Sunday
afternoon, Round 2
The second match on VuGraph featured neighbouring Norway playing
against the completely new Bulgarian team. None of the Bulgarian
players who became such familiar guests in these Championships are
playing, which made it difficult to predict the outcome of this
match. Another factor to be taken into account when predicting about
this match would be the absence of Geir Helgemo and Tor Helness,
though the Norwegian team playing here is by no means short of international
experience. The easiest of predictions came true very quickly: the
VuGraph audience were to enjoy a good match, be it very, very slow.
In fact, the first 8 boards took about an hour and a half…
As usual, boards 19 and 20 were shown first on Rama, but in this
match, nothing very much happened on them. When Board One hit the
wall, the fireworks were lit immediately.
Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
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|
ª A Q 8 7 5 3
© K Q 7
¨ K
§ A K Q |
ª 4 2
© A 9 8 3
¨ Q 9 8 7
§ J 10 8 |
![Bridge deal](/Graphics/Hand/board3.gif) |
ª K 10
© J 6
¨ A J 10 6 3 2
§ 7 5 4 |
|
ª J 9 6
© 10 5 4 2
¨ 5 4
§ 9 6 3 2 |
Closed Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Aronov |
Charlsen |
Stefanov |
Bentzen |
|
2ª |
3¨ |
Pass |
5¨ |
Dble |
All Pass |
|
Two Clubs was game forcing, so the Bulgarians decided to go all
out to disturb their opponents’ auction. In a way, they managed
this quite effectively but they had to pay the price for it. Down
three, +500 to Norway.
Open Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Brogeland |
Batov |
Saelensminde |
Dyakov |
|
1ª |
2ª |
Pass |
3¨ |
Dble |
Pass |
3© |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
4ª |
All Pass |
|
|
|
A transfer jump and a little preemptive raise were not enough to
terrify the Bulgarians. They duly reached their spade game and were
allowed to play there. Well judged by the Norwegians, who lost just
450 in this room to go into the lead by 2-0.
On the very next board, Bulgaria suffered a heavier loss when their
opponents outbid them at both tables:
Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
|
|
ª K 7 5
© K J
¨ A K Q 6 5 2
§ Q J |
ª 10 4
© 10 7 6 3
¨ J 10 8 7 4
§ 8 6 |
![Bridge deal](/Graphics/Hand/board3.gif) |
ª J 9 8 2
© A 9 8
¨ -
§ A K 10 5 4 2 |
|
ª A Q 6 3
© Q 5 4 2
¨ 9 3
§ 9 7 3 |
Closed Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Aronov |
Charlsen |
Stefanov |
Bentzen |
|
|
2ª |
Pass |
Pass |
3NT |
4ª |
All Pass |
As we all know, these protective 3NT-bids do not require a stopper
in the opponent’s suit any more. Either partner will have
it or offer the necessary help, or the suit will be blocked anyway.
Well, had South’s ª9 been the ª10, this modern approach would
have proved right once again. So East’s decision to believe
his opponent and retreat to 4ª can be considered completely reasonable.
On the actual lay-out, East was wrong, as he had no trump loser
after all. As the loss of two hearts and three spades was inevitable,
Norway chalked up a nice +100 in the Closed Room.
Open Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Brogeland |
Batov |
Saelensminde |
Dyakov |
|
|
1ª |
Pass |
1© |
Dble |
Redble |
2ª |
Pass |
3¨ |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
|
The redouble was support, showing exactly three hearts.The quiet
approach by the Norwegian EW worked out well. From the auction,
South was not able to deduce what was exactly going on in the club
suit, so he showed his heart stopper with 3NT over North’s
cautious 3¨ without minding the suit opened on his right. Perfectly
reasonable once again, but wrong: his ª9 should have been at least
the ª10.
This time, the price to pay was four tricks. With a club stopper,
there are ten tricks, without it the defenders could cash the first
seven tricks on either a heart or a club lead. This proved as easy
at the table as on paper, so another 300 to Norway for 9 more IMPs.
