The 2006 World Bridge Championships in Verona
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46 The 2006 World Bridge Championships in Verona By Pietro Campanile The World Bridge Championships are ♠ - one the biggest jamborees of the bridge ♥ 1083 calendar. They take place every four ♦ - years and are a transnational event ♣ K meaning that anyone can play with ♠ - ♠ Q9 anyone. Moreover, since there are no ♥ KJ9 ♥ - strict criteria for participation almost any ♦ - ♦ Q player can join the party as long as they ♣ A ♣ 5 have the deep pockets needed to pay the separate account of their exploit can be read in Matthew’s very own “How to win a ♠ K stiff tournament fees the WBF requires: ♥ Q around 1500$ per team and 1000$ per World Championship in five easy steps” in this same magazine. ♦ J10 pair are not the kind of pocket money that ♣ - the average player carries around to pay Another pair fancied to win the event for his club tournament. was the formidable partnership of Kerri At this point declarer had already gathered To add insult to injury the WBF had Sanborn and Larry Cohen, who finished eight tricks, the last two he needed came appointed a travel agent to secure most eventually in seventh place. Here is Larry in elegant fashion once Cohen played of the venue accommodation (in Verona, at the helm of a tough contract against the ♦J: it would do West no good to ruff Italy), in order to resell it at double the the expert defense of Lew and JoAnna high as declarer would simply pitch his price if not more to those unwary visitors Stansby, who finished in third place: losing club, ruff the ♣A with the ♥Q and who were not shrewd enough to check score the ♥10 en passant. If instead West prices elsewhere. As a meager bonus Dealer North – None Vulnerable discards the ♣A, declarer would ruff and, those who made their booking through the ♠ AJ having already gathered nine tricks, then official agency would receive a paltry 10% ♥ A10832 ruff his last club with the ♥Q endplaying discount on the entry fee. To give you an ♦ K7 West who is forced to overruff and let example of the sheer effrontery and greed ♣ KJ76 declarer score his ♥10. displayed in setting the prices: a double ♠ 875 ♠ Q10962 Our next deal brings up an interesting room at the four star Tryp Hotel, where ♥ KJ96 ♥ - challenge players face at events such we stayed two years ago when Migry ♦ 53 ♦ Q842 as these: with such large participation it played in the Generali Masters in Verona, ♣ A983 ♣ Q542 is difficult to know what to expect from was being charged at 150 Euro per night ♠ K43 the opponents who come to your table instead of the 65 we paid. Once the travel ♥ Q754 since most of them will be unknown to you agency could not hold the bookings it was ♦ AJ1096 even if they are good players in their own trying to retain, a large batch of rooms was ♣ 10 right. Let us join Italian champion Alfredo released in early May for normal sales and West North East South Versace as he faced a rather unassuming the price returned to its average of 60-70 L.Stansby Cohen J.Stansby Sanborn married couple who have just come to his table, chatting happily as if bridge was the Euro. 1♥ 1♠ 3♦ Anyway despite the hikes in hotel last thing on their minds. prices and the expensive entry fees, the Pass 4♥ All Pass Dealer West – E/W Vulnerable participation to the championships was JoAnna Stansby led the ♠10 to declarer’s ♠ A4 at record level and saw the attendance ♠J, who cashed the ♥A and got the bad ♥ 10875 of all the top bridge stars, often playing in news. Cohen continued with the ♠A, the ♦ 109865 sponsored teams. ♦K and a diamond to the ♦A in dummy. ♣ K3 The event that kicked off the championship Next came the ♣10, which Lew Stansby ♠ K97 ♠ J10532 was the Mixed Pairs, with a three ducked smoothly causing declarer to insert ♥ KQ ♥ J93 sessions qualifier to which took part 481 the ♣J which lost to East’s ♣Q. JoAnna, ♦ AKQJ4 ♦ 7 pairs with 181 of them admitted to the correctly reading the position, returned ♣ A82 ♣ J1064 three session final. The winners were a club which was ruffed in dummy. After ♠ Q86 our main contributor and ex-Jerusalemite a diamond ruff and a club ruff we have ♥ A642 Matthew Granovetter playing with many reached this position with the lead in ♦ 32 times world champion Karen McCallum. A dummy (South): ♣ Q975 45 West North East South a club to North’s ♣K and the American Final Standings of the Mixed Pairs: Versace B.Trent Haemmerli L.Trent pair had succeeded in swindling a World Champion out of a cold contract! 