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Home , Lotan Fisher, Ron Schwartz, Screen (bridge), Splinter bid

Chicago Quarterfinals

by Phillip Alder

The premier event at the Summer North American Championships in Chicago from August 6-16 was the Spingold Knockout Teams. There was an of 90 teams and play lasted for seven days. The winners in 2014 were Richard Schwartz and from the United States, and from Norway, and and from Israel. Only two-thirds of that team were defending because the young Israelis had joined Jimmy Cayne and from the United States, and Lorenzo Lauria and Alfredo Versace from Italy. Fisher and Schwartz had been replaced on the Richie Schwartz team by Huub Bertens, a Dutch player who now lives in Oregon, and from Canada. Interestingly, Cayne and Schwartz played against each other in the quarterfinals, and had the only close match in that round, about which more in a moment. In the other 60- encounters, Team Lavazza (Giorgio Duboin from Italy, Zia Mahmood, who represents the United States but lives in London, Norberto Bocchi who plays for Italy but lives in Barcelona, Spain, Agustin Madala and Alejandro Bianchedi from Argentina, and Massimiliano Di Franco from Italy) defeated the American team of , Glenn Milgrim, Jeff Aker, Douglas Sim- son, Allan Falk and John Lusky by 179 international match points to 107. Pan China (Ze Jun Zhuang, Hoajun Shi, Chuan Cheng Ju, Zheng Jun Shi, Haitao Liu and Lidang Dong) beat Stan Tulin and Kevin Dwyer from the United States, Alon Birman and Dror Padon from Israel, and Jacek Kalita and Michal Nowosadzki from Poland by 158 imps to 111. Team Monaco (Pierre Zimmermann, Franck Multon, Fulvio Fantoni, Claudio Nunes, Geir Hel- gemo and Tor Helness) overwhelmed Mark Gordon, Pratap Rajadhyaksha, David Berkowitz, Alan Sontag, Jacek Pszczola and Michael Rosenberg by 207 imps to 88. The board on the next page comes from that match and shows how bidding methods can have a surprisingly large effect on a result.

1 North Dlr: North ‰ K Q 8 6 5 4 Vul: Both Š – ‹ K Q 5 2 Œ Q 8 4 West East ‰ 7 3 2 ‰ 9 Š A K J 10 8 Š Q 7 6 4 3 2 ‹ 8 ‹ 10 9 7 Œ K 10 9 7 Œ A J 3 South ‰ A J 10 Š 9 5 ‹ A J 6 4 3 Œ 6 5 2 Table 1: West North East South Pszczola Helness Rosenberg Helgemo 1‰ Pass 2‹ Pass 3Š (a) Pass 3‰ Pass 4Š (b) Pass 4‰ Pass Pass Pass (a) : diamond support with at most one heart (b) Heart

Although Helgemo's initial two-diamond response was not game-forcing, it is surprising that Pepsi (as Pszczola is known) did not throw in a two-heart . Against four spades, East led a diamond. Declarer immediately claimed 11 tricks: six spades and five diamonds.

Table 2: West North East South Zimmermann Gordon Multon Pratap 1‰ Pass 1NT (a) 2Š 2‰ 4Š 4‰ Pass Pass 5Š Dble Pass Pass Pass (a) Forcing

When Pratap made a forcing one-notrump response, which indicated some 6-12 points, anything from a minimum response up to a game invitation, Zimmermann bid his strong major. Then the competitive auction led to West's playing in five hearts doubled. The key difference at this table was that North- South did not know they had a double fit in the pointed suits. This is one of the drawbacks of two-over- one game-force. North led the spade king, shifted to the diamond king, and continued with another diamond. Declarer ruffed, trumped a spade in the dummy, played a heart to his ace, and ruffed his last spade high in the dummy, bringing down South's ace. Then West drew the last and had to find the club queen. But it was not hard. South had already shown up with nine points: the spade ace-jack and diamond ace (and probably had the diamond jack when North led a low diamond, not an honor, at trick three). With the club queen extra and such good three-card spade support, South surely would have started with a two-over-one response, not one notrump.

2 So, West cashed his club king and played a club to dummy's jack, claiming when the held. Plus 650 and plus 850 gave Team Monaco 17 imps on the board.

Now back to the Cayne-Schwartz match. When the last board was about to be played, Cayne led by 3 imps. This was the final deal:

North Dlr: East ‰ 9 8 4 3 2 Vul: None Š A 7 5 4 2 ‹ Q 4 Œ 6 West East ‰ J 10 6 ‰ A 7 5 Š Q 10 9 8 3 Š – ‹ 9 7 2 ‹ J 10 3 Œ J 9 Œ A K Q 7 5 4 3 South ‰ K Q Š K J 6 ‹ A K 8 6 5 Œ 10 8 2 West North East South Versace Lindqvist Lauria Brogeland 1Œ 1‹ Pass 1‰ 2‰ Pass 3Œ Pass Pass Pass

Lauria had his eyes on three notrump, but when his partner could not do more than bid three clubs, he passed. Brogeland led a trump. East won in his hand and played a low spade. South won with his queen and persisted with another trump. In dummy with the club jack, declarer ran the spade jack, losing to South's king. Double-dummy, the contract could have now gone down by two tricks, if North gained the lead with his diamond queen and gave South a spade . But understandably South shifted to a heart, so Lauria went down one, losing two spades and three diamonds. This was the auction at the other table:

West North East South Korbel Schwartz Bertens Fisher 1Œ 1NT Pass 2Œ (a) 3Œ 3‹ Pass 4Œ (b) Pass 4Š Pass Pass Pass (a) Stayman (b) At least 5-5 in the majors

Fisher, despite the lack of a club stopper, preferred to show the nature and strength of his hand. Ron Schwartz then pushed into game, intent on finding the right fit even if it proved to be at too high a level. West led the club jack. East overtook with his queen and continued with the club ace to make dummy ruff.

