A troublesome start for the Netherlands

By Kees Tammens

Working with Dutch Juniors since the European Championships in Palaiseau in 1992, the first days of a tournament are always very exciting for the coach. How will the pairs cope with the conditions? Will the discussions about the bidding system have any positive results? Will all players be able to concentrate?

Mysterious forces in sport seem to influence sportsmen in unpredictable ways. Form is a fascinating phenomenon. As for the Dutch juniors, in the first four matches there seemed to happen nothing in favour of the Dutch; the cards had syrup on the backs and clouds flew through the minds.

The problems were often too hard to handle:

What would you bid as East with:

ª Q 2 © A 5 ¨ A Q J 9 2 § A 10 9 2

Vulnerable, after a tedious start by the German opponents in Round 1?

Board 19. Dealer South. East/West Vul.
	ª K 10 5 © Q 10 4 ¨ K 10 8 7 3 § K 5
ª A J 9 7 6 © 8 7 3 ¨ - § Q J 7 6 3		ª Q 2 © A 5 ¨ A Q J 9 2 § A 10 9 2
	ª 8 4 3 © K J 9 6 2 ¨ 6 5 4 § 8 4

West	North	East	South
			2¨
Pass	3©	???

Drijver Bas, Netherlands

Double with only doubleton in spades? Or 3NT as the obvious move? Bas Drijver chose 3NT and now the ball was in the corner of West, Maarten Schollaardt. Did partner hold a heart stopper and seven solid diamonds or was he strong and balanced. West gambled on the first - wrong he was. 3NT was one down with 5§ or 4ª cold, and 12 IMPs away against 5§ at the other table. The Dutch recovered on the last board of the match:

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

West	North	East	South
Pass	1§	Pass	1¨
Pass	1©	Pass	3©
Pass	4©	Pass	Pass
Dble	All Pass

An uncharacteristic pass by West, first in hand, and a very speculative double started and ended the bidding. East led a diamond for the jack and queen and West returned a spade, ducked to ªK and the ª10 came back. Declarer took with the ªJ and played two rounds of trumps with ©Q and ©K. The ¨K was covered with the ace and ruffed with ©J, followed by the©A, then two rounds of spades, East discarding his last diamond. A club was ruffed and the ¨10 ruffed by East, who played §K and a club to the ace for down two and +500 for a 9 IMP gain against the 100 (4© undoubled down one) at the other table, good for a small win (16-14).

Look what could have happened if declarer takes ªQ at trick three and plays ¨K to the ¨A and ©9. One round of trumps is drawn with the ©A (did not the double reveal a four-one break?). Two rounds of spades are played and East may not ruff as declarer then throws a club from dummy and dummy is high. So East discards his diamond and dummy's club goes anyway. A club is ruffed, followed by a good diamond, North discarding a club. East can ruff and play a trump back but dummy is again high, while a club return is ruffed in dummy and declarer crossruffs the last three tricks with ©QJ and ©K, East under-ruffing!!

Match two against the Greek on vugraph.

Proverbially, you expect some Greek gifts but the Greek juniors decided to give nothing away for free.
On Board 5 The Netherlands 'struck' for the first time, bidding and making 4ª doubled with two overtricks, beating the 5ª doubled and just made by the Greeks at the other table. The Greek juniors decided not to weaken and played a tough game. A lucky twitch gave the Dutch a non-vulnerable game.

Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª A 9 7 3 © 9 3 ¨ A Q 9 6 2 § K 8
ª K Q J © A J 4 ¨ 10 5 3 § 7 4 3 2		ª 6 5 4 © Q 8 5 ¨ 8 4 § Q J 10 9 6
	ª 10 8 2 © K 10 7 6 2 ¨ K J 7 § A 5

West	North	East	South
	1¨	Pass	1©
Pass	1ª	Pass	2§
Pass	2NT	All Pass

The Greeks stopped in a partscore with 3NT only depending on ©A. Drijver/Schollaardt certainly would bid on to game and with §QJ1096 on lead 3NT would be defeated in due time.

West	North	East	South
	1¨	Pass	1©
Pass	1ª	Pass	2§
Pass	2ª	Pass	2NT
Pass	3NT	All Pass

North, Bas Drijver, is a fervent adversary of bidding NT on ace-doubleton in the suit the opponents are likely to lead. So he answered 2ª to his partner's fourth suit, to express a good hand with five diamonds and four spades (with five spades North opens 1ª) and with six diamonds and five spades North bids 3ª after 2§.

Now West was on lead. A club from the not very promising four-card suit? No, ªK looked more aggressive. Declarer won the ªA and played a spade back for nine tricks and an 18-12 win.

The Netherlands started well against the Italians in the next round but lost their advantage on Board 9 where a peculiar convention had a good result.

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

West	North	East	South
	Lo Presti		Mazzadi
	3¨	3ª	Pass
Pass	4§	Pass	4ª
Pass	4NT	Pass	5ª
Pass	5NT	Pass	6§
Pass	7§	All Pass

3¨ showed either a pre-empt in hearts or a game-forcing heart/club two-suiter. South showed the ªA with 4ª and again with 5ª. North tried for seven with 5NT and surprisingly bid it himself when South signed off in 6§. Nobody knows why but the result satisfied the Italians.

Both Dutch pairs made some minor mistakes until another Italian slam decided the match.

Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.
	ª 8 © A K J 7 ¨ A 10 3 § K 8 7 3 2
ª K Q 5 3 © 9 4 ¨ J 9 2 § A Q 9 5		ª J 10 9 7 2 © Q 10 8 5 2 ¨ 6 § 10 6
	ª A 6 4 © 6 3 ¨ K Q 8 7 5 4 § J 4

West	North	East	South
	Lo Presti		Mazzadi
	2§	Pass	2¨
Pass	2©	Pass	2ª
Pass	3ª	Pass	4¨
Pass	4©	Pass	4ª
Pass	5§	Pass	6¨
All Pass

The juniors have inherited some Italian magic in slam bidding. The club ace lay friendly and there were no other bad breaks so Italy scored 1370 and the Dutch had to swallow a nasty defeat (8-22).

Schollaardt Maarten, Netherlands

The Dutch team makes no secret of its desire to compete for the prizes but after this start everybody was rather quiet. Time for npc, Schelte Wijma, assisted by the coach, to boost the confidence before the match in the fourth round against Scotland. The Scottish juniors maybe are inexperienced but they gave the Dutch a fierce battle. And again Board 20 decided the final margin.

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

West	North	East	South
1¨	Pass	1ª	Pass
2§	2©	2NT	All Pass

Two Hearts by North on the second round of bidding! An exotic psychic the elderly coach never saw before (and would advise his players not to do). In these days of take-out doubles East could not double 2© for penalties so 2NT became the final contract making eight tricks while the Scottish East/West pair bid 4© and scrambled home ten tricks for a nice 620. Netherlands booked a modest win (18-12) but still remains hidden in the middle of the rankings.