4♠-2 2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass 1 Karen MCCALLUM - Matt was not worth a lot of MPs to Alfredino GRANOVETTER 59.28 2NT Pass 3 Pass who had been leading the field after the ♥ 2 Jill LEVIN - Bobby LEVIN 58.75 3♠ Pass 4♠ All Pass first session. Our third deal from the Mixed Pairs shows 3 Joanna STANSBY - Lew STANSBY 58.47 how balancing can often lead to rather unexpected outcomes! You hold: The next event on the schedule was ♠ 43 the Rosenblum Open Teams, played ♥ AKQ3 concurrently with the McConnell Ladies ♦ 8 Teams. In the Rosenblum the 158 ♣ KQJ1075 participating teams were divided in 16 seeded groups of 10-11 teams on an Playing against a strong club system, your all-play-all format, the top four finishers RHO opens 1♥ (limited to 16 points), you bid from each group would then qualify for 2♣, next comes a non forcing 2♠ from the the knockouts, starting obviously with the opponent on your left, which gets passed rounds of 64 played over 56 boards. Four around to you. What do you do now? Israeli teams of some quality took part Alfredo Versace You would be a clairvoyant if you said and they all made it through the qualifying After a standard auction, Versace found pass: the chunky club suit, the shape, round, a good sign of the healthy state of himself in 4♠ on the lead of the ♦10. the points all seem to be screaming at Israeli bridge. In the first round of knock- The Italian declarer won in hand with a you to bid again. So you duly comply, bid outs, Team Altshuler (D. Birman-Fohrer, deceptive ♦K, ruffed the ♦4 in dummy 3♣ and the next time you see the bidding Liran-Levinger, A.Birman-Altshuler) got in order to play a trump to the ♠9, once tray the opponents have reached the an hopeless draw against one of the best South followed with the ♠8, hoping to find dizzy heights of 6♦!!! Are you a man or teams in the field and eventual winners the ♠Q doubleton onside and to restrict a mouse? Naturally you double and lead of the event: Team Meltzer (Helgemo- his trump losers to one. Bruce Trent won the ♥A. Thirteen tricks later the broad Helness; Larsen-Meltzer; Sontag-Bates) the ♠A and, unwilling to open another suit, smiling Austrian declarer has chalked up which won the match 138-64. Team continued with a third diamond. Versace an overtrick in her doubled slam for +1190 Bareket (Bareket-Roll; Lengy-Leibovits) pitched a club from dummy and Linda and a 100% score, a rather better result was just as unlucky and played the Trent in South showed out and ruffed with than the 8% they would have got in 2♠ eventual runners up: Swedish Team the ♠Q! After some thought, Linda played +2! Henner (Fredin-Lindqvist; Bertheau- back a small club won by declarer with the Here is the complete deal: Nystrom; Jacobus-Henner) and lost to ♣A. The layout must have been clear by Dealer South – None Vulnerable them by 100-130. Team Herbst (O.Herbst now to Versace: North held both remaining ♠ AK1065 – I.Herbst; Barel-Zack; R. Barr) got through spades and that created a problem since if ♥ - with a convincing win against a Canadian he tried to pull trumps, ending in hand, and ♦ Q10753 team, while Team Yadlin (I.Yadlin-D.Yadlin; pitch the clubs on the winning diamonds, ♣ 832 Kalish-Podgur; Ginossar-Ozdil) defeated he would then be forced to play hearts ♠ 43 ♠ Q872 102-78 a Pakistani formation. and the defence could take the first round ♥ AKQ3 ♥ 10962 of the suit, tap dummy with a club and, ♦ 8 ♦ J4 The round generated quite a few surprise with the hearts blocked, eventually score ♣ KQJ1075 ♣ 964 eliminations, none less than the victory the setting trick with the fourth club. No, ♠ J9 of Team Schwarz (Schwartz-Willenken; that will not do. After burning a few more ♥ J8754 El Ahmady-Sadek; Krekorian-Case) over brain cells, Versace found the solution: ♦ AK962 the much fancied Italian Team Angelini he should discard immediately dummy’s ♣ A (Lauria-Versace; Fantoni-Nunes; Sementa- clubs on the diamonds before drawing Angelini). Another stunning upset was trumps (this could be done in safety since West North East South the defeat of the star-studded Team North was known to hold five diamonds Cichocki Wernle Hocheker Smederevac Jacobs (Rosenberg-Mahmood; Balicki- and both trumps), and then knock out the Zmudzinski; Katz-Jacobs) at the hands of ♥A, pull trumps ending in dummy and 1♥ a fairly unknown French team. now enjoy his ♥J. From the planning 2♣ 2♠ Pass Pass The elimination was all the more surprising to the execution: Versace cashed the 3♣ 3♦ Pass 6♦ as Jacobs had managed to recover an ♦Q, discarding a club from dummy and early deficit and had a 2 IMPs advantage …South ruffed!!! Linda could now lead Pass Pass Pass with only one supposedly flat board to go.