Seniors, Qualification Round 3: Priday vs Resta (and the resta) by Ace Ventura In the Seniors Teams Qualification Priday ( England) and Resta ( Italy) after two matches were the top teams in Group A, and it seemed sensible for us to sit down to watch them to meet in the third round. We expected to see some nice bridge due to the experienced assemble. First let’s see if you can solve this defence.   ♠ 5 4 ♥ J 10 8 5 3 ♦ 8 7 5 3 ♣ A J ♠ Q J 7 ♥ A 9 4 ♦ A K Q 5 ♣ 10 7 6 West North East South Gordon Longinotti Hiron Maci   Pass 1♣ 1♠ 2♦ Pass 3♣ Pass 3♥ Pass 3NT Pass 4♣ Pass 4♥ Pass 4NT Pass 5♠ Pass 6♣ All Pass     5♠ shows two aces and the queen of clubs. South leads a club to your ace. What next? The answer will appear later on in the article. Priday got off to a flying start immediately due to a big swing on the first board: Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.   ♠ 5 4 ♥ J 10 8 5 3 ♦ 8 7 5 3 ♣ A J ♠ Q J 7 ♥ A 9 4 ♦ A K Q 5 ♣ 10 7 6 ♠ A 10 2 ♥ K 7 2 ♦ 4 ♣ K Q 9 8 5 2   ♠ K 9 8 6 3 ♥ Q 6 ♦ J 10 9 6 ♣ 4 3 West North East South De Falco T. Priday Resta V. Priday   Pass 2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass 2♥ Pass 2♠ Pass 2NT Pass 6♣ All Pass     West North East South Gordon Longinotti Hiron Maci   Pass 1♣ 1♠ 2♦ Pass 3♣ Pass 3♥ Pass 3NT Pass 4♣ Pass 4♥ Pass 4NT Pass 5♠ Pass 6♣ All Pass     In the Open Room Guido Resta opened 2♣ Precision-style, 2♦ was relay and 2♥ showed a minimum with clubs and hearts or any strong hand with clubs. 2♠ just asked for more information and 2NT now, according the Italians conventions, promised 15-16 HCPs and two key cards outside clubs so Dano de Falco expected a better hand from East and simply jumped to 6♣. Vivian Priday’s lead, the jack of diamonds, was won in dummy and next came a club to the jack and king. Tony Priday won the next trick with the trump ace and played a spade. Resta had only the finesse to hope for and when it did not succeed he was down one. At the other table, Maureen Hiron faced the same contract and she got a club lead to the ace. North didn’t see any reason not to switch to a spade, his partner’s suit. A finesse was not an option here, otherwise it would have been a suicidal overcall. Hiron took the ace, cashed a top club, ace and king of hearts, and then drew trumps to produce this ending:   ♠ - ♥ J ♦ 8 7 5 3 ♣ - ♠ - ♥ 9 ♦ A K Q 5 ♣ - ♠ 10 2 ♥ 7 ♦ 4 ♣ 5   ♠ K ♥ - ♦ J 10 9 6 ♣ - Neither defender could hold four diamonds on the last club – double squeeze fait accomplit; +920 and that was 14 IMPs to Priday. The defence could have broke the possibilities for the squeeze by either leading a diamond, as Vivian Priday did in the Open Room, or play a diamond after winning the trump ace. The next board was flat but then another small slam was on the cards. Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.   ♠ - ♥ J 9 6 ♦ K 9 6 ♣ A K Q 10 9 5 4 ♠ J 9 4 ♥ A Q 10 5 4 ♦ 8 4 2 ♣ 8 3 ♠ A 10 8 7 6 3 ♥ 8 3 2 ♦ 10 7 ♣ J 6   ♠ K Q 5 2 ♥ K 7 ♦ A Q J 5 3 ♣ 7 2 West North East South De Falco T. Priday Resta V. Priday       1NT Pass 3♣ Pass 3NT Pass 4♣ Pass 4♦ Pass 4♠ Dble Pass Pass 6♣ All Pass   West North East South Gordon Longinotti Hiron Maci       1♦ Pass 2♣ Pass 2♠ Pass 3♣ Pass 3♥ Dble 4♦ Pass 4♥ Pass 4NT Pass 5♦ All Pass       With South as declarer a small slam can make in either minor, but neither pair had the methods. Vivian Priday opened 1NT and 3♣ was game-forcing with a number of clubs. The club-bid covered the weak