Marc Smith visits the French Mixed Trials

We return to Paris this week for the semi-finals of the trials to select the French Mixed Team for this summer’s European Championships in Madeira. The narrow quarter-final victory by MUS over D’OVIDIO has left SEBBANE as hot favorites, and they take on THUILLEZ in one semi-final. Meanwhile, MUS will play MAUBERQUEZ in the other. The matches are of 96 boards, divided into six 16-board stanzas over two days.

As usual, we begin with some bidding problems for you to consider. We will find out later how your choices would have turned out. We start this week with a competitive bidding decision. With just your side vulnerable, your hand as South is:

What action would you take?

Next, vulnerable against not, you hold as North:

West’s Three Spades is a splinter agreeing hearts and showing spade shortage. What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, vulnerable against not, you are West with these cards:

What action, if any, do you take now?

While you mull those problems over, we begin this week with a play hand. At both tables, the auction and the first five tricks were identical: 

E/W Vul - Dealer East

West - Rouanet North - Zochowska East - Robert South - Schmidt

Only a diamond lead gives the defense a legitimate chance to defeat this contract, and even then West will need to be wide awake. Take the West cards momentarily: partner leads the ♦4, declarer ducks to your king and follows with the ♦Q from his hand. How would you defend?

To defeat the hand, you must return a diamond into dummy’s teance. Declarer can win and cash the ♦A to dispose of his club loser. With dummy now dead, though, he will still have to lose three spade tricks later.

At both tables in Paris, East led the ♠4 and both declarers correctly played the queen from dummy. Both East players won with the ♠A and switched to a trump. Both declarers drew four rounds of trumps, but then the paths diverged. How would you continue?

Pascale Thuillez played a club towards dummy’s king. Benedicte Cronier rose with the ace and continued with the ♠9. Declarer won with the ♠K and, although the ♣K now provided a discard for one of declarer’s three remaining losers, that was still only nine tricks. N/S -50

At the other table, Joanna Zochowska advanced the ♦Q after drawing trumps. It does not help West to duck the ♦K, as declarer can then play a club to establish a discard for one of his spades. Rouanet won with the ♦K but can now do no better than play a club to her partner’s ace to save the overtrick. When, instead, she returned a spade, declarer won with the ♠K and continued with a diamond to dummy’s ten. The ♦A then dropped the jack and declarer’s three black-suit losers all disappeared. Chapeau! N/S a well-played +450 and 11 IMPs to SEBBANE.

At the end of the first 16-board set, SEBBANE led TUILLIEZ by 7 IMPs (24-17). In the other semi-final, MUS had jumped out to a 21-IMP lead (32-11) over MAUBERQUEZ. There was only a single double-digit swing in the second stanza, but it was a deal with plenty of interest:

N/S Vul - Dealer North

How would you evaluate this South hand after two passes at unfavorable vulnerability? I would not be ashamed of the hand for a One Spade opening, but the singleton heart perhaps suggests pre-emption so I cannot argue too strongly with Vanessa Reess’s decision to open a Multi Two Diamonds. Anne Labe Rouanet’s pass seems rather timid, as a double of a Multi is usually played as showing either 12-15 balanced (a fairly accurate description of this West hand) or very strong and distributional.

What would you now do as North? It is perhaps hard to envision game facing a weak two, but Lionel Sebbane’s pass-or-correct Two Spades seems like neither fish nor fowl. Indeed, is game not more likely facing spades than opposite hearts? Note that the Two Spade bid also has the unfortunate side effect of putting East on lead against any subsequent spade contract. 

When Two Spades came back to her, Rouanet belatedly entered the fray with a takeout double. Sebbane competed to Three Spades and then had to make a decision when Quen Robert came to life with a Four Heart intervention. Sebbane’s pass was correct in that Four Spades was going down on the very-likely singleton club lead from East. What he did not consider, though, was that Four Hearts might be cold for East/West.

