| 18th European Youth Team Championships | Page 8 | Bulletin 11 - Wednesday Evening, 17 July 2002 |
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Schools Round 14 With two rounds to play in the Schools Championship, Poland led Israel by 5 VPs. In Round 14, Poland appeared to have much the easier task, facing as they did the next-to-bottom team, Scotland, while Israel played England. Perhaps Poland could add sufficiently to their lead that they would be under little or no pressure going into their final match against third-placed The Netherlands, when it would be the turn of Israel to face the lowly-ranked Scots.
A peaceful board in the Poland v Scotland match, with the Scots picking up 1 IMP for +200 against +170 in the heart partscores. There was more action in Israel v England. Both Easts passed as dealer but then came in with an unusual 2Nt overcall. Moss/Brown now bid to 4© for England and were left to play there. We have seen a lot of tricks being made in a heart partscore but perhaps game would prove to be more taxing? The opening lead was a trump to West's ace and Eran Assaraf switched to a low club for the king and ace. Idan Grunbaum cashed the §Q and played a third club. Declarer ruffed, cashed the ©K and ¨K and crossed to dummy to take a pitch on the ¨A. With no more entries to dummy, it would seem that declarer has no choice but to play for the actual spade position and get lucky, but in practice he took a spade finesse and was one down; -100. If declarer intended to take the double finesse, he should have played to have two dummy entries with which to do so. At the other table Israel also reached the heart game but Susan Stockdale decided to take the save in 5§. No doubt she was bidding with one eye on the vulnerability, but she might also have considered that even in a sacrifice you do need to take a fair number of tricks and her hand was not likely to provide all that many facing a passed partner, for all that he had promised a two-suiter. Five Clubs doubled was four down for -800 and 14 IMPs to Israel.
Gordon Pearson showed an eight/nine playing trick hand based on a long strong club suit. David Wallace took the rather pessimistic view to settle for 3NT, probably because he didn't like his small singleton club. That proved not to be a problem and after a diamond lead to the ace there were twelve tricks; +490 to Scotland. Piotr Zielinski's Polish Club attracted a 1© overcall from Kirsten Aitken and a negative double from Wlodzimierz Karkowicz. The 2§ rebid showed the strong club type and eventually Karkowicz made the practical man's jump to 6NT. A heart lead meant 13 tricks for +1020 and 11 IMPs to Poland.
Israel had a smooth auction to 6NT for an easy 1020, but something went horribly wrong for England after Duncan Happer invented a spade suit and Stockdale too him seriously. Ory Assaraf was not too tested to double 7NT, nor to find the right opening lead; minus one for -100 and 15 IMPs to Israel. On vugraph, the Israeli Juniors were also playing against England. There too the final contract was 7NT doubled, after South had overcalled 1©. North was on lead knowing that dummy would have massive clubs and a spade feature, while declarer had bid diamonds and, indeed, tried to play in 7¨ on the basis that his partner had shown a diamond fit. The misunderstanding proved to be a very fortunate one for England as it was very tough for North to find the diamond lead. He eventually led a heart and England had a big swing for 7NT doubled making against 6§+1 from the other table.
Oh for a good old-fashioned strong jump shift. Three Diamonds followed by 4¨ by West makes this one very easy. Second choice, 2¨ then 4¨, if an immediate jump shift would not be strong. The latter was the route selected by Karkowicz and he eventually played 6¨ doubled, making an overtrick for +1740. Why Emma Maitland chose to double the freely bid slam when her trump holding suggested that declarer was about to get lucky if he needed to be, is something for her to discuss with her team coach, or perhaps psychiatrist. Wallace's approach to the West hand was simply inadequate and +640 meant 15 IMPs to Poland.
The English auction started with a strong jump shift, which should have solved the problem. Stockdale followed up with 4ª then with 4NT. Happer may be the only person in this sector of the galaxy who doesn't think that is Blackwood - he passed and that was -200. Maybe 4NT was not the best way forward over 4©, but it was about to get the job done. I hate this inventing a suit, as found by Assaraf at the other table. He attracted a spade raise followed by a heart cuebid and decided to leap to 7¨ to make certain that there would be no mix-up regarding what suit was to be trumps. The friendly diamond layout meant 13 tricks and 20 IMPs to Israel.
Pearson opened a 14-16 no trump and Wallace transferred then passed the response; +170. Karkowicz opened 2ª, weak with spades and a minor, and Zielinski went for the subtle approach, responding 3NT. The lead was a low heart, run to the king, and back came a second heart to the ace. Zielinski played ¨A, unblocking the nine, then a diamond to the king. He could set up a club for his ninth trick; +600 and 10 IMPs to Poland.
