Sweden vs Bulgaria
Semifinal – 2nd
session
by Peter Ventura
Sweden made a solid impression in the 1st session and was
leading by 23 to 1 at the start of Session 2.
|
Board 14 - E/None
|
| |
ª J 9 5 3 2
© K Q 2
¨ Q 4
§ K Q 3 |
ª A K 10 6 4
© J
¨ 10
§ J 9 7 6 5 2 |
 |
ª Q 8 7
© 6 5
¨ A J 9 7 6
§ 10 8 4 |
| |
ª -
© A 10 9 8 7 4 3
¨ K 8 5 3 2
§ A |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Sylvan |
Iporski |
Sundelin |
Kovachev |
| |
|
Pass |
1© |
| 1ª |
2¨* |
2ª |
3¨ |
| Pass |
4© |
Pass |
4ª* |
| Pass |
6© |
All Pass |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Karaivanov |
Bertheau |
Trendafilov |
Nystrom |
| |
|
Pass |
1© |
| 2©* |
Dble |
2ª |
4¨ |
| Pass |
5© |
Pass |
6© |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
Iporski’s 2¨
was an invitational raise in hearts and now Kovachev had no
problem to reach the slam.
With as little as the king of hearts and ace second in diamonds
the grand slam would be the spot to be, but on Bertheau’s
5© Nyström
at the other table made the right move to bid 6.
Just looking at North/South’s cards 6©
seems to be the perfect contract. You can discard two diamonds
on high clubs and if hearts splits 2-1 there will be an easy
way to twelve tricks. Even with a 3-0 trump split you’ll
succeed when diamonds split evenly. As you can see West can
find the killing diamond lead to defeat the slam, but neither
Sylvan or Karaivanov wanted to do so and the contract was
made at both tables after a top spade lead.
On Board 23 Iporski had a good chance to give Bulgaria a
nice swing. Signor Horton will write about it somewhere else
in this bulletin.
|
Board 24 - W/None
|
| |
ª Q 3
© K 5
¨ A Q J 10 5 4 2
§ 7 2 |
ª 10 7 5 2
© Q 10 7
¨ -
§ K Q 9 8 6 5 |
|
ª A J 8
© 9 6 2
¨ 9 8 7 3
§ A 10 4 |
| |
ª K 9 6 4
© A J 8 4 3
¨ K 6
§ J 3 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Sylvan |
Iporski |
Sundelin |
Kovachev |
| Pass |
1¨ |
Pass |
1© |
| 2§ |
2¨ |
3§ |
3¨ |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Karaivanov |
Bertheau |
Trendafilov |
Nystrom |
| Pass |
2¨ |
Pass |
2© |
| Pass |
2NT |
Pass |
3NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
Ten tricks in 3¨ would have been a flat board, but when the
Swedish youngsters reached 3NT some IMPs were going to be
distributed. Trendafilov made no mistake by cashing ªA, noticing
partners ª2, then §A and another club; three down and 7 IMPs
to Bulgaria.
The Swedes kept on doing their work in the 2nd session and
the score with only 12 boards to play was 49-15.
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