Latvia v Netherlands – Round 9 Schools Latvia lay second, trailing leaders Israel by 9 VP, going into this match, while the Netherlands were in mid-table. Although they could not know this, of course, Israel were to lose to Denmark by 12-18 in this round, so Latvia needed 22 VPs to lead on their own, 21 to tie with Israel. Our first exhibit is a well-played push. Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul.   ♠ 10 8 6 5 ♥ 4 ♦ J 10 7 5 4 2 ♣ Q 5 ♠ K 9 7 ♥ Q 6 5 3 2 ♦ Q 9 3 ♣ 9 4 ♠ J 4 3 ♥ 9 8 7 ♦ 6 ♣ A 10 8 7 6 2   ♠ A Q 2 ♥ A K J 10 ♦ A K 8 ♣ K J 3 West North East South Michielsen P Bethers De Pagter Lorencs     Pass 1♣ Pass 1♦ Pass 2NT Pass 3♣ Pass 3♥ Pass 3NT All Pass   West North East South Balasovs Verbeek J Bethers Hop     Pass 2♦ Pass 2♥ Pass 2NT Pass 3♣ Dble 3♦ Pass 3♥ Pass 3NT All Pass       Both Souths opened with a strong artificial bid and eventually declared 3NT. Marion Michielsen led a heart into declarer’s suit because nothing else looked to be any more attractive. Martins Lorencs won the ♥J and played three rounds of diamonds. Michielsen followed Vincent De Pagter’s discards and switched to the nine of clubs for the queen and ace and back came a heart. Lorencs won the ♥A, cashed the club winners and played king then ten of hearts, leaving Michielsen to lead into the spade tenace to give the ninth trick; +600. Jurijs Balasov led a club in response to Janis Bethers’ double of the 3♣ enquiry. That was covered by the queen and ace and Bethers switched to a heart. Jacco Hop rose with the heart ace and cashed the top diamonds, then the club winners, before exiting with his third diamond. Balasov won the diamond and returned a heart to the jack. Two more rounds of hearts put him back on play and he too had to lead into the spade tenace; nine tricks for +600 and no swing. Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul.   ♠ K 10 8 7 4 2 ♥ K Q 7 5 2 ♦ Q 9 ♣ - ♠ J 9 ♥ A 10 ♦ 10 8 5 3 ♣ A K 10 8 5 ♠ Q 6 ♥ J 4 ♦ A K J 7 ♣ J 6 4 3 2   ♠ A 5 3 ♥ 9 8 6 3 ♦ 6 4 2 ♣ Q 9 7 West North East South Michielsen P Bethers De Pagter Lorencs       Pass 1♣ 1♦ 2♠ Pass 3♣ 3♥ Dble Pass 3NT Pass Pass 4♥ Pass Pass Dble All Pass West North East South Balasovs Verbeek J Bethers Hop       Pass 1♦ 2♦ 2NT 3♥ Pass Pass 4♦ All Pass Both Norths showed the major two-suiter with their initial calls. Peteris Bethers then competed at the three level on his own and that convinced his partner to go on to 4♥ over 3NT – a big winning decision, as it turned out, with 3NT cold unless a spade is led, plus, 4♥ doubled proved to be a very nice contract indeed. De Pagter cashed a top diamond then switched to a club, ruffed. Short of dummy entries, Bethers led a heart honour from hand, lost a diamond, then ruffed the next lead, laid down the remaining heart honour, and tested the spades. When they too divided evenly, he had ten tricks for a rather nice +590. At the other table, Hop competed with 3♥ but North, Tim Verbeek did not go on to 4♥. Four Diamonds should have been made after the lead of the king of hearts. Balasovs won the heart and played a diamond to the ace. Now he tried a clu b and when that was ruffed there were four tricks for the defence; down one for –100. When North shows a major two-suiter, there is no reason to try to cross to hand to try a diamond finesse, so declarer should just play diamonds from the top and hope for the best; still10 IMPs to Latvia. Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul.   ♠ K 4 2 ♥ A 5 3 ♦ K J 8 ♣ A Q J 6 ♠ 9 7 6 5 ♥ Q 8 6 ♦ A 7 3 ♣ K 8 4 ♠ 10 ♥ 10 4 2 ♦ Q 10 9 6 5 4 2 ♣ 10 3   ♠ A Q J 8 3 ♥ K J 9 7 ♦ - ♣ 9 7 5 2 West North East South Michielsen P Bethers De Pagter Lorencs Pass 1♣ 3♦ 3♠ 4♦ 4NT 5♦ Pass Pass Dble Pass 5NT Pass 6♠ All Pass   West North East South Balasovs Verbeek J Bethers Hop Pass 1♣ 3♦ 3♠ Pass 4♦ Pass 4♥ Pass 4♠ All Pass   The Dutch E/W pair made life as difficult as they could for their opponents by competing to the five level, but Lorencs was prepared to believe that his opponents must have most of the diamond honours and so was willing to drive to slam when facing a partner who could ask for key cards. Six Spades was easy after the ace of diamonds lead. Lorencs ruffed and drew all the trumps then took a successful club finesse. He continued with ace of hearts and a heart to the jack and queen. Back came a diamond but Lorencs could win the king and cash out, via a second club finesse; +980. The Latvian E/W pair allowed their opponents more room in which to explore the hand and, after one cuebid each, the Dutch settled for game; +480 but 11 IMPs to Latvia. Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul.   ♠ K ♥ A 10 8 6 4 ♦ A Q 10 9 8 ♣ 3 2 ♠ J 8 6 5 3 ♥ 7 ♦ K J ♣ A Q 8 7 6 ♠ 9 2 ♥ K Q J 5 ♦ 7 5 4 2 ♣ K 10 4   ♠ A Q 10 7 4 ♥ 9 3 2 ♦ 6 3 ♣ J 9 5 West North East South Michielsen P Bethers De Pagter Lorencs     Pass Pass 1♠ 2♠ Dble 3♣ Dble 3♦ Pass 3♥ Pass Pass Dble All Pass West North East South Balasovs Verbeek J Bethers Hop     Pass Pass 1♠ 2♥ Pass 3♥ Pass 4♥ Dble All Pass Bethers showed a two-suiter and for a second time his side declared a doubled contract, again with great success. Lorencs ducked the trump lead to De Pagter’s jack and back came a spade. Lorencs rose with the ace, crashing dummy’s king, then threw a club on the spade queen. Next he took the diamond finesse and, when that worked so well, continued with four more rounds of diamonds, throwing spades from hand. Now he exited with a club, ruffed the club return and exited with a low trump to endplay East, who had to lead into the ace-ten of hearts at trick twelve to concede the overtrick; nicely played for +930. Verbeek made a simple overcall then raised himself to game on getting support from Hop. He too was doubled and received a spade lead. Verbeek won the spade ace and threw a club on the queen of spades. Next he played a diamond to the king and ace before exiting with a low club to the king. Verbeek ruffed the club continuation and cashed the queen of diamonds. He must have liked what he saw and just cashed the ace of trumps, after which he played on diamonds for one down; -200 and 15 IMPs to Latvia. Had Verbeek tried ducking a heart instead of cashing the ace, Janis Bethers could have won and exited with a diamond. Declarer can play out the diamonds but East ruffs the fifth round and still has a third club with which to get off play so comes to a third trump trick in the ending for down one. Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.   ♠ 9 8 7 ♥ 4 ♦ A J 9 5 2 ♣ Q 8 4 3 ♠ 2 ♥ 10 7 5 ♦ K Q 6 4 ♣ K J 10 9 5 ♠ A K Q J 6 ♥ K Q 9 8 3 ♦ - ♣ 7 6 2   ♠ 10 5 4 3 ♥ A J 6 2 ♦ 10 8 7 3 ♣ A West North East South Michielsen P Bethers De Pagter Lorencs       Pass Pass Pass 1♠ Pass 1NT Pass 3♥ Pass 3NT Pass 4♥ All Pass West North East South Balasovs Verbeek J Bethers Hop       Pass Pass 2♣(i) Pass 2♦ Pass Pass 3♦ Pass 3NT Pass 4♥ Dble All Pass       (i) Strong and artificial or weak with diamonds. Both Easts declared the heart game. Lorencs cashed his ace of clubs then switched to a diamond for the king, ace and ruff. De Pagter played the ♥K, ducked, then the ♥Q to the ace. Lorencs led a diamond to dummy’s queen and declarer started on the spades. De Pagter cashed all five spades, Lorencs correctly not ruffing the fifth round. Now, had he pitched all four clubs from the dunmmy, he would have been in a position to ruff the club loser and there would have been nothing South could have done to beat the contract. Alas, De Pagter threw one diamond away before spotting what he needed to be doing, and now there was no way to shut South’s little heart out of the game; down one for –50. Hop led a diamond at trick one, the ace being once again ruffed out. Bethers led the ♥Q to the ace and threw a club on the queen diamond continuation then played five rounds of spades, being sure that the trumps had to be four-one for the double. Hop did not double the fifth spades, throwing a diamond. Now a club to his ace left him powerless to take more than one more trump trick; +590 and 12 IMPs to Latvia. At this stage Latvia looked to be on course for a maximum win but, to their credit, the Dutch team came back well in the last few boards, aided by an unnecessary –1400 by the Latvian N/S pair who, having made +590 and +930 already in the set probably thought they could walk on water – they were mistaken. Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.   ♠ J 2 ♥ 9 8 4 ♦ J 10 8 5 ♣ A Q J 6 ♠ 9 8 ♥ J 10 6 ♦ Q 7 4 ♣ 10 9 7 5 3 ♠ K Q 10 6 5 4 3 ♥ K 5 2 ♦ A ♣8 4   ♠ A 7 ♥ A Q 7 3 ♦ K 9 6 3 2 ♣ K 2 West North East South Michielsen P Bethers De Pagter Lorencs     1♠ 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass   West North East South Balasovs Verbeek J Bethers Hop     1♠ 1NT Pass 2♠ 3♠ Dble Pass 4♣ Pass 4♦ All Pass       Bethers simply raised to game and the spade lead, ducked, and spade continuation, swiftly put paid to that contract; down two for –200. Verbeek bid 2♠ to invite game and, when Hop doubled, take-out in context of having already shown a balanced hand with a spade stopper, tried 4♣, converted by Hop to show the red suits. Four Diamonds was a nice contract. Hop won the spade lead and played three rounds of clubs, throwing his spade loser as East ruffed with the bare ace. Hop ruffed the spade return and played king and another diamond. Balasovs won the ♦Q and exited with his last diamond. Hop won in dummy, cashed the club winner and had just one heart to lose; +130 and 8 IMPs to Netherlands.Latvia ran out winners by 58-30 IMPs, converting to 21-9 VPs, to move into a tie for the lead with Israel.

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