Issue: 10 29th October 1997

Chief Editor: Henry Francis (USA) l Editors: (Great Britain), (Great Britain) l Layout Editor: Stelios Hatzidakis (Greece) US Venice battle is fierce; big leads in other matches

The teams leading three of the four semifinal matches have comfortable margins, but the battle between the two United States teams is very much up for grabs. USA II, captained by Sue Sachs, raced away to a fast 40-IMP lead over the first 32 boards, but USA I, captained by Sue Picus, Victory played catchup over the last 16 boards of the day to close within 4 IMPs, 127-123. In the other Venice Cup match, China leads by 73, 175-102 – a huge margin with only 32 boards banquet remaining. All the captains of the United States I in the Bermuda Bowl, captained by Hugh Ross, is almost as bad off.They trail their and Venice Cup teams are kindly invited to compatriots, the United States II team captained by Walt Walvick, by 59 IMPs, 172-113.The Norway- collect the invitations to the Victory Ban- France slugfest is somewhat closer – France leads, 162-122. quet for their teams on Wednesday, 29 October, between 11.00 and 18.00 at the In the U.S.Venice Cup encounter, the Sachs team stagnated after the first 32 boards, losing 1 IMP in Hospitality Desk. Please do this within that the third segment. It was all Picus in the fourth segment – USA I had a 54-17 edge. time because it is necessary to know the China, which solidly trounced a strong Great Britain team in the quarterfinals, is doing the same to number of teams attending. We have to France, the team that led throughout the Venice Cup round-robin. After a fierce 53-13 first segment, establish the number attending because the available space is limited. China opened the throttle wide again in the third segment to vault ahead by 67.The fourth segment was relatively quiet, but China added another 7 IMPs to their lead.They picked up 12 IMPs on a game Please take care of your invitation swing on the very last . because you will not be allowed to enter the dining room without pro- The Ross team finally gained back a little in the fourth segment, but they were outclassed for the ducing it to the staff at the door. first 48 boards.The highlight for the Walvick team was a board on which they earned 20 IMPs – mak- ing a doubled slam in one room and setting a vulnerable contract 800 in the other. Norway showed in the third segment that they can't be taken for granted.After being walloped, 92- 34, over the first 32 boards, they came up with a 65-IMP effort on Boards 33-48. However,France took command again in the fourth segment. Prize giving

Polish team leads in Transnational The prize giving ceremony will take place at 20.00 precisely on Saturday in the The Polish team captained by Jassem moved into first place after seven matches in the Transnation- Forum Room on the first floor of the Sol al Open Teams.A Finnish team captained by Nieminen was second, 7 Victory Points behind the lead- Azur (the open room for the Bermuda ers.Another 9 VPs back was a Denmark-Germany team captained by Jens Auken. Bowl and the Venice Cup). Following the ceremony, dinner will take place in the Today will be a busy day for the competitors – five matches. restaurant located on the third floor. The event drew an excellent turnout – 74 teams.The squad drawing the most attention is the one captained by Omar Sharif. 2 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 1997 World Bridge Championships Bermuda Bowl - Results Semifinals

Table Match 1st Session 2nd Session 3rd Session 4th Session 5th Session 6th Session Total IMPs Boards 1-16 Boards 17-32 Boards 33-48 Boards 49-64 Boards 65-80 Boards 81-96 1. USA II - USA I 50 - 13 55 - 39 51 - 30 16 - 31 172 - 113

2. Norway - France 18 - 52 16 - 40 65 - 34 23 - 36 122 - 162 Venice Cup - Results Semifinals

Table Match 1st Session 2nd Session 3rd Session 4th Session 5th Session 6th Session Total IMPs Boards 1-16 Boards 17-32 Boards 33-48 Boards 49-64 Boards 65-80 Boards 81-96 3. USA I - USA II 29 - 42 16 - 43 24 - 25 54 - 17 123 - 127

4. China - France 53 - 13 40 - 50 52 - 16 30 - 23 175 - 102

How communications are handled or those of you who do not know me, my name is Bulletin'. Similarly the result files are also placed in a FMark Newton and I am the IT Manager for this folder called 'Results' which is available to everyone on tournament. My responsibility is for the Press the network. Most of the journalists are using the Venice Cup - Semifinals 11h00 Room, Bulletin Room, and the secretariat’s computer Intranet and browsing the web to get the information systems.The results, scoring and duplication systems are they require.Thanassis in the Bulletin Room is doing an USA I - USA II in the very capable hands of the French Federation, excellent job of getting the information up quickly on to namely Claude Dadoun. the Internet. Hundreds of people have requested details about the The Bulletin is originally printed onto a special semi- computer set-up here.Well, not quite hundreds actual- transparent paper which the local printing company can ly, we just had some space in the Bulletin! Still, here then use to make the plates directly.This is done in the goes! small hours and by 7am your Bulletin is ready for you. World Transnational All the computers and most of the printers for the The photographs are all taken by Mark Horton with Press and Bulletin rooms were supplied by IBS which is a the Kodak digital camera and the image is then manipu- Open Teams Schedule Tunisian branch of IBM. They are all 166Mhz Pentiums lated by Mark, ready for the Layout Editor Stelios to put with either 2G or 4G Hard discs and 12 speed CD into the pages using Quark Express Desk Top Publishing Wednesday drives.The majority of the machines have 16M Ram with Software. 13.30-15.00 Round 8 some of the Bulletin room machines having 32M and the We are also pleased to have Bridge Plaza working main Server 64M of Ram.The machines are all connect- 15.20-16.50 Round 9 here, putting information up on their own web site. If ed to an internal network via 10baseT hubs.The cabling 17.10-18.40 Round 10 you have not seen this system at work then treat your- was installed specially for the event by the Hotel Group, self and visit HYPERLINK http://www.bridgeplazza.com Break and terminates in a patch-panel where the hubs and www.bridgeplaza.com, where you can see some of the 21.00-22.30 Round 11 router are installed. The network is connected to the hands as they were played and bid. 22.50-00.20 Round 12 Internet via a permanent leased line of 64K to ATI which The backup and support that we have received from is the main Tunisian Internet Agency, and there via a 2M our hosts here has been superb. I have found everyone Thursday link to France and then on to the rest of the world.The willing to make this a successful event and keen to learn 11.00-12.30 Round 13 internal network is connected to a server running NT4 about our needs. It is difficult to thank everyone in per- Break and a web server is running on this for an Intranet for the son but in particular I would like to thank Mr Mekni, the 14.00-15.30 Round 14 event; this is the site HYPERLINK http://www.bridge.tn Directeur commercial for Les Orangers Yassine Najahi, www.bridge.tn. 15.50-17.20 Round 15 the engineer who was responsible for most of the 17.40-19.10 Round 16 The computers are all running Windows 95 with MS cabling and is always cheerful , despite being asked to do Word 95 and have a program installed that allows the several things at once.The cry of "cables!" would strike user to call up any board that has been dealt and insert Friday fear into his heart! and last but by no means least Faouzi it into a Word document in the format that the Bulletin Abbes who is the IT manager of Les Orangers groups 11.00-12.30 Round 17 uses.The macros that make it easy for hands to be filled without whom I would not have been able to achieve 11.00-13.20 Semifinal, first half in manually and put into Word are in a folder called such a set-up nor solve the many small problems we had 12.50-14.20 Round 18 'Help yourself' and any press member can copy this for in the first few days before most of you arrived. He has 14.00-16.20 Semifinal, second half his own personal use. There is also a readme file to been of great help arranging and liaising with the various Break explain how to use these macros. At the end of the support staff and companies, all of whom are necessary 21.30-23.50 Final, first segment tournament, we hope to provide a Word file with all the to make a tournament like this work. hands in a format to make it easy to copy and paste into I have said before that an event like this is a bit like a Saturday your articles. I wrote the program to do this whilst swan, all serene on top but underneath the legs are here, on the suggestion of Brian Senior. 11.00-13.20 Final, second segment thrashing about wildly. But with this tournament it feels Members of the press can submit articles for the more that we are swimming with the current rather 14.00-16.20 Final, third segment Bulletin simply by saving them into a folder called 'For than against it ! Hammamet,Tunisia 1997 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 3

