France v Sweden – Juniors Round 14 For France and Sweden, two teams lying close to the five top teams, a big win in this match in Round 14 would have given their prospects a helpful boost. Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.   ♠ 10 9 ♥ Q J 10 9 3 2 ♦ 2 ♣ A Q 9 6 ♠ J 8 4 ♥ K 8 7 ♦ K 10 9 8 6 5 3 ♣ - ♠ A K 5 ♥ A 6 5 4 ♦ Q J 7 ♣ J 8 5   ♠ Q 7 6 3 2 ♥ - ♦ A 4 ♣ K 10 7 4 3 2 West North East South Johansson T. Bessis Morin Gaviard   3♥ All Pass   West North East South Malarme Malmstrom Chauvelot Salomonsson   1♥ Pass 1♠ 2♦ 2♥ 3NT Pass 4♦ Pass Pass Dble All Pass       The two players sitting North took different views on this board. Thomas Bessis considered the hand to be in range for a pre-empt whilst Per-Erik Malmstrom opened 1♥. Bessis was left to play in 3♥ since Patrik Johansson was not in a mood to reopen. The Swedes didn’t have to rack their brains to defeat this contract; down two for –100. The auction was completely different in the other room. After West’s overcall East had reasons to believe in a no trump game but Malarme wisely corrected to 4♦. With a heart ruff and the ace of diamonds, Daniel Salomonsson thought that 4♦ would be defeated by his side’s general values. Wrong he was, as Malarne said ‘merci beaucoup’ and chalked up ten tricks, only losing one trick in each suit except clubs; +510 for 9 IMPs and the perfect start for France Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul.   ♠ Q 9 2 ♥ J 8 ♦ A K Q 10 4 ♣ K Q 5 ♠ J 10 ♥ 6 4 2 ♦ 6 5 3 ♣ A J 8 4 2 ♠ A K 7 6 5 4 3 ♥ A 10 ♦ 9 ♣ 10 7 6   ♠ 8 ♥ K Q 9 7 5 3 ♦ J 8 7 2 ♣ 9 3 West North East South Johansson T. Bessis Morin Gaviard     1♠ Pass Pass 2NT Pass 3♦ Pass 3♥ Pass 4♥ All Pass       West North East South Malarme Malmstrom Chauvelot Salomonsson     1♠ 3♥ Pass 4♥ All Pass   In the Closed Room, Malarme led the jack of spades. Chauvelot’s won the ace in order to play his singleton diamond. Declarer won the trick in dummy and played a heart. Chauvelot was awake as he jumped up with the ace then played a club, which was won by his partner and back came a diamond for a ruff; -50. Very nicely defended! In the Open Room, Bessis’ 2NT was 17-19 balanced, South then transferred to hearts. East led the ace of spades and I don’t see what the plan was for a continuation with a low spade. He might have played North for four spades. However, declarer discarded a club and won the trick with the queen. Now the diamond ruff did not exist any longer, and when the defence didn’t bother to cash the club ace either declarer actually made an overtrick; +450 and that was 10 IMPs to France. Half-way through the match, Sweden had not managed to score a single IMP! France, on the contrary had 42 IMPs in the basket. All of a sudden Sweden struck back. Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.   ♠ 10 9 7 ♥ Q 10 ♦ J 6 2 ♣ K Q J 9 8 ♠ A Q 6 5 3 ♥ A 9 8 4 ♦ A 5 3 ♣ 5 ♠ K 8 4 ♥ J 3 ♦ 9 7 4 ♣ A 7 6 4 2   ♠ J 2 ♥ K 7 6 5 2 ♦ K Q 10 8 ♣ 10 3 West North East South Johansson T. Bessis Morin Gaviard       Pass 1♠ Pass 2♠ Dble 3♦ 4♣ Dble All Pass West North East South Malarme Malmstrom Chauvelot Salomonsson       Pass 1♠ Pass 2♠ Pass 3♥ Pass 3♠ Pass 4♠ All Pass     N/S do best to stay out of the auction on this board. When Julien Gaviard doubled for take-out N/S were in deep trouble. For a moment they were saved by West, but Bessis visualised a singleton spade in his partner’s hand so eh bid 4♣. Henrik Morin doubted that 4♣ would make and cleverly doubled. After two rounds of spades West switched to trumps, to the eight, two and ten. Declarer could ruff a spade with dummy’s last trump then played the king of diamonds. A spade came back and it shortened declarer’s trumps. Next came a diamond to the queen and a low heart from dummy. West could win and establish the defence’s seventh trick by playing one more spade and that was four down for an expensive –800. I question the point of asking for advice from partner when you still don’t want to listen to what he has to say. However, North led the king of clubs against 4♥ in the Closed Room; declarer won the ace and ruffed a club. Until now declarer had handled the cards well as he now played a heart up towards dummy. North switched to a trump to dummy’s king. Declarer should now run the jack of hearts. If South covers declarer plays the ace and the ten will drop, leaving the nine and eight of hearts as winners. In real life declarer played the jack, not covered, to his ace then another one. North ruffed with the ten, dummy discarding a diamond. The queen of clubs was ruffed with the jack by South and over-ruffed by declarer’s queen. Next came a heart and North must not ruff this as declarer then has a hopeless situation, but when he did, the defence was out of trumps and declarer cross-ruffed to success; +420 but still Sweden’s first 9 IMPs. Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.   ♠ J 9 6 2 ♥ 5 4 3 ♦ 10 6 2 ♣ 10 7 6 ♠ 10 3 ♥ K J 10 7 2 ♦ K 4 ♣ 9 8 4 3 ♠ Q 7 ♥ 9 8 6 ♦ J 8 7 5 3 ♣ K Q J   ♠ A K 8 5 4 ♥ A Q ♦ A Q 9 ♣ A 5 2 West North East South Johansson T. Bessis Morin Gaviard Pass Pass Pass 2♦* Pass 2♥ Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass   West North East South Malarme Malmstrom Chauvelot Salomonsson 2♥ Pass Pass Dble Pass 2♠ Pass 3NT All Pass       At both tables N/S did well by staying away from the losing spade game. Gaviard forced to game by opening 2♦ then showed a balanced hand, so there weren’t that many options for Bessis other than to just raise to game in no trump. Salomonsson knew his side had nine spades, although he thought it would be easier to collect nine tricks rather than ten. Of course, 3NT is tempting for South with a balanced hand and those tenaces, despite holding five spades. As the spade suit split evenly, there were two entries to dummy, so declarer could afford to misguess the diamond suit. The score was +600 at both tables and no swing here. Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.   ♠ 4 ♥ K J 6 3 ♦ 10 9 6 5 ♣ A Q 7 5 ♠ Q J 6 5 ♥ 8 ♦ A K J 8 7 4 ♣ 8 4 ♠ K 10 9 8 ♥ A Q 10 7 4 2 ♦ Q 3 2 ♣ -   ♠ A 7 3 2 ♥ 9 5 ♦ - ♣ K J 10 9 6 3 2 West North East South Johansson T. Bessis Morin Gaviard     1♥ 2♣ 2♦ 2♥* Dble 2♠ 3♣ 4♣* 4♦ 5♣ 5♦ All Pass     West North East South Malarme Malmstrom Chauvelot Salomonsson     1♥ 2♣ 2♦ 3♣ 3♠ 4♦ 4♠ 5♣ Pass Pass Dble All Pass     One could expect a big swing here as N/S make 5♣ and E/W 5♦ or 5♠. At the first table, 2♥ was a good raise in clubs. Johansson/Morin judged their cards well and bid a game of their own rather than defend. The defenders tried their best by leading a spade to the ace and a spade back for a ruff, but that was all for them; E/W +400. At the other table Chauvelot introduced his spade suit at the three level, but was 5♠ really an option? No, not really. Malarme presumed E/W to control all suits outside trumps and besides, he was on lead with an attractive singleton heart as a worthy option, so how on earth could declarer win his tricks - from trumps alone? No, he thought and doubled. But yes, from trumps was the answer to that question. There was not much to the play as declarer had to lose two hearts but nothing more; N/S +550 and that was a recovery that was pretty good. What would Salomonsson have done if E/W had bid 5♠? If he had doubled – the swing would have gone to France, though not as big. Board 16. Dealer East. None Vul.   ♠ Q J ♥ A J 10 3 ♦ 9 ♣ 9 8 7 5 4 2 ♠ 9 8 6 ♥ Q 9 4 ♦ A J 10 8 5 3 ♣ 3 ♠ 7 5 2 ♥ 8 7 6 5 ♦ 7 4 2 ♣ A 10 6   ♠ A K 10 4 3 ♥ K 2 ♦ K Q 6 ♣ K Q J West North East South Johansson T. Bessis Morin Gaviard Pass Pass Pass 2♣* Pass 2♦* Pass 2NT Pass 3♣ Pass 3♠ Pass 4♣ Pass 4♦ Pass 4♥ Pass 4NT Pass 6♣ All Pass   West North East South Malarme Malmstrom Chauvelot Salomonsson Pass Pass Pass 1♣ 2♦ 3♣ Pass 3♠ Pass 4♠ Pass 4NT Pass 5♣ Pass 5♠ All Pass       Gaviard opened 2♣, forcing, then showed 22-23 balanced on the second round. Three Clubs was Stayman, 3♠ could be a four-card spade suit, and 4♣ was natural with or without a spade fit. South accepted clubs as trumps by cuebidding 4♦. 4♥ was also a cuebid and 4NT asked for aces. Bessis wasn’t sure whether Gaviard knew he didn’t have spade support, so he jumped to 6♣ to make that clear. The French npc, Herve Mouiel, commented: “There were two mistakes made on this board. Firstly to ask for aces, secondly the jump to 6♣.” Two aces were missing; one down, N/S -50. In the other room, Salomonsson opened a strong club and Malarme tried to raise N/S’s auction by intervening with 2♦. It didn’t bother Malmstrom much though, as he could bid 3♣, game-forcing with five plus clubs. When Salomonsson found spade support in North’s hand a small slam was close. North could hold two aces within the range of 7-10 HCPs, couldn’t he? Salomonsson asked for aces but signed off in 5♠, when only one ace came to light. Declarer was down one very quickly as the defence began with a club to the ace and a club ruff then cashed the ace of diamonds; -50 and a remarkable push. With the excellent start for the French, the Swedes would have needed some ten more boards to draw this match. Anyway, the result of all this was that France earned a quite clear win by 47-27 IMPs, 19-11 VPs, and came one step closer to the five qualifiers.

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