spot in Vivian’s hand so she tried 3NT. Tony’s 4♣ was a slam-try, 4♦ and 4♠ were cue-bids. Resta’s double was as little as it needed to disturb North-South’s bidding-sequence. There was no agreement of what South’s pass over the double showed so North was left to decide what to do. Since it was uncertain if South held a heart-stopper, North might have tried another move than a direct 6♣. A redouble might have given South the chance to draw the break and stop in game. Resta had all the information he needed and it was not too difficult for him to lead a heart; de Falco could win the first two tricks, just enough to defeat the slam. In the Closed Room Longinotti/Maci were on their way to finding 6♦. 2♣ forced to game with clubs and 3♥ searched for a no trump-game. When Enrico Longinotti showed some diamond support the way to the small slam was open. 4♥ from Giovanni Maci was a cuebid and 4NT asked for aces. When Longinotti faced one ace only it could be the ace of spades, so he passed. Declarer took all tricks on a spade lead; +440 and 10 IMPs to the Italians. The match was quite close but not necessarily well played and with two more boards to go Priday was in the lead by 37-25 IMPs. This was the exciting penultimate board: Board 31. Dealer South. N/S Vul.   ♠ A 9 6 2 ♥ 10 7 4 2 ♦ K 9 8 ♣ 8 7 ♠ K J 4 ♥ 8 3 ♦ Q J 10 7 5 4 ♣ 10 9 ♠ 5 ♥ A K Q J 9 6 5 ♦ 3 2 ♣ J 5 2   ♠ Q 10 8 7 3 ♥ - ♦ A 6 ♣ A K Q 6 4 3 West North East South De Falco T. Priday Resta V. Priday       1♣ Pass 1♥ 4♥ All Pass (!) West North East South Gordon Longinotti Hiron Maci       2♣ 3♦ Dble 4♥ 4♠ All Pass       In the Open Room South judged poorly not to take action over East’s 4♥ and Resta therefore was let to play there undoubled. 4♥ was doomed to go down of course, but three down for –150 was a cheap sacrifice for EW. NS reached 4♠ in the other room without any problems; +650 and a lucky recovery of 11 IMPs by Resta. The last board of the set was a push, but a quite extraordinary one when Longinotti/Maci went two down in 6♣ missing the ace and king of trumps and the Pridays only managed to take seven tricks in 3NT. That gave us the final score of 37-36 in Priday’s favour, 15-15 converted into VPs. In Qualifying Group B the British team Jourdain won heavily 25-4 against the Polish squad Szenberg. On board 31 (see the diagram above) Jourdain gained 17 IMPs. West North East South Antas Hirst Kaczanowski Jourdain       1♣ 3♦ Dble 4♥ 6♠ All Pass       Jourdain could afford one but not two spade losers. After a diamond lead, he was inclined to place East with solid hearts and so West with the king of spades. He won in hand to lead the queen of spades for +1430. Almost the same auction was reported from the other table: West North East South Luck Szenberg Goldenfield Mitaszewski       1♠ 3♦ 3♠ 4♥ 6♠ All Pass       Here the declarer ruffed the heart lead and then played the trump ace – one down. In the same group Hollman secured a big win over Euro-Agro thanks to the very same board. West North East South Baze Hollman       1♣ Pass 1♥ 4♥ Pass 4♠ Dble 5♥ 6♠ Dble All Pass     4♥ was described as spades to Hollman as South and while awaiting the next move from EW he passed. When Baze could produce a double of 4♠ East’s 5♥ call exposed his hand, so Hollman found a sensible bid: 6♠. West’s double helped declarer to solve the spade suit successfully; NS +1660. That was worth 14 IMPs for Hollman & Co when 5♠ was just made at the other table.

Page 4