The score stood at 14-0 when Bulgaria struck their first blow,
and a big one too:
Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
|
|
ª A K J 10 2
© 9 6 4
¨ A 5
§ 9 6 3 |
ª 8 5
© J 10 3 2
¨ K 9
§ 10 8 7 5 4 |
![Bridge deal](/Graphics/Hand/board3.gif) |
ª 4
© A Q 8
¨ Q J 8 7 4 2
§ K Q J |
|
ª Q 9 7 6 3
© K 7 5
¨ 10 6 3
§ A 2 |
Closed Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Aronov |
Charlsen |
Stefanov |
Bentzen |
|
1ª |
2¨ |
4ª |
All Pass |
|
|
|
At this table, Norway overreached a little to a vulnerable game
that stood no chance because of the duplication in hearts. Bulgaria
+100
But in the Open Room:
Open Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Brogeland |
Batov |
Saelensminde |
Dyakov |
|
1ª |
Dble |
4ª |
4NT |
Pass |
5¨ |
Dble |
5© |
Pass |
Pass |
Dble |
All Pass |
|
|
|
![](../Graphics/Bul02/Nor-Charlsen.jpg) |
|
Thomas Charlsen, Norway |
|
Erik Saelensminde’s decision to double first would have been
perfectly practical if he would have had the chance to double 2ª
or 3ª later. After
Dyakov’s nice bounce to game Brogeland’s view was obscured.
A save looked a good proposition, with the spade game probably on,
but finding the right denomination was not so easy now. Of course,
5¨ is the best spot
though it still will go down three on a club ruff, but Brogeland
groped his way to 5©
on his rounded two-suiter. On a spade lead and continuation, dummy
has to ruff and declarer may run into serious trouble, but in the
end, he will land on his feet when trumps break 3-3 and restrict
his losses to 500.
Anyway, +100 and +500 was worth 12 IMPs and thus almost erased
the whole Bulgarian deficit. The match was fully open again.
Though both sides did well to beat a NT-game let through at a few
tables, nothing very much happened between boards 6 and 9. But then:
Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul.
|
|
ª A Q 8 6
© A K 9 8 7 2
¨ 8
§ 10 6 |
ª K 9 5
© 6 4
¨ Q 6
§ A K J 9 4 2 |
![Bridge deal](/Graphics/Hand/board3.gif) |
ª 7
© Q J 10 5
¨ A J 10 7 4
§ 7 5 3 |
|
ª J 10 4 3 2
© 3
¨ K 9 5 3 2
§ Q 8 |
Closed Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Aronov |
Charlsen |
Stefanov |
Bentzen |
|
|
Pass |
Pass |
1NT |
2ª |
2¨ |
3ª |
Pass |
4ª |
All Pass |
|
2ª of course showed majors.
How can you go down in 4ª? It looks as if you cannot lose more
than two clubs and a diamond, as the hearts can be set up with two
ruffs, drawing three rounds of trumps in the process. Well, this
is true, as we shall see, but Aronov and Stefanov produced a brilliant
defence to lead declarer astray. After cashing the three minor-suit
winners, Julian Stefanov simply continued a club. Now what should
declarer do?
If he ruffs in hand, he fatally shortens his trumps. He will not
be able to draw three rounds of trumps and ruff two hearts later
with only four trumps left. At the table, he ruffed the third round
of hearts with his last trump, but when Aronov could overruff Bentzen
was one down. Bulgaria +100.
If he ruffs in dummy, he will be short of entries to both ruff
out the hearts and enjoy the established suit. ©A, heart ruff, ªJ,
spade to the queen, heart ruff will not work as West will overruff.
Drawing the last trump makes dummy entryless.
The hand caused quite a discussion in the VuGraph Theatre. All
commentators were highly praising the defence, and rightly so, but
only after the match was over Barry Rigal, our Chief Commentator,
came up with the right solution.
Ruff in dummy, discarding your singleton HEART from hand. Now,
you can start ruffing hearts immediately, the ªQ providing the entry
for the second ruff in the suit and the ªA the entry to the established
hearts as well as the necessary move to draw the last trump. A magical
hand indeed!
Open Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Brogeland |
Batov |
Saelensminde |
Dyakov |
|
|
Pass |
Pass |
1ª |
1© |
1NT |
Pass |
Pass |
2© |
Pass |
Pass |
3ª |
All Pass |
|
|
In the Open Room, they would not have anything of all this when
Batov preferred a heart overcall. Thus, the spades were lost for
Bulgaria and so was the board, in spite of the pretty defence found
by their teammates. When NS did not cash all their tricks Brogeland
even made an overtrick to gain 1 more IMP for Norway.
