1st European Open Bridge Championships

Bridge is still a Sport II

The French Women’s team Louis Vuitton dominated their qualifying group and were assured of first place well before the end. They were one of the teams affected by the duplicating errors and they could easily have conceded the match 0-18. However, the last qualification spot in their group was still open and rather than hand it on a plate to their last round opponents they played the match.

To Catherine D’Ovidio, Danielle Allouche, Sylvie Willard, and Bénédicte Cronier we simply say:

Bravo!

The expert has many qualities, not least his ability to judge how high to bid in a competitive auction. This deal – and the player in the South seat – from the first session of the Mixed pairs final caught my eye.

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

If partner has perfect cards you might make a game, but in my opinion the odds are very much against it. You can be reasonably sure that you will only be facing three card support, so even if the opposing honours are well placed you may not be able to get to dummy often enough to take advantage.

Of course you want to compete, and to my mind the obvious bid is Three Clubs, still keeping the possibility alive, albeit remote, that you side has a game. If the auction then goes pass – 3© you can call it a day.

At the table where I was watching North, in my opinion a very strong player, bid a direct Four Hearts, and recorded -200.

Jean-Paul Meyer 3§; Sabine Auken 3§; Eric Kokish 3§; P.O.Sundelin 3§; Just to complete the picture I asked Ron Tacchi who voted for Double (not necessarily fatal, but it might encourage partner to double a diamond partscore, which would not be a good idea on this layout.)

What does this prove? Only that in the heat of battle a theortically correct bid is sometimes replaced by a practical one.

When the Faeroe Islands met the Dutch team Net Onstein in the fifth round of the teams round robin Jan Bomhof took advantage of some lacklustre play by his opponents.

Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	ª A 9 6 © 8 7 4 2 ¨ J 2 § J 7 3 2
ª K Q 10 7 4 © 10 9 ¨ Q 10 3 § A Q 6		ª 8 5 3 © Q ¨ K 9 6 5 4 § 10 9 8 5
	ª J 2 © A K J 6 5 3 ¨ A 8 7 § K 4

West	North	East	South
Andersen	v.d.Neut	Novrup	Bomhof
		Pass	1©
1ª	2©	Pass	4©
All Pass

West led the king of spades and East contributed a lazy five – playing reverse count the eight is much clearer. Now West was unsure of the distribution so she switched to a heart. Declarer took the queen with the ace, drew the outstanding trump (it would have been a good idea for East to play the three of spades to this trick) and played a low diamond. Now West really ought to play low but she put up the queen. Still in the dark about the spade position she returned a diamond. Declarer won, ruffed a diamond and ran his trumps. The last one was fatal for West, who had to part with the queen of clubs in order to retain the spade guard. Declarer simply discarded a spade from dummy and then ducked a club, setting up the king.

East berated himself for his play in spades, but he had missed a way to recover. All he has to do is overtake the queen of diamonds and play a club (or for that matter a spade.)

One of the secrets of good defence is to envisage a layout that will give you a chance to defeat the contract.

Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª 8 6 5 © A 9 7 ¨ K 6 5 2 § K 10 7
ª A K J 9 7 4 © Q 8 6 ¨ 10 4 3 § 8		ª Q 3 © K 10 5 2 ¨ A Q 7 § J 5 4 2
	ª 10 2 © J 4 3 ¨ J 9 8 § A Q 9 6 3

West	North	East	South
	Justin		Jason
	Pass	1NT	Pass
2©*	Pass	2ª	Pass
4ª	All Pass

South led the eight of diamonds and declarer played low from dummy. It was difficult for North to read the position, and he put up the king, taken by the ace. Trumps were drawn in three rounds and then declarer played a heart to the ten and South’s jack. Justin realised there was only one way to defeat the contract and he underled his club honours. Jason was able to win and he switched to a diamond, setting up a fourth trick for the defence.

It was much easier at the other table, as North was on lead and his choice of a diamond meant declarer had no chance.

However, while writing up this deal it occurred to me that there might be away for declarer to make the contract as long as East is the declarer. It requires declarer to do two good things. The first is to put up the ten of diamonds at trick one. North plays the king as before and declarer wins and draws trumps. He then exits with a club. Say North wins and plays a diamond. Declarer wins, ruffs a club and plays a trump. After this trick, these cards remain:


	ª - © A 9 7 ¨ 6 § 10
ª 9 © Q 8 6 ¨ 4 § -		ª - © K 10 5 ¨ 7 § J
	ª - © J 4 3 ¨ J § A

Now declarer plays a heart to the king, ruffs the last club and exits with a diamond forcing South to lead away from the jack of hearts.

A successful gambler, it is said, knows when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. Michael Barel, captain of an Israeli squad in the Open Teams, found himself faced with a variation of that theme on this deal from the sixth qualifying round. His partner was Ranny Schneider. The opponents were a strong team from Poland.

Board 30. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª A K Q 6 4 © 9 2 ¨ 6 5 4 § 7 5 3
ª 10 9 8 7 5 3 2 © 5 3 ¨ 10 8 § 6 4		ª J © A K Q J 6 ¨ A K Q 9 § K Q 10
	ª - © 10 8 7 4 ¨ J 7 3 2 § A J 9 8 2

West	North	East	South
Schneider		Barel
		2§	Pass
2ª	Pass	3NT	Pass
4ª	Dble	4NT	Pass
Pass	Dble	All Pass

West’s 2ª bid was to play, showing length in the suit but a weak hand. Barel was looking at nine tricks, so he bid what he thought he could make. West’s conversion to 4ª is certainly reasonable – he didn’t really want to put that long suit down in dummy in a notrump contract. North, of course, also had a point with his first double – 4ª had no chance at all.

Barel didn’t like the sound of North’s double, so he ran back to notrump. North took exception to this contract as well. Had South been able to lead a spade, there would be no story to tell. As you can see, a spade lead from South was impossible.

Barel won the opening lead of the ©8 and ran off five rounds of the suit. He then played the §Q, and South had no winning options. If he won the §A, he would have to give declarer his 10th trick with his return – a club into the K-10 or a diamond away from the jack. Either one would present Barel with trick number 10.

South ducked, but Barel had another string to his bow. He cashed three rounds of diamonds, throwing South in with the jack and forcing him to surrender the 10th trick in clubs. Ten tricks for declarer provided the unusual score of plus 610.

At the other table, Barel’s teammates managed plus 100 against 4ª. That was a gain of 12 IMPs. It was not enough for the Israelis to win the match, but they qualified for the Swiss A anyway.