Marc Smith visits the mini Alt Swiss Teams

Last week, we saw the action from the early matches of the mini Alt Swiss Teams. After four of the twelve matches, the leaderboard looked like this:

We return now for the second day of competition, and another four matches. The team led by Sylvia Moss, perennial winners of Alt events, have recovered from a poor start and take on the early leaders in Round 5. As usual, though, we begin with some problems. We will find out later how your choices would have worked out. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you hold as East:

Partner’s 2NT bid is ‘scramble’, showing either two places to play or a very weak hand with hearts. What do you bid?

Secondly, also with your side only vulnerable, you are North with this hand:

What action, if any, do you take?

While you consider those problems, we jump right into the key match between ZHAO and MOSS. Dutch Bermuda Bowl winner Ricco van Prooijen was one of many East players who faced the first of this week’s bidding problems:

Dummy did not have much, but it was exactly what declarer needed. Van Prooijen won the spade lead, crossed to dummy with the ♥ J, and ran the ♦6. When this forced South’s ace, he had twelve tricks: E/W +170.

This auction or something similar was repeated at many tables around the room, and at only six of the 22 tables did East/West get beyond 3♦. It is curious, therefore, that the deal was flat at 5♦+1 in two matches. The Dutch, though, were the only East/West pair to suffer the maximum loss.

Jing Liu’s rather conservative pass on the North hand gave East/West more room, as it meant that South did not use up the two-level with a 2♠ bid. Sylvia Moss responded to her partner’s double with a simple Two Clubs but, when he then cue-bid to show a big hand, she introduced her second suit. That was real music to Roger Lee’s ears and he showed good appreciation of just how good his hand was by jumping to the excellent slam. With South having opened the bidding, there was little chance that declarer would get the trumps wrong: E/W +1370 and a massive 15 IMPs to MOSS.

On the final deal of the match, Polish Bermuda Bowl winner Jacek Kalita found a speculative double based purely on the opponent’s bidding. The result was a spectacular success:

East/West crawled into game via an invitational raise after Stayman. Knowing that his opponents had no values to spare, Kalita hoped that his hearts were lying favourably over dummy’s known suit. Michal Nowosadzki duly led the ♥4 which, at first glance, seems good for declarer. What, though, do you do at trick two after capturing the ♥Q with your ace?

Ricco van Prooijen tried the ♠K from his hand. Kalita won with the ♠A and returned a diamond, declarer guessing right and his ten forcing the king from South. Van Prooijen won with the ♦A and led the ♠8 from dummy. North followed low and declarer was at the crossroads. When he ran the eight to South’s ♠10, Nowosadzki returned a diamond to declarer’s queen. The Dutchman could set up two more spade tricks but, when he got in with the ♠Q, Kalita had two diamonds winners ready to cash. E/W -100.

At the other table, Sylvia Moss did not give North enough keys to the puzzle.

With nothing to guide him, Chen Zhao led a normal-looking fourth-highest club. Declarer won in dummy with the ♣Q and led the ♠8, running it to South’s ten. Now South switched to a heart to queen and ace, but Roger Lee was in control now. He crossed to the ♥K and played a second spade. There was no longer any way to misguess. North rose with the ♠A and returned a club, but declarer had nine tricks already, two clubs, the ♦A, and three in each major. E/W +400 and 11 IMPs to MOSS.

MOSS won the match 