| 18th European Youth Team Championships | Page 2 | Bulletin 7 - Sunday, 14 July 2002 |
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A Sample of the Schools Friday evening saw the Juniors take a well-earned break, giving us the opportunity to take a first look at the Schools competition.
For Wales, Claire Evans passed the North hand - while it is only an 11-count and North is vulnerable, the club suit is very strong and there is a convenient 1ª rebid so that 1§ looks to be the normal start. Filip Niziol opened 1NT as East and again Evans passed. North's silence in the auction need not have been fatal had her partner led a to heart then switched. Howvere, Lauralee reed started with her fourth best heart and that gave Niziol his seventh trick when he played for diamonds to be three-three; +90. Piotr Zielinski did open the North hand, with a natural and limited 2§. Catherine Evans had a completely normal take-out double but when Wlodzimierz Karlowicz could redouble the Welsh pair were in trouble. Evans scrambled to 2©, doubled hungrily by Karlowicz. He led a club and Zielinski won and played two more rounds, ruffed and over-ruffed. Now a switch to the ªQ allowed Evans to ruff a spade and play four rounds of diamonds, eventually making a heart at the end for just one down; -200 and 7 IMPs to Poland. Had either North or South found a trump switch, declarer could have been held to six tricks.
Both Norths opened 1§ and both Easts doubled. For Germany, Dennis Kraemer redoubled then doubled the run-out to 1©. He found the best start for the defence, leading out the ace, king and jack of hearts to the queen. Declarer could have cashed six tricks now but tried instead four rounds of diamonds. Kraemer could ruff the fourth round and draw the last trump. Alexander Smirnov had kept one spade, so the defence had four clubs to take but had to concede the last trick to declarer; two down for -500. At the other table, Josephine Moreau let her opponents off the hook when she simply responded 1© over the double rather than try for a penalty. Francois Raynaud declared 2NT on the North cards but Janko Katerbau led out his top diamonds and the defence took four tricks in that suit followed by two spades for down one; -100 and 12 IMPs to Germany.
Again, both Norths opened 1§. For Netherlands, Jacco Hop doubled and Scotland's Kirsten Aitken bid her hearts. Emma Maitland rebid the clubs rather than show her spades, and Aitken bid a constructive but non-forcing 2©. We have seen that an East/West heart contract is an uncomfortable affair, and so it proved when south attempted to play in the same suit. Tim Heeres led a diamond but Hop won and switched to three rounds of spades for a ruff. Two more diamonds were followed by a fourth spade and the contract made only five tricks; -300. It really didn't matter about the outcome of the 2© contract, because in the other room Gregor Hodge decided that the best approach to the East hand was to overcall 1NT, showing his range and hand-type. When Danny Molenaar doubled, Myles Ellison redoubled. His hand suggests that Ellison thought that this was SOS but Hodge did not take it that way. He stood the redouble and was two down for -1000; 16 IMPs to The Netherlands.
Both Norths opened 1© and both Easts made a weak jump overcall of 2ª. For Poland, Karlowicz jumped to 3NT and Zielinski invited slam by raising to 4NT, an invitation which Karlowicz declined. The spade lead went to the jack and king and Karlowicz took the losing diamond finesse. Back came a spade and he won and later gave up a spade to establish his tenth trick; +630. Reed decided to try for a penalty and passed the 2ª overcall. Alas, she is still waiting for the reopening double as Evans decided that her partner was unlikely to have spade stack so passed out 2ª. The contract went down four but -200 meant 10 IMPs to Poland.
Sara Sivelind showed the benefit of good old-fashioned penalty doubles, leaving no danger of partner failing to reopen. We do not have the full details of the play but can reveal that the defence started with ©K and a heart to the ace then switched to three rounds of clubs for North to ruff. Declarer came to just two tricks for a horrible -1400. In the other room Lotan Fisher opened the North hand 1NT to get his strength across immediately. Emil Andersson overcalled 2§, any one-suiter, and Eliran Argelazi doubled. When Fisher showed his hearts now, East/West were off the hook. Three No Trump made no less than 12 tricks after a low spade lead to declarer's eight - declarer led a low diamond and East went in with the king to switch to a low club. However, +690 merely held the Israeli loss to 12 IMPs on the board. In Netherlands v Scotland, both Norths declared 3NT. The Dutch declarer made 12 tricks on the lead of the ªQ. The Scottish declarer failed to count her tricks and managed to go down! Of course, giving up a diamond guarantees nine tricks on any lead. However, wanting to take a finesse, declarer rose with dummy's king on the low spade lead and led a club to the jack and queen. A low spade return established that suit and again, declarer has nine tricks. However, East was allowed in before said tricks had been cashed and the contract was one down for 13 IMPs to The Netherlands. There are relatively few opportunities to do something brilliant
and a lot of being an effective player is simply a matter of avoiding
the mistakes that you are really too good to make - like counting
up to nine on this deal.