World Transnational Bermuda Bowl Quarterfinal

Open Teams Results Norway vs Italy by Knut Kjaernsrod (Norway) After 7 Rounds Norway slammed the semifinal door for Italy 1 JASSEM POL 147 2 NIEMINEN FIN 140 he quarterfinal match between Norway and Italy Board 3, E/W Vul. Dealer South. turned out to be a fierce battle where Italy had 3 AUKEN DEN/GER 131 T [ J 3 4 VANDERGAAST NL/GBR 129 a commanding lead at the halfway point. Norway fought back in true Viking spirit and finally emerged win- ] A J 8 5 GARDYNIK POL 127 { J 9 7 6 EKEBLAD USA 127 ners by a margin of 12 IMPs. The Norwegians scored } A K Q 10 6 7 ROUDINESCO FRA 126 heavily on many of the slam hands. Helness/Helgemo bid [ Q 10 4 2 [ 9 8 7 8 REKUNOV RUS 124 this excellent six diamonds in the first session: N ] 9 4 3 2 ] K 10 6 5 9 GOODMAN GBR 124 W E Board 10. Game All. Dealer East. { A 6 3 { 4 10 KOUZNETSOV RUS 124 S 11 SAHAL FRA 123 [ K 2 } 4 3 } J 9 7 5 2 12 BURGAY ITA/POL 122 ] K J 8 3 [ A K 6 5 13 BARONI ITA 121 { A J 10 5 ] Q 7 14 CONVERY ZAF/GBR 120 } A K 7 { K Q 10 8 5 2 } 8 15 HANNA CAN 118 [ Q N [ J 8 4 3 16 OTVOSI POL 117 ] A 10 9 2 W E ] 7 6 5 4 West North East South 17 MILNER USA/CAN 116 { 8 6 4 { 9 7 2 Duboin Helness Bocchi Helgemo 18 PINTO R POR 116 } Q 6 5 4 2 S } J 3 19 LAVAZZA ITA 116 [ A 10 9 7 6 5 1{ 20 DUMITRESCU ROM 116 ] Q Pass 2} Pass 2[ 21 RADISIC YOU/CAN 116 { K Q 3 Pass 2NT Pass 3{ 22 STRANDBERG EST 115 } 10 9 8 Pass 3] Pass 3NT 23 FORT CSK 114 Pass 4NT Pass 5[ 24 JEDIDI TUN 114 West North East South Pass 6{ All Pass 25 BALICKI POL 113 Duboin Helness Bocchi Helgemo 26 BIZER RUS/BRA 112 Pass 1[ 2[ showed extra strength and 5[ showed two aces 27 LEVENKO EST 112 Pass 2{ Pass 2[ and the queen of trumps.There was nothing to the play. 28 NISING NOR 110 Pass 3} Pass 3{ Lauria/Versace stopped in 3NT making six, so Norway 29 KER NZE 110 Pass 3[ Pass 4} gained another 10 IMPs. On the very last board of the match Lorenzo Lauria 30 JACKSON IRE 109 Pass 4NT Pass 5{ found an excellent switch at trick two. 31 CHMURSKI POL 109 Pass 5] Pass 5[ 32 TELTSCHER GBR/USA 109 Pass 6{ All Pass 33 HACKETT GBR VEN 108 Excellent card 34 BLAKSET DEN 108 Helness interpreted the 4} bid as a cuebid, and 35 MALAGUTI ITA 108 when Geir denied the queen of spades by bidding 5[, reading 36 Mrs ZOBU TUR 108 Helness knew that he had to own the king and queen of by Knut Kjaernsrod (Norway) 37 SHARIF TRA 107 diamonds. Bocchi led a heart to the ace. Helness took 38 PINTO E POR/BRA 106 the club shift, ruffed a heart, played a club to the king, n Session five of Norway's quarterfinal against Italy, 39 WILLIAMS USG/FRA 106 discarded the losing club on the ]K and ruffed a club. Tor Helness made the right decision to land his 3] 40 MAYBACH GER 105 I He then drew trumps and claimed. contract: 41 EILERTSEN NOR 104 In the Closed Room the Italians ended in 4[ and that 42 NIKEL RUS 104 was 12 IMPs to Norway. Board 7. Game All. Dealer South. 43 FORRESTER GBR 103 A Romex candidate? 44 CERVI ITA 101 [ J 6 5 In Session 3 the same pair bid a fine grand slam: 45 MORSE USA/CAN 99 ] K 10 9 5 3 46 CHODOROWSK POL 98 Board 14. Love All. Dealer East. { A K 6 47 MACNAIR GBR 98 } Q 4 48 D'ORSI BRA/USA 97 [ K J 7 [ K N [ 9 8 7 3 2 49 SFAR TUN 97 ] Q 9 7 6 ] A W E ] Q 8 4 { 7 5 { Q 10 8 4 2 { J 9 5 50 RIOS CHL 97 S 51 HUMBURG GER 97 } K 9 5 4 } A K J 9 7 5 } 8 3 52 MOSCHINO ITA 96 [ A 10 4 2 N [ 9 5 [ A Q 10 4 ] J 7 6 2 53 BELHASSEN TUN 96 ] 2 W E ] A K 10 8 5 3 54 BAROUDY LIB/FRA 96 { K J 10 4 3 2 { A Q 9 8 { 7 3 55 GAL HUN 95 } 8 7 S } A } 10 6 2 56 GARZETTI CHL 94 [ Q 8 6 3 West North East South 57 MACI ITA 93 ] J 4 Duboin Helness Bocchi Helgemo 58 WESSELING NTH/GBR 91 { 6 59 SURIYA THA 91 } Q J 10 6 3 2 Pass 1} 1] Pass 2] 60 ANAND IND 91 West North East South 61 Mrs BURN GBR 89 3{ Pass Pass 3] Helgemo Lauria Helness Versace 62 GUILLET FRA 89 All Pass 1] Pass 63 CADI TAZI MAR 89 The defence started with three rounds of clubs, the 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 64 PEDAK EST 88 third round being ruffed with the ten. Tor took three 65 SEGERS BEL 88 3} Pass 3] Pass rounds of diamonds, ruffing in dummy, and played a 66 Mrs REID JASW/GBR 87 4{ Pass 4NT Pass heart to the ace.A fourth diamond was ruffed with the 67 DAEHR GER 87 5[ Pass 7{ All Pass queen, and Bocchi exited with a spade. Helness knew 68 SINGAPURI IND 85 the exact shape of West's hand, and since Bocchi had 69 HAMEYET MAR 80 3] showed 6-4 in the red suits and Helgemo's 5[ shown the queen of hearts and the knave of diamonds, 70 ZARROUK TUN 76 showed two aces and the queen of trumps or extra he could hardly have the spade king since he had passed 71 LAKHDHAR USIT/TUN 70 length. Tor Helness could virtually count 13 tricks throughout. Consequently he rose with the ace and 72 DIX MAL 67 before dummy was put down and when the Italians captured Duboin's bare king,; 7 IMPs to Norway since 73 RAUNTO FIN 66 stopped in six that was a further 11 IMPs. Brogeland/Saelensminde did well in the Closed Room 74 GRAY ZAF/USA 66 In Session 5 they were on the slam track again: by bidding and making 4{. 4 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 1997 World Bridge Championships Annual IBPA Awards "Le Bridgeur" “The Sender” “Romex” Award for Best Play – Award for Best Defence – Award for Best Auction – Geir Helgemo (Norway) Gunnar Hallberg (Sweden) Chip Martel & Lew Stansby (USA) Journalist: Edgar Kaplan (USA) (deceased) Journalist: Robert Sheehan (UK) Swedish Count Journalist: Brent Manley (USA)

