Schools Round 14

With two rounds to play in the Schools Championship, Poland led Israel by 5 VPs. In Round 14, Poland appeared to have much the easier task, facing as they did the next-to-bottom team, Scotland, while Israel played England. Perhaps Poland could add sufficiently to their lead that they would be under little or no pressure going into their final match against third-placed The Netherlands, when it would be the turn of Israel to face the lowly-ranked Scots.

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

Poland v Scotland
West	North	East	South
Wallace	Sikora	Pearson	Kalita
		1§	Pass
1¨	2©	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Karkowicz	Maitland	Zielinski	Aitken
		2NT	Pass
3§	3©	All Pass

Israel v England
West	North	East	South
E Assaraf	Moss	Grunbaum	Brown
		Pass	Pass
Pass	1©	2NT	3©
Pass	4©	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Stockdale	Ofir	Happer	O Assaraf
		Pass	Pass
Pass	1©	2NT	3©
4§	4©	Pass	Pass
5§	Dble	All Pass

A peaceful board in the Poland v Scotland match, with the Scots picking up 1 IMP for +200 against +170 in the heart partscores. There was more action in Israel v England.

Both Easts passed as dealer but then came in with an unusual 2Nt overcall. Moss/Brown now bid to 4© for England and were left to play there. We have seen a lot of tricks being made in a heart partscore but perhaps game would prove to be more taxing? The opening lead was a trump to West's ace and Eran Assaraf switched to a low club for the king and ace. Idan Grunbaum cashed the §Q and played a third club. Declarer ruffed, cashed the ©K and ¨K and crossed to dummy to take a pitch on the ¨A. With no more entries to dummy, it would seem that declarer has no choice but to play for the actual spade position and get lucky, but in practice he took a spade finesse and was one down; -100. If declarer intended to take the double finesse, he should have played to have two dummy entries with which to do so.

At the other table Israel also reached the heart game but Susan Stockdale decided to take the save in 5§. No doubt she was bidding with one eye on the vulnerability, but she might also have considered that even in a sacrifice you do need to take a fair number of tricks and her hand was not likely to provide all that many facing a passed partner, for all that he had promised a two-suiter. Five Clubs doubled was four down for -800 and 14 IMPs to Israel.

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

Poland v Scotland
West	North	East	South
Wallace	Sikora	Pearson	Kalita
	Pass	2¨	Pass
2©	Pass	3§	Pass
3NT	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Karkowicz	Maitland	Zielinski	Aitken
	Pass	1§	1©
Dble	Pass	2§	Pass
3¨	Pass	4§	Pass
6NT	All Pass

Gordon Pearson showed an eight/nine playing trick hand based on a long strong club suit. David Wallace took the rather pessimistic view to settle for 3NT, probably because he didn't like his small singleton club. That proved not to be a problem and after a diamond lead to the ace there were twelve tricks; +490 to Scotland.

Piotr Zielinski's Polish Club attracted a 1© overcall from Kirsten Aitken and a negative double from Wlodzimierz Karkowicz. The 2§ rebid showed the strong club