China v USA

by Mark Horton

China went into the last session of their semi final against the USA trailing by 27 IMPs. The boards were not conducive to swings as the session score of 9-19 indicates. I tried to discover if the Chinese had missed any opportunities.

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

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Wang W	Molson	Wang H	Sokolow
			2¨*
Pass	4§*	Dble	4©*
All Pass

Two Diamonds was multi and Four Clubs asked South to transfer into her major.

West led the eight of diamonds, ducked to East’s queen. Declarer won the trump switch in dummy, and played a club. East won to play a second trump. The contract was three down, -150.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Meyers	Gu	Montin	Zhang
			2¨*
Pass	2NT*	Dble	3ª
Pass	4©	Pass	Pass
Dble	All Pass

East led the king of diamonds and declarer won and played the jack of clubs. East put up the queen and West overtook to switch to a trump. Declarer won, ruffed a club and played the queen of spades. East won and played the queen of diamonds and a diamond, ruffed by West who played a club. The contract was two down, -300. That gave the USA 4 IMPs.

You can imagine that West might well have doubled Four Spades in the Open Room, but she could hardly double Four Hearts. However, you can make a case for East to double again, and had she done so China would have been +500, a gain of 5 IMPs, and a total swing of 9 IMPs.

With one flat board following another China had to wait a very long time before there was any chance of a gain.

Board 29. Dealer North. All Vul.
	ª K Q J 10 8 6 © 8 ¨ 7 5 4 § A Q 9
ª 2 © 7 4 3 2 ¨ A J 8 6 2 § K 8 6		ª A 9 4 3 © A 10 9 ¨ § J 7 5 4 3 2
	ª 7 5 © K Q J 6 5 ¨ K Q 10 9 3 § 10

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Wang W	Molson	Wang H	Sokolow
	1ª	Pass	2©
Pass	2ª	Pass	3¨
Pass	3NT	All Pass

East led the four of clubs to the king and ace and declarer started on the spades. East took the second round as West discarded a diamond, and played another club giving declarer an easy route to nine tricks, +600.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Meyers	Gu	Montin	Zhang
	1ª	Pass	1NT*
Pass	2ª	Pass	3ª
Pass	4ª	Dble	All Pass

Here North missed a simple match strategy tactic when she failed to redouble. Four Spades cannot be defeated, so she was +790 to pick up 5 IMPs. The redouble would have meant +1080 and an extra 5 IMPs.

So far we have found the potential for 14 extra IMPs, just about half the deficit at the start of the session.

Board 30. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª A 4 3 2 © 9 8 6 5 4 2 ¨ K 3 § 5
ª Q 10 9 7 © A K 10 ¨ 10 8 5 § J 10 6		ª K J 8 6 © J 7 ¨ Q J 4 2 § K 9 4
	ª 5 © Q 3 ¨ A 9 7 6 § A Q 8 7 3 2

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Wang W	Molson	Wang H	Sokolow
		Pass	1§
Pass	1©	Pass	2§
Pass	2©	Pass	3©
All Pass

When East led the queen of diamonds declarer won and took the club finesse. When that held she cashed the ace and cross ruffed spades and diamonds for ten tricks, +170.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Meyers	Gu	Montin	Zhang
		Pass	2§
Pass	2©	All Pass

Once again East led the diamond queen. Playing in two hearts declarer did not need to finesse in clubs, so she made nine tricks, +140 and 1IMP away.

If South had raised to Three Hearts, as she might have done at the state of the match, North would probably have raised and East would have needed to find the trump lead, as declarer would surely have followed the winning line in game. +420 would have meant 6 IMPs to China, so an effective seven, leaving them just six down with two to play.

Board 32. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	ª A 9 8 © ¨ A K 7 5 3 2 § K Q 6 4
ª K Q J 10 3 © 9 5 ¨ J 9 § 10 8 3 2		ª 7 6 5 © A 10 8 4 ¨ 8 6 4 § A 9 7
	ª 4 2 © K Q J 7 6 3 2 ¨ Q 10 § J 5

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Wang W	Molson	Wang H	Sokolow
Pass	1¨	Pass	1©
1ª	2§	Pass	3©
Pass	3ª	Pass	4©
All Pass

Obviously Four Hearts cannot be made, as you have to lose a trick in each black suit and two in trumps, one down, -50 – and a flat board, as you might expect.

However, if North had chanced 3NT rather than Three Spades and North had been brave enough to pass, (both pretty big ifs!) then China would have gained 10 IMPs – and a breathless win.

So, in theory, China might have been able to do it, but in practice they were denied the opportunity by the Great Shuffler.