 ¨ A Q J 6 5 3 2 § 4

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Kalish	Karaivanov	Podgur	Trendafilov
1§	2¨	All Pass

Well, would you seriously believe, with North showing majors and East passing, that you were the one and only to have missed a game by passing 2¨? Bulgaria a surprising +110.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Mihov	Barel	Nanev	Aviram
1§	1©	Pass	2¨
3§	Pass	3¨	Dble
3NT	Pass	4§	Pass
5§	All Pass

MIHOV Vladimir, Bulgaria

When Barel did not use a gadget but simply bid one of his suits, the Bulgarians were not tempted to lead themselves astray. They did what they had to do and duly reached their vulnerable game. When Mihov took the statistically and practically right view in trumps, he had 11 tricks. Bulgaria +600 and 12 IMPs more to lead by 22 again. A partscore swing brought their lead to 30 when the last board arrived. Would the Bulgarians get to the slam Israel had registered already long ago?

Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
	ª 9 8 6 © A K 9 6 5 4 ¨ Q 4 § 5 2
ª Q J 10 4 © - ¨ A 6 5 3 § A K Q J 4		ª K 7 5 2 © 10 3 2 ¨ K J 10 7 § 8 7
	ª A 3 © Q J 8 7 ¨ 9 8 2 § 10 9 6 3

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Kalish	Karaivanov	Podgur	Trendafilov
1§	2©	Dble	4©
4NT	Pass	5¨	Pass
5ª	Pass	6ª	All Pass

After 5ª, 4NT clearly was a three-suiter, so Podgur raised spades, not diamonds. After a heart lead, ruffed by declarer and a trump, best defence is to duck the first round of trumps, win the second perforce and return a club. With the entry position destroyed, declarer now has to guess the ¨Q as he needs an extra entry for a second heart ruff. When Trendafilov won the first spade and returned a heart the hand was over and Israel had a fine +1430.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Mihov	Barel	Nanev	Aviram
1§	2©	Dble	3©
Dble	Pass	4ª	All Pass

It may well be that 3© was a better tactical move than the 4© bid at the other table. This time it was successful in such a way that it gave the opponents room to find out that they might be lacking the full values for a slam. Thus, Bulgaria contented themselves with +680 but lost 13 IMPs to win the match 63-46 or 19-11 V.P.