Marc Smith visits the sixth Invitational Alt Open tournament

There were plenty of familiar faces in the field for the sixth Invitational Alt Open tournament, including previous winners BLASS, DE BOTTON and GUPTA (the current holders) along with two-time finalists STREET. They were joined by a couple of new teams, each containing some of the world’s best players, and we open our coverage with a round robin match between two of those new teams.

First, though, a couple of problems for you to consider. First, an opening lead problem. With only the opponents vulnerable, you hold as West:

Your 2NT shows clubs and hearts, and North’s Four Clubs is a splinter bid agreeing diamonds.

What do you lead?

Next, with only your side vulnerable, your hand as North is:

What action, if any, do you now take? (If you pass, you presumably intend to pass again if partner reopens with a double.)

Lastly, with both sides vulnerable, you hold as North:

What do you bid now?

While you mull those over, let’s get on to the action. Two new teams, LEBOWITZ and TULIN, faced off against each other in the opening match of the round robin. It soon became clear that they would provide plenty of entertainment for the large crowds watching the action on BBO VuGraph.

E/W Vul - Dealer North

Zia showed a very strong balanced hand and David Gold’s jump to 5NT was described as ‘a strong invite to six’. Zia accepted the slam try and suggested clubs as an alternative strain. With his square shape, though, Gold simply converted to notrumps.

With West guarding both hearts and clubs you might think that a declarer with Zia’s magical skills would be able to pull off some wonderful squeeze or endplay to bring home this contract. Unfortunately, not even the mercurial Pakistani could find a twelfth trick here: N/S -50.

West – A.Grossack  North – Bakhshi  East – Z.Grossack  South – Tulin

After the same start, David Bakhshi began with Stayman and immediately uncovered the 4-4 heart fit. His Three Spades then showed slam interest agreeing hearts. I suspect that Bakhshi’s 4NT was intended as Blackwood rather than quantitative, although Stan Tulin’s self-explanation of his Five Club response was ‘natural and accepting the slam try’. Nevertheless, the good slam in hearts was duly reached.

Declarer won the diamond lead, crossed to dummy with a high spade, then led a heart to the ten and ace and continued with a second heart. When West did not split, declare inserted the ♥7, which won. Tulin now unblocked the diamond, crossed to the ♣Q, and ruffed dummy’s third diamond. The ♣J came next, covered by queen and king, but declarer could just cash black-suit winners now and West could score his winning trump whenever he liked. N/S +980 and 14 IMPs to TULIN.

Despite that board, LEBOWITZ led 34-20 at halftime, but TULIN brought in his Israeli contingent for the second half, and it was almost all one-way traffic. Imaginative plays make exciting viewing when they work, but they go can also go spectacularly wrong: Both West players were called upon to solve the opening lead problem posed earlier, but on subtly different auctions:

N/S Vul - Dealer South

Three Clubs showed a limit raise or better and Zia showed a minimum opening with his Three Diamond rebid. David Gold can hardly be blamed for bidding game, though, and Dror Padon’s sharp double closed an exciting auction.

Alon Birman cashed the ♣K and then switched to a heart. Zia won in hand, ruffed a club in dummy, and played a low trump, but Padon made no mistake, rising with the ace and playing the ♠10. West ruffed and returned a heart for his partner to ruff: N/S -500 seems like a stiff penalty for reaching what is a thin but fairly decent game.

West – A.Grossack  North – Bakhshi  East – Lebowitz South – Tulin

David Bakhshi began with a splinter bid. Larry Lebowitz upped the pre-emptive ante with an attempt to sacrifice in clubs, but Bakhshi decided that the offered penalty would be insufficient and thus he too pressed on to what seems to be the ill-fated diamond game. A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, though.

Unlike at the other table, Adam Grossack had heard no penalty double to suggest defensive values, but his partner had supported clubs. His answer was to try to reach his partner’s hand at trick one by leading the ♣7, and the appearance of the singleton ♣Q in dummy may have caused West to turn a rather sickly shade of green. Stan Tulin wasted no time taking advantage, playing a trump from dummy at trick two. East rose with the ace and delivered his partner’s spade ruff, but those were the only two tricks for the defense. N/S +600 and a spectacular 15 IMPs to TULIN to start the second half of the match.

TULIN won the second half 61-16 and the match 81-50, which gave then 15.97 VPs from their first match in the Alt series. The round robin quickly turned into a three-horse race, with BLASS, STREET and TULIN all qualifying comfortably for the knockout stage. With one match to play, there were still three teams in contention for the final place in the knockouts, with GUPTA on 56.73 VPs, DE BOTTON on 56.54 and DONNER on 54.58. It was DE BOTTON, though, who were heavy favorites, as their final match was against last-placed GILLIS whilst DONNER and GUPTA were playing each other.

You can take nothing for granted in this field, though. Even though a team may be occupying last place, they still have plenty of players capable of biting you in the behind, and that is exactly what happened to DE BOTTON. GILLIS won their final round robin match 40-7, ensuring that either DONNE|R or GUPTA was certain to finish ahead of DE BOTTON. The mathematics were such that GUPTA could afford a 3-IMP loss and still finish in fourth place. At the midway point of the match, DONNER led by 5 IMPs, 23-18. Approaching the halfway point of the second stanza, their advantage had grown to 10 IMPs, and then came this deal.