To beat the contract legitimately, South must find a diamond lead. Quite understandably, that was far too difficult and Vanessa Reess led the obvious ♠K. Now the spotlight fell on Robert: would he spot the danger? The simple way to make the hand is to duck the opening lead, thus shutting the South hand out for the rest of the deal. Having taken the ♠A at trick one, declarer has to realize the need to urgently remove South’s entry, either by returning a spade at trick two, or by playing a club to the ace and then a second club, discarding his spade. 

When, instead, Robert played a trump to the queen and king, Sebbane accurately switched to the ♦J. Declarer won in dummy and played a second trump, but North hopped up with the ♥A. A spade to South’s queen then enabled Reess to deliver her partner’s diamond ruff to beat the contract by a trick. With Four Hearts very makeable and Four Spades seemingly no play, N/S +50 looked like a good board for SEBBANE.

West - P Cronier North - Halfon East - B Cronier South - Combescure

For THUILLEZ, Baptiste Combescure opened One Spade in third seat. Philippe Cronier made a takeout double and Donatella Halfon showed her maximum pass with a redouble. Benedicte Cronier jumped to Three Hearts but that failed to silence Combescure, despite his lack of high cards. Presumably expecting a better hand opposite, Halfon understandably raised to game and Philippe Cronier opened the ♦A. It seems that whatever West does next, his partner is destined to win with the ace of trumps at some point and then switch to the ♣Q in order to get her ruff. 

Unfortunately for the SEBBANE team, that is only almost true. Cronier found the only way to prevent the winning defense, by switching to a low club at trick two. Ouch! N/S +620 and 11 IMPs to THUILLEZ, and thus going down in Four Hearts at the other table cost very little.

THUILLEZ won the second stanza 21-14 so that match was tied at 38-38. In the other semi-final, the second set finished 16-16, so MUS retained their 21-IMP lead. There was plenty of excitement in the day’s final set. On just the second board, Emmanuelle Monod was faced with the first of the bidding decisions outlined at the top of this article:

N/S Vul - Dealer East

When you saw this problem did you, like me, think that passing was so obvious that there was nothing to think about? This 8-12 point range is exactly the one on which you should be most inclined to defend, since there is no guarantee that you will even make game facing a minimum takeout double, and yet you still expect to get a sizable penalty defending. Add to that the possibility that partner might not hold four spades, and anything other than a pass looks like a flight of fancy. I suppose you cannot argue with success, though: Emmanuelle Monod jumped to Four Spades and soon thereafter found herself in slam. 

In reality, Six Spades is probably not that much better than a 50% proposition, essentially needing a 3-2 spade break. With diamonds known to be 6-1 or 7-0, though, the chances of that are significantly less than the usual 68%. This was Monod’s lucky day, though. Trumps behaved and there were twelve easy tricks: N/S +1430.

West - Bessis North - Payan East - Beauvill’n South - M Mus

Marc Mus must have thought it was Christmas when his partner found a takeout double at the four-level. And who can blame him?

Veronique Bessis’s raise to Four Diamonds on her singleton is certainly imaginative: with such a bad hand, she knows that the opponents can make a lot of tricks somewhere, probably in clubs and perhaps in notrumps too. Upping the ante rates to make things even more difficult for them, particularly as it is quite possible that neither opponent will have short diamonds. For example, imagine North with a balanced 20-count that would simply bid 3NT if Three Diamonds is passed round to him. Making him decide what to do at the four-level could easily score a huge goal.

She was unfortunate on this occasion in that, as we have already discussed, had she just passed she might well have bought the hand right there in Three Diamonds Doubled. The play in Four Diamonds Doubled was not much fun for declarer. The defense started with a heart to the ace, ♣A-K, a spade to the ace, the ♦A to remove dummy’s trump, the ♣Q, and a spade to the king. Now North began leading clubs through declarer and South still had two more trumps tricks. Declarer managed four tricks: N/S +1400 and an exciting 1 IMP to MAUBERQUEZ.

MAUBERQUEZ won the final set of the first day 40-24 and thus trailed by just 5 IMPs (67-72) overnight. In the other semi-final, SEBBANE won the third set 32-27 and so they led by the same 5-IMP margin at the midway point.