The Bridge World June, 1997 page 20. Gunnar Hallberg, Swedish international and TGR reg- Chip Martel & Lew Stansby are known for their hard IBPA: Bull 387 page 15, April. From the Hague Bulletin ular, was East on this hand. He found the right play by work when it comes to trying to build a better mouse- report by the IBPA Editor entitled The Three-way . using the most important tool of defence, counting the trap. One area where they have improved on standard declarer's tricks. methods is the Roman Key Card Blackwood response Here is Kaplan's write-up: when you have a . Usually 5NT shows two aces plus My team had a rather short run in the Vanderbilt, but None Vul. Dealer South. a void, six of a biddable suit for one or three aces with a there was a consolation prize at the finish:With a some- [ J 8 7 3 void, and six of the suit for one or three aces and what different team, Norinan Kay and I won the conclud- an unbiddable void. But what if the void is already defined? ing Open Swiss Teams. Our teammates were Bart Bram- ] A 2 ley, Brian Glubok. Geir Heigemo and Waiter Schafer. { K Q J 5 E/W Vul. Dealer South. Helgemo is the young Norwegian who has been pro- } J 6 4 [ 8 4 3 ducing superb results for the last five years.The reason [ A 6 5 N [ K 10 9 2 for this became clear when I played a match with him ] 6 5 4 3 ] K 8 7 ] K 10 W E and he produced a brilliant dummy-play on this deal, { 3 2 { 10 9 8 7 { 10 3 2 which hinged on another eight-spot: } K 10 8 2 S } Q 5 } Q J 8 6 4 When an opposing weak two-bid is raised to game, [ Q 4 [ A J 9 N [ K Q 10 7 5 the fourth player holding a good hand must guess well. ] A Q 7 5 4 ] 6 ] Q J 10 9 W E Helgemo took a reasonable shot at six diamonds. { A 6 4 { 9 8 7 6 4 { A K Q J S Both Vul. Dealer West. } A 9 7 3 } – } K 7 5 [ 6 2 [ 9 7 3 ] J 9 8 3 2 ] 9 7 6 2 South West North East { 5 (1) { K 10 8 6 1NT Pass 2} Pass } A 10 9 3 2 } 9 2 2] Pass 3NT All pass [ 8 4 N [ Q J 10 5 On this deal Chip and Lew had a beautiful auction to ] K Q J 8 4 ] A 10 5 3 (1) 12-14 HCP get to the best spot. W E { 5 { 3 West North East South S West led: }2 } K 10 7 5 3 } Q J 6 4 Pass [ A K 6 2 Declarer played low from dummy on the club lead, 1] Pass 1[ Pass ] – East played the queen and declarer won the ace. Declar- 2[ Pass 2NT(1) Pass { A Q J 9 7 4 2 er played on hearts, East winning the third round with 3{(2) Pass 4NT Pass } A 8 dummy discarding a spade. At this point many players 6}(3) Pass 7{ All pass would return a club. Now after West takes his king West North East South (1) (2) (3) declarer has nine tricks. Relay Natural Two aces and a void Kaplan Helgemo Can you see any improvement for the defence? What 2] Pass 4] 6{! Hallberg did when he won the king of hearts was to When the shortage is already defined – and here it All Pass count declarer's tricks. South was bound to have the ace must be clubs – you can use 5NT for one ace plus a of diamonds – else why wouldn't he be playing on dia- void, 6} for two aces and a void and 6{ for three aces He ruffed the opening heart lead, happy to have monds, rather than removing the ace of hearts as and a void. escaped a club lead.The diamond ace removed the miss- to them? Hence it was clear that South had seven tricks Here Martel knew that if he played 7[ he could not ing trumps,and it was now necessary to score three spade in the red suits to go with the ace of clubs, and a club use his partner's diamond suit because of the blockage, tricks.The only obvious chance was a three-three split, but return would obviously set up his ninth trick. South since he would have to clubs in dummy. So he set- Helgemo saw another possibility. He led a spade to the needed the queen of spades to make up his 12-14 1NT, tled for the diamond grand slam. Nicely bid. seven, a rare finesse against an eight on the first round. which meant that the defence couldn't make more than IBPA Editor's note: Playing in diamonds, ignoring the East made a tricky play by winning with the jack and two tricks there. lucky fall of the {K, you have to the dummy to returning the five. Helgemo guessed what was happen- So East returned a diamond.This innocuous looking avoid promoting North's trump 10. On a trump lead, win, ing: He played low from his hand, won with dummy's play scrambled the declarer's entries. If he won in hand ruff a club, try a second diamond, ruff a club, spade to nine, and threw dummy's club loser on the fourth round to lead a club, he would never be able to cash his East, ruff a club, heart ace, heart ruff, draw the last trump. of spades to make a slam that failed in the replay. fourth heart. If he cashed the fourth heart first, what Comment from Chip Martel: It's strange that we There were two psychological clues to this remark- was dummy to discard? One spade had already gone should be getting this award today for getting to a good able winning play. East's spade return was slightly suspi- on the third heart, and if he discarded another the diamond slam. Just yesterday in the quarterfinal match cious, since he could obviously have led a heart. And if defence could take four spade tricks when they came against China, we failed to get to three good diamond West had been able to win the third trick he might have in with the king of clubs.The only other choice was to slams. done so, or at least hitched fractionally. discard a diamond, but that would leave declarer a None of the experts who were shown South's prob- trick short. The Short list for Best Bid hand was: lem found the solution, and all were in awe of Helgemo's Incidentally, if declarer thinks the defence will play Candidate IBPA Journalist effort. If East had returned an obvious heart at the this well, he should try the jack of clubs at trick one – Huang-Kuo 385.11 Jos Jacobs fourth trick, South could still have succeeded by ruffing, his only chance being that West has led from the king- Martel-Stansby 384.2 Brent Manley crossing to dummy, and leading the spade nine. queen. The Rabbis 392.9 Phillip Alder Hacketts 382.5 Brian Callaghan Short list for Best Played hand: Short list for Best Defended hand: Peter Fredin Monte.6 Riccardi/Levy Player IBPA Location Journalist Candidate IBPA Journalist Goncalves 388.2 Pedro Matos Weichsel 383.12 Ferguson IBPA Editor's note: The last named candidate was for B. Cronier 387.5 Brian Senior Johnson 389.11 Knut Kjarnsrod "Call of the Year" rather than "Best Bid" as Peter Fredin's Helgemo 387.15 Edgar Kaplan Hallberg 385.12 Robert Sheehan penalty double in Montecatini allowed the opponents to Tomescu 383.14 Vlad Racoviceanu Spiljak Rhodes 13 escape from a 4-0 spade fit, going, maybe, six light, into a Holland 381.16 Mark Horton Leppard 386.14 Ron Klinger successful grand slam. Hammamet,Tunisia 1997 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 5

IBPA Sporting “The Levendaal” The 1997 Personality Award Award for Best Play of the Year – goes to Lynn Deas by a Junior – Matthew Clegg (USA) Morten Lund Madsen (Den) Journalist: Ib Lundby (Den)

DANISH DYNAMITE DEFENCE

From the Hamilton Daily Bulletin: On Board 22 from the match against Brazil in round 6 the younger brother, Morten Lund Madsen, had a bril- liant defence: E/WVul. Dealer East. [ K J 4 ] 8 7 6 { K 10 6 2 } A Q 3 [ 2 N [ A Q 7 6 5 ] Q 3 2 ] A K 4 W E { J 9 8 5 4 { A Q 4 The IBPA presents its Sporting Award only on rare } K J 9 5 S } 10 6 Matthew Tran Clegg, 33, yesterday was named the occasions when there is a total standout for this award. [ 10 9 8 3 1997 IBPA Personality of the Year. The award was This year the IBPA felt it had such a candidate – Lynn ] J 10 9 5 accepted for him by IBPA President Henry Francis. Deas of the United States. The IBPA recognised her { 7 Matt founded OKbridge, bridge on Internet, in 1991. intense devotion to the game whereby she has played } 8 7 4 2 The system now has almost 10,000 subscribers from in many major championships, including this one, more than 70 nations. Some of the world's leading play- despite being confined to a wheelchair by the myasthe- ers use the service to practice with distant partners. Bill nia gravis, a dread disease for which there is no known West North East South Gates, America's wealthiest man, has tried OKbridge. cure. Morten Lars Probably nothing in recent years has opened bridge to new players everywhere than OKbridge. Lynn was unable to be present to receive her award 1[ Pass – at present she is devoting all her limited strength to Internet is also suitable for the disabled and house- 1NT(1) Pass 2NT(2) Pass playing bridge. Day before yesterday she played all 32 bound. It attracts young players who prefer a computer 3NT All pass boards as her team made a magnificent comeback to keyboard to a bridge club. The Fifth Chair Foundation defeat Canada in the quarterfinals. Yesterday she was has been created to encourage talented young players (1) Forcing very much in the thick of it as her team took on the on OKbridge by providing them with leading players as other United States team. (2) 18-19 hcp partners. On hand to accept the award on behalf of Lynn was The OKbridge program is set up so that you can play Kathie Wei-Sender, one of Lynn's teammates. Kathie, a Against the same contract in the Closed Room with your favorite partner, join a table as a single, play former Personality of the Year and an Honorary Mem- North chose to lead a diamond, so the Danish West had pairs or teams, keep track of your records in both teams and pairs – even converse with the other players ber of the ACBL, told of the exceptional efforts Lynn an easy task. Morten found the heart lead (1st hurdle) at the table. In addition, it is possible to be a kibitzer at has made to continue her bridge career. Her speech thereby giving nothing away. Declarer won in dummy, and after the diamond ace the table of your choice. was extremely emotional as she talked about Lynn, and he continued with the queen. Morten ducked (2nd hur- Matt's wife Merja reports: the emotion carried over to the IBPA members pre- dle). Matt was born in Davis, California, grew up in Rhode sent. She said that one of the things that really bothers Declarer now shifted to the }10 from dummy. Island and in Athens, Georgia, and didn't come back to Lynn is that lots of people think that her brain doesn't Morten ducked again (3rd hurdle).A second club went California until he went college at UC Riverside. After work because she has such a severe handicap. Clearly to the queen, and declarer took the heart shift in hand college he studied math at UC Berkeley where he got a her performance here, in China and in the American Tri- and tried a spade to the queen – successfully, but Master's degree. He later switched to computer sci- als, proves that is far from the case. Morten had unblocked the jack (4th hurdle). Finally ence and came to UC San Diego in 1991. He has been Following is the tribute to Lynn that accompanied declarer tried the [A, and Morten fulfilled his brilliancy, working on his PhD on "Distributed Real-Time Sys- the award: unblocking the king (5th hurdle). This defence left tems". The world's top woman player, measured by WBF declarer with no chance for an . One off. When he has time off from developing Okbridge and , is the American star, Lynn Deas. In the Can you make 3NT double dummy against best work on his Ph.D, he spends it with his daughter Anna, past 10 years she has won four world titles: the Venice defence? I think the contract is always beatable. Do you and Merja. Matt and Merja are learning how to sail. But Cup in Jamaica in 1987, Perth, Australia in 1989 and agree? no matter how busy Matt is, he would never skip an Yokohama, Japan, in 1991, and the Women's Team episode of Star Trek Voyager or Babyion5 on TV. Matt Olympiad in Rhodes, Greece, last year. She also has won IBPA Editor's note: No. The play starts: ], {Q wins, loves science fiction and anything to do with space and countless North American championships. }10 wins. Then, double-dummy, declarer succeeds by set- space research. (That's probably why he married an This has been accomplished in the face of a disabling ting up spades: a spade, win a second heart, duck a Alien!) health problem, which has become progressively worse spade. Matt met Merja when she came to the USA in 1989 during her decade of success. She suffers from myas- from her native Finland to study with Matt's father, a geneti- thenia gravis, a muscular disorder for which there is no The Short list for Junior Player of the year: cist. When she returned to Finland they kept in touch via cure. For the past year she has been confined to a Candidate IBPA Journalist Internet. This was the motivation for Okbridge. They were married in 1990. wheelchair. She has to play bridge, with all her accus- Morton Madsen 392.2 Ib Lundby tomed brilliance, in a horizontal position. Wademark 391.2 Unnamed When she arrived in Hammamet, she was immedi- Dupont 388.10 Stokman ately hospitalised with pneumonia, a far more serious Khiouppenen Hamilton B9.3 Rosenblum Slovak development for her than it would be for a person in E. Hung Sportilia 6.2 Unnamed normal health. She was unable to compete until the Bridge Association next-to-last day of the round-robin. For her dignity and cheerfulness in the face of this The Slovak Bridge Association would like to heavy burden, the International Bridge Press Associa- thank the Slovak bank IRB a.s. for sponsoring tion has named her as the recipient of its 1997 Sport- the participation of Slovak players in the first ing Award. This award has been in abeyance for many World Transnational Open Teams. years. 6 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 1997 World Bridge Championships