Evans' off-centre weak 2¨ opening saw Johnny Sharp first compete to 3¨ over the 2ª overcall then save in 5¨ when his opponents bid game. This was a bit of a two-way shot - 5¨ might just make on a good day while it should also be a good save if 4ª was making the other way. And 5¨ doubled should have been made as declarer can afford a trump loser thanks to the friendly lie of the club suit, providing a pitch for the heart loser. Alas, she lost her way. South led the ªK and switched to a heart for the nine and king. Declarer failed to use her entries to hand to play the clubs and eventually lost a heart as well as a trump; -200. Niziol did not open the East hand but he did double when his opponents bid to the spade game after Nawrocki had doubled 1ª for take-out. Incidentally, wouldn't you judge the East hand to be worth a 3¨ bid over 2ª when partner has doubled 1ª? After a diamond lead to the king and ace, declarer lost all the tricks he was supposed to do and 4ª doubled was down three for -500 and 12 IMPs to Poland.
Both Norths contented themselves with a simple raise to 2ª over the take-out double. I guess that is the right thing to do with this balanced hand despite the four-card support. It doesn't really look like a pre-emptive raise, nor is it good enough for a sound raise to 3ª, so unless you have a special method to show a sort of mixed raise to three, 2ª is the bid. I was comforted to see that Andrew Carrigan made the 3¨ bid that I would have done as East and Simon Houlberg made a pushy game-try double. The ¨K looked bad to Anne-Sofie Houlberg and she signed-off in 3ª. Adam Flynn led a low diamond and declarer put in dummy's eight. Garrigan won the queen and tried to cash the ¨A, establishing the king for a club discard. The contract was still down one for -50. Nielsen saw the East hand as a responsive double, though why a one-suited hand… Lea Troels Pederson Moller bid 3§ over that, his lowest suit, and now Ho Ming Chan (I am old enough to have real problems not typing in Ho Chi Minh for that name) showed his maximum 2ª raise and fourth trump by competing to 3ª and now Paul Scannell made an undisciplined raise to game. Nielsen doubled 4ª and accurate defence led to three down; -500 and 10 IMPs to Denmark.
In this match both Norths made a pre-emptive raise to 3ª. Now I think that East does have a hand suitable for a responsive double as I would prefer to be more unbalanced to introduce my diamonds at the four level. Ben Green agreed with me, which is comforting, as in a weak moment I have agreed to play a series of county pairs events with him starting in September (maybe before the end of the week he will make a second call that I like?). It seems reasonable for Zavis Hlavac to go on to 4ª now with his minimum hand, lacking defence but with good spades. Unfortunately, Green knew what to do to 4ª and North had quite the wrong sort of hand for South's purposes - which is why 3ª is not the correct call over West's take-out double, of course. There was no slip by the defence so that was 500 to England. Vera Sidlova did not think that the East hand was worth any action, which is a little cautious in my view. Now Duncan Happer had no reason to go on to 4ª facing a weak raise. Three Spades also made seven tricks but that was only -100 and 9 IMPs to England.
I think that if North overcalled 1ª, 2ª or 3ª, I would make a single raise with the South cards. That would, of course, assure that North would go on to 4ª over 4© on this deal. Sure enough, Molenaar raised the 1ª overcall to 2ª and Tim Verbeek went on to 4ª. With 4© making as the cards lie, 4ª is a good sacrifice unless it is both doubled and taken for the maximum two down and, while the double is certainly possible, collecting five minor-suit tricks is very tough to achieve. Verbeek was already onto a good thing then when 4ª did not get doubled. A couple of minutes later he probably wished that he had been doubled, because Hodge led the ace of clubs and continued with a second club. Verbeek could unblock the heart and take a diamond discard; +620. Aitken did not raise the spades in the other room and allowed 4© to play despite Emma Maitland's repeating her spades at the three level. With the club onside, 4© was simply a matter of leading up to the hearts twice to finesse against South's jack; +420 and 14 IMPs to The Netherlands.
