Denmark v France – Juniors Round 4

The Monday evening vugraph match featured two of the well-fancied teams in the Junior Championship, Denmark and France, while we wil also take a look at England v Serbia/Montenegro.

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

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Schaltz	T Bessis	Gjaldbaek	Gaviard
1§	Pass	1¨	Pass
1ª	Pass	2¨	Pass
3¨	Pass	3ª	Pass
4¨	Pass	5¨	All Pass

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
O Bessis	Houmoller	de Tessieres	Jensen
1§	Pass	1¨	Pass
1ª	Pass	1NT	All Pass

After identical starts to the two auctions, I have a strong preference for Kare Gjaldbaek's 2¨ rebid with the East cards over Godefroy de Tessieres' undescriptive 1NT. However, the IMPs went to de Tessieres' French team. He was left to play 1NT and made nine tricks on a pretty soft defence; +150.

Martin Schaltz raised Gjaldbaek's 2¨ rebid to 3¨ and now Gjaldbaek decided to bid on. Perhaps, when Schaltz could only bid 4¨ over 3ª, Gjaldbaek should have settled for the partscore, but he went on to game. Julien Gaviard led the ©Q and, had he been allowed to hold the trick, could not have defeated the contract. But Thomas Bessis accurately overtook and fired back a trump. Gjaldbaek had no winning option now. When he chose to finesse, Gaviard won the king and played a second trump. Gjaldbaek had only one heart ruff in dummy now so was two down for –200 and 8 IMPs to France.

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

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Schaltz	T Bessis	Gjaldbaek	Gaviard
-	Pass	1NT	3§
Dble	3ª	Pass	Pass
Dble	Pass	4©	Pass
Pass	Dble	All Pass

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
O Bessis	Houmoller	de Tessieres	Jensen
-	Pass	Pass	3¨
Dble	Pass	3©	All Pass

Gjaldbaek's 1NT opening was not quite as shaded as it may appear as the Danes play 1NT as 9-13 at favourable vulnerability – what's a point between friends? Gaviard made a transfer jump overcall and Schaltz doubled. Now I think Bessis should have passed, intending to pull Gaviard's likely 3¨ to 3ª to get both black suits into the game. His immediate 3ª looks wrong but worked out just fine when Gjaldbaek did not agree with Schaltz about the meaning of the second double.

Three Spades doubled would have been ugly for Bessis, but 4© was almost as bad for Gjaldbaek, making his bid a very expensive decision indeed. Gaviard cashed ace and king of diamonds and continued with the ¨10, which Gjaldbaek ruffed high. He proceeded to cash the other two top trumps then play a spade off dummy. Bessis took the ace and gave his partner a spade ruff. Gaviard could draw dummy's last trump and cash the ¨Q for down three; –500.

In the Closed Room, Sejr Andreas Jensen wa sleft to open the South hand in third seat. His 3¨ pre-empt was doubled by Olivier Bessis and de Tessieres and responed 3©, where he played. This time the contract was just one down for –50 but 10 IMPs to France.

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

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Schaltz	T Bessis	Gjaldbaek	Gaviard
-	-	-	Pass
1§	1ª	2©	Pass
3§	Pass	3ª	Pass
3NT	Pass	4§	Pass
4ª	Pass	4NT	Pass
5§	Pass	6§	All Pass

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
O Bessis	Houmoller	de Tessieres	Jensen
-	-	-	2¨
Pass	2©	2NT	Pass
3¨	Pass	3NT	Pass
Pass	Dble	Pass	Pass
5§	All Pass

I don't mind Schaltz's light 1§ opening, though I am sure it would not be to everyone's taste. However, someone did just a little too much later on as slam is poor, particularly after North's spade overcall. Perhaps Schaltz should not make the 4ª cuebid. Sure, it is what partner needs to hear for slam purposes, but all too often the cuebid will lead to an inevitable slam being reached, and after the overcall West has a 7-count for his opening bid, does he not? Shouldn't he try to cool partner's enthusiasm?

Bessis led a diamond against 6§ and Schaltz ran it to Gaviard's jack. He rose with the ace on the spade switch and played §J to king and ace. There were two black losers from here so the contract was down two for –200.
In the Closed Room, 3¨ was not explained but, perhaps was Stymanic, as that might at least give some excuse for Houmoller's double of 3NT if it suggested a spade lead. Otherwise it was very aggressive whatever it meant. Five Clubs was OK after a heart lead, enabling Olivier Bessis to set up a second heart trick at no risk. He lost just a club and a spade for +600 and 13 IMPs to France.

You are looking at:

Partner shows something around a 21-count, balanced. Do you leave him to play 2NT or transfer to 3©? On Board 11 the winning choice was to pass 2NT, as did Julien Gaviard, who saw his partner make eight tricks for +120. In the other room the contract was 3© by South and this went two down courtesy of a dreadful trump stack over dummy's ace-queen doubleton; 6 IMPs to France.

Board .15 N/SVul. Dealer South.
	ª Q 5 4 © Q 10 7 3 ¨ J 7 6 § K 5 2
ª 10 2 © 9 8 2 ¨ Q 8 4 3 § A J 6 4		ª A 6 © K J ¨ A K 5 2 § Q 9 8 7 3
	ª K J 9 8 7 3 © A 6 5 4 ¨ 10 9 § 10

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Schaltz	T Bessis	Gjaldbaek	Gaviard
-	-	-	Pass
Pass	Pass	1§	1ª
2§	2ª	3§	3ª
All Pass

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
O Bessis	Houmoller	de Tessieres	Jensen
-	-	-	2ª
Pass	Pass	Dble	Pass
3§	Pass	3NT	All Pass

Jensen was willing to open a weak 2ª on the South cards despite holding four hearts, while Gaviard was not. That decision led to two quite different auctions.

Two Spades went round to de Tessieres who doubled for take-out then converted the value-promising 3§ response to 3NT. A spade lead would have beaten 3NT easily but Jensen believed the ªAQ to be on his right and tried the ¨10 instead. De Tessieres won the diamond and cleared the clubs. After the spade switch he ran for home with nine tricks for +400.

Gaviard overcalled 1ª and competed to 3ª when his partner could support him. Schaltz cashed the ace of clubs then switched to a diamond. Gjaldbaek won and played two more rounds of diamonds and had to come to a spade and a heart for down one; –100 but 7 IMPs to France.

That made it 44-14 to France. There were a couple of minor swings then the teams exchanged game swings on the last two deals to leave a final score of 58-29 IMPs to France, converting to 21-9 VPs.