Venice Cup Semifinal (set 1) China vs France

rance topped the round robin and had a com- Board 4. Game All. Dealer West. and now Cronier raised to 3[. With five good dia- fortable win in the quarter-final but the story monds, Zhang Yu competed with 4{, where she was F [ J 10 was very different at the start of their semi-final allowed to play. Four rounds of hearts forced Zhang to match with China, the only non-European or North ] 10 4 ruff high. She then cashed her two remaining top American team to make the semis in either event. { A K Q 3 trumps, leaving Willard with a trump trick.The contract China picked up a couple of overtrick IMPs on the } A Q J 6 3 went two down for -100. first board then two major swings in quick succes- [ K 8 6 4 2 N [ 3 In the Open Room, there was no double from West sion. ] K Q J 5 2 ] A 9 8 6 and Zhang Yalan, whose hand was limited by the failure W E { – { 9 6 2 to open a strong club, splintered with 4{. Gu signed-off Board 2. N/S Vul. Dealer East. } 8 5 2 S } K 10 9 7 4 in 4[, a contract which is doomed to fail. Bessis led the [ 9 7 [ A Q 9 7 5 {A and Saul dropped the king. Now Bessis switched to the }Q, surrounding declarer's hypothetical jack. Gu ] 8 5 3 ] 7 3 put up the king and led a spade to the ace followed by { J 10 8 7 5 4 { A Q 9 7 5 2 a second spade to the queen and king. Now Saul played } 6 2 } – the {Q, forcing dummy to ruff. Declarer tried to run the [ 10 6 4 N [ A J 8 3 2 Open Room hearts now and, when Saul ruffed the fourth round and ] A ] K J 2 W E West North East South she over-ruffed, she had to lose two clubs and a spade { K J 6 4 { 10 8 3 for down two; -100 and 5 IMPs to France. Bessis Zhang Saul Gu } K 10 9 7 3 S } J 4 When East plays the {Q, it is pretty clear that she [ K Q 5 Pass 1} Pass 2{ does not have a club to lead. Declarer might have played ] Q 10 9 7 6 4 3{ Dbl 4] Pass the jack and a low spade to draw the trumps. If East now { – Pass 5{ All Pass makes the mistake of returning a diamond, declarer wins } A Q 8 5 the jack and dummy has five heart winners for the last Zhang Yalan opened a strong club and Gu's natural five tricks. East beats the contract if she just leads a Closed Room positive response of 2{ made it very easy for Zhang to heart. Declarer has to win in dummy but cannot get to bid 5{ when her opponents got to 4]. Bessis led the ]K the {J and West gets a club at the end. West North East South and continued with the ]Q, overtaken by Saul to switch Wang Cronier Zhang Yu Willard to her spade singleton. Gu knew that West had both Board 7. Game All. Dealer South. Pass 1] majors so gave up on trying to make her contract and [ K 10 3 went up with the ace; one down for -100. Dbl 2] 3[ 4] ] 10 7 2 Pass Pass Dbl All Pass Closed Room { A K 9 West North East South } 8 7 6 2 Even on a good day, 4] would require a lot of good Wang Cronier Zhang Yu Willard [ J 4 2 N [ A 9 6 things to happen. The problem is the lack of dummy ] A 8 5 3 ] J 9 4 Pass 1} Pass 1[ W E entries.The layout is not a particularly friendly one but { 8 4 3 { Q 10 7 2 2] Dbl 2[ 4[ things improved considerably for when } K Q J S } A 10 4 Dbl All Pass Wang Wen Fei led a spade to Zhang Yu's ace. Zhang [ Q 8 7 5 switched to the }J and Willard rose with the ace and Here 1} was natural or perhaps better minor if out- ] K Q 6 cashed her spade winners, pitching dummy's remaining { J 6 5 club. She continued with a club ruff, threw a club on the side the no trump range. Cronier's double of the 2] over- } 9 5 3 {A and ruffed a diamond back to hand.Things had gone call showed, in principle, a decent hand with three spades. very nicely up to this point but when Willard ruffed her Obviously, such an agreement leaves some awkward It is by no means automatic for anyone to open the last club Zhang was able to over-ruff and there were still hands, and this was one of them. Cronier could hardly do bidding on this deal but both Easts did so in fourth seat. two more hearts to lose; -200. other than double but this convinced Willard to jump to 4[, which was doubled with some relish by Wang. Zhang Yu opened 1{, Precision, and passed Wang's 1] 4[ doubled was not a lot of fun – unless you were response. 1] became the final contract and the lead was Open Room Chinese, of course. Wang cashed the ]K then the ]J. the {A, giving away the lie of that suit. Cronier switched West North East South Next, she switched to the }2 and Willard rose with to a club which Wang won in hand to lead a diamond Bessis Zhang Yalan Saul Gu Ling dummy's ace to take the spade finesse. Wang allowed towards the queen. Cronier won the {K and played the [J to hold and Willard continued with the ten, duck- another club and Wang took her minor-suit winners Pass 1] ing it to Wang when Zhang Yu showed out. Declarer's then led the thirteenth diamond. Willard ruffed that Pass 2] 2[ 4] trumps were good now but she had lost control.Wang with the ]6 and Wang pitched a low spade. But Willard's 4[ Pass Pass Dbl continued hearts, forcing Willard to ruff, and she was ruff was at the expense of a natural trump trick and All Pass never able to run the diamond suit. Declarer made one declarer could now manage three trump tricks plus the extra trick at the end when the defenders finally ran out [A for +110. Should West double the 1] opening? Her hand is of hearts, but that was still only six tricks in all; -1100 Saul also opened, but her choice was 1}.Again West pretty thin, with the bare ace hardly a great feature, so and 14 IMPs to China. responded 1] and East passed. But Gu balanced with the answer is probably no. But, having passed,Veronique 1[ on the South cards and now Bessis tried 1NT, Bessis found that the auction went badly for her. Gu Board 5. N/S Vul. Dealer North. where she played. The lead was a low spade to the Ling's jump to 4] left Bessis with a very committal deci- [ Q 7 6 3 queen. Back came a second spade to the jack, king and sion to make, having not yet shown anything at all. She ace. Bessis crossed to hand with a club to lead a dia- ] A K Q J 7 judged to bid 4[, a questionable choice perhaps, with mond up but, when Zhang Yalan ducked smoothly, she three weak spades and fair defensive values.This time it { 10 put in the ten and lost to the jack. The defence was wrong to bid. As we have seen, 4] is going down, } K 5 4 and so is 4[. [ 4 N [ K 10 9 8 ] 9 8 6 2 ] 5 4 3 Gu Ling led a heart to dummy's ace and Catherine W E ROMANIAN Saul led a spade to the eight and queen. That left Gu { A 9 8 7 { K Q 6 5 3 on lead when anything she played would be to declar- } A Q 10 8 S } 7 er's advantage. She exited with a heart to Saul's jack. [ A J 5 2 BRIDGE TEAM Saul led the }J and Gu won the ace and exited with a ] 10 The Romanian Bridge Team thank S.C.C. low club. Saul put in the ten but now tried to cash the { J 4 2 ERBASU, CASTOR-SRL and BIMENS-S.A for }K. When that got ruffed she had to over-ruff. Saul } J 9 6 3 2 played a diamond next and lost two of those plus help with participation in the first World another spade; two down for -300 and 11 IMPs to Both Norths opened 1] and the respective Souths Transnational Open Teams Championship. China. bid 1[. For