The Spring North American Championships VI

by Phillip Alder

The Spring North American Championships finished yesterday (March 20) in Reno, NV. Full details are available at acbl.org. Tom Smith has been nominated for the Hall of Fame, winning the Blackwood Award posthu- mously (he died in 2010). from Norway has been named the recipient of this year's Sidney H. Lazard Jr. Sportsmanship Award. I will write about them and , who was voted in by his peers, in later articles. Here are the other major championship winners over the last few days. Jenni Carmichael of Kennesaw, GA, and Greg Humphreys of Charlottesville, VA, ran away with the by three boards. Second were Kerri and Steve Sanborn of Delray Beach, FL; and Peg Walker of Eden Prairie, MN, and Ronald DeHarpporte of Edina, MN, were third. The Smith Life Master Women's Pairs resulted in a photo finish among three pairs. When the last trick had been played, Victoria Gromova and Tatiana Ponomareva from Russia finished nearly five matchpoints (on a 25 top) ahead of Anne Brenner of Denver and Ellen Kozlove of Boca Raton, FL. Third were Shannon Cappelletti of Delray Beach and Sheri Winestock of Las Vegas. The was captured by of Clearwater Beach, FL, and of Clearwater, FL, by one over Phyllis Fireman of Chestnut Hill, MA, and John Kranyak of Las Vegas. Third were Allan Falk of Okemos, MI, and John Lusky of Portland, OR. The main event, the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams, ended yesterday (Sunday). These were the results in the semifinals. Lavazza (Norberto Bocchi and Diego Brenner from Spain, Giorgio Duboin from Italy, of New York City, and Alejandro Bianchedi and Agustin Madala from Argentina) defeated from Sweden, Daniel Zagorin of , and Bas Drijver and Sjoert Brink from the Netherlands by 146 international match points to 43, Bertheau conceding after 45 of the scheduled 60 boards. James Cayne and of Boca Raton, FL, Lorenzo Lauria, Alfredo Versace and Antonio Sementa from Italy, and Mustafa Cem Tokay from Turkey beat Andrew Rosenthal, Aaron Silverstein and of New York City, Jan Jansma from the Netherlands, and and Frédéric Volcker from France by 113 imps to 88.

At halftime in the final, Lavazza led by 76 imps to 64.

A few teams competed last Monday to leave 64 to battle over one-day 60-board knockout matches for six days. The shock result on Tuesday was the loss of the sixth seed from Monaco of Pierre Zim- mermann, Franck Multon, Dominik Filipowicz, Krzysztof Martens, Geir Helgemo and Tor Helness by 155 imps to 115 to the #59 seed, Ruo Yang Lian, Yang Cai and Fei Gao from China, and Hua Poon and Choon Chou Loo from Singapore. The Lian team eventually lost in the quarterfinals to the third seed, James Cayne .

In the Round of 32, the second seeds, of New York City, of Burr Ridge, IL, of Henderson, NV, of Andes, NY, and Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell faced the #31 seeds, Gaylor Kasle of Boca Raton, of Houston, David Grainger of Roseville, CA, Greg Hinze of San Antonio, TX, Neil Chambers of Schenectady, NY, and of Seattle. Nickell led by 5 imps after the first session and 7 imps at the half. Then Kasle took a 5-imp lead into the last set. That is when this declarer-play problem arose (see the next page).

1 Dummy Dlr: North ‰ A Q 10 7 4 Vul: E-W Š K 9 5 3 ‹ 10 5 2 Œ J : ‹ K Declarer (You) ‰ 6 Š Q 7 ‹ A J 8 7 6 3 Œ A 7 5 4 West North East South Partner You Pass Pass 1‹ Pass 2Š (a) Pass 3‹ Pass 5‹ All Pass (a) Five spades, four-plus hearts and 7-10 high-card points

West leads the diamond king and East follows suit. How would you plan the play? The full deal will be given later.

The first eleven deals of the final session were 8-3 in favor of Kasle . Then came Board 57 of 60:

North Dlr: South ‰ Q J 8 4 Vul: None Š K 8 6 3 ‹ 7 2 Œ 10 6 3 West East ‰ K ‰ A 5 2 Š A 9 Š Q J 10 7 ‹ A K Q J 8 5 3 ‹ 6 Œ 9 8 5 Œ A K Q J 4 South ‰ 10 9 7 6 3 Š 5 4 2 ‹ 10 9 4 Œ 7 2 Table 1: West North East South Schermer Meckstroth Chambers Rodwell Pass 3NT (a) Pass 4NT (b) Pass 5Š Pass 7NT All Pass (a) Nine winners based on a solid and a trick or two on the side (b) Simple Blackwood

That was an effective and straightforward auction to a contract that, given the minor-suit breaks, had fifteen top tricks.

This was the auction in the other room:

2 North Dlr: South ‰ Q J 8 4 Vul: None Š K 8 6 3 ‹ 7 2 Œ 10 6 3 West East ‰ K ‰ A 5 2 Š A 9 Š Q J 10 7 ‹ A K Q J 8 5 3 ‹ 6 Œ 9 8 5 Œ A K Q J 4 South ‰ 10 9 7 6 3 Š 5 4 2 ‹ 10 9 4 Œ 7 2 Table 2: West North East South Weinstein Grainger Levin Hinze Pass 1‹ Pass 2Œ (a) Pass 3‹ Pass 3‰ Pass 4‹ Pass 5Œ Pass 5Š Pass 5‰ Pass 5NT Pass 6‹ Pass 6NT Pass Pass Pass (a) Two-over-one game-forcing

Most pairs using two-over-one play that a three-diamond jump rebid by opener shows a solid suit and some extra values. If so, Levin must have been tempted to bid Roman Key Card Blackwood, which would have worked perfectly here. However, he had two immediate heart losers, and partner could have held:

‰ K Q 4 Š 9 2 ‹ A K Q J 8 5 3 Œ 5

So a control-bidding sequence commenced that did not hit the top spot. Plus 1520 and minus 1020 gave Kasle 11 imps on the board and a lead of 18 with three deals to go.

3 This was the very next board:

North Dlr: West ‰ J 8 Vul: N-S Š A 10 6 2 ‹ 9 4 Œ K 10 6 3 2 West East ‰ A Q 10 7 4 ‰ 6 Š K 9 5 3 Š Q 7 ‹ 10 5 2 ‹ A J 8 7 6 3 Œ J Œ A 7 5 4 South ‰ K 9 5 3 2 Š J 8 4 ‹ K Q Œ Q 9 8 Table 1: West North East South Schermer Meckstroth Chambers Rodwell Pass Pass 1‹ Pass 2Š (a) Pass 3‹ Pass 5‹ Pass Pass Pass (a) Five spades, four-plus hearts and 7-10 high-card points

Table 2: West North East South Weinstein Grainger Levin Hinze Pass Pass 3‹ All Pass

Levin, under no pressure after his unusual pre-empt with two aces, took ten tricks: one spade, one heart, five diamonds, one club and two club ruffs in the dummy. Chambers had more to worry about. He won the first trick with his diamond ace and saw those same ten tricks. Where was number eleven? There seemed to be only one answer. At trick two, declarer played a spade to dummy's queen. When that held, he discarded a club on the spade ace, played the club jack to his ace, ruffed a club on the board, ruffed a spade, ruffed a club, played a heart to his queen, and led the diamond jack. When the suit proved to be 2-2, Chambers claimed his con- tract. Plus 400 and minus 130 gave Kasle another 7 imps and the match by 105 imps to 80.

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