Marc Smith visits the round robin at the first Major Alt Invitational

Just as kibitzers have gotten used to watching eight star-studded teams battle it out in either the Open or the Mixed version of the weekly Alt Invitational event, along comes an even bigger and even better feast. The field for this, the first Major Alt, featured 36 invited teams packed with the world’s top players. The format was a 10-match Swiss teams with the top eight teams qualifying for the knockout stage.

With so many matches being played and such an abundance of stars in action on BBO VuGraph, a four- or five-hand summary would not do justice to this event. So, this week and next we will take a look at the best of the action from the Swiss matches, and in two weeks time we will see how the knockout stages panned out.

As usual, we begin with some problems for you to consider. First, an everyday situation as responder. With only your side vulnerable, you hold as South:

What do you bid now? What is your plan?

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

What action, if any, do you take?

Lastly, with only your side vulnerable, you hold as South:

What action, if any, do you take now?

While you mull those over, let’s start the action with a deal that created double-digit swings in 12 of the 18 matches in round one. 21 of the 36 N/S pairs managed to bid and make a slam, although some were more fortunate than others.

E/W Vul - Dealer North

Two teams familiar to followers of the Alt series, MELTZER and STREET, met in round one. Most players opened One Spade on the North hand, setting South the first of the bidding problems posed earlier. Rose Meltzer opted for an artificial but game-forcing 2/1 response. Having uncovered the heart fit, she then jumped to game to show a minimum. Facing what is ostensibly an opening bid, Wayne Stuart understandably insisted on slam despite finding no key-cards opposite. With North playing the hand, the diamond lead did not trouble declarer: N/S +980.

West – C.Madsen  North – Zatorski  East – Kiljan South – Patchmann

Ron Patchmann began with a more conventional forcing 1NT response. When Piotr Zatorski showed extra values with a Gazilli Two Clubs, Patchmann continued with his original plan of showing a three-card limit raise in spades. A cue-bid and Blackwood carried the Israeli/Polish pair to slam but, locked into spades early, they were in the wrong suit.

Now the spotlight fell on Dutchman Veri Kiljan to find the killing heart lead. When he instead opted for a diamond, STTEET had dodged a bullet and escaped with a flat board. Others were not so fortunate: Finland’s Sepppo Sauvolla for SELIGMAN against Italy’s Alessandro Gandoglia, Norway’s Espen Erichsen for GILLIS against England’s Mike Bell, Holland’s Jan Van Cleef for BID72 against Israel’s Ophir Herbst and American Vincent Demuy for LEBOWITZ against Finland’s Kauko Koistenen, all found the winning heart lead to beat Six Spades and earn their team a double-digit swing.

West – McIntosh  North – Nickell  East – King South – Katz

In a third variation, Ralph Katz chose a constructive Two Spade response. Nick Nickell advanced with what was ostensibly a game try and although Katz raised to game in his partner’s second suit, there matters rested. N/S +480 did not look particularly promising for the pre-tournament favorites.

West – Rodwell  North – Gold  East – Meckstroth South – Black

Andrew Black’s Two Clubs was not forcing to game but encompassed various hand types, one of which was a balanced hand with invitational values. David Gold’s Two Diamonds showed extra values and 2NT then created a game-force. When Gold jumped to 5NT, ‘pick a slam’, South’s reluctance to introduce a jack-high suit is understandable, as is North’s decision not to accept his partner’s suggestion for similar reasons. This was not the only table at which North/South declared slam in notrumps, but the other four all managed to play it from the North seat.

Here, Eric Rodwell unerringly found the killing ¨2 as his opening lead. Jeff Meckstroth saved declarer a couple of extra undertricks by taking no chances and cashing his ace at trick two: N/S -50. Thus it was that NICKELL became the only team to earn a swing on the deal despite not bidding a slam.

LAVAZZA vs SELIGMAN was the most intriguing tie in round two. The hundreds of kibitzers watching on BBO VuGraph had to wait until the penultimate deal of the match to see this layout, a rarity in itself in that all 36 North/South pairs recorded a plus score:

Both Vul - Dealer North

Norberto Bocchi’s 2NT after West’s double showed an invitational or better raise with at least three hearts. Three Clubs was natural with extra values and now Three Spades showed a singleton but with only three hearts. This did not look like particularly good news for the South hand, so Antonio Semanta’s signed off, and correctly so since they have only found a fit in hearts: N/S +650.

West – Manno  North – Lair  East – Di Franco South – Passell

West did not intervene here, so Mark Lair began with three-card Drury. Mike Passell reversed into spades to show his extra values and was then sufficiently enthused by his partner’s natural club bid to take a shot at slam. Even breaks in both rounded-suits duly justified Passell’s optimism: N/S +1370.

Only 11 of the 36 North/South pairs reached Six Clubs. That the deal only generated significant swings in five of the 18 matches was because the board was flat in slam in three matches.

Other successful auctions included:

West – Multon  North – Bertens  East – Platt South – Gupta

Two Hearts was a constructive raise and Three Clubs then a natural game try. Huub Bertens’ club raise prompted a diamond cue-bid from Naren Gupta, so the Dutchman backed his judgement, and quite rightly too.