China, Wang doubled to show the minors Hammamet,Tunisia 1997 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 7 unblocked the spades and attacked clubs.They were a switched to a low club to declarer's queen and prompt- ahead and could establish the long club before ly found herself back on play with the {Q.The only hope Showmanship declarer could set up the long diamond and, by the time seemed to be that West held the {J so Saul exited with she did so, she had no dummy entry with which to cash the }K. But it was not to be. Zhang won the }A and it. The contract had to go two down from here; -200 crossed to the {J to cash the spades. She came down to and 7 IMPs to China. ]K, {A, }J and now led a low heart. When Bessis did not take her ace, Zhang had the rest for +660 and a 1 Board 9. E/W Vul. Dealer North. IMP gain. [ Board 14. Love All. Dealer East. ] K J 7 4 3 { A J 10 7 3 [ 7 } Q 10 9 ] Q 6 4 3 2 { Q 10 5 3 2 [ Q 10 9 5 2 N [ A J 8 7 3 ] 8 ] Q 9 6 2 } 10 5 W E { – { 8 6 5 [ Q J 10 5 4 N [ A K 6 3 2 S ] 9 8 5 ] A J 10 } A K 8 7 5 4 2 } 6 W E [ K 6 4 { 8 7 4 { 9 6 S ] A 10 5 } 9 6 } A J 8 { K Q 9 4 2 [ 9 8 Omar Sharif } J 3 ] K 7 Closed Room { A K J e have been waiting for Omar Sharif to pro- } K Q 7 4 3 2 vide us with some copy from the Transna- West North East South W tional Teams, and once Zia refused to give Wang Cronier Zhang Yu Willard What is your call with the West cards when partner him any of his hands he promptly went out and pro- 1] Pass 2{ opens 1[, showing five, and South 2}? Wang duced one of his own! raised to 3[ while Bessis preferred 4[. Both calls ended 3} 3{ Pass 3] the auction and there was nothing to the play. Nine Love All. Dealer South. 3[ 4{ 4[ 5{ tricks in each room meant +140 for China but -50 for 5[ Pass Pass 6{ France; 5 IMPs to China. [ 9 5 Pass Pass Dbl All Pass ] K Q 9 Board 16. E/W Vul. Dealer West. { 9 8 5 2 The North/South auction tempoed nicely for Wang, } 7 6 5 4 [ K Q 10 7 4 3 who was able to show her clubs, then her spades, and [ K Q J 7 4 [ A 10 3 ] J 4 2 N finally her extra playing strength.When Zhang judged to ] 5 ] 8 6 { Q J W E double 6{, East/West had reached their par on the { A 4 { K J 10 6 3 } J 4 board. Wang led the }K but switched to a spade. } A Q 10 7 3 S } J 9 8 [ A J 8 5 [ 9 6 2 Though Willard found the ]Q, the suit did not run so N [ 8 6 2 she did not have sufficient tricks to avoid the loss of a ] 10 3 ] A K 7 W E ] A J 10 7 4 3 2 second club in the endgame; one down for -100. { 5 4 3 { 9 7 6 2 { Q 7 In the Open Room, Zhang Yalan opened 1] and Gu } A Q 7 5 S } 10 8 3 } K Ling responded 2{, as in the other room. Bessis over- [ – called 3} and Zhang jumped all the way to 5{. When ] Q 9 8 6 5 that came back to Bessis she had a tough decision. She { A K 10 8 West North East South had huge playing potential if a fit could be found but a } K 9 6 2 Sharif Faigenbaum low point-count and she was vulnerable against not. She 3] elected to go quietly. Bessis led a top club and switched Playing standard methods, does that West hand con- to her heart.When Saul put up the queen, declarer had 4] Pass 5] Pass stitute an opening bid? Yes, said Wang in the Closed enough winners to avoid the second club loser; +420 6{ All Pass Room. She opened 1} and Cronier overcalled 1[. and 11 IMPs to China. Zhang Yu passed and Willard tried 2], which ended the Playing in a new partnership Omar was faced with Board 12. N/S Vul. Dealer West. auction.Willard won the diamond lead on table and ran the problem of dealing with South's pre-emptive open- the [K, throwing a club. Back came a second diamond ing. [ J 2 and again she won on table. Willard pitched another He had agreed that over 1] a bid of 2] would ] K 9 8 3 club on the [Q, ruffed a spade and played the ace then promise the black suits, so, hoping this was an analogous { A K 6 5 king of diamonds. That forced Wang to ruff so Willard situation, he bid 4]. When his partner bid 5] he } A Q J had found the ]10 and had only to lose two hearts and thought it was possible that their might be a grand slam two clubs; +110. available, so he cuebid 6{. [ 7 5 4 N [ A Q 8 ] A 7 2 ] J 6 4 Bessis did not rate the West hand as an opening bid. You can imagine his feelings when the bidding tray W E That left Zhang Yalan to open 2[, weak, and nobody had { 9 2 { Q 10 4 3 came back displaying three green cards. anything to say over that. Saul led a top heart. } 10 9 4 3 2 S } K 8 7 North led the two of diamonds and Omar, no doubt Had she continued with two more rounds of hearts, still recovering from the auction, went up with dummy's [ K 10 9 6 3 giving Bessis her ruff, Bessis would have had to cash the ten which was covered by the queen and ace. ] Q 10 5 }A next to beat the contract. Passive defence allows He played two more diamonds leaving him with a { J 8 7 declarer to play four rounds of diamonds, ditching both loser in each red suit. } 6 5 her clubs.Though West can ruff in, it is at the expense With a flourish he tossed his remaining cards onto of a trump trick. the table, announcing 'I make the contract if the king of Both North/Souths reached 3NT from the North But Saul switched to the }10 at trick two. Bessis clubs is singleton.' seat. Cronier had opened 1{, better minor, so Zhang won the queen and switched back to hearts, getting her You see the point? Yu tried a heart lead.That went to the ace and a club ruff. Now she played ace and another club and was Declarer needs to get rid of both losing hearts in came back to the queen and king. But the spades were threatening to promote an extra trump trick if declarer dummy, so it will not help him to simply find the club nicely placed and the heart lead had created a dummy misguessed when she led the fourth club. But Zhang finesse onside. He needs to take four club tricks before entry to get at the spades and declarer had ten tricks; avoided the problem. She ruffed the third club and North can ruff. +630. played three rounds of diamonds, ruffing the third When we spoke to Omar about this hand, he point- Zhang Yalan had opened 1}, strong, then showed a round. Only now did she play the [Q to Bessis' ace. ed out that when the king of clubs appears West ought , so it was natural for Saul to lead a dia- Zhang ruffed the fourth club low but now Saul had to to cash one top spade in case South has produced a mond. It looks easy to put up dummy's jack but Zhang lead into the [K10 at trick twelve.The position of the brilliant falsecard from }K654. If he shows out you can did better than that, winning the lead with her king to [J had been made to be irrelevant. Despite that nice lit- then play on spades instead. preserve the {J as a later entry to dummy. She ran the tle play, Zhang had gone down two for -100. France Of course, if South was good enough to find that [J at trick two and continued with a second spade to picked up 5 IMPs on the board, reducing the Chinese play he might also have produced a Saul's ace. Saul had no good play at this point. She lead to 53-13 after 16 boards – a useful start for China. with his spade void! 8 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 1997 World Bridge Championships