The board below created large swings all over the place:
Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
|
|
ª A Q 10 7 3
© 3
¨ K 5
§ A Q 5 4 2 |
ª 2
© J 10 7 2
¨ Q J 10 7 4
§ J 9 6 |
![Bridge deal](/Graphics/Hand/board3.gif) |
ª 9 6 5 4
© 9 8 5 4
¨ 9 8 3
§ K 3 |
|
ª K J 8
© A K Q 6
¨ A 6 2
§ 10 8 7 |
Closed Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Aronov |
Charlsen |
Stefanov |
Bentzen |
Pass |
1ª |
Pass |
2© |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
4ª |
Pass |
4¨ |
Dble |
4© |
Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
5ª |
Pass |
5NT |
Pass |
6¨ |
Pass |
6ª |
All Pass |
|
|
|
Open Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Brogeland |
Batov |
Saelensminde |
Dyakov |
Pass |
1ª |
Pass |
2© |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
3ª |
Pass |
4ª |
Pass |
4¨ |
Dble |
4NT |
Pass |
5ª |
Pss |
5NT |
Pass |
6ª |
All Pass |
|
|
|
A very natural and nearly similar auction at both tables. In fact,
bidding the slam was not the issue, as nearly all tables reached
either 6ª or 6NT. Against proper defence, there is no legitimate
endplay, though EW may well run into trouble on the run of the spades.
In any case, West will have to keep all his three clubs. There are
several ways to tackle the club suit. One might cash the ªA first
and then lead up to the queen, one might as well use the 1087 in
dummy to triple-finesse the KJ9 and thus decide to run the ª7. The
latter play, executed on VuGraph by Dyakov, this time was the winning
line. Very well done and 17 IMPs back to Bulgaria who all of a sudden
were in the lead by 29-18.
They lost 6 and 5 on the next two boards, so with the scores about
level the last board flashed onto the screen:
Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
|
|
ª Q J 8 7
© Q 5
¨ A 8 5
§ K Q 8 2 |
ª A 10 5 4 3 2
© 10 6 4
¨ -
§ A 5 4 3 |
![Bridge deal](/Graphics/Hand/board3.gif) |
ª 9 6
© A J 8 3
¨ 6 3
§ J 10 9 7 6 |
|
ª K
© K 9 7 2
¨ K Q J 10 9 7 4 2
§ - |
Closed Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Aronov |
Charlsen |
Stefanov |
Bentzen |
|
|
Pass |
1¨ |
1ª |
3NT |
Pass |
4¨ |
Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
5¨ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
Well done, par reached and an overtrick when the defenders tried
to cash the ªA first. Norway +620.
Open Room: |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Brogeland |
Batov |
Saelensminde |
Dyakov |
|
|
Pass |
1¨ |
1ª |
Dble |
Pass |
2ª |
Dble |
3NT |
Pass |
4© |
Pass |
6ª |
Pass |
6¨ |
Dble |
All Pass |
|
|
On Rama, a clear Bulgarian misunderstanding was set to turn into
a sensational swing in their favour. Batov’s double of course
(?) promised hearts, so by bidding 2ª Dyakov was not only showing
a strong hand, but he was suggesting heart support too, as he proved
later by going from 3NT to 4©. This was not quite what Batov had
intended, so he thought it was time for some more positive action
now. Holding two aces, Brogeland duly doubled the final contract,
but now he had to find a lead. The commentators were predicting
a large swing to Bulgaria, as according to them the ªA (the ace
of Brogeland’s shorter suit) would be his most logical choice,
though this time it would result in 1540 to Bulgaria.
Under the eye of the TV camera, Boye Brogeland would have nothing
of all this. With lightning speed he selected a red card, the ©4,
as his opening lead, thus leaving all commentators speechless in
admiration. Erik Saelensminde won the ace, not thinking about playing
the ©J or that sort of thing, and quickly finished off the good
work by returning the ª9.
So the last board of this long session quite unexpectedly took
little time to produce a swing in the unexpected direction. The
+100 to Norway at this table made it 12 IMPs for the board and gave
them a 17-13 V.P. win, 43-32 in IMPs.
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