Turkey vs Denmark - Junior Round 10

Going into their vugraph match with sixth-placed Denmark, the host country, Turkey were lying second, just 7 VPs behind leaders, Israel. Alas, the match turned into a horror story for the Turks.

Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª 9 4 © A Q J ¨ A Q J 10 6 § K 7 4
ª K Q J 2 © K 7 4 3 ¨ 4 2 § Q 10 6		ª A 7 6 5 © 6 5 2 ¨ 9 8 7 5 3 § 8
	ª 10 8 3 © 10 9 8 ¨ K § A J 9 5 3 2

Given a free run, Guray Sunamak and Sinan Tatlicioglu followed the normal auction to 3NT. The defence took four spade tricks and declarer made the error of throwing both the queen and jack of hearts from dummy. After a heart exit, he had to rely on the clubs for his nith trick and with the actual position that led to one down; -50.

Suppose that declarer pitches only one heart plus a small club. The defence arrange to win the fourth heart in the West hand and he switches to a heart. Declarer will not wish to risk his contract on a finesse at this point so will go up with the ace, unblock the diamond and cross to the king of clubs to cash the diamonds. West will be squeezed between his clubs and the ©K and the contract will succeed. Perhaps, then, West has to switch to a heart without cashing all the spades. Again declarer is likely to spurn the finesse, preferring to rest his fate on the club suit. Careful discarding would now defeat the contract, but perhaps that defence is not possible to find in real life.

Meanwhile, Toygar Alper made a rather thin take-out double at the other table and Denmark stopped in 3§, where Michael Askgaard made a routine +130. That was worth 5 IMPs to Demark but, without Alper’s double, they would most likely have bid to 3NT and, as we have seen, that contract rates to make for a 10 IMP swing instead of the actual 5 IMPs.

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

The opening lead in the Closed Room was a low trump from Sunamak. Martin Schaltz had no difficlty in making his contract from here. He won in dummy, gave up a heart to set up his communications, then played to ruff a diamond; +620.

In the Open Room, Askgaard led the king of clubs and continued with a low club to Gregers Bjarnarson’s ace. Bjarnarson switched to king and another heart and Alper ruffed. He cashed the ace and queen of trumps then attempted to ruff a diamond in dummy. When Askgaard could ruff in with the ªJ, he was one down; -100 and 12 IMPs to Denmark.

Alper needed to cash only one top trump before playing for his diamond ruff. Now he would have been able to overruff North and would have had his ten tricks.

At first glance, there is a defence to break this contract by denying declarer his diamond ruff. In Israel v Belgium, Tom Cornelis, for Belgium, became declarer from the East hand after his partner, Steve de Donder had opened a multi 2¨. Inon Liran led the king of hearts and Aran Varshavski played low. Liran switched to ace and another club and Varshavski won and continued with a low club. Liran ruffed with his singleton ten, forcing Cornelis to overruff with dummy’s king.

That was excellent defence but declarer showed that it still was not quite good enough. He played a spade to the ace, discovering the awkward break. Next he ruffed a heart to get to dummy, finessed the seven of spades and cashed the ªQ. Next he ruffed a heart to get back to dummy once more and in the process isolated the heart guard. On the run of the spades, South was squeezed in the red suits and the contract was duly made. A very nice hand with good play from both sides. In the other room, Belgium played 4© down two by South for -200 but +9 IMPs. They went on to win the match against the leaders by 17-13 VPs.

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

Why does everyone think that that East hand should be opened at the two level? Will we miss something by opening at the one level, even if everyone passes? Ah, well.

The artificial 2§ opening tempted Tatlicioglu to overcall 2ª to take away a little of his opponents’ bidding space. After the negative double, Sunamak continued the process with a gentle raise to 3ª, but that proved to be too high. Andreas Marquardsen doubled and Schaltz led his singleton trump to the queen and ace. Tatlicioglu led a club for the king and Marquardsen led a low spade, which ran to dummy’s seven. Declarer grabbed the opportunity to cash the ace of diamonds, throwing a losing heart, then gave up a second club. Marquardsen won and cashed the king of spades then forced declarer with a diamond. Tatlicioglu could draw the last trump and establish his clubs, but then had no trumps left with which to regain the lead. He was four down for -800.

That would have been too expensive even had East/West had a sure game, but the 3NT reached at the other table was a long way from being secure. Bjarnarson led the jack of spades and Askgaard, who was playing reverse signals, avoided the first trap by signalling with the four, not the seven. Tamer Uz did well by ducking, and did even better by ducking the next trick also when Bjarnarson continued with the ª10. that was what was required in the spade suit, but Uz made a fatal error, pitching a club from dummy without a great deal of thought. With the fortunate club position, that was his ninth trick he had just discarded. Bjarnarson switched to a heart now and Uz won on table and played a diamond to his king, from which there was no recovery; down one for -100 and 14 IMPs to Denmark.

Stig Roar Hakkebo of Norway made 3NT without his opponents making a mistake. He had opened 1§ and heard a 1ª overcall, negative double and pre-emptive raise to 2ª. Hakkebo jumped to 3NT and the Austrian South led the jack then ten of spades, Hakkebo reading the hand perfectly and ducking twice. South continued with ace and a fourth spade and Hakkebo threw three diamonds from dummy, keeping the club position intact. He won the fourth spade, played a heart to dummy then a diamond. As it happened, North rose with the ace, but it would not have mattered what he did.