Bermuda Bowl Semifinal (set 2) USA I vs USA II

hile we were waiting for the gladiators to clear from the . Whatever, Meckstroth Open Room enter the arena for the second session of came in to the auction and was raised to game. W West North East South the semifinal, we discussed the possibility of East led the eight of spades and declarer, with the USA teams being designated in some way other than rather more information than had been available to Freeman Deutsch Nickell Soloway by numbers. Earlier this year, at the World Junior Cham- Soloway, allowed that to run to his hand. He advanced 1] pionships in Hamilton, the Canadian teams, taking the the queen of hearts which was covered by the king and Dbl Redbl 1[ 2{ colours of their flag, adopted the suffixes red and white. ace. He turned his attention to clubs, playing the ace Pass 2] 2[ 3] Unfortunately the American flag has three colours, but and jack.West won and the defence played two rounds Pass 4] All Pass Erik Kokish found the perfect solution - USA Stars and of diamonds. Declarer ruffed and played the ten of USA Stripes! hearts.As East had the missing club he was able to ruff Against four hearts, West led the two of spades This proved to be a set of big swings. the next diamond and return to hand with a club ruff which was allowed to go to East's jack. He switched to to draw the last trump, leaving dummy high. +420 and Board 17. Love All. Dealer North. the two of clubs, so declarer won and played a diamond 10 IMPs. to the king. He needed a favourable position in both red [ A 5 4 Board 20. Game All. Dealer West. suits, but here there was nothing he could do. -100. ] Q 9 5 3 2 { J 9 7 [ A Q J 10 3 Closed Room } 3 2 ] J 7 West North East South [ Q J 9 6 3 2 [ 8 7 { A 10 5 N Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell ] 4 ] K J 6 } 10 6 5 W E 1] { K Q 4 2 { A 10 8 6 3 [ K 9 6 N [ 7 5 4 2 } Q 7 S } K 6 4 ] Q 5 3 2 ] K 10 9 8 Dbl 2{ 2[ 3] W E [ K 10 { 8 7 4 3 { Q 9 6 Pass 3NT All Pass ] A 10 8 7 } 8 2 S } K 4 { 5 [ 8 Meckstroth's bid of two diamonds promised three } A J 10 9 8 5 ] A 6 4 card heart support, but when he suggested a nine-trick game Rodwell decided to go along with him. Right! { K J 2 With clubs 4-4 and the three key cards well placed Open Room } A Q J 9 7 3 declarer actually came to ten tricks when the defenders West North East South parted with too many spades. +630 and 12 IMPs. Freeman Deutsch Nickell Soloway Open Room The next three boards appeared to offer little scope, West North East South but on one of them USA11 had an accident in the Pass Pass 1} Closed Room. 2[ Dbl Pass 4] Freeman Deutsch Nickell Soloway All Pass Pass 1[ Pass 3} Board 23. Game All. Dealer South. Pass 3[ Pass 3NT [ K 10 7 6 2 Closed Room Pass 4} Pass 4] ] 7 5 4 West North East South Pass 5{ Pass 6} { 4 2 Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell All Pass } 6 4 2 Pass 1NT Dbl [ Q 5 3 N [ 8 Closed Room ] 10 8 ] A K Q J 3 2 Redbl Pass 2} Dbl W E West North East South { A K Q J 6 5 { 10 3 2[ 3] Pass 4] S All Pass Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell } K J } Q 10 8 3 [ A J 9 4 Pass 1[ Pass 2} ] 9 6 Both teams reached a thin four hearts, but with dif- Pass 2NT Pass 3NT { 9 8 7 ferent declarers. All Pass In the Closed Room the auction was straightforward } A 9 7 5 and West led the queen of spades. South won and ran USA1 picked up 12 IMPs by bidding and making a the eight of hearts to East's jack. East laid down the ace thin slam in the Closed Room. Soloway used an old- Open Room of diamonds and continued the suit.With no immediate fashioned force and that persuaded Deutsch to go on entry to the dummy, declarer could not avoid losing a West North East South over 3NT. West led the two of hearts and declarer trick to the king of trumps. As soon as the defenders Freeman Deutsch Nickell Soloway ducked the first round of the suit, won the second and win a club trick they can force declarer with another ruffed the third.At this point the play record ceases, but Pass diamond. USA11 +50. we imagine declarer ran the ten of clubs and then drew 1{ Pass 1] Pass When Stansby opened a notrump, Rodwell doubled 2NT Pass 4} Pass to show 14+. Martel's redouble commanded two clubs the remaining trumps. There are plenty of ways to go 4] Pass 4NT All Pass and the meaning of Rodwell's second double was not wrong, but Soloway did not follow a losing line and he recorded +1370. Slam was never in the picture in the other room. Two notrumps promised a little more than West had and four clubs was Gerber. Perhaps East should have Board 21. N/S Vul. Dealer North. passed the response, but he thought 4NT would be safe so he signed off with that. [ A Q 5 North led a spade and South won and cashed the ace ] J 8 4 of clubs before reverting to spades.Three down, -300. { K 8 4 } 8 7 6 5 Closed Room w digital camera [ K 9 2 N [ J 8 7 4 s ne ] 6 2 ] K 5 3 West North East South odak’ W E { A 10 7 2 { Q 6 Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell S tesy of K } K J 10 4 } Q 9 3 2 Pass [ 10 6 3 1{ Pass 1] Dbl ph cour ] A Q 10 9 7 1NT 3[ 4] All Pass

Photogra { J 9 5 3 Nick Nickell (USA II) } A As is so often the case, 'Meckwell' managed to get Hammamet,Tunisia 1997 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 9

IMPs for USA11, the biggest swing of the championships It was not unreasonable to look for a slam on the so far. North/South cards, but there were not enough aces, and with South as declarer it was easy for the defence to Board 28. N/S Vul. Dealer West. find their club ruff. -100. [ J 7 ] K Q 9 8 Closed Room { Q 10 8 7 3 West North East South } J 2 Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell [ K Q 4 N [ A 10 6 5 2 ] 2 ] A J 10 7 6 1} W E { K J 9 { A 3{ 3[ 5{ Pass } K Q 10 7 6 4 S } A 9 Pass Dbl All Pass w digital camera

s ne [ 9 8 3 Rodwell's pass over 5{ asked partner to say 'double' odak’ ] 5 4 3 and he did as he was told. North led a club and declar- { 6 5 4 2 er won and played the ace of hearts before playing a tesy of K } 8 5 3 trump. North won and mysteriously cashed the king of ph cour hearts before reverting to clubs. That possibly cost his Open Room side a trick, but declarer was still three down and that Photogra gave USA11 12 IMPs. Bob Hamman (USA II) West North East South The action-packed session came to an end with a flat Freeman Deutsch Nickell Soloway into the auction, but they could not do any serious dam- board, but it was not without interest. age. Rodwell went for broke with the lead of the seven 1} Pass 1[ Pass Board 32. E/W Vul. Dealer West. of clubs and thirteen tricks were scored. 14 out of the 2} Pass 2] Pass blue IMPs for USA1. 3[ Pass 4} Pass [ Q 10 8 4[ Pass 4NT Pass Board 25. E/W Vul. Dealer North. ] A 8 6 4 2 5} Pass 5{ Pass { 9 8 5 4 2 [ 9 8 7 4 6{ Pass 6[ All Pass } – ] 4 [ 9 5 3 [ K J 7 6 2 It’s not clear what went wrong here, but 4NT was N { 6 ] 10 ] K 7 3 } A K Q 9 5 3 2 almost certainly RKCB and the response showed one W E or four key cards. Five diamonds was asking about the { A J 7 { K 6 3 [ 5 2 [ A Q 3 S N queen of spades and the rest of West's hand, and when } K Q 7 6 5 3 } J 10 ] – ] K Q 10 7 3 2 W E he bid six diamonds East probably decided that the king [ A 4 { A J 10 8 7 4 2 { K 9 5 3 ] Q J 9 5 S of clubs was missing. } J 10 6 4 } – { Q 10 [ K J 10 6 Closed Room } A 9 8 4 2 ] A J 9 8 6 5 West North East South { Q Open Room } 8 7 Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell West North East South 1} 1{ 1[ Pass Open Room 2[ Pass 4NT Pass Freeman Deutsch Nickell Soloway West North East South 5{ Dbl 5] Pass 1[ Dbl Freeman Deutsch Nickell Soloway 6} Pass 6{ Pass Redbl 4] Pass Pass 1} 1] Pass 7} All Pass Dbl All Pass 2{ 3} 4} 4[ Even here North/South contrived to get into the East led the jack of clubs. Declarer won, pitching a 5{ Pass 6{ Dbl bidding. North's double said don't lead a diamond, but spade, and played the ten of diamonds. East won and All Pass West ended up as declarer, so he led the king of hearts. played his remaining club. Declarer ruffed and cashed Martel won, ruffed a heart and played the king of clubs the ace of hearts before playing a second diamond. What a great effort to reach the laydown slam on and a club to the ace. He was able to claim when the West switched to the nine of spades covered by the the East/West cards. Only the foul heart break pre- trumps behaved, but he had prepared the ground for a ten, jack and ace. North ruffed a club with the eight of vented an overtrick being recorded but that was still trump if South had happened to hold four trumps hearts and was overruffed by the king.At this point the +1540. to the jack. play record stops, but the contract failed by two tricks, so perhaps East exited with a spade.Although this gives Closed Room Board 31. N/S Vul. Dealer South. a ruff and discard and dummy still has ]QJ9 and East West North East South [ A Q 10 9 7 6 3 only the ]7, the defenders must make one more trick. Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell ] K 3 Remarkable! More mundanely, a trump has the same effect. 3[ 4] Dbl { K 2 All Pass } 7 5 Closed Room [ J 4 N [ 8 5 Meckstroth's opening bid promised a solid suit ] 10 9 7 6 5 ] A J 4 2 West North East South W E somewhere. Stansby had a shrewd idea where, but it { Q J 10 9 7 { 8 5 3 Martel Meckstroth Stansby Rodwell was hard to let his partner in on the secret. (In passing } 3 S } A 9 4 2 Pass 2{ Pass 2[ what do you think bids of 3NT and double by East [ K 2 3} 3{ 3[ 4} should mean in this situation?) His choice of four hearts ] Q 8 4[ 5{ Dbl 5] met with a cruel fate when Rodwell wielded his axe and { A 6 4 everybody passed. Dbl All Pass } K Q J 10 8 6 Should West run? Whatever, declarer was doubtless charmed when he Another hyperactive auction from North/South, but saw the dummy. Open Room this time something went wrong. Perhaps three dia- Rodwell led the eight of clubs which was ruffed. He West North East South monds was just too pushy. When West led the nine of took the queen of hearts with the ace and switched to Freeman Deutsch Nickell Soloway spades, South won with the ace and passed the queen of the queen of diamonds. Declarer won in hand and tried hearts. East won and switched to a diamond.West won the ten of hearts. Rodwell won and was allowed to hold 1NT and returned the suit, leaving declarer in control. He the next trick with the eight of hearts. He exited with Pass 4] Pass 4[ was the same two down, a flat board. another heart and declarer won and played on dia- Pass 4NT Pass 5[ USA1I had won the session 55-39 to lead 105-52 monds. He ended up three down, -800 and a massive 20 All Pass overall. 10 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 1997 World Bridge Championships

