Russian Pair Steppes Out
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DAILY BULLETIN PDF version, courtesy of EBL Bulletin 2 Sunday, 17 March 2002 Editor: Jean-Paul Meyer – Co-editors: Mark Horton, Jos Jacobs, Franco Broccoli – Layout Editor: Stelios Hatzidakis Russian Pair Steppes Out PLAYING SCHEDULE Today, Sunday, March 17 10.30 3rd Qualification Session 16.30 Final & Consolation 1st Session Contents First Blood .............................................................................. 2 Coffee with a Lavazza Smile Where Do They Come From? .......................................... 3 Striptease ................................................................................ 3 At the end of the first day's play the leading pairs Bidding Challenge .................................................................. 3 come from a broad spectrum of the competing coun- Adventures in Play ................................................................ 4 tries.Top of the table are Russia's Marina Kalina and That’s Really Unusual ............................................................ 6 Arseni Shur. They are followed by two French pairs, 2002 European Women’s Bridge Festival ........................ 7 Daniele Avon and Jean-Louis Stoppa, second and Results after 2 sessions ........................................................ 9 Sabine Tisserand and Jacques Frances, third. With only this morning's session left to determine the qualifiers several of the favourites are in danger of miss- ing the cut, notably Portugal's Maria Joao Lara and Manuel Capucho, the Franglais pairing of Benedicte Cronier and Paul Hackett, the Austro/Polish alliance of Maria Erhart and Krzysztof Lasocki, the pride of France, Catherine D'Ovidio and Paul Chemla and Italy's Enza Rossano and Antonio Vivaldi. Performance of the day belonged to Bulgaria's Dessy Popova and Rosen Gunev, who won the second ses- sion with 68.5% to rise from 278th to fourteenth. 7th EUROPEAN BRIDGE MIXED CHAMPIONSHIPS Ostend, Belgium FIRST BLOOD Véronique and Michel Bessis have already stepped onto the Spades,A Girl's Best Friend? highest tier of the podium twice in the past in the team event, and this year they are also trying for honours in the pairs com- On board 2 the bidding was very short. South opened One petition of the European Bridge Mixed Championship. Diamond, West, Jean Guillon of France overcalled with One Heart and that ended the bidding. Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul. [ J 8 3 ]9 8 { 10 5 } K J 10 7 5 4 [ A K 10 6N [ 7 5 2 ] J 6 4 3 2 ] Q 10 W E { A Q J { K 9 8 4 } 8S } Q 6 3 2 [ Q 9 4 ] A K 7 5 { 7 6 3 2 }A 9 The lead was the ten of diamonds taken by declarer.When Michel Bessis, France South came in with the king of hearts she played back a diamond and later two rounds of clubs after winning the ace of trumps. Good Technique Gives No Bonus Now West could take nine tricks for 140, engineering a coup en Mrs Baldursdottir,from Iceland was the first declarer of the day: passant.A spade shift after the first heart, difficult to find, would have held West to 8 tricks. Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul. [ 10 4 2 What Would You Lead? ]J 8 Board 4, West opens One Diamond, rebids 2NT over his partner's Two Clubs and plays in 3NT. { J 9 7 6 5 What do you lead from: } J 5 2 [ Q J 5 [ Q 3N [ A K 8 6 5 ] K Q 7 5 2 ] A 4 ] 8 5 4 2 W E { A Q 4 3 { K 10 { K 10 } A 3S } 9 8 6 4 } 8 4 3 2 [ J 9 7 Michel Bessis chose a low heart and that was the correct way ] 10 9 6 3 to hold the declarer to 9 tricks.The full hand: {8 2 Board 4. Dealer West.All Vul. } K Q 10 7 [ Q J 5 The bidding was short: One Spade, Two Hearts, Two No ] 8 5 4 2 trumps,Three No trumps. By the way how much would you like to be in a no trump {K 10 slam? Assuming you get a club lead it nothing less than a little } 8 4 3 2 under 60% proposition - as a 3-3 break in either major suit is [ K 8 4 3N [ A 6 2 enough. ] Q 9 3 ] K J Declarer took the queen of clubs lead and went for spades. W E When she discovered the happy break, discarding a club from { A Q 9 4 { J 6 5 3 dummy, she should stop and draw 3 rounds of hearts to estab- } K 6S } A J 10 7 lish eventually a squeeze in the red suits