The topsy-turvy first set of the second day’s play opened with both North players facing the second of the bidding problems posed earlier:

N/S Vul - Dealer East

Edouard Beauvillain opened the obvious One Heart, Marc Mus overcalled One Spade, and Veronique Bessis raised her partner’s suit via a splinter bid. Vulnerable against not, would you take any action with this North hand? Yes, you have three-card spade support, but I have to agree with Nada Payan’s judgement: bidding here is simply too rich for me too. After all, had West passed, would you have raised spades beyond the two-level? No, and the general principle is that you should be prepared to be pushed one level higher by the opponents, but not two levels. Perhaps I am just getting old, though: when I asked David Bird, a man renowned for his conservative bidding, if he would take action, he thought Four Diamonds was clear.

When Payan passed, East retreated to Four Hearts and there matters rested. Declarer ruffed the diamond lead, drew trumps and took the club finesse for an overtrick. When South won with the ♣Q, Beauvillain conceded the two black aces, claiming his ten tricks. E/W +420.

West - Gautret North - Mauberq’z East - C Mus South - Monod

After the same start to the auction, Erick Mauberquez climbed in with a Four Diamond bid and Emmanuelle Monod advanced with a Four Heart cue-bid, presumably agreeing diamonds. Mauberquez now bid Four Spades, offering an alternative spot, and Catherine Mus doubled. Either North or South might have corrected to Five Diamonds, which is completely impregnable, but both must have been in a sporting mood as they settled for playing in the doubled spade game.

Was Catherine Mus’s double Lightner or just ‘I think this is going down’? My feeling about these situations is that the doubler should be prepared for the lead of the suit suggested by a Lightner double, so perhaps Eric Gautret could have found the diamond lead. If he does so, East ruffs, puts her partner back in with a heart, gets a second diamond ruff and then exits with a heart, ruffed by declarer. East must still score another trick with her black kings, as declarer cannot reach dummy to finesse in either suit.

Instead, Gautret led a club to the king and ace. Declarer cashed the ♣Q, ruffed a club in dummy, and played a trump to her queen. Now came a diamond, declarer finessing and East ruffing. A heart to West allowed him to deliver a second diamond ruff, but that was the last trick for the defense. Effectively, West’s club lead had provided the entry to dummy that declarer needed in order to limit East to two tricks in the black suits: E/W -790 and a huge 15 IMPs to MARBERQUEZ. 

After just six deals of the fourth set, MARBERQUEZ had outscored their opponents 33-1, but MUS roared back, winning the second half of the stanza 25-0 to limit their loss on the set to just 7 IMPs. With 32 deals remaining, MARBERQUEZ had inched ahead, by 2 IMPs. In the other semi, SEBBANE won the fourth set 39-37 to increase their lead to 7 IMPs. All still to play for in both matches.

SEBBANE more than doubled their lead on the second deal of the fifth set when their opponents bid slam on a finesse that failed. On the very next deal, both West players faced the third of the bidding problems posed earlier:

E/W Vul - Dealer South

For my money, Pierre Franceschetti’s pass of One Spade is incredibly timid. Do you really want to defend at a low level when your side holds at least half of the high-card values? Partner has made a takeout double showing black suits. Do you really expect him to bid again when One Spade is passed back to him, or when North bids 1NT or Two Diamonds? Imagine that the West and North hands were swapped: do you now want partner taking another bid? No thanks!

Lionel Sebbane has done well to make things more difficult by responding on his three-count, but that really should not have been worth a double-digit swing. Declarer managed to scramble seven tricks in One Spades, not that it mattered greatly: E/W -80.

West - P Cronier North - Halfon East - B Cronier South - Combescure

After an identical start to the auction, Philippe Cronier described his hand accurately with what looks to me like the obvious 1NT bid. Benedicte raised to game that effectively hinged on the location of the ♠10 (assuming best defense). Justice was duly done when North held that card.

