World Bridge Championships Part 5

by Phillip Alder

The world championships ended in Chennai, India, on October 10. Last time, we left the bronze medal playoff between England (, , , Andy Robson, and Jason and Justin Hackett, who are twins) and USA2 (Paul Fireman, , Vincent Demuy, John Kranyak, John Hurd and ) with nine of the 96 boards still to be played and USA2 ahead by 32.3 international match points. Then England started a comeback. On 88 (a deal highlighted in my article about the final), Gold outplayed Demuy in three hearts to bring home an overtrick when Demuy went down two. That gave England 7 imps. Then England gained an overtrick imp, three more from one fewer vulnerable undertrick, and six for making a partscore at both tables. The USA2 lead was down to 15.3 imps. This was Board 91:

North Dlr: West ‰ 9 2 Vul: N-S Š A J 7 2 ‹ A 6 5 Œ A 6 5 3 West East ‰ Q 10 8 6 4 ‰ A J 7 Š Q 6 4 Š 10 5 3 ‹ J ‹ K 10 9 2 Œ Q J 10 2 Œ 9 8 7 South ‰ K 5 3 Š K 9 8 ‹ Q 8 7 4 3 Œ K 4 Table 1: West North East South Wooldridge Gold Wolpert Bakhshi Pass 1Œ Pass 1‹ 1‰ Dble (a) 2‰ 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass (a) Four hearts

West led a spade. East won with his ace, returned the jack, and continued with a third round to South's king. Bakhshi played a diamond to dummy's ace, led a diamond back to his queen, and played a third round. West, feeling pressure in three suits (he did not know that his partner had clubs covered), dis- carded the club deuce and heart six. East shifted to a club, but declarer won with his king and cleared the diamonds. After winning the next trick with dummy's club ace, South played a heart to his king, cashed the last diamond, and led a heart. When West's queen appeared, declarer claimed his contract.

1 North Dlr: West ‰ 9 2 Vul: N-S Š A J 7 2 ‹ A 6 5 Œ A 6 5 3 West East ‰ Q 10 8 6 4 ‰ A J 7 Š Q 6 4 Š 10 5 3 ‹ J ‹ K 10 9 2 Œ Q J 10 2 Œ 9 8 7 South ‰ K 5 3 Š K 9 8 ‹ Q 8 7 4 3 Œ K 4 Table 2: West North East South Robson Demuy Forrester Kranyak 2‰ (a) Dble 2NT (b) Dble 3Œ Pass 3‰ 3NT Pass Pass Pass (a) Five spades, four-plus in a minor (b) Inquiry

The Americans did well to overcome the English barrage. This time, when West led a spade, East put in his jack, trying to keep communication with his partner. However, Kranyak realized that if West had the spade ace, his contract was hopeless. So South ducked this trick. East shifted to the club eight, which declarer ducked. South, after taking the club seven with his king, played a diamond to dummy's ace, and led another diamond to the nine and queen. Now, though, the contract was unmakable. When declarer led a third diamond, East took two tricks in that suit and the spade ace for down one. Plus 600 and plus 100 gave England 12 imps, cutting its deficit to 3.3 imps. Kranyak could have made three notrump, but it required playing antipercentage. He had to assume that he could take one spade, four hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. But getting four heart tricks was so unlikely given the bidding. Finding West with exactly 5=2=2=4 distribution was, a priori , nearly twice as likely as 5=3=1=4. Also, as East had played high-low in clubs, it was possible that West was 5-5 in the blacks. Then, 5=3=0=5 was much less likely than 5=1=2=5. After winning with dummy's diamond ace, South had to lead a spade toward his king before or after taking the heart . Suppose East wins with his spade ace and returns a club. Declarer takes that with dummy's ace, leads a heart to his king, cashes the spade king, and takes the heart finesse to give the position on the next page.

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

After two rounds of hearts, a diamond toward the queen establishes South's ninth trick.

The next board was flat. There were three to go. The first is on the next page.