In the match between BLACK and NETHERLANDS, Phil King and Andrew McIntosh duplicated the Lair/Passell auction whereas the Dutch pair seemed to be headed for the potential disaster of a slam in hearts before finally landing in the top spot.

West – MHallberg  North – Bob Drijver  East – Patterson South – Nap

Here, Two Clubs was either a good three-card hearts raise, natural clubs or a balanced maximum pass. Three Clubs was natural and Three Hearts showed the raise variant. Bart Nab now advanced with Four Clubs, showing a diamond shortage and some slam interest. Four Diamonds was ‘last train’ and Five Diamonds showed the void, ostensibly still with hearts agreed. When Bob Drijver accepted the slam try with a suggestion of clubs as an alternative strain, Nab passed to save the day. N/S +1370 and an honorable push in this match.

After two matches, the leaderboard was headed by three familiar names, STREET, BLASS and GUPTA. American-led teams dominated the top of the table, occupying eight of the top ten spots, with SOLULET (from France, in third) and IRELAND (in ninth) the only exceptions. There was still a long way to go, though.

Round three saw the ominous sight (for the rest of the field) of NICKELL climbing into the top three. Their victory over the dangerous LEFOWITZ team was aided significantly by our next deal. Popular in the early 1980s, the Multi seems to have made a comeback of late, with many partnerships using it to differentiate between good and bad weak two openings. My personal view is that pre-empts are not really designed to make things easy for partner, but to make opponents guess, and by giving them the fewest number of options.

The difference between playing natural weak two openings and the Multi proved to be enormous on this deal.

E/W Vul - Dealer East

With North having shown some values and interest in game facing a weak two in hearts, East was never in danger of being tempted into the auction.

Steve Weinstein led a diamond to dummy’s king. Declarer crossed to a heart, pitched a club on the ¨A and ruffed a diamond to reach dummy. When he then led a trump to the king and ace, the defenders were in position to defeat the contract. Weinstein exited safely with a heart. Levin won the next trump lead with the jack and played a third heart. After taking the third round of trumps with the ªQ, Levin then played the §A and a second club to Weinstein’s king. A red-suit lead through declarer now promoted the ª7 into the sixth defensive trick: N/S -50.

That was the first bit of good news for East/West. The second came when it was time to score:

West – Wolpert  North – Greco East – Demuy South – Hampson

When Geoff Hampson’s natural weak two opening was passed around to him, Vincent Demuy was faced with the second of the bidding situations outlined at the top of this article. Whilst I would guess that most readers chose to pass, we can probably agree that a balancing takeout double is hardly outrageous. Geoff Wolpert’s 2NT was not alerted, so it is unclear whether it was natural or scrambling (showing two [or no] places to play). If the latter, then bidding Three Diamonds is clear on this East hand. Opposite a natural 2NT it is more questionable, but can hardly be described as an executable offense. Decapitate declarer is exactly what the Americans did, though.

Brad Moss closed the auction with a double and Hampson led the ¨K. He then cashed the ©K before switching to a club, which went to the jack and king. When declarer then led a second round of hearts, Hampson made a thoughtful play, rising with the ©Q (to smother his partner’s jack) in order to play a second club from his side of the table. Declarer won with the §A to play a third heart, but Moss won and cashed his club winner before exiting with a spade. Repeatedly endplayed, declarer could not now avoid losing three more trump tricks to North. N/S +1100 and 15 IMPs to NICKELL, who had won all of their matches so far and now moved into second place behind BLASS, who they would play next. Behind theose two teams, DE BOTTON recorded a big win to move from eleventh into third.

In Round 4, the second deal generated significant swings in 11 or the 18 matches, including the key meeting between GUPTA and VINITA at table three.

N/S Vul - Dealer East

A fast but spirited auction resulted in Hermann Lall declaring Four Hearts-Doubled when Bart Nab opted for a pass on the last of this week's bidding problems.

Huub Bertens led the ¨K and got the ¨2 (upside down count) from his partner. Clearly, the defenders can take four top tricks and a diamond ruff, but Bertens could not tell whether his partner held two diamonds or four. His switch to a trump, though, was just as good.

Declarer won in hand with the ©10 and played his spade. Bart Nab won with the ªA and returned a diamond to get his ruff, although playing his second heart would have been equally effective, as the defenders would then be able to score a second club trick. Nevertheless, N/S +300 looked like advantage to the Americans, with North/South certain to make either 3NT (which they were allowed to do at 11 of the 36 tables) or a large number of clubs.

West – De Wijs  North – Helness East – Muller South – Helgemo

After an identical start, Geir Helgemo decided that the penalty from Four Hearts would be insufficient recompense for the vulnerable game. Indeed, he was right to take positive auction, if he was going to guess the right game to bid. Unfortunately for the Norwegians, 4NT proved to be one level too high when West steadfastly refused to lead hearts. (At two of the seven tables where South declared 4NT, West led the ©A, and thus conceded -630.)

