Michael Seamon Junior United States Bridge Championships (XVI)

by Phillip Alder

The United States Bridge Federation junior trials were held in Atlanta, from December 27 to January 1. They were to select the U.S. teams for the world youth championships, which will be played next August in Suzhou, China, some 65 miles west of Shanghai. We are looking at the 60- battle to become the USA2 under-26 team between Hongji Wei-Chang Liu, Yewen Fan-Nian Si and Che Shen-Yichen Yin; and Arjun Dhir, William Zhu, Gregory Herman, Burke Snowden and Samuel Amer.

Let's kick off with a quick quiz.

1. With neither side vulnerable, your hand is:

‰ J 10 8 4 Š A K 9 8 2 ‹ Q 7 Œ J 2

Partner opens two clubs, strong, artificial and forcing. What would you respond?

2. Dummy Dlr: North ‰ A Q 3 Vul: None Š 5 ‹ A K J 10 8 4 Œ A K Q

Declarer (You) ‰ J 10 8 4 Š A K 9 8 2 ‹ Q 7 Œ J 2

You end in seven diamonds. How would you plan the play after West leads a ?

With two boards to go, Wei had just taken the lead, by 147 international match points to 140. The penultimate deal was boring, both East-West pairs making three notrump with two over- tricks. The final board, though, had swing potential.

1 North Dlr: East ‰ K 9 7 2 Vul: None Š J 4 ‹ 5 2 Œ 8 7 6 4 3 West East ‰ J 10 8 4 ‰ A Q 3 Š A K 9 8 2 Š 5 ‹ Q 7 ‹ A K J 10 8 4 Œ J 2 Œ A K Q South ‰ 6 5 Š Q 10 7 6 3 ‹ 9 6 3 Œ 10 9 5 Open Room: West North East South Dhir Yin Zhu Shen 2Œ Pass 2‹ Pass 3‹ Pass 3Š Pass 3NT Pass 6NT All Pass

I dislike this type of auction. West never told East he had such a good hand. West knew it was a slam deal as soon as East opened two clubs. Why not respond two hearts to let partner in on the secret? (If you play that a two-heart response announces a bust hand, then respond two notrump to show five- plus hearts and positive values. Alternatively, if you show high-card points or controls, they work fine on this deal.) South led the spade six, so declarer immediately claimed an overtrick.

Closed Room: West North East South Wei Amer Liu Herman 2Œ Pass 2‹ Pass 3‹ Pass 3Š Pass 3NT Pass 4‹ Pass 4NT (a) Pass 5Œ (b) Pass 5Š (c) Pass 5NT (d) Pass 6‰ (e) Pass 7‹ Pass Pass Pass (a) Roman Key Card Blackwood (b) One key card (c) Asking for the diamond queen (d) Showing her and the heart king (e) Pick a grand slam

On the Liu-Wei it says that a two-heart response shows a good suit and positive values. Weird! This looked like 9 imps to Wei , but appearances can be deceptive. North led a trump. Declarer cashed all six rounds to give this position:

2 North ‰ K 9 7 Š J 4 ‹ – Œ 8 7 West East ‰ J 10 ‰ A Q 3 Š A K 8 Š 5 ‹ – ‹ – Œ J 2 Œ A K Q South ‰ 6 5 Š Q 10 6 3 ‹ – Œ 5

Now came the three club winners, leaving:

North ‰ K 9 7 Š J ‹ – Œ – West East ‰ J ‰ A Q 3 Š A K 8 Š 5 ‹ – ‹ – Œ – Œ – South ‰ 6 Š Q 10 3 ‹ – Œ –

West took his two heart tricks, learning that South had started with 2=5=3=3 distribution and North with 4=2=2=5. The odds were two-to-one in favor of the spade . But note that if South had begun with the spade king, he had been squeezed in the majors. Another factor was the poor set for East-West. They had failed to find the killing lead against seven notrump doubled on Board 47 and had gone down one in seven spades on Board 49. However, there was no reason why East-West at the other table would be in seven on this board; and if they weren't, taking the was indicated. Eventually Wei went for the squeeze, leading a spade to the ace and going down one. (The late, great John Collings might have approved. When I played on teams with him, he had a strict rule that if we could make a contract either by taking a finesse or executing a squeeze, we had to play for the squeeze.) Plus 1020 and plus 50 gave Dhir 14 imps and a nail-biting victory by 154 imps to 147. In the final set, Wei had conceded 44 imps on the three grand-slam deals and lost by only 7. Painful. So, Arjun Dhir, William Zhu, Gregory Herman, Burke Snowden and Samuel Amer are USA2 for the World Under-26 Youth Teams Championship. They have added Yichen Yin as Amer's partner.

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