You will often play a contract where only a helpful defense can allow you to succeed. Sometimes, though, you still have to nudge your opponents in the wrong direction:

N/S Vul - Dealer East

Neither 3NT nor Four Spades has any realistic expectation of making. Four Hearts has chances, but is not so easy to reach. With a combined 25 HCP, stopping out of game is always a challenge, and so it proved.

Two Clubs was a puppet to Two Diamonds, over which Two Spades usually shows an invitational hand, which is just what Marion Michielsen seems to have facing a weak notrump rebid. South’s 2NT would be expected to show a minimum but perhaps not in 21^st-century Swedish, as Michielsen raised to game and found a maximum opposite. Not that it helped a great deal.

Simon de Wijs led a heart, which gave nothing away. Per-Ola Cullin won in hand with the ♥J and immediately ran the ♣Q. Bauke Muller won with the ♣K and unerringly switched to a diamond. Despite declarer’s 1♦ opening bid, the Dutch World champions quickly cashed their five tricks in the suit: N/S -200. Although a flat board would not be surprising, it was advantage GUPTA.

West – Moss  North – Bertens  East – Grue  South – Cheek

No convention card is available, so I cannot tell you whether they were playing a 14-16 1NT or if Curtis Cheek just liked his hand enough to upgrade it. The upshot, though, was that North/South here sailed into the same game contract.

Brad Moss also led a heart. Check won in dummy with the queen and played a second heart to his king before leading …. a diamond. It is always a daring move but, of course, the surest way to stop the opponents switching to the ‘obvious’ suit is to lead it yourself. The strategy worked like a dream: Moss won with the ♦A and switched to the ♣8. That did not look promising, but declarer had no choice but to play low from dummy. I have no explanation for Joe Grue’s play of the ♣J, but that’s what was played. Cheek didn’t need a second invitation: believing West ♣8 as a true card, he played a club to the ace and down came East’s king. Declarer now had four clubs to go with four hearts and the ♠A. A spectacular N/S +600 and 13 massive IMPs to GUPTA, now ahead by 3 IMPs in the match (and by 6 IMPs in the race for fourth place) with six deals to go.

GUPTA added another 5 IMPs to their lead on the next deal, and then came to pushes. 8 IMPs ahead with three boards to play. Alas, Curtis Cheek’s fine play proved to be not quite enough, as DONNER gained 7 IMPs, 5 IMPs and 1 IMP on the final three deals to level the stanza at 18-18 and win the match by 5 IMPs (41-36).

This meant that DONNER finished on 61.81 VPs and GUPTA on 61.50, with DE BOTTON just behind on 60.29. So, it would be DONNER who advanced to the knockout stages and the holders were out. Unsurprisingly, BLASS chose DONNER as their semi-final opponents, and they began with a 10.1-IMP carry-forward advantage. In the other semi-final, STREET started with a 6.1-IMP lead over TULIN.

Whichever table you had chosen to kibitz, the action began early. On just the second deal of the match, one player in each match was called upon to solve the first of the bidding problems posed at the top of this article.

N/S Vul - Dealer East

Despite the vulnerability, Israel’s Ron Patchman chose to play for penalties. He led the ♣Q and continued with a second club at trick two. Piotr Zatorksi then played a third round of clubs, allowing Patchman to score the ♠7, ruffing high in front of dummy. The defenders still had two top tricks in each red suit and the ace of trumps to come: N/S +800.

At the other table in this match, Canada’s Kamal Fergani was not as bold as his Dutch counterpart at the first table:

West – Fergani  North – Birman  East – Pollack South – Padon

Fergani’s two-level overcall set Alon Birman a slightly different problem but, like his countryman at the other table, the Israel international chose to defend. Now Birman needed to compensate for his opponent’s conservatism. He, too, led the ♣Q, but Birman switched accurately to the ♠8 at trick two. Declarer won in hand with the ♠9 and advanced a heart, but Birman rose with the ♥A and continued the excellent defense by leading the ♠7. The next heart went to the ten and king, and now Dror Padon cashed two club winners (North pitching the ♥J). Padon continued with a fourth round of clubs, but declarer pitched a diamond. Padon now completed the good work by cashing one high diamond before leading yet another club, promoting his partner’s ♠4 into the ninth defensive trick. N/S +800. Hard work for a flat board!

Believe it or not, the same board created even more excitement in the other match:

West – Pszczola  North – C.Rimstedt  East – Blass  South – Donner

Swedish star Cecilia Rimstedt was set the same problem as Ron Patchman had been in the first match, but he solution was to go for the vulnerable game bonus in 3NT. When Gary Donner advanced with Four C|lubs, Rimsteadt cue-bid her heart control and moments later she was putting down dummy in slam.

