| 9th World Youth Team Championship | Page 7 | Bulletin 6 - Monday 25 August 2003 |
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Round Ten – France vs China Hong Kong Day four of the championship had been a terrible one for China Hong Kong, who had suffered back-to-back 4-25 losses to first Denmark and then Italy, crashing out of the qualifying places in the process. Another such defeat against France would surely see the end of their challenge.
Yiu Chung Lai judged the East hand to be suitable for a multi 2¨ opening, while the weak suit and substantial outside strength was too much for Thomas Bessis who preferred to pass. Lai and Alick Ng had an uncontested auction to 3ª on the East/West cards – not their best spot and perhaps Lai thought that his passed hand 3ª promised club support while Ng thought otherwise. Godefroy de Tessieres led three rounds of diamonds. Lai ruffed the third round and played a spade. The defence was a tempo ahead and declarer could not draw trumps at any stage. He lost four trump tricks and three tricks in the red suits for down three; -150. That price would be worth paying if Wai Kit Lai and Kwok-Fai Mak could make 4© at the other table. Once Mak had been allowed to open 1NT by East's second-seat pass they were always going to get there and there was nothing the defence could do. Bessis led a spade to set up a ruff for Julien Gaviard, but that merely prevented the overtrick; +420 and 7 IMPs to China Hong Kong.
A combination of mildly aggressive decisions by Olivier Bessis and de Tessieres saw them reach a nice 23-point 3NT. A club lead to the jack and ace did not trouble declarer who simply returned the suit to establish two extra tricks. Ng found a heart switch on winning the §A but there were nine tricks for +600. At the other table Mak showed much the same values as had de Tessieres but without showing his heart suit. Lai did not go on to game, having already shown his five-card suit and seeing too little in the way of extras. An entirely reasonable decision but +150 meant a swing of 10 IMPs to France.
Mak showed a constructive four-card raise to 3©, which looks to be just right on the South cards, while de Tessieres made a very aggressive balanced game raise. Both Easts led the queen of diamonds and continued with a low diamond when that held the lead. Both Wests won the ten of diamonds and switched to a low spade. Lai made the normal play of putting in the spade queen and, when that held, cashed the major-suit aces then played the jack of clubs to dummy's ace and ruffed the ¨K. Now he exited with a heart, which would have endplayed West should he have held the king. When the king of hearts proved to be with East, Lai required the club finesse. Of course, he was successful; +620. Bessis spurned the spade finesse at trick three, rising with his ace. When the ©K was offside he had to lose a spade for down one; -100 and 12 IMPs to China Hong Kong.
Ng opened 1ª in third seat and Bessis overcalled 4©, attracting an aggressive double from Lai. Presumably he intended the double to be value-showing, but it ended the auction, suggesting that Ng saw things differently. There was nothing to the play after a club lead; ten tricks for +590. Mak could open a mini no trump and that created a rather different scenario. Gaviard overcalled 2©, transfer, and Lai overcalled 4¨, transfer, allowing Bessis an easy double. Mak completed the transfer and Gaviard went on to 4ª. That contract was due to succeed so Lai did the right thing when he went on to 5©, even if his side lost 12 IMPs for the inevitable down one and -100.
Both Souths opened 1© and both Wests overcalled 1ª. Now Lai took the opportunity to get his diamonds into the game while Olivier Bessis went quietly. Bessis did, however, compete with 3¨ at his next turn. Ng/Lai stopped in 3ª by West. After a heart lead and continuation, Ng ruffed and cashed the ace of spades. We will draw a veil over the subsequent play as he came to only five tricks – not a great effort – for -400. Gaviard/Thomas Bessis reached 3NT and Mak, who remember had heard his partner bid 2¨ freely, ventured a double. With his powerful heart suit and likely spade stopper, this looked to be a promising position to take and so it proved. Mak led the jack of hearts in an attempt to establish his suit while keeping communications open. As it transpired, Bessis would have done well to grab the ©Q and run for home, two down coming to -500 but only 3 IMPs away. However, Bessis did not want to give up on making his contract so soon and ducked the heart. Mak switched, to the §Q. When declarer ducked that and Lai overtook with the king to lead a heart through the queen, that was down three; -800 and 9 IMPs to China Hong Kong.
