The Spring North American Championships XII

by Phillip Alder

First today, here are four problems, two bidding, one defense and one declarer-play.

1. With neither side vulnerable, you pick up in fourth position:

‰ A Š J 7 6 4 ‹ A 4 3 Œ A Q 10 6 2

After two passes, righty opens two hearts, showing a respectable weak two-bid. (With a bad hand, he would have opened two diamonds.) What would you do?

2. North (Dummy) Dlr: South ‰ 8 5 4 Vul: Both Š K Q J 10 2 ‹ A Œ A 10 8 6 East (You) ‰ 10 6 Š A 8 6 4 ‹ K Q 8 7 5 Œ 5 4 West North East South Partner Dummy You Declarer 1Œ (a) Pass 1Š Pass 1NT Pass 2‹ (b) Pass 2‰ (c) Pass 3Œ Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass (a) Natural or any with 12-14 or 18-19 points (b) Game-forcing checkback (c) Four spades and two hearts

Your partner leads the diamond deuce: ace, five (encouraging), four. Declarer leads the heart king from the . How would you defend?

3. In the bidding problem, let's assume you overcalled three clubs. Lefty raises to three hearts, your partner cue-bids four hearts to show a good game raise in clubs, and righty passes. What would you do now?

1 4. In the second bidding question, given that you know partner has at most a singleton heart, it must be right to take a shot at six clubs. West leads the heart queen, and this is what you can see:

North ‰ 9 7 6 2 Š 5 ‹ K 10 6 Œ K J 9 8 3

South ‰ A Š J 7 6 4 ‹ A 4 3 Œ A Q 10 6 2

East overtakes with the heart king and shifts to the spade queen. How would you try to win the rest of the tricks? The full deal and answers are on the next page.

2 North Dlr: West ‰ 9 7 6 2 Vul: None Š 5 ‹ K 10 6 Œ K J 9 8 3 West East ‰ K 10 5 4 3 ‰ Q J 8 Š Q 3 Š A K 10 9 8 2 ‹ Q J 7 2 ‹ 9 8 5 Œ 7 5 Œ 4 South ‰ A Š J 7 6 4 ‹ A 4 3 Œ A Q 10 6 2

The winners of the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams, the premier event at the Spring North American Championships in Reno, NV, in March, were Norberto Bocchi, Diego Brenner, , Zia Mahmood, Alejandro Bianchedi and Agustin Madala, the Lavazza team. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Martin Fleisher of New York City, of Davis, CA, from Germany, Roy Welland of New York City, Joe Grue of New York City, and Brad Moss of Denver, but lost on this deal. At the first table, after Moss (East) opened two hearts, Bocchi (South) overcalled two notrump and ended in three notrump. Grue (West) led the heart queen and continued with his second heart. East won and shifted to a high spade. South won perforce, ran his club tricks, and took his top diamonds to go down one. This was the second auction:

West North East South Zia Welland Duboin Auken Pass Pass 2Š 3‹ 3Š 4Š Pass 6Œ Pass Pass Pass

As Welland put his dummy down, he apologized for his aggressive four-heart cue-bid to show a strong hand for clubs. West led the heart queen. East overtook with his king and shifted to the spade queen. Declarer won and did a mini-crossruff, trumping three hearts in the dummy and two spades in her hand. South then overtook the club king with her ace and cashed the club queen to give the end-position on the next page.

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

When declarer led the club ten, West was squeezed. That was well played by Sabine Auken. Plus 50 and plus 920 gained 14 international match points for the Fleisher team, but Lavazza won the match by 147 imps to 125.

The defensive problem set at the beginning came from the Round-of-64 Vanderbilt match between Meike Wortel (a Dutch woman who lives in Norway), Ida Groenkvist from Sweden, Tobias Polak from the Netherlands, and Bruce Rogoff of Boca Raton, FL; and Steve Robinson of Arlington, VA, Peter Boyd of Darnestown, MD, Fred Stewart of Bloomington, NY, and Kit Woolsey of Kensington, CA. The full deal is on the next page.

4 North Dlr: South ‰ 8 5 4 Vul: Both Š K Q J 10 2 ‹ A Œ A 10 8 6 West East ‰ J 9 7 2 ‰ 10 6 Š 9 5 Š A 8 6 4 ‹ 10 3 2 ‹ K Q 8 7 5 Œ K 9 7 3 Œ 5 4 South ‰ A K Q 3 Š 7 3 ‹ J 9 6 4 Œ Q J 2 Table 1: West North East South Groenkvist Woolsey Wortel Stewart 1‹ (a) Pass 1Š Pass 1NT Pass 2‹ (b) Dble 2‰ (c) Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass (a) Two-plus diamonds, 11-15 points (b) Game-forcing checkback (c) Four spades and two hearts

West led the diamond deuce. East took the second round of hearts with her ace and shifted to a spade. Declarer cashed his nine tricks: three spades, four hearts, one diamond and one club.

Table 2: West North East South Boyd Polak Robinson Rogoff 1Œ (a) Pass 1Š Pass 1NT Pass 2‹ (b) Pass 2‰ (c) Pass 3Œ Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass (a) Natural or any balanced hand with 12-14 or 18-19 points (b) Game-forcing checkback (c) Four spades and two hearts

West, without the help of a lead-directing double, still led the diamond deuce. This time, though, when East took his heart ace, he did much better, returning the diamond seven . Understandably, declarer played his nine and went down one, losing one heart and four diamonds. Plus 600 and plus 100 gave Robinson 12 imps, but Wortel won the match by 109 imps to 100.

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