3 Now South led a low trump, getting the very bad news when East discarded a club. After a long pause, Fisher won with his king, took his three diamond tricks, and led his spade king. East won with his ace and continued with the club king. After West ruffed with his heart ten, declarer overruffed in the dummy, played a spade to his queen, and led a winning diamond to ensure taking one more trick with his heart jack for down two. Plus 50 and plus 100 gave Schwartz 4 imps and apparently victory by 213 imps to 212. However, the Cayne team had an appeal pending from the second quarter on this board:

North Dlr: West ‰ A K J 10 9 6 Vul: None Š 2 ‹ K Q 7 Œ 9 8 5 West East ‰ 4 ‰ 8 5 2 Š K J 6 3 Š A Q 10 9 5 4 ‹ 10 8 2 ‹ A J 4 Œ A 10 7 6 4 Œ 3 South ‰ Q 7 3 Š 8 7 ‹ 9 6 5 3 Œ K Q J 2 West North East South Graves Schwartz Schwartz Fisher Pass 1‰ 2Š 2‰ 3‰ 4‰ Pass Pass 5Š Pass Pass 5‰ Pass Pass Dble All Pass

This event was being played behind screens, which go diagonally across the table. North and East were on one side, with South and West on the other side. All bids were placed in a tray that slid under the . After West's three-spade cue-bid, which showed a game-going heart raise, there was a pause of some three minutes before the tray returned to the South-West side of the table with North's four- spade rebid and East's pass. At that point, North-South called for the tournament director and said that they wished to reserve their rights. (This is similar to hitting a provisional golf ball when you think yours might be lost or out of bounds.) The auction continued as given. Note that five hearts would have made, but five spades doubled was defended perfectly. Richie Schwartz led his singleton club. West won with his ace and returned the club ten, a suit- preference for hearts. So East, after ruffing, led a low heart to his partner's king, and received a second club ruff. With the diamond ace to come, the contract was down three, plus 500 for East-West. (South did not lose two diamond tricks, because he discarded dummy's low diamond on his fourth club.) North-South requested an adjusted score, saying that it was clear that East had paused at great length over four spades, which made it easier for West to bid five hearts despite his minimum hand. The director polled ten players without telling them about the hesitation, and nine said that they would have bid five hearts with the West hand. So the director allowed the result to stand. The Cayne team said that it would appeal if the result of the match could be affected.

4 This was the auction at the other table:

North Dlr: West ‰ A K J 10 9 6 Vul: None Š 2 ‹ K Q 7 Œ 9 8 5 West East ‰ 4 ‰ 8 5 2 Š K J 6 3 Š A Q 10 9 5 4 ‹ 10 8 2 ‹ A J 4 Œ A 10 7 6 4 Œ 3 South ‰ Q 7 3 Š 8 7 ‹ 9 6 5 3 Œ K Q J 2 West North East South Cayne Lindqvist Seamon Brogeland Pass 1‰ 2Š 2‰ 3‰ 4‰ 5Š All Pass

This contract made for plus 450, but the Schwartz team gained 2 imps on the board. At the Appeals Committee hearing, it was revealed by East-West that because three spades forced to game, East's pass over four spades was forcing; West was not allowed to pass it out. The tournament director told the committee that East's over four spades should have been alerted, but it was not on either side of the screen. North-South had the agreement that if East's pass were nonforcing, which they assumed when it was not alerted, North's pass over five hearts was forcing – and it was alerted as such by North and South. But if East's pass were forcing, North's would not have been forcing. The Appeals Committee decided that North-South had been damaged by the failure of East- West to alert. And that the least favorable result for East-West was plus 450 in five hearts undoubled, and that that was also the least unfavorable result for North-South. Giving East-West only 450, not 500, changed the score on the board to a push. Deducting the 2 imps from the Schwartz team left the match score at 212 imps to 211 in favor of the Cayne team.

In the semifinals, Cayne played Team Lavazza , and Pan China took on Team Monaco – the subjects of my next article. However, just before I sign off, I have a suggestion for serious partnerships, which I believe was first proposed by Paul Lavings from Australia. In this situation:

West North East South Pass 1‰ 2Š 2‰ 3‰ 4‰ ??

If East or West doubles four spades, it says, “Partner, based on my hand, I think it is right to bid five hearts; but if you believe differently, you may pass.” Here, of course, if East had doubled four spades with this interpretation, West would have hap- pily gone to five hearts.

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