The Open World Championship Trial XII

by Phillip Alder

We are looking at the open world championship trial to pick the United States team that will play in Wroclaw, Poland, from September 3 to 17. After 45 of the 120 boards in the very close semifinal between Richard Coren (Steve Garner, Roger Bates, Russell Ekeblad and Matthew Granovetter) and Martin Fleisher (Chip Martel, Ishmael del'Monte, Chris Willenken, Joe Grue and Brad Moss), Coren led by 107 international match points to 91.

As usual, let's start with a couple of problems. You hold: ‰ 9 4 3 Š 9 6 4 ‹ K 10 7 2 Œ J 10 9 West North East South Dummy Partner Declarer You 1NT Pass 2Œ Pass 2‹ Pass 2NT (a) Pass 3NT All Pass (a) Promises at least one four-card major

What would you lead?

North (Dummy) Dlr: East ‰ 2 Vul: Both Š K ‹ A Q 10 8 6 4 Œ A Q 6 3 2

Declarer (You) ‰ A J 10 Š Q 8 7 6 ‹ 7 3 Œ K J 9 4 West North East South Partner You Pass Pass Pass 1‹ (a) Pass 1Š 1‰ 2‹ (b) 2‰ 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass (a) Balanced 11-13, or 10-15 points with a long diamond one-suiter, or a minor two-suiter (at least 5-4 either way round), or any 4-4-4-1, or 4=4=0=5, or 4=4=5=0 (b) Six-plus diamonds, fewer than three hearts

West leads a fourth-highest spade seven and East puts up the king. How would you plan the play?

Back to the problem. Will it change your answer if you know dummy has four spades but not four hearts?

1 Coren won the first five boards of the fourth set by 9 imps to 7. Then Ekeblad and Granovetter had a bad deal for their system, going down five vulnerable in two notrump while Grue was making three hearts. That gave Fleisher 12 imps. The points were quickly regained, though.

North Dlr: East ‰ K Q 2 Vul: E-W Š Q J 10 8 7 ‹ Q J 4 Œ 8 7 West East ‰ A 8 6 5 ‰ J 10 7 Š A 3 2 Š K 5 ‹ 6 5 ‹ A 9 8 3 Œ 6 5 4 3 Œ A K Q 2 South ‰ 9 4 3 Š 9 6 4 ‹ K 10 7 2 Œ J 10 9 Table 2: West North East South Garner Grue Bates Moss 1NT Pass 2Œ Pass 2‹ Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass

The opening lead was critical. Best was a heart, but a diamond could have also defeated the contract. Moss chose the club ten (Rusinow, promising the jack). Bates took the trick with his king and ran the spade jack. North won with the queen and returned his remaining club. East won and took a second spade . Although it lost, Bates had nine tricks: two spades (aided by the 3-3 break), two hearts, one diamond and four clubs.

Table 1: West North East South Del'Monte Ekeblad Willenken Granovetter 1Œ (a) Pass 1Š (b) Pass 1NT (c) Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass (a) Natural, or a with 11-13 or 17-19 points (b) Spades (c) Balanced 17-19

If Willenken had held a minimum balanced hand, he would have rebid one spade (or two spades, with four-card support). Granovetter went with fourth-highest from his longest and strongest: the diamond deuce. When East ducked North's jack, Ekeblad accurately shifted to the heart queen. East won and cashed his club tricks ending on the . South pitched a spade and North threw a diamond and a heart (when, at double-dummy, he had to throw two hearts). East was on the right track when he played a diamond to his ace to give the position on the next page.

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

How could East have won three more tricks? Declarer, if he could have seen all of the cards, would have played a heart, ducking in the dummy if South played his six, or winning with the ace and playing another round if South put up his nine. North would have been endplayed in spades. Not blessed with x-ray vision, East ran his spade jack. North falsecarded by winning with his king, then he led back the heart jack to dummy's ace. Now this was the layout:

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

When the heart three was led off the board, Ekeblad made the winning play of his eight . South took the trick with the nine and cashed his two diamonds to defeat the contract. Plus 600 and plus 100 gave Coren 12 imps. Note, though, that if North had won the heart with his ten, cashed the heart eight, and led the spade deuce, declarer probably would have misguessed, playing for split honors. (The Principle of Restricted Choice would also have been relevant. If North had the spade king and queen, he might have won the first trick with his queen. But if he had only the king, he had no option. Mathematically, it is right to assume that the defender had no choice.) Coren gained another 7 imps on the next three boards to take a 25-point lead. Then came the deal in the declarer-play problem, on the next page.

3 North Dlr: East ‰ 2 Vul: Both Š K ‹ A Q 10 8 6 4 Œ A Q 6 3 2 West East ‰ Q 9 8 7 5 3 ‰ K 6 4 Š J 10 9 3 Š A 5 4 2 ‹ 9 2 ‹ K J 5 Œ 8 Œ 10 7 5 South ‰ A J 10 Š Q 8 7 6 ‹ 7 3 Œ K J 9 4 Table 2: West North East South Garner Grue Bates Moss Pass Pass 2‰ 4NT (a) Pass 5Œ Pass Pass Pass (a) At least 5-5 in the minors

Garner's modern weak two propelled his opponents into five clubs, a contract that coasted home. Moss lost only one heart and one diamond.

Table 1: West North East South Del'Monte Ekeblad Willenken Granovetter Pass Pass Pass 1‹ (a) Pass 1Š 1‰ 2‹ (b) 2‰ 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass (a) Balanced 11-13, or 10-15 points with a long diamond one-suiter, or a minor two-suiter (at least 5-4 either way round), or any 4-4-4-1, or 4=4=0=5, or 4=4=5=0 (b) Six-plus diamonds, fewer than three hearts

If North had rebid two clubs, it would have shown longer clubs than diamonds. But he could have rebid two notrump to show at least 5-5 in the minors and a maximum. With 6=5, he opted to stress the diamond length, then felt he was too strong to bid three clubs over two notrump. Three notrump was tougher than five clubs. After a spade to the king and ace, there were two reasonable lines of play. The first was to lead a heart to dummy's king at trick two, going after these nine tricks: two spades, one heart, one diamond and five clubs. It would not have been without risk, but whoever won the trick was likely to play another spade. Here, even if East took the trick and returned a heart, South could have won and driven out the spade queen. He would have lost only one spade and three hearts. Granovetter played a diamond to dummy's queen at trick two. If the finesse had won, he would have crossed to his hand with a club and established his second spade trick to take at least two spades, two diamonds and five clubs. However, East won with the king and returned a spade. Now del'Monte defended perfectly by ducking the trick to keep communication with his partner. South tried a second diamond finesse, so lost four spades, one heart and two diamonds to go down three. Minus 300 and

4 plus 600 gave Fleisher a huge 14 imps. On the next board, Garner was plus 490 in three notrump. Del'Monte and Willenken bid to six notrump, which rested purely on the club finesse. If the finesse had won, it would have been 11 imps to Fleisher , but when it lost, Coren gained 12 imps. (At the other table, after the club finesse failed, the defenders didn't cash the diamond ace.) Coren increased its lead by 9 imps over the last three boards, so the halftime score was Coren 156 imps, Fleisher 124.

To be continued

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