Pepsi led a spade and declarer won with the ♠A, throwing the diamond loser from his hand. Gary Donner now drew three rounds of trumps but then lost his way, playing a heart to the ace and leading the ♥J from dummy. East covered with the ♥Q and, although the ♥8 fell from West, there was no entry left in dummy to lead a third round of hearts towards the nine, so declarer still had to lose two tricks, to East’s ♥10 and ♥6. N/S -100.

The bidding operation had been a success, but the patient came to a rather unfortunate end when declarer forgot to remove a large piece of equipment before sewing him up. Perhaps the surgery would be more successful at our fourth table:

West – Moss  North – Nowos'zki  East – Grue  South – Kalitar

In a third variation, Brad Moss chose a one-level overcall and one has to wonder whether Michal Nowosadzki was intending to defend at the one-level if his partner reopened with a double. Jacek Kalita saved his partner that decision, reversing instead to Two Hearts at his second turn, and now the Polish World champions were well on their way to the good slam. When Kalita bid out his shape as his third turn, Nowosadzki wasted no more time on the bidding.

Declarer played low from dummy on the opening spade lead and ruffed in his hand. Now came the ♣A, a trump to dummy’s queen, the ♠A (throwing a diamond from hand) and a second spade ruff (East discarding a diamond). Now declarer drew West’s last trump, cashed his two high diamonds, and played a heart to the jack. East won with the ♥Q and returned a heart to the eight and king, but there was no chance of declarer going wrong at this point since West’s last three cards were known to all be spades. Kalita duly took the marked finesse against East’s ♥10 and claimed his twelve tricks: N/S +1430 and 16 IMPs to BLASS.

Although there is no doubt that Kalita’s line is the prettiest, is it the best? Call me a simple soul, but would West not probably have led a heart if he held a singleton? On that basis, might not declarer have won the ªA (pitching a diamond) and immediately played the two top hearts followed by a third round of the suit? This ensures that the fourth round of hearts can be ruffed with dummy’s ♣Q.

Aided by this excellent start, BLASS opened a substantial lead over DONNER by winning the first stanza 48-17 to lead by 41.1 at the midway point. They extended their lead in the second half and ran out comfortable winners by 94.1-44. The other semi-final remained competitive for longer, with STREET winning a low-scoring first stanza 19-4 to open a lead of 21.1. They also pulled away in the second half and ran out winners by 56.1-11.

So, the final would be contested by two of the most experienced teams in the short history of the Invitational Alt Open series. BLASS, who had one previous win, were looking to tie GUPTA’s record of two victories in the series, whilst STREET, who had previously lost twice in the final (including once against these opponents), were still looking to record their first victory. There was plenty of expertise on display and the huge crowds watching on BBO VuGraph settled in for what should be a fascinating match.

Unfortunately, the match did not last long as a contest. BLASS led 39-0 after just four deals, and had added a further 15 IMPs to that total before STREET registered their first IMP. On our final deal, both North players were faced with the last of the problems posed earlier.

Both Vul - Dealer East

Michal Nowosadzki elected to give up on a potential diamond contract by rebidding his decent six-card spade suit at his second turn, which left Jacek Kalita nowhere to go other than 3NT. I’ll leave you to decide whether or not he was right. West led a heart, so declarer was soon able to claim ten tricks: N/S +630.

West – Pszczola  North – L'Ecuyer  East – Blass  South – Street

After the same start, Nicolas L’Ecuyer preferred to advance with Three Diamonds, which then allowed him to show his extra spade length at his next turn. When Paul Street then showed interest in a diamond slam, L’Ecuyer employed Kickback (Four Hearts was RKCB for diamonds) and then jumped to slam when he found four key cards opposite.

West’s heart lead solved one of declarer’s problems, and Street immediately set about the other by playing the ♣A and ruffing a club in dummy. He then played a heart to the queen and led a third round of clubs. When West ruffed with the ♦7, declarer had reached the critical point. Street elected to overruff with the ♦Q, pitch his heart loser on the ♠A, and try to ruff his remaining club loser with dummy’s last trump. This plan would have worked if the hand with the short clubs had also started with three or four trumps. As the cards lie, though, West was able to ruff the fourth round of clubs in front of dummy and East was still left with a natural trump trick. A little unlucky, but N/S -100 and another 12 IMPs to BLASS.

The winning line of play is to discard the heart from dummy when West ruffs the third round of clubs. Declarer can then win the trump switch with the ♦Q, throw his last club loser on the ♠A, ruff a spade to hand and then ruff his heart loser with dummy’s remaining low trump. This line requires hearts to split 4-3 and for declarer to be able to safely ruff spades back to his hand to draw trumps, so it is far from clear that it is better than the one chosen at the table.

BLASS won the opening stanza by a massive 62-1. STREET just about managed to keep the contest alive by winning the second set 30-5, which left them 37.1 IMPs behind with 12 boards left. STREET won the final stanza too, but only by 25-10, so BLASS won the match 77.1-56 and claimed their second Alt Open title. Congratulations to Josef Blass, Jacek Pszczola, Michal Nowosadzki, Jacek Kalita, Johan Upmark and FredrikNystrom.

We will be back when the Open teams return for Round 7 in two weeks. Next week, we will bring you the best of the action from the third running of the Invitational Alt Mixed tournament.