3 North Dlr: East ‰ A Q 8 7 Vul: None Š 2 ‹ 9 6 5 Œ Q J 8 7 4 West East ‰ 10 ‰ K 4 3 Š Q 10 9 7 4 Š A 8 3 ‹ J 7 3 ‹ A Q 10 8 4 2 Œ A 9 6 3 Œ K South ‰ J 9 6 5 2 Š K J 6 5 ‹ K Œ 10 5 2 Table 2: West North East South Robson Demuy Forrester Kranyak 1NT! (a) Pass 2‹ (b) Pass 2Š Pass Pass Dble Redble 2‰ 4Š! Pass Pass Dble Pass Pass Pass (a) 14+-17 (b) Transfer

When Forrester redoubled to show a maximum with three-card heart support, Robson happily jumped to four hearts. This was psychologically great. His opponents could have passed them out in a partscore, now they had to defend against game, doubled to boot. South found a disastrous – the diamond king. East won with his ace, cashed the heart ace, and led a heart. South went up with his king (North discarded a discouraging club) and shifted to the spade deuce (low from an odd number). North won with his ace, but never pictured his partner with a singleton diamond – remember East's one-notrump opening bid. When North returned a spade, East won with his king, picked up the trumps, and claimed an overtrick.

4 North Dlr: East ‰ A Q 8 7 Vul: None Š 2 ‹ 9 6 5 Œ Q J 8 7 4 West East ‰ 10 ‰ K 4 3 Š Q 10 9 7 4 Š A 8 3 ‹ J 7 3 ‹ A Q 10 8 4 2 Œ A 9 6 3 Œ K South ‰ J 9 6 5 2 Š K J 6 5 ‹ K Œ 10 5 2 Table 1: West North East South Wooldridge Gold Wolpert Bakhshi 1‹ Pass 1Š Pass 2NT (a) Pass 3‹ (b) Pass 3Š Pass 3NT (c) Pass 4Š All Pass (a) In principle, balanced 17+-19— (b) Transfer to hearts (c) Offering a choice of games

North led the club queen to dummy's king. West cashed dummy's heart ace, ran the heart eight, and led another . South won with his king and returned the club ten to declarer's ace, giving this posi- tion:

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

West cashed his heart queen, on which North should have discarded the spade seven, but he threw the diamond five! Now Wooldridge, reading the position perfectly, led his diamond jack and put up dummy's ace to drop the king. Then he claimed 12 tricks. Plus 690 and minus 480 gave England 5 imps and, by 1.7 imps, its first lead for 90 boards.

5 But if Wooldridge had taken the diamond finesse, he would have gone down two, losing one spade, one heart, one diamond and three clubs. Then England would have gained 13 imps. Would the 8 imps matter in the end? Well, Board 95 was flat and this was 96:

North Dlr: West ‰ A J 10 9 2 Vul: E-W Š A J 9 4 ‹ K Œ 6 5 4 West East ‰ K 7 ‰ Q 5 Š Q 7 2 Š K 8 ‹ J 8 7 6 5 4 3 ‹ 10 9 2 Œ 9 Œ Q J 10 8 7 2 South ‰ 8 6 4 3 Š 10 6 5 3 ‹ A Q Œ A K 3

In uncontested auctions, both Norths opened one spade and ended in four spades, each South show- ing a game-force with four-card support. Against Gold, Wolpert led the club jack, Rusinow (promising the queen or from shortage). North won with dummy's king and played a spade to his jack. East took the trick and returned the club queen. West ruffed away dummy's ace and accurately shifted to the heart deuce, giving declarer no chance. Gold actually played low, so East won with his king and cashed the club ten for down one. Against Demuy, Forrester led the club queen. But declarer did not follow the popular line; at trick two, he played a heart to his jack and East's king. If East had led a second club, West would have ruffed away the club king and probably led a heart, but declarer could have finessed again, cashed his spade ace, and discarded his last club on dum- my's diamond queen to lose only two spades and one heart. In fact, East exited with his second heart. So North took that trick, cashed the spade ace, and played another spade, claiming an overtrick when the suit split 2-2. Plus 50 and plus 450 gave 11 imps to USA2 and the nail-biting match by 252.3 imps to 243.

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