It may not be the worst crime in bridge, but going down in seven when the opposition have stopped at the five level certainly ranks pretty high on the list. One can have some sympathy with Wai Lai, who had a potentially wonderful hand when Mak made what appears to be a totally unjustified leap to the small slam. Sure, he had shown a minimum with his jump to game on the previous round, but he was still looking at a 5-2-3-3 12-count with no trump honour. Should North guess to bid seven when his partner could have gone more slowly to keep the grand slam in the picture? It is a matter of partnership philosophy perhaps, but from North's point of view is South not virtually marked with the §A and second-round heart control to justify his jump to 6©? He could hardly bid slam without a control in each unbid suit and cannot have first-round heart control, or first-round control of neither suit, can he? De Tessieres showed his balanced minimum by his third bid of 3NT but Bessis was not finished yet. He made two more slam tries before finally giving up. Though de Tessieres had two aces, his partner's repeated diamond cuebids nothing to improve his hand and he signed off for a third time; +480 and a surprising +11 IMPs to France.
The IMPs went straight back on the next deal when it was the French North/South pair's turn to get too high on a potential slam board. When de Tessieres judged the South hand to be worth a one-level opening, an assessment with which I agree, Bessis simply drove to slam. The contract is not without play on the North/South cards, but after a heart lead ducked to the king there were no prospects for success and Bessis finished up down two for -200. Mak treated his hand as a weak two bid and now there was no danger of getting too high; +650 and 13 IMPs to China Hong Kong. The French pair were by no means the only ones to reach slam. I heard of a couple of tables at which North declared 6§. Hopeless, you might imagine, but diamonds sounded to be declarer's most likely weakness on the auction and East duly led that suit to concede 1370.
(i) Transfer
Olivier Bessis did not come in the on the first round but joined in with a double at his second turn and now de Tessieres forced to game. Had the opening lead been a heart, 3NT would have been just fine, but Yiu Lai, who lacked an outside entry to the hearts, quite correctly led his partner's club suit and with the ªA to be knocked out one stopper proved to be insufficient; down three for -150. Wai Lai overcalled in his chunky four-card spade suit and Mak followed an invitational sequence, 2© being the cuebid raise. Lai judged that his 12 HCP outweighed the missing fifth spade and went on to the spade game – a good decision not to suggest 3NT when West had not had an opportunity to repeat the suit. Thomas Bessis led his singleton diamond and Lai rose with dummy's ace and dropped the nine from hand to conceal the true position as best he could. He led a low spade at trick two and Gaviard went in with the ace to cash the §A then lead a diamond for his partner to ruff. Bessis switched to a heart to dummy's ace and Lai crossed to the king of spades to ruff the §9 then played a diamond to his king, drew the last trump and ran the diamonds; ten tricks for +420 and 11 IMPs to China Hong Kong. Four Spades would have failed had Gaviard been sufficiently confident of the diamond situation to give his partner a ruff without first cashing the §A, as he could then have been put back in with the ace to give a second ruff.
Roughly half the field played this one in 2NT and half in 4ª. Both Souths in our match did well when they guessed to look for a spade fit and reached game; a push at +450 when the defence did not get the diamonds going in time to stop the overtrick. It probably is correct for South to respond 3§. When there is a spade fit North/South will want to try their hand at 4ª, while when there is no spade fit it will still only be seriously wrong to move when there are exactly eight tricks available in no trump.
Whether your poison is a natural weak two bid or a multi, it seems to me that there is a substantial issue here as to whether this South hand should open or pass. Certainly the all-round strength and heart suit are acceptable for a weak two bid, but the hand is so suitable for play in spades should partner be long in that suit, that there is a substantial downside to the opening. Not this time, and both North/Souths duly opened the hand and got to a perfectly playable heart game. Now it was up to the defence. In the Closed Room, Ng cashed the ace of spades then switched to ace and another diamond. That forced North to ruff with a heart honour and now West's ©9 became the setting trick; -100. On vugraph, Thomas Bessis led the king of diamonds. A lazy defender would have left him on lead and expected him to find the diamond continuation, but Gaviard made quite sure that there would be no defensive slip-up. He overtook the diamond and cashed his ace of spades then played back a diamond. Again North had to ruff and West had two heart tricks; -100 and a well-defended flat board. China Hong Kong won the match by 52-46 IMPs, 16-14 VPs, but it is likely that France were the happier with that result as they ended the day in fourth place, 14 VPs ahead of China Hong Kong, who have a pretty tough run in to look forward to. |
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