against North. In fact, [ 10 9 7 she continued with two more rounds of spades, North discard- ] A 10 7 6 ing 2 diamonds.After a long huddle,West decided to discard a di- amond and a heart but as you can see there was no way to take { 8 7 2 more than 12 tricks. } Q 9 5 2 16 - 22 March 2002 7th EUROPEAN BRIDGE MIXED CHAMPIONSHIPS Do you know Tartan ? WHERE DO THEY Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul. COME FROM ? [ A 10 9 6 3 ] A 9 8 From 29 countries… {9 Austria 5 Greece 1 Poland 22 } K Q J 2 Belgium 34 Hungary 1 Portugal 3 [ Q 7 [ K 8 5 4 2 Bulgaria 4 Iceland 13 Russia 7 N Croatia 6 Ireland 8 Scotland 3 ] K 7 6 5 3 ] Q W E Czech Rep. 5 Israel 10 Spain 3 { K Q J 4 3 { A 10 8 6 5 Denmark 10 Italy 68 Sweden 5 }6S }8 7 England 27 Lithuania 1 Switzerland 4 Finland 4 Malte 1 Turkey 6 [J France 94 Netherlands 20 Wales 2 ] J 10 4 2 Germany 26 Norway 8 Yugoslavia 2 {7 2 } A 10 9 5 4 3 Mrs Pippet and Mr O'Lubaigh from Ireland opened the West Bidding Challenge hand Two Hearts, alerted as Tartan. The French pair seemed to This was yesterday's bidding challenge: Did any of you have never heard of this convention, the explanation was that it reach the top spot? showed 5 hearts and 4+ of an unknown minor. North overcalled with Two Spades and that finished the bidding. Declarer was clever enough to escape for one down, not such a good result [ A K Q J when at other table East/West were happy to sacrifice in Five Di- ] K Q 5 3 amonds for 300 against a cold Five Clubs. { A 7 5 2 Will you adopt Tartan for the next championship? }K Striptease N Did you get the chance to show off on this deal from the W E first session? S Board 20. Dealer West.All Vul. [ 10 9 5 2 [Q 6 ]– ]K 8 {J { 10 9 8 4 } A Q 9 8 7 6 4 3 } K 10 9 7 3 Our suggested scoring: [ 4 2N [ J 10 9 8 7 3 ] Q J 10 6 4 3 2 ] 7 Pairs: 7} 10; 7[ 6; 6[ 5; 6} 4; others 0. W E Teams: 7} 10; 6[/6} 5; 7[ 3. { Q { A 7 6 5 } Q J 6S } 5 2 If you are looking for a possible route why not this: [ A K 5 North South ] A 9 5 1{ 2} { K J 3 2 2NT 5} } A 8 4 6} 7} Assuming West started with Three Hearts, South's 3NT will have concluded the auction. West leads the queen of or for the scientists hearts and declarer wins in dummy.We are sure many play- North South ers will have run a diamond to West's queen at trick two. (1) Back comes a heart and declarer wins and knocks out the 2NT 3[ ace of diamonds. Say East exits with a spade. Declarer wins 3NT 4} in dummy, comes to hand with a diamond and plays a low 4{ 4] club, intending to duck the trick to East.When West puts in 4[ 6} an honour, declarer cashes the remaining winners in the 7} pointed suits to forcr West down to }Q6 and the ]J. Now declarer, who has a complete count, can exit with a heart to (1) Transfer to Clubs force West to lead into the split club tenace. 3 7th EUROPEAN BRIDGE MIXED CHAMPIONSHIPS Ostend, Belgium Adventures In Play Isn't this the main ingredient of any pairs tournament? Why it on the club ruff. An initial club lead would even put it down bother about who did what when over 400 pairs are competing? two.This would still be a good save against the vulnerable game One can be pretty sure that most of the beautiful plays found at in the cards here for N/S.The only thing needed is to guess to one specific table will have been duplicated somewhere else.And play the [K on the first round of the suit.The opposite results, if not, just simply read on about the missed chances. 4] making and 4[ down two are much more likely to occur, Take for example the board below. however… Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul. Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul. [ A Q 7 6 4 3 [ J 8 6 3 ]Q 8 ] 7 4 2 {A { A 10 8 } Q 10 9 3 } A 9 2 [ 5N [ J 10 9 8 2 [ 10 5 4N [ 9 7 2 ] A K 5 4 3 ] 7 2 ] Q 6 5 ] K J 9 3 W E W E { J 10 5 4 3 2 { K 7 { J 5 { K 6 3 2 } 7S } K J 6 4 } Q 8 6 4 3S } J 10 [K [ A K Q ] J 10 9 6 ] A 10 8 { Q 9 8 6 { Q 9 7 4 } A 8 5 2 } K 7 5 If North opens 1[ and South responds with a forcing (or One might expect the auction to be 1{-1[; 2NT-3NT at even non-forcing) notrump, you need a gadget to show your nearly all tables.West hits the jackpot with a heart lead, but on mediocre two suiter, if you want to show it at all.