Simon De Wijs led the ªK and, when that held, switched to a diamond. Helgemo won cashed six rounds of clubs and the ªA, before trying to endplay West with the ¨Q. When East showed up with that card, declarer was a trick short, N/S -100 and 9 IMPs to GUPTA, who scored a big win to leapfrog both NICKELL and DE BOTTON into first place.

There were a number of strange results on this deal:. In one match, West was allowed to make Four Hearts-Doubled for E/W +790, but that was worth only 7 IMPs when 4NT by South somehow went five down (for E/W +500) at the other table. At the other end of the scale, two North/South pairs (on similar auctions) managed to hit the top spot. For DENMARK against ROLL:

West – Zagorin  North – Askgaard East – Bertheau South – Konow

N/S +1370 and 14 IMPS to DENMARK when Four Hearts-Doubled cost 300 at the other table. In the match between BID72 from Netherlands and OLCZYK from Poland, Gerard Sprinkhuizen found himself in the same position as Helgemo had above, but he judged to remove the double to Five Clubs and so earned +620 for his team. At the other table, though:

West – Caris  North – Filipowicz East – v.Bijstery't South – Cieslak

That was 13 IMPs to OLCZYK. It seems that this was not the occasion to pre-empt to the limit on that East hand.

After four matches, GUPTA, NICKELL and De BOTTON had been joined in the top five by the other Italian team, BIANCHI, led by Alfredo Versace, and an American team captained by Connie GOLDBERG.

We finish this first report on the Swiss stage of this event with a deal from Round 5 that produced a swing in half of the matches, including both of the top two tables.

E/W Vul - Dealer North

Geoff Hampson opened an artificial Strong Club and Brad Moss’s double showed either any 6+ or 8+ with no suit he wanted to bid. Simon de Wijs led a heart and declarer was soon claiming: N/S +430.

At one table in DE BOTTON vs BIANCHI at table two:

West – Malinowski  North – Cima East – De Botton South – Donati

Giovanni Donati’s Two Diamond opening was 17-19 balanced and Leonardo Cima’s jump to Three Hearts showed a shortage and game values with one or both minors. Artur Malinowski led a heart: N/S +430.

At most tables in the field, South opened 1NT, West overcalled showing either hearts or an unidentified major, and South ended in 3NT. At 27 of those 28 tables, West led a heart and declarer was quickly scoring up game. The exception was in the match between a British team captained by Tim LESLIE and the team led by Romania’s Bodgan MARINA.

West – Aghemo  North – Byme East – Buratti South – Dyke

Monica Aghemo’s Two Diamond intervention showed a single-suiter with either major and Andrea Buratti’s Three Hearts was ‘pass-or-correct’. Aghemo, who won her first major title with victory in the Open Teams at the 2019 European Transnational Championships in Istanbul, correctly drew the inference that her partner probably had spades, and led the ª4.

Former European and World champion Andrea Buratti can claim at least part of the credit for the opening lead too, since most East players in the same auction bid only Two Hearts, which offers far less inference about spades. Buratti then followed up the good work in the auction by playing an encouraging ª7 at trick one. When declarer took the diamond finesse, Aghemo won and played ace and another spade for her partner to cash out his suit. Well bid and defended by the Italian pair and a deserved 10 IMPs to MARINA.

Back now to the top matches: At the other table in GUPTA vs NICKELL:

West – Levin  North – Lorenzini East – Weinstein South – Bessis

After an auction similar to that we have just seen, East bid only Two Hearts and Cedric Lorenzini reopened with a double. With no guarantee of game values, Thomas Bessis simply responded to the takeout double by bidding his diamonds. Should Lorenzini now have advanced with Three Hearts? When he instead raised diamonds, the game bonus was gone. Thomas Bessis raised to game and had some hopes of making when Bobby Levin led a heart. Bessis won, cashed the ¨A and, leaving the trump king outstanding, tried to get a spade away on the clubs. When Levin was able to ruff the third club with his trump winner and cash two spade winners, that was N/S -50 and 10 IMPs to NICKELL, on their way to their fifth consecutive win and first place at the midway point of the qualifying stage.

At the other table in DE BOTTON vs BIANCHI:

West – Versace  North – Hydes East – Giubilo South – Ja.Hackett

In typical style, Jason Hackett did not wait around for a takeout double from his partner before introducing his diamonds. Like Lorenzini at the previous table, perhaps Hydes might have tried Three Hearts. He self-alerted Four Clubs as a fit-bid, but this was a rare bidding misunderstanding from what has become an established partnership in recent years. It cost relatively little, though, as the IMPs had already been lost by then. N/S -50 and 10 IMPs to BIANCHI.

At the midway point of the 10-match Swiss, the teams occupying the eight qualifying places were NICKELL, BIANCHI, DE BOTTON, GOLDBERG, GUPTA, SELIGMAN, DONNER and STREET. Perhaps the biggest surprise so far has been the faltering form of LAVAZZA. In their first five matches, they have lost to HUNGARY, EDMONDS and NORWAY WOMEN, paying testament to the overall strength of the field assembled for this event, but they were still lurking dangerously in twelfth place.

We will be back next week with the best hands from the remaining five matches in the Swiss stage of the first Major Alt Invitational.