A top match of the tournament

Dani Vikor Hungary

In Round 15 there was an interesting result in the Open series that seems to have been forgotten by the authors of the bulletin (There are interesting results in every round, but there are restrictions on space. Editor.) Hungary beat Poland 25-3 VP, probably a considerably important result in terms of the final outcome of the tournament.

In the Closed room it seemed to be very normal, that Chmursky and Pucinsky of Poland made a +0,6 imp average against Trenka and Kemény of Hungary, which is a + 12 IMP’s Butler score against the field.

In the Open room, Balicki and Zmudzinski, top pair of Poland met Peter Gal and Dani Vikor, top pair of Hungary, and this fight finished with a 78 IMP plus for the Hungarian pair.

Let’s see what happened step by step.

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

Trenka and Kemény found the lay down slam, + 920, but in the Open room it was not so easy for the Polish:

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	1§*
2©	Dble*	3©	3NT
Pass	4§	Pass	4¨
Pass	5§	All Pass

- 420, and 11 IMPs for Hungary

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

Both rooms played 4ª from East’s hand, the opening lead was §Q in the Closed room, and a heart return from South defeated the contract. In the Open room it was the ¨K opening lead, and an easy 10 tricks, 12 IMPs for Hungary.

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

A common mistake of the Hungarians, they played 6NT in the Closed room, loosing the spade finesse, -100. In the Open room, B-Z bid very effectively:

West	North	East	South
Pass	1§*	Pass	2¨
Pass	2NT	Pass	4NT
All Pass

Considering the chances, that you need the spade finesse and a favourable diamond break, it was a well deserved 13 IMPs for Poland.

Board 7, was the first really interesting deal. In the Closed room, Hungary made 5§ doubled, 11 tricks, + 750 Hungary.

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

In the Open room, B and Z were not on the same wavelength:

West	North	East	South
			1¨
2¨*	Pass	2NT*	3NT*
Pass	Pass	4ª	All Pass

N	E	S	W
		1D	2D
P	2NT	3NT	P
P	4S	P	P
P

2D is both majors, 2NT asking, 3NT was meant by Z as ¨+§, and but interpreted as natural by Balicki.

The opening lead was the ace of diamonds and at rrick two a small club was won by East’s singleton ace. Now it is a simple elimination play if South is 2-1 in the majors, but going with trumps to the dummywill mean that the elimination doesn’t work anymore. The problem is, that probably South has the ace of hearts. If North has two hearts, there will be a heart ruff, and the contract is lost. If North has three hearts, what kind of natural 3 NT could have had South?

You cannot try both distributions, because if you cash the trumps, dummy can be shortened if South plays diamonds all the time.

East decided correctly, to play a heart to the ten at trick 4, risking the heart ruff. South played another diamond, ruffed by dummy, but after a club ruff, daimond ruff and heart finesse again, South had no more good cards to play. + 620 and 16 IMPs for Hungary.

On board 8 came a decisive moment of the match.

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

In the Closed room, Hungary played 6©. The contract had only one loser, butonly eleven winners, Hungary -50.

In the Open room, the bidding was agressive:

West	North	East	South
Pass	1¨	4ª	Dble
All Pass

The opening lead was the queen of diamonds, and with it came a perfect dummy, so the result was in East’s hands.

Vikor ruffed the diamond and played trump to North’s ace, who returned the king of hearts followed by a small heart to South’s ace. When the third round of hearts was played, and ruffed, Vikor could read the distribution: North had ¨AK, ©KQ and ªA, 16 HCP. South had ¨QJ, and ©A, 7 HCP only. It seemed to be a bit weak for a double showing points, so the queen of clubs rated to be with South.

Vikor played two more trumps, then the king of clubs and a small club to the jack. When it held, declarer had + 590 and 11 IMPs for Hungary.

After some small incomes for both side, came the last big swing.

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

In the Closed room, Poland played 4ª, making twelve tricks and +680 points.

In the Open room, it was well done again:

West	North	East	South
1¨	1©	Dble	Pass
1ª	3©	4NT	Pass
5ª	Pass	6ª	All Pass

Double showed at least four spades, 1ª was normally three cards, 4NT was RKCB, 5ª shows 2/5 + ªQ. Now East had to take a risk, that spades might be badly distributed, but when they proved to be 3-2 the contract was claimed, +1430 and 13 IMPs for Hungary.

On the last deal it was a great fight again.

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

In the Closed room, Hungary made the lay down 4©, + 620.

In the Open there was some very exciting bidding:

West	North	East	South
1¨	Pass	1ª	2©
Pass	3©	4¨	4©
4ª	Pass	Pass	Dble
All Pass

West’s pass after 2© denied three spades, (lack of support double), and 4¨ was meant as an offer to sacrifize over 4©. Gal’s 4ª bid is a killing solution, not just taking the sacrifice, but in the right colour! Although Balicki found the diamond ruff at trick 3, after ªK lead, and small club to his king at trick two, it was only -500 and 4 IMPs for Hungary.

It was a good match, sometimes also lucky, and the (many) spectators liked it, and it was not over…

I would like to say special thanks for Adam Zmudzinski. I met him yesterday, three days after our match, and he stopped for some minutes and he was very kind with me. It is important for me, because it shows that a real champion can live together with the feeling, that in one match, someone was better than he was, and this attitude is not very common in the bridge community.