Bermuda Bowl Semifinal (set 3) Norway vs Italy

oing into the third set of 16 boards, France had There was no way to avoid four losers because of Board 40. Love All. Dealer West. a healthy 59-IMP lead, 93-34. However, Norway the atrocious club break; 200 to Norway. G [ A 7 4 3 2 already has shown powerful recuperative pow- ers in this tournament, so this could be an exciting set. Open Room ] A Norway certainly started fast. { Q 9 5 West North East South } A 9 4 3 Board 33. Love All. Dealer North. Chemla Aa Mari Groetheim [ 6 N [ Q 10 Pass Pass 1}(strong) ] 8 5 3 ] K Q 10 4 2 [ K Q 4 W E ] J 6 4 Pass 2{ Pass 5{ { K 7 2 { A J 10 8 6 3 S { Q 3 2 All Pass } K Q J 10 5 2 } } Q 9 7 4 [ K J 9 8 5 The defence started well with the [K overtaken ] J 9 7 6 [ J 10 3 2 N [ A 8 7 6 5 ] 10 8 3 ] 7 with the ace, followed by the ]A. Now it is possible to { 4 W E { 10 8 { J 9 7 6 5 shut out that solid club suit by forcing South to ruff with } 8 7 6 a second spade.When East gets in with the trump king, } J 8 6 2 S } K 3 he can lead a third spade. But Chemla switched to a In the Closed Room Brogeland opened 3}, played it [ 9 club, thinking there was a good chance his partner could ] A K Q 9 5 2 there, made it with an overtrick. It was different in the ruff. But Aa ruffed instead and was now in control. He Open Room. { A K 4 gave up a diamond trick and then was able to take the } A 10 5 rest for down one.That was 3 IMPs to Norway when it West North East South could have been several to France. Chemla Aa Perron Groetheim Closed Room Board 39. Game All. Dealer South. Pass 1[ 3} 4[ West North East South 4NT Pass 5{ Pass Brogeland Mari Saelensminde Levy [ A K J Pass Dbl All Pass Pass 2[ Dbl ] A K 5 4 3[ 3NT Pass 4] { J 4 3} showed a red two-suiter and 4NT asked partner All Pass } Q 8 6 2 to make the choice. Naturally Perron chose his six-card [ Q 10 [ 8 7 4 3 2 diamond suit. Declarer can make this contract if he N takes the right view in the trump suit and knocks out A very normal auction and a very normal result - 450 ] J 9 6 3 ] 10 8 7 W E the }A via a ruffing finesse. But Perron did not find this to France. { 10 9 7 { 8 3 } J 9 4 3 S } K 10 7 line. He ruffed the second spade, led to the ]A, and North tried to cash his }A and saw it ruffed. Now Per- [ 9 6 5 Open Room ron cashed his trump ace and led a diamond to the king. ] Q 2 West North East South He still had to lose a heart and trump and was down { A K Q 6 5 2 Chemla Aa Perron Groetheim one. The Norwegians were making inroads on the } A 5 French lead. 1NT Pass 2{ Pass 2NT Pass 3} Compare these two auctions. Board 41. E/W Vul. Dealer North. Pass 3NT Pass 4} [ Q J 10 8 5 Pass 4] Pass 6] Closed Room ] 5 3 All Pass West North East South { Q J 10 9 Brogeland Mari Saelensminde Levy Notice that the first player to bid hearts was Aa, sit- } A K ting North. Ordinarily it doesn't appear that this slam 1NT [ 6 N [ K 7 3 ] J 10 6 4 ] Q 8 7 2 has a chance, but with North as declarer, the possibility Pass 2} Pass 2{ W E exists that East, with nothing much to go on, may lead Pass 6NT All Pass { A 4 3 { K 8 the [A.And that's exactly what happened. Now the top } Q J 10 9 7 S } 8 4 3 2 spades allowed Aa to get rid of his losing clubs. 11 IMPs Open Room [ A 9 4 2 to Norway. ] A K 9 West North East South { 7 6 5 2 Board 37. N/S Vul. Dealer North. Chemla Aa Perron Groetheim } 6 5 [ J 9 4 2 1} ] K 10 5 4 Pass 1] Pass 1[ Both North-South pairs arrived in 4[. This went { A 10 8 4 3 Pass 1NT Pass 2} down when France played the hand. Mari won the heart and immediately played the trumps in the } – Pass 2{ Pass 2] [ A 10 6 [ K Q 8 5 3 accepted manner, cashing the ace and leading another N Pass 2NT Pass 3} just in case a diamond ruff was lurking. Strangely enough ] A J 7 6 ] 9 8 3 2 W E Pass 3[ Pass 3NT this was one time when a wasn't safe.When { 7 { K J 5 Pass 4] Pass 4[ S Saelensminde won with his king, he shifted to the {K, } 10 9 7 5 4 } 8 Pass 5] Pass 5[ led to partner's ace and got a ruff to set the contract [ 7 Pass 6} Pass 6{ one. ] Q Pass 6] Pass 7{ The early defence went the same way in the Open { Q 9 6 2 All Pass Room. Perron shifted to the {K on winning his [K, then } A K Q J 6 3 2 a second diamond to partner's ace. But Chemla wasn't This was a relay auction with Groetheim asking and on the same wavelength – he shifted to a club. Aa now Closed Room Aa responding. When he bid 7{, Groetheim knew Aa's had no further problems – he quickly wrapped up 10 West North East South exact distribution and all his important high cards. The tricks for another 11 IMPs. Norway now trailed by only Brogeland Mari Saelensminde Levy slam came home super easily when Perron led a spade, 18, 101-83. but it didn't matter – the [Q was always going to fall. 12 A strange point about this hand - if the defence get Pass Pass 1} more IMPs to Norway who now trailed 101-67. their diamond ruff too early, declarer will make the Pass 1{ 1[ 3} France made somewhat of a comeback against China contract. In one match East found the {K lead and Pass 3NT Pass Pass in their Venice Cup match. France climbed to 7NT while quickly got a ruff. But now declarer was no long wor- Dbl Pass Pass 4} China stopped in 6{ – 13 IMPs to France, trailing China ried about ruff, so took the spade finesse and made the Dbl All Pass distantly at the time. game. Hammamet,Tunisia 1997 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 11