Grunbaum opened a strong no trump and Assaraf drove to game. The lead of the §9 ran to declarer's king and Grunbaum played the ¨9 to the ace then back to the ¨K. After cashing the diamond he could establish his ninth trick in hearts; +600. Happer overcalled 1NT when Gilad Ofir opened the North hand. Stockdale doubled 2§ for take-out then also doubled 2©. Was that intended to also be for take-out, or more penalty? Whatever, it ended the auction. Happer led a heart to Stockdale's ace and she switched to the singleton club. That was ducked to the queen and Happer now tried a low spade. That ran to declarer's jack. The contract should have been two down from here but the defence slopped a trick and a minor swing had been turned into a major one; -200 but 9 IMPs to Israel. By the half-way point, Poland were feeling pretty good, leading as they did by 57-5, already in the 25-5 bracket. The Poles would have felt less comfortable had they been aware that Israel were also up, by 81-14.
Four Hearts is the place to play this one and Greg Moss's 3ª bid is truly bizarre after his partner had shown five hearts with the initial response then rebid the suit. Can Roger Brown be blamed for raising to 4ª? That contract duly failed by a trick for -100. Everyone else in our featured matches bid to 4©, though the hand was played in partscore in a number of other matches: 1ª - 1NT - 2§ - 2© - Pass, was a not uncommon auction. You would find it difficult to imagine that 4© could fail as the cards lie, and it duly made ten tricks for Poland and for Israel, however… Karkowicz led the ¨Q
against Kirsten Aitken and switched to the ©J.
Aitken won dummy's king and, if the play records are to be believed,
led a low spade for the jack and king. As she went two down, we
must assume that the records are accurate. Now why would you make
that play?
The auction stopped at four different levels at our four tables. For Poland, Jacek Kalita opened the South hand with 1© and rebid 4© despite Jan Sikora's response in his four-card side suit. Well, unless partner has at least five spades the hand surely does belong in hearts. A diamond lead and losing spade finesse meant only 11 tricks for Kalita; +450. Brown also opened 1© but he chose to support his partner's spades at his second turn, by way of a 4§ splinter bid. When Moss could cuebid the ©A, Brown checked for key cards before stopping just in time in 5ª. That made 11 tricks for +450. Ory Assaraf's approach was to open 1© then cuebid his opponent's suit at his second turn. When Ofir could show heart support, Assaraf made a slam try by cuebidding clubs then signed-off in 6© when Ofir in turn showed a club control. Had Stockdale led her partner's diamonds, 6© would have failed by a trick, of course, and after both opponents have cuebid clubs there seems no reason to prefer a club lead. However, that is what Stockdale chose and now the diamond loser could go away on an established club; +980 and 11 IMPs to Israel. Aitken started with an Acol two bid, strong but not game-forcing, and Maitland jumped to 5©. I have no idea what that was intended to show/ask about, but what it got was a jump to 7© from Aitken and a double from Zielinski. The club lead gave Aitken a temporary reprieve but that was all it was; down one for -100 and 11 IMPs to Poland.
It is clear that 4ª is makable, but it is also clear that it can go down if declarer does not read the situation correctly. Poland stopped safely in 2ª and made ten tricks for +170. The Scots were more optimistic and bid the decent game. On the nine of clubs lead, declarer played dummy's ten. That lost to the king and a club ruff was given. There was no recovery from that start; one down for -100 and 7 IMPs to Poland. Perhaps the six-one split was unlucky for declarer, but the §9 was very likely to be from shortage, and in that case there is no need to take the risk of running into a ruff; simply win the ace, draw trumps and lead toward the §Q.
The English pair also reached 4ª and the same opening lead saw the same play to the first trick; the same one down for -100. At the other table, Brown decided that it was time for a little enterprising bidding. His 3§ weak jump overcall was doubled and this proved to be an unpleasant contract for declarer, as perhaps it deserved to be. It drifted three off for -800 and 14 IMPs to Israel. Poland had done their job against Scotland, amassing an impressive 109 IMPs to their opponents' 13, for a 25-0 victory. However, their lead over Israel stayed at just 5 VPS, as the Israelis demolished England by 147-17, another 25-0. Incidentally, I believe that this result means that England have taken over Scotland's previous record for the highest number of IMPs conceded in a match at these Championships. |
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