So Hakkebo gained a big swing for his team? I’m afraid not. At the other table the Austrian declarer won the first spade, crossed to a heart and led a diamond up and North ducked, after which declarer cashed his winners and found that the fall of the §Q meant that there were nine of them. Just another dull flat board.

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

After a heart lead, Alper was held to 11 tricks for +650. The stakes were considerably higher in the Closed Room, where Schaltz was in the pushy slam. When Sunamak led the ace of spades it was all over; +1430 and another 13 IMPs to Denmark.

The slam is very close to making. If declarer can ruff two spades in dummy he will succeed so long as he has not used up the king of spades along the way. There are also some squeeze chances if the defence are careless about their early discarding. Two rounds of trumps should see the defence in control.

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª 8 5 3 2 © 10 3 ¨ 8 6 2 § 8 7 6 3
ª K Q 7 6 © A Q J 2 ¨ J 7 5 § 5 4		ª 9 © K 8 7 5 4 ¨ 10 9 4 3 § J 9 2
	ª A J 10 4 © 9 6 ¨ A K Q § A K Q 1

Though one East opened a simple weak two bid while the other opened a multi 2¨, the real difference between the two auctions was caused by West’s response. Alper’s full-blooded leap to 4© left Bjarnarson little option but to double for a second time and Askgaard was inclined to pass and hope that his partner had enough to beat it rather than introduce his spades at the four level on a balanced eight-high hand. No problem; Bjarnarson led a trump but soon took his six top winners for 500 to Denmark.

Schaltz’s pass or correct 3© response gave his opponents more room in which to do the wrong thing. When Sunamak bid his spades in response to the second double, Tatlicioglu made a rather optimistic strong raise with a general slam try cuebid. Four Spades was hopeless, with two hearts, two trumps, and a fifth trick in the wash because of the bad trump split - not that the bad split should have been any surprise after the 3© bid; -100 and 12 more IMPs to Denmark.

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	ª - © Q J 9 4 ¨ K J 10 7 § Q J 8 5 3
ª A K Q 8 4 3 © 3 ¨ Q 3 2 § A K 9		ª 9 6 2 © 6 5 2 ¨ 9 8 6 § 10 7 6 2
	ª J 10 7 5 © A K 10 8 7 ¨ A 5 4 § 4

North/South can make twelve tricks in hearts, and indeed one or two pairs actually bid and made the slam, while +1050 was also seen around the room. Schlatz’s simple overcall then bid 4ª over 4© approach worked very well when Tatlicioglu looked no further than his spade length and doubled. Four Spades doubled should have been three down but Sunamak led the ©Q and found himself to still be on lead. He switched a to a low club and that was a defensive trick out of the window. I am not sure precisely what the deal has to look like for it to be necessary for north to switch to a club at trick two, but South could have avoided the problem by overtaking and leading either another heart, or a club from his side; -300.

Alper’s 4ª overcall looks perfectly reasonable, especially given that he knew things were going badly and wanted to create some action. It was clear for him to double 5© to show his strong defensive hand and now Uz did the best he could for his side by pulling to 5ª. There was no mistake in the defence here, although again South allowed his partner to hold the first trick with the ©Q. Askgaard, however, continued with a second heart; -800 and 11 IMPs to Denmark.

Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª J 10 © A Q 9 7 ¨ J 8 2 § A J 8 2
ª Q 8 6 © 3 ¨ Q 7 6 5 § K Q 7 5 3		ª K 7 3 © K J 10 8 6 5 4 ¨ 4 § 6 4
	ª A 9 5 4 2 © 2 ¨ A K 10 9 3 § 10 9

Five Diamonds had three obvious losers. It looks odd for North to do other than bid 3NT over 3¨, but presumably he was catering to a much better South hand and a possible slam. Not today; -50.

Meanwhile, 3NT made 11 tricks after Uz had tried the flair lead of the king of hearts. It made no difference this time, of course; +460 and 11 IMPs to Denmark.

Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
	ª A 9 5 © K 8 6 4 ¨ 6 3 § A K 9 6
ª K Q J 7 6 © 7 ¨ Q 10 5 2 § J 7 4		ª 10 3 2 © Q J 9 3 2 ¨ 7 4 § 10 8 2
	ª 8 4 © A 10 5 ¨ A K J 9 8 § Q 5 3

And one last swing to complete the misery for Turkey. The problem in the Closed Room seems to lie with the 3ª cuebid. If 2ª is either game-forcing or at least promises another bid, then North can bid 2NT instead of 3ª and there is the whole of the three level in which to check for alternative contracts. As it was, South had no semblance of a spade stopper and the Turks scrambled into their 4-3 heart fit. On another day they might have survived in 4© but not today with the 5-1 trump split. Four Hearts drifted two off for 200 to Denmark.

In the Open Room, 3ª was Lebensohl, promising both four hearts and a spade stopper. East’s double said that he did not want a spade lead against the final contract, and Bjarnarson had the option of leaving it round to his partner but decided to keep things simple by bidding 3NT himself. He won the third round of spades, cashed one top diamond then tested the clubs and, when they behaved, cashed out for +600 and 13 IMPs to Denmark.

The final score was 110-10 in favour of the Danes, converting to 25-0 VPs. One suspects that Turkey will not be in a hurry to get back on vugraph but, after the form they have shown for the previous four days, hopefully they will bounce back strongly and stay in contention at the top.

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