Marc Smith visits the Dutch Teams Championship final

The field for the Dutch Teams Championship is traditionally one of the strongest found at a European national event, and 2020 was no exception. In one semi-final, BC t’Onstein 2 (Tim Verbeek, Joris van Lankveld, Bart Nab, Bob Drijver, Danny Molenaar and Berend van den Bos) saw off the challenge of perennial contenders HET WITTE HUIS 1 by 218-141. In the other semi-final, underdogs THESEUS 1 got out to an early lead and still held an 11-IMP advantage going into the final 16-board stanza. The power of four former world champions was too much for them, though, and a 35-10 final set gave victory to BC t’Onstein 1 (Bauke Muller, Simon de Wijs, Ricco van Prooijen and Louk Verhees). 

It would be the two BC t’Onstein teams meeting head-to-head in the final, which would be played over five 20-board sets. BCO1 had fared better than their compatriots in the round robin qualification stage, but that meant nothing now. It proved to be quite a final, with two real heavyweights slugging it out. If there had been an entry fee to watch the BBO VuGraph coverage, the hundreds who tuned in would have received full value for money.

As usual, we begin with some teasers for you to consider. We will find out later how your choices would have turned out. We start this week with a bidding problem. With both sides vulnerable, you hold as South:

Your Two Club response promises 10+ HCP and may be balanced or clubs. What action, if any, do you take now?

Next, with the opponents only vulnerable, your hand as North is:

Partner’s raise to Three Hearts is pre-emptive. What action, if any, do you take?

While you mull those problems over, we begin with the only double-digit swing in what turned out to be a quiet first set.

E/W Vul - Dealer North

Playing a 10-13 1NT in this position, Tim Verbeek began with a 2+ One Club. Danny Molenaar’s One Heart response promised four or more spades, and the One Spade rebid showed a balanced 14-16, usually with only three spades. Three Clubs asked for further clarification, and North’s Three Diamonds showed exactly 3-4 in the majors. Molenaar decided he had heard enough and jumped to game in the 8-card fit.

With only overtricks at stake, Verbeek won the club lead, drew trumps, pitched dummy’s club loser on the hearts, and played a low diamond from hand. That was eleven tricks: N/S +450.

West - Nab North - v.Prooijen East - Drijver South - Verhees

Ricco van Prooijen opened a 14-16 1NT. Louk Verhees transferred first to spades and then to diamonds, promising at least 5-4. Three spades then showed at least three-card support whilst denying as many as four diamonds. Verhees decided that his hand was just too good for a raise to game, so he advanced with 3NT, showing some interest in slam. When he then retreated to Four Spades at his next turn, he confirmed the limited nature of his slam ambitions, but van Prooijen liked his hand enough to go on. Blackwood confirmed possession of all the key cards, and thus the slam was reached.

The diamonds are not good enough to produce three tricks, so simply drawing trumps will not work, but van Prooijen got off to the right start by winning the ♣A and immediately playing three top hearts to dispose of dummy’s club loser. Alas, he now played his low trump to dummy and led the ♦J. West covered with the king and declarer won with the ace and played a second diamond. Drijver won with the ♦Q and continued the suit for his partner to ruff. N/S -50 and 11 IMPs to BCO2, who led 21-18 at the end of the first stanza.

To make Six Spades, declarer must ruff either a club or a heart in dummy after taking the three top hearts. He can then play a trump to hand for a second ruff and then lead the ♦J, forcing a cover from West. Having reversed the dummy to produce a sixth trump trick, declarer now needs to score a second diamond trick by pinning West’s ♦9 on the second round of the suit. All a bit double-dummy, perhaps.

Both Vul - Dealer North

Bart Nab faced the first of the bidding problems presented earlier. His decision to pass Four Hearts does not seem unreasonable, but it was not a great success on this layout, with 13 tricks easy in either red suit. N/S +710.

In the replay, Bauke - Muller faced a similar problem but he knew his partner was a little stronger:

West - Molenaar North - de Wijs East - Verbeek South - Muller

Simon de Wijs began with an artificial, Strong Club (15+ unbalanced or 18+ balanced) and Muller’s 2NT response was game forcing with at least 5-5 in the minors. Here, too, West intervened with Three Spades and opener rebid Four Hearts. 

Muller had two small advantages over Nab. First, he knew that his partner had at least a king more than a minimum opening. He had also shown both of his suits already, so when he asked his partner to pick a slam with 5NT, he knew that if de Wijs chose hearts he would be doing so not expecting any trump support. East led the ♣A but, with diamonds 3-2, nothing mattered: N/S +1460 and 13 IMPs to BCO1, who won the set 46-14 to lead by 29 IMPs (64-35) after 40 boards.

Slam bidding often sets the experts apart from the rest. Some combinations, though, prove to be too difficult even for the world’s best players:

E/W Vul - Dealer South

West opened a Strong Club and North’s One Heart overcall was natural but also usually denying four spades. Ricco van Prooijen advanced with a Two Heart transfer, showing game-forcing values with at least five spades. East was able to introduce his second suit at the three-level, so Verhees raised and then Blackwooded to slam.