Board 42. Game All. Dealer East. Both teams bid to the notrump game, and the commentators thought that was a perfectly natural Who's saving? [ K 6 result. But they didn't take into consideration the ] 7 3 defence that Aa inaugurated – he led the {K! What a ohn Wignall of New Zealand, a vice president of the { K Q J 6 5 2 surprise attack! He continued with a second diamond, J , and his partner arrived in } A Q 6 and Chemla finessed, losing to the queen. Groetheim 6{ after a vigorous auction on this deal from the [ 7 3 2 [ 9 8 4 accurately shift to a club, and Chemla tried the 10, los- Transnational Open Teams.They climbed to the slam N on their combined 22 high card points.The opposition ] K J 8 6 ] Q 9 4 2 ing to the jack.A heart lead might have been better at were very much into the act. In fact, they wouldn't let W E this point, but Aa led a diamond to dummy's ace. { 9 7 3 { 10 4 6{ be played – they went on to 6[, probably not at all S Chemla could have made his game at this point by } 9 5 2 } K 8 7 3 sure whether they were bidding to make or save. [ A Q J 10 5 finessing to the [10, but not unnaturally he crossed to ] A 10 5 the [A and finessed the jack, losing to the queen. Board 8. Love All. Dealer West. Groetheim led his last club and Chemla had no choice { A 8 [ – } J 10 4 – he had to finesse.This lost, and now he was locked out of his hand and to go down two. 11IMPs back to ] K 7 6 3 Another grand slam hand! Norway. { A Q 8 4 } A Q 9 8 6 Closed Room Board 45. Game All. Dealer North. [ Q 8 7 5 N [ A K J 10 3 2 West North East South ] Q J 9 ] A 10 8 4 2 [ J 9 2 W E Brogeland Mari Saelensminde Levy { 3 2 { 6 ] J 9 8 4 S Pass 1[ { A Q 8 7 6 } J 7 3 2 } 5 Pass 2{ Pass 2NT } 9 [ 9 6 4 Pass 3{ Pass 3] ] 5 [ 3 N [ A 10 4 Pass 3[ Pass 4{ ] K 10 7 2 ] A 6 5 { K J 10 9 7 5 W E Pass 4NT Pass 5} { J 5 3 2 { 4 } K 10 4 Pass 5NT Pass 6{ } K J 8 4 S } A Q 10 6 3 2 West North East South Pass 7{ Pass 7[ [ K Q 8 7 6 5 Pass 1} 2} 2{ Pass 7NT All Pass ] Q 3 2[ 4[ 5[ Pass { K 10 9 Pass 6{ Pass Pass Nice bidding. Of course there was nothing to the } 7 5 6[ Pass Pass Dbl play. But Norway didn't do as well, using a cuebidding All Pass sequence. Closed Room Open Room As you can see, no opening lead can stop the diamond West North East South West North East South slam – in fact, North-South will make seven if West leads anything but a heart. So 6[ turned out to be a save – and Chemla Aa Perron Groetheim Brogeland Mari Saelensminde Levy a fine one it was.The defense quickly took their two aces, Pass 1} Pass 1} 1[ but that was all – down only one. But that was enough Pass 2{ Pass 2[ Dbl 2{ Dbl 3{ because Wignall's teammates were allowed to play 5[ at Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Pass 3[ All Pass the other table, making five for an 11-IMP pickup. Pass 4{ Pass 4] Later South was unhappy about her pass of 5[. "I Pass 4NT Pass 5} This was not a success – down one, but at least Mari shouldn't have left the decision up to my partner," she Pass 5NT Pass 6{ and Levy had kept the Norwegians out of clubs. The said. "It was up to me to take action." story was different in the other room. Pass Pass !! Pass Aa took all 13 tricks but 13 IMPs to France. Open Room Hammamet Board 44. N/S Vul. Dealer West. West North East South Chemla Aa Perron Groetheim observations – VII [ 9 5 4 Pass 1} 1[ ] 4 3 by Terry Radjef Dbl 2} 3} Pass { K 10 6 5} All Pass } K J 8 4 3 The Berbers continued to resist the Arabs even after [ A 10 [ K J 8 3 2 the Byzantines had given up. Finally the last great leader N Perron's 3} bid made it easy for Chemla to jump to ] Q 10 5 ] A 7 2 of the resistance, El Kahna, a Berber heroine, was killed W E game. There was nothing to the play – Perron lost the in 702 A.D. Rapidly the Berbers massively converted to { 7 5 3 2 { A J 4 S obvious two tricks to earn France a major gain. Islam. One of the,Tarik Ibn Zyad, made the conquest of } A Q 10 2 } 7 6 The last three boards were on the dull side, Nor- Spain in 711 with mostly Berber troops.The Straits of [ Q 7 6 way gained 5 IMPs on Board 31 and the other two Djebel Tarik (Gibraltar) is named after him. He is the ] K J 9 8 6 were the only pushes of the set. Norway had cut heav- one who burned all the ships once his armada made it { Q 9 8 ily into France's lead, trailing now by only 28 IMPs, to the shores of Spain. } 9 5 127-99. Ifriqiya, as North Africa was called then, went through several dynasties of monarchs, most claiming to have been descended from the prophet Mohammed. Transnational comedy They rules until the end of the 16th century.The Gold- Love All. Dealer North. reached if North opens 1] and South uses Blackwood. en period saw the building of sumptuous palaces, great One imperfect contract is 3NT. Another is 6{, which cities and sturdy fortresses. [ K Q J 10 was played by South.This makes after a red-suit lead, but The more powerful Spaniards and Turks controlled ] A K J 4 2 fails after a black-suit lead. Or does it? the Mediterranean. The Turks prevailed in Tunisia in { – Knowing that the dummy was very strong in the side 1574 – Tunisia became a province of the Ottoman } K J 7 5 suits,West made an imaginative underlead – the }3 The Empire for three centuries, ruled by beys. The Tunisian beys were valiant defenders of the faith [ 7 6 2 N [ A 9 8 3 only hope is that West has underled the ace, so South ] Q 8 7 5 ] 10 9 6 must play the king. "King", called South immediately. and aggressive traders, encouraging the extremely prof- W E { 9 8 4 { 7 2 Another routine 920? Not quite. "Oh," said South after itable piracy of the Christian ships.They were the heads of large families, always having to protect themselves } A 8 3 S } Q 9 4 2 a two-second pause. "I thought that was a spade." Not unnaturally, West made no objection when South can- from their successors-to-be, and at the same time [ 5 4 entertaining large and sumptuous harems.The cost cost ] 3 celled the king play, more or less in the same breath, and substituted a small club without having fully considered of maintaining such a lifestyle weakened the economic { A K Q J 10 6 5 3 independence of the country.These mistakes led to the the situation. } 10 6 fall of the beylical regime. Down two? Not quite. East omitted to play the The perfect contract is 5{ by North, which could be queen, so another routine 920 after all. (To be continued) 12 Wednesday, 29 October 1997 1997 World Bridge Championships Bermuda Bowl – Round-robin Cross-table AIPEI T Y AFRICA A A I II W Y AL .S.A. .S.A. USTRALIA VPs IT POLAND CHINA CHINESE BRAZIL DENMARK A CANAD INDIA VENEZUELA NEW ZEALAND CHILE SOUTH TUNISIA U U FRANCE NOR

U.S.A. I n 20 20 24 13 18 22 18 23 16 21 15 19 17 10 19 23 25 323 U.S.A. II 10 n 9 24 15 23 20 19 25 15 16 23 19 16 21 17 25 19 315.4 FRANCE 10 21 n 18 17 20 17 15 8 18 25 22 17 15 17 15 21 20 296 NORWAY 6 6 12 n 22 15 15 20 11 22 24 23 19 16 16 17 25 25 294 ITALY 17 15 13 8 n 16 24 17 17 8 9 18 17 22 25 18 25 23 290 POLAND 12 7 10 15 14 n 16 14 13 24 12 18 22 20 25 18 20 25 285 CHINA 8 10 13 15 6 14 n 12 19 20 13 15 21 24 25 19 20 24 278 CHINESE TAIPEI 12 11 15 10 13 16 18 n 7 21 18 23 24 19 18 20 15 17 277 BRAZIL 7 4 22 19 13 17 11 23 n 11 11 15 13 25 19 25 16 23 274 DENMARK 14 15 12 8 22 6 10 9 19 n 12 14 15 23 23 23 22 17 264.1 AUSTRALIA 9 14 5 6 21 18 17 12 19 18 n 11 20 23 21 14 8 20 256 CANADA 15 7 8 7 12 12 15 7 15 16 19 n 15 16 21 21 14 13 233 INDIA 11 11 13 11 13 8 9 6 17 15 10 15 n 4 24 25 15 19 226 VENEZUELA 13 14 15 14 8 10 6 11 5 7 7 14 25 n 15 16 24 19 223 NEW ZEALAND 20 9 13 14 5 3 3 12 11 7 9 9 6 15 n 25 21 23 205 CHILE 11 13 15 13 12 12 11 10 0 7 16 9 5 14 1 n 24 16 189 SOUTH AFRICA 7 5 9 2 0 10 10 15 14 8 22 16 15 6 9 6 n 20 174 TUNISIA 2 11 10 1 7 4 6 13 7 13 10 17 11 11 7 14 10 n 154

Venice Cup – Round-robin Cross-table AIPEI T Y AFRICA A A I II W Y AL .S.A. .S.A. USTRALIA VPs IT U U FRANCE NOR POLAND CHINA CHINESE BRAZIL DENMARK A CANAD INDIA VENEZUELA NEW ZEALAND CHILE SOUTH TUNISIA

FRANCE n 8 18 20 15 12 17 14 24 16 25 13 17 19 23 22 20 15 298 U.S.A. I 22 n 9 12 13 20 16 14 22 21 19 9 18 22 20 10 23 22 291 U.S.A. II 12 21 n 20 8 14 21 16 16 18 10 14 10 21 25 25 22 16 289 CHINA 10 18 10 n 25 13 20 21 8 14 25 22 22 20 17 14 11 19 288 GREAT BRITAIN 15 17 22 4 n 17 13 23 19 20 17 14 14 19 24 13 14 22 287 CANADA 18 10 16 17 13 n 15 8 13 21 14 11 22 20 20 25 19 21 283 NETHERLANDS 13 14 9 10 17 15 n 25 25 14 9 16 16 15 15 17 25 17 272 ITALY 16 16 14 9 7 22 4 n 2 14 23 23 19 16 10 25 24 15 259.5 GERMANY 6 8 14 22 11 17 5 25 n 14 10 17 12 19 12 20 20 25 257 INDIA 14 9 12 16 10 9 16 16 16 n 15 16 25 18 13 10 14 25 254 AUSTRALIA 0 11 20 0 13 16 21 7 20 15 n 14 7 25 17 23 22 23 254 NEW ZEALAND 17 21 16 8 16 19 14 7 13 14 16 n 21 3 7 23 14 24 253 ARGENTINA 13 12 20 8 16 8 14 11 18 0 23 9 n 19 8 18 25 16 238 SOUTH AFRICA 11 8 9 10 11 10 15 14 11 12 5 25 11 n 12 21 18 21 224 CHINESE TAIPEI 7 10 5 13 6 10 15 20 18 17 13 23 22 18 n 8 1 11 217 COLOMBIA 8 20 5 16 17 1 13 0 10 20 7 7 12 9 22 n 15 24 206 BRAZIL 10 7 8 19 16 11 5 6 10 16 8 16 3 12 25 15 n 18 205 TUNISIA 15 8 14 11 8 9 13 15 0 3 7 6 14 9 19 6 12 n 169