North led the ♠Q and switched to a diamond at trick two. (Would he have played a second spade if he had not held the ten?) Cronier won with the ♦K and simply conceded a trick to the ♣K. When the defenders could not cash three spade tricks, declarer could claim: E/W +600 to SEBBANE, who had gained 24 unanswered IMPs in three deals. The rest of the set was fairly flat, THUILLEZ clawing back some of the deficit to trail by 21 IMPs (136-115) going into the final set. In the other match, MAUBERQUEZ won the fifth set 38-8 to lead by 32.

It is sometimes amazing how far apart players’ valuation of a hand can be, even at the top level. Witness the widely differing assessments of the South hand on this deal: 

Both Vul - Dealer North

A void in partner’s first suit is seldom something to look fondly upon, and valuing this South hand when partner opens One Spade is tricky. Veronique Bessis had things relatively easy as, for her, Two Clubs was not forcing to game. When both opponents suddenly came to life, Bessis then seemed to be rather endplayed, with no suitable way to show what was still potentially quite a good hand, so she made what was probably a forcing pass. When partner then backed in with a club raise, might she not then be worth one more try? Perhaps she did not expect the North hand to be quite so suitable: he had not, after all, competed to Three Clubs on the previous round, when his actual hand is surely worth such a move.

West led the ♦K and, perhaps fearful of a second-round ruff, Bessis grabbed her ace immediately. The ♣A dropped East’s queen, and now Bessis exited with a diamond. West played a second round of trumps now, so declarer could score only one diamond ruff in dummy. That was still eleven tricks, though: N/S +150.

West - Mi Duguet North - Payan East - Ma Duguet South - M Mus

Here Two Clubs was game-forcing, and perhaps South might have slowed down the auction with 3NT after the double of Three Hearts. When he rebid his clubs for a third time, North woke up with a heart cue-bid and Marc Mus decided to take a shot at slam. Although this is an ambitious contract, it actually takes an opening spade lead to beat it legitimately (we’ll see why later). When Michel Duguet led the ♥5, declarer was still in with a chance, but he needs to time the play exactly.

Mus won the opening lead in dummy and immediately called for the ♠K. Unfortunately, this fails for the same reason that an initial spade lead holds declarer to eleven tricks: it removes a vital entry to declarer’s hand prematurely. The spade king was covered and ruffed, and now declarer ducked a diamond. Mus won the heart continuation, cashed the ♠Q to discard his heart loser, and played a diamond to his ace. When Mus then ried to ruff the third round of diamonds in dummy, though, East overruffed to set the contract. E/W -100 and 6 IMPs to MAUBERQUEZ.

As it happens, Mus was always destined to fail after his spade play at trick two. Had he cashed a high club, removing East’s singleton ♣Q, he could have ruffed a diamond, ruffed a spade back to hand, and ruffed his last diamond successfully. However, he then has no route back to hand as West is also out of both hearts and spades. The ♣9 will inevitably score to beat the slam.

To make the contract requires perfect timing. After winning the heart lead, declarer must immediately play a diamond and duck the ace. He can then win, say, the heart continuation, cross to a high trump, cash the ♦A, and ruff a diamond in dummy. Only now does declarer lead the ♠K for the ruffing finesse. East covers and declarer ruffs away the ♠A, and takes his second diamond ruff. He can now cash the ♠Q to discard his heart, and return to hand safely by ruffing the third round of spades in order to draw West’s remaining trumps. Certainly not an easy slam to make, and with at least 10 IMPs to be gained just from bidding and making Five Clubs or 3NT, not one you really want to be in.

MAUBERQUEX won the final stanza 35-22 and the match by a comfortable-looking margin of 45 IMPs. The other match was much closer: THUILLEZ won the final set 44-26 to fall tantalizingly short. SEBBANE clung on to win by 3 IMPs (162-159) and advance to the final. 

Next week we will hop back across La Manche and wend out way to the valleys of South Wales, where the Junior Camrose is being staged in Newport. This is the annual home international challenge between Under-26 teams representing England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We shall then return to Paris to see the best of the action from the 96-board final of the French Mixed trials. The players having taken a weekend break, we shall then discover whether it will be SEBBANE or MAUBERQUEZ who earn the right to wear the fleur-de-lis in Madeira.