The wasted dxQ is unfortunate. Replace it with an honor in any other suit (even the cx10 would allow declarer to ruff a third round of spades in his hand) and the contract would be excellent. With hearts known to be breaking badly and trumps 4-1, declarer had to rely on finding one of the spade honors onside, and when that failed he was one down. E/W an rather unlucky -100.

West - Molenaar North - de Wijs East - Verbeek South - Muller

This layout is not a good advertisement for Strong Two Club openings. Tim Verbeek made a positive response, which meant that by the time he introduced his second suit they were already at the four-level. Indeed, questions from de Wijs at the table revealed that it was unclear to West whether Four Clubs was a natural bid or a cue-bid agreeing hearts. Danny Molenaar tried to solve the dilemma by offering his partner a choice of slams with a jump to 5NT. Verbeek now decided that he had enough extras to remove all of the remaining cards from his bidding box.

North led a diamond and the contract was clearly hopeless from the beginning: even if the heart suit produced five tricks, declarer would still have only twelve winners. Molenaar won the diamond lead and cashed two top hearts to get the bad news in that suit (South discarding his low spade). Declarer now led a spade to jack and queen, won the diamond return and cashed his round-suit winners. He then played a second spade and could have gotten out for one down to flatten the board by rising with the ace, South’s king being bare at this point. When declarer finessed, South claimed all of the remaining tricks: E/W -400 and 7 IMPs to BCO1.

Then came a high-level bidding decision:

E/W Vul - Dealer North

At this table, de Wijs opened a Strong Club and, after East’s natural One Spade overcall, Muller showed 0-5 HCP with his double. West now advanced with 1NT, a transfer to clubs, presumably intending to show a constructive three-card spade raise at his second turn. He never got the chance for that, though, as North/South were in game by the time the auction got back to him. Should West bid Four Spades anyway? It is certainly not obvious to do so.

East led his singleton club and the West returned the suit for his partner to ruff. A diamond went to West’s ace, but declarer could ruff the next round of club high and claim the rest, his spade loser disappearing on dummy’s club winner. N/S +420

The auction was fast and furious at the other table, and it was North who was left to make the final decision:

West - Verhees North - v.den Bos East - v.Prooijen South - v.Lankveld

Berend van den Bos opened a natural One Heart and caught a pre-emptive raise after East’s spade overcall. Louk Verhees’ jump to Four Spades then left van den Bos with the seriously tricky decision posed at the top of this article. 

Could North/South make Five Hearts? Perhaps more to the point, could they beat Four Spades? The trumps appeared to be lying well for declarer, and partner’s jump raise meant there was no guarantee of even one heart trick in defense. 

Van den Bos could have limited the loss by doubling Four Spades, but is that even a realistic option? Surely, bidding on is the percentage choice. It was not the winning decision on this layout, though: the defense has two red-suit tricks against Four Spades and can ensure a second trump trick by forcing dummy to ruff a heart. Even N/S +200 would still have been a 6-IMP loss. 

Against Five Hearts Doubled, the defenders had numerous routes to three tricks: N/S -100 and 11 IMPs to BCO1, who were starting to build a lead.

There was still one more major swing to come before the set ended:

Both Vul - Dealer North

South’s Two Club bid showed at least five hearts and might have been only competitive in strength. North’s simple completion of the ‘transfer’ suggested a minimum hand, and South’s non-forcing Three Diamonds was a fairly accurate description of his values. I can see no reason for North to take another bid.

Van Prooijen led the ♠K. When declarer won and then tried to cash dummy’s two high clubs, the roof fell in. East ruffed and played a low spade, ruffed by West. East ruffed the next club with the ♦K and played the ♠Q, dummy overruffed with the ♦J as declarer had to follow suit. The defenders had already scored all four of their trumps, and still had two top hearts to come: N/S -200.  

West - Molenaar North - de Wijs East - Verbeek South - Muller

The One Diamond opening here was limited to 11-15 HCP and only promised a minimum of two diamonds. Not strong enough for a forcing Two Hearts, Muller had to settle for a negative double at his first turn. When West’s pre-emptive Three Club bid came back to him, Muller doubled again, presumably intending to offer his partner a choice of red-suit partials. De Wijs had bigger fish in his sights, though, and took a shot at game.

Either a low heart or the singleton club would have given the defense a chance, but Verbeek’s choice of the ♠K is hardly outlandish. Declarer ducked, but East has no winning continuation now. When he played a second spade, declarer could have succeeded by playing on either red suit. De Wijs won the spade continuation, cashed the ♦A and then unblocked dummy’s club honors. When he played a second round of diamonds from dummy, the suit came in and de Wijs claimed his nine tricks: N/S +600 and another 13 IMPs to BCO1.

BCO1 won the third set 42-5 to lead by 66 IMPs (106-40) with just 40 boards remaining. You could have been forgiven for thinking that the match was more or less over, but BCO2 still had a few tricks up their experienced sleeves. We will return to Amsterdam next week to see the conclusion of this final.