Once again we see a South player, Sivelind, who is unwilling to support her partner's spade overcall. The South hand is full value for a raise to 2ª and if partner holds five spades the two level is where you are supposed to compete to. Why leave your opponents a free run if the hand belongs to them? Idan Grunbaum made a support double to show three hearts and Daniel Salomonsson bid his spades a second time. Still no support from Sivelind when Grunbaum now showed his distribution and decent hand by bidding 3§. Eran Assaraf judged correctly to jump to 4© now and that contract made the normal ten tricks for +420 to Israel. Erik Emvall's weak jump shift worked out badly for his side in the other room as the Swedish East/West pair were only ever competing the partscore from that point on. They sold out to 3ª and the lead of ace and another club led to ten tricks; +170 and 11 IMPs to Israel.
Nobody got close to game at either table in this match which featured less bidding on this deal than any other match. Hradil's 2ª overcall did not attract a raise from Hlavac and neither East nor West felt quite able to compete further. After aheart lead, it seems that declarer forgot to take a pitch on the ©A and held himself to eight tricks; +110. There was more bidding at the other table but still not enough. Surely, once South has raised to 2ª, North cannot let the opposition play in 3©. Perhaps Susan Stockdale was afraid of pushing them into 4©, over which she would be unwilling to bid 4ª. However, East/West did not sound as though they were going to bid 4© and all that happened wa that they collected a comfortable +170 when North/South might have bid and made 3ª. That was worth 7 IMPs to Czech Republic.
At the first table, Germany's Maria Wurmseer did not respond to Janko Katerbau's 2© overcall. Though the ªQ may be wastepaper in a heart contract, I would have thought that West should do something opposite a vulnerable two-level overcall. However, when her opponents competed to 3ª, she did double that for penalties. The ace of hearts lead was ruffed and Raynaud played three rounds of diamonds, ruffed with the ten and over-ruffed. He was forced again by a heart return and had to settle for seven tricks, five trumps and two top diamonds; two down for -300. At the other table, Romain Tembouret did respond to the overcall, showing a good heart raise. Jean-Francois Grias bid the heart game and received a diamond lead. Smirnov took the top diamonds then tried to cash a spade. Grias ruffed, ruffed a diamond, unblocked the trumps and soon had 11 tricks for a useful +650 and 8 IMPs to France.
Moller did not raise the hearts and was only willing to give simple preference to 3© over his partner's second bid of 3¨. This does seem very timid though, of course, Moller may still be suffering from a previous occasion on which he made the error of taking his partner's bidding seriously. Nielsen could not go on to game on his own, of course. He came to eleven tricks for +200. Flynn raised the overcall to 3© and Carrigan went on to game and North doubled. Carrigan ruffed the spade lead and cashed the ©QJ before playing dummy's ¨J to North's king. He ruffed the spade continuation, drew trumps and crossed to the §A to lead a diamond up; ten tricks for +790 and 11 IMPs to Ireland.
Emvall responded 2NT to Andersson's overcall and Andersson jumped to the heart game. Now Fisher took a third bid on the North cards, which looks to be a little too much - though as 4ª will only go for 500 against the making 4©, it would have been OK in practice. However, whether or not the 4ª call is sound, it earned a rich reward when Andersson went on to 5©, ending the auction. Andersson ruffed the spade lead and cashed the ©QJ, after which he had to lose three diamond tricks; down one for -100. At the other table, Grunbaum thought that he was too good for a simple overcall so doubled with the East cards. I think that it is much better to get the suit in first and worry about showing the extra values later - particularly as here where you are short in RHO's suit and can imagine the bidding being at the 4ª level at your second turn. The double worked out just fine, however, when Assaraf leaped to 3NT in reply and Salomonsson doubled. Grunbaum redoubled and there were nine tricks there for the taking; +1000 and 15 IMPs to Israel. What better way to complete our first visit to the schools Championship? |
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