|
Zia versus Mahafffey - Round of 16
Zia, having sneaked through the round of 32, then found himself against Mahaffey, comfortable winner of his match after having led the qualifying group.
The match started quietly but Zia got on the board when both Souths opened light and regretted it, but one far more than the other.
| Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul. |
| | ♠ K Q 7 5
♥ K J 3
♦ 9 8 5
♣ 6 5 2 | ♠ J 9 8 4 2
♥ 5 4
♦ K Q 10 7 6 2
♣ - |
 | ♠ A 10
♥ Q 10 9 7 6
♦ A J
♣ A J 9 7 |
| | ♠ 6 3
♥ A 8 2
♦ 4 3
♣ K Q 10 8 4 3 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Von Arnim | Shenkin | Auken | Mahaffey |
| | | | 1♣
|
| 2♣ | Dble | Pass | 5♣
|
| Pass | Pass | Dble | All Pass
|
| West | North | East | South
|
| Fredin | Welland | Fallenius | Mahmood
|
| | | | 1♣
|
| 2♣ | Dble | Pass | 3♣
|
| Pass | Pass | Dble | All Pass
|
Both Zia and Mahafffey were clearly playing the theory of the transferred ace on opening bid, since they deemed the South collection to be worth an opening call of One Club. Zia bailed out in Three Clubs, enterprisingly doubled by Fallenius for penalties. Zia received the defence of three rounds of diamonds on which Fallenius pitched a heart not a spade. Zia used one entry to cross to dummy to lead a club to the seven and eight, and now escaped for down one.
In the other room Mahaffey played Five Clubs after a bidding accident. The defence cashed two diamonds then shifted to hearts. Now declarer misguessed what to do in trumps when in dummy for the first time, and had to go down four. Zia led 12-0 and Mahaffey was Shenkin, but not stirred.
The lead had climbed to 14-0 when both Zia and Mahaffey opened a strong no-trump with a 16-count and ran into a double on their left.
| Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul. |
| | ♠ Q J 7
♥ 10 9 7
♦ 10 9 6 4 3
♣ J 2 | ♠ 4 3
♥ K Q 5 4
♦ A K J 7 2
♣ K 8 |
| ♠ 6 5 2
♥ 8 6 2
♦ 8
♣ A 10 9 5 4 3 |
| | ♠ A K 10 9 8
♥ A J 3
♦ Q 5
♣ Q 7 6 |
Fredin’s double was penalty; Fallenius sat it out with ace-sixth of clubs and conceded 180 (maybe a rescue to Two Clubs would have been artificial?). Von Arnim’s double showed hearts and a minor. Auken ran to Two Clubs and defended to Two Spades, down a trick. Seven more IMPs and a 21-0 lead.
The match went quiet for a while, though Fallenius had the entertaining experience of picking up ace-jack to eight hearts and hearing Roy Welland open One Heart in third chair on his right! You or I might have suspected a psyche, but Fallenius simply passed then backed in with hearts later, and sold out to Three Diamonds. He set the hand a trick for +50, but in the other room they played Three Hearts making +140 – and yes, Welland had KQ93 of hearts, so Fallenius was absolutely right.
The score was 25-1 when Mahaffey picked up a 12-count with a doubleton spade in fourth chair.
| Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul. |
| | ♠ K 9 6 2
♥ K Q 9 4
♦ Q 9 8 3
♣ J | ♠ A 8 7 3
♥ A 10 8
♦ 10 4
♣ 10 9 7 4 |
| ♠ Q J 10
♥ J 3
♦ K 6 2
♣ Q 8 5 3 2 |
| | ♠ 5 4
♥ 7 6 5 2
♦ A J 7 5
♣ A K 6 |
Mahaffey’s decision to pass the deal out is hard to criticize, but in the other room Zia opened 1♦ and raised 1♥ to 2♥. Welland simply drove to the rather poor game of 4♥, and found the cards lying supremely well. Four Hearts made 620 and after a further couple of small swings Zia led 43-5 at the break.
Alas, the power-cut prevented us from seeing anything but the first couple of deals from the second half. After Bertheau/Nystrom for Mahaffey had bid a thin game, and brought it home, to give the trailing team just a little hope, this was the final nail in the coffin for them.
| Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul. |
| | ♠ 10 9 4
♥ K J 10 4 3
♦ 7 4
♣ A K 5 | ♠ K Q J 3
♥ A 9 8 5 2
♦ K J 5 2
♣ - |
| ♠ 6 5
♥ Q 7
♦ A 10 6
♣ 10 9 8 7 4 3 |
| | ♠ A 8 7 2
♥ 6
♦ Q 9 8 3
♣ Q J 6 2 |
While Nystrom/Bertheau bid unopposed to Three Hearts, and made it on a soft defence, Fallenius as South doubled for take-out after hearing his opponents about to stop in Two Hearts. Fredin thought he had enough to pass for penalties, and led a top club, to be very disappointed by the result. Welland ruffed and knocked out the spade ace, then received a heart return. He rose with the ace, cashed the diamond ace and ruffed a club, then took two top spades and had six tricks in the bag. When he led a fourth spade North was ‘decompressed’ – caught in a reverse squeeze. West could not be prevented from scoring the heart queen in dummy and either a diamond trick or a club ruff, since North could not discard both a diamond and a club.
The 11 IMPs here gave Zia back a 40 IMP lead and they coasted home from here to win by about that number.
|
