All about Turkey and Turkish bridge players.

By Kees Tammens

Following junior bridge matches is always great fun, and sometimes a cause for heartache if you are the coach of one of the pairs. In the 16th round of this championship a special match took place. Turkey versus the Netherlands; not only important because of the Junior EC but also decisive for who would become the champion of the Admiral Botel, the beautiful boat in the Moldau in which both teams have resided throughout the tournament. The Dutch always play exiting matches against their Turkish opponents. In days long gone the writer of this article fought hard battles with players like Ozdil and Zorlu. We, the Dutch, have good memories of Antalya (2000), where we won the silver medal. Never have we been in a more perfectly organised or better-resorted championship than that! Being an astute player of games like Yannick and 101, I am a frequent visitor of Turkish coffee houses in Amsterdam, so I have made a lot of Turkish and Armenian friends. During a visit to Istanbul in 2003 I won a game and collected my first millions: 95 to be exact. Unfortunately that is equivalent to only about 20 Euros! And on that same holiday my wife (she won the Venice Cup in 2000) and I were really slaughtered in an IMP game in a very fine Istanbul bridge club. And I look forward to the Olympiad 2004 and Universidade in Istanbul. Anyway, getting to the Turkey v Netherlands match. After eight boards the score was 32-6 in favour of the Turks. Then came a board which I don’t know whether to place i in the good, the bad or the ugly category.

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

The Netherlands bid up to 3NT for +430 and the board really did not seem very promising. Doga Seker and Serhat Paksoy (sorry guys, no harm meant, I owe you a drink) thought the time was right to sponsor the Dutch.

West	North	East	South
-	1¨	Pass	2§
Pass	2¨	Pass	2ª
Pass	2NT	Pass	3¨
Pass	3ª	Pass	4§
Pass	4¨	Pass	4©
Pass	4NT	Pass	5¨
Pass	6¨	Pass	Pass
Dble	Pass	Pass	Rdbl
All Pass

You can put many question marks against this bidding sequence which will have driven Aydin Ata , the Turkish coach, probably completely mad. The bidding, I believe, must be considered as an entry for the BAD. The Lightner double asked for a spade lead, ruffed, after which declarer, in desolation, lost a trick to three kings for –1000, 16 IMPs for the Netherlands. The momentum had changed and the Dutch went on to win 21-9 to become the Admiral champions for 2004.

Having lunch in one of the many fine restaurants surrounding the Narodni Dum, all of a sudden the song ‘Blinded by the night’ by Manfred Mann was played. That reflects the way some boards are being handled by the juniors. In probably one of the biggest swings of this tournament the Netherlands took 17 IMPs from Portugal, who will consider the board as UGLY.

West	North	East	South
-	3¨	Pass	3NT
All Pass

Richard Ritmeijer opened an average junior 3¨ after which 3NT was clear-cut for south, Erwin Barendregt. Of course you have six/seven tricks in diamonds plus three in hearts if opponents led that suit. Who cares now days about stoppers in the black suits?

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

West	North	East	South
-	3¨	Pass	3NT
All Pass

Richard Ritmeijer opened an average junior 3¨ after which 3NT was clearcut for South, Erwin Barendregt. Of course you have six/seven tricks in diamonds plus three in hearts if the opponents lead that suit. Who cares nowadays about stoppers in the black suits?

The lead was §2 and seven down seemed a likely result. East took §A and returned §4(blocking the suit), §9 and §Q from West, who took §K and played a club for §10 from East. A small spade,ª2, at this moment should promise ªK and West could take ªA, the fifth club, followed by ªQ overtaken in East for seven down. Alas, East played ©Q and declarer had nine tricks and +600. But even –700 would have given the Dutch a plus.

West	North	East	South
-	Pass	2¨	Pass
2ª	Pass	Pass	2NT
Pass	3§	Dble	3©
Pass	4¨	Pass	Pass
4ª	Dble	All Pass

East, Andor van Munnen and, especially West, Merijn Groenenboom, produced really astonishing bidding. First you give the impression that opponents are going to play the hand. In the dying position, as a magician you take 4ª out of your high hat, although after the double of 3§ this became certainly a possibility. It was North who doubled and led the singleton club for eleven tricks and +990 to Netherlands and 17 IMPs.

A nice psychological move can be categorized as GOOD

All Vul. Dealer West.
	ª J 9 6 © A Q 7 5 4 2 ¨ K 9 § K 2
ª K 75 © J 6 ¨ A 87 § A 10 8 5 3		ª A 10 8 © 9 8 3 ¨ Q 6 4 3 § J 9 7
	ª Q 4 3 2 © K 10 ¨ J 10 5 2 § Q 6 4

West	North	East	South
1§	1©	Pass	1NT
Pass	2NT	All Pass

After the lead of a small club for §K in dummy, 2NT seemed in danger of going down. Declarer, Ruben Buijs from the Netherlands wanted to conceal his king of hearts, and playing a heart for the king then a small spade or diamond from South would make things very clear for the defenders. So Ruben came up with a very delicate card. To trick two he played ¨K from dummy and West let this hold the trick, so declarer ran for home with six tricks in hearts. East/West was Greece and this play could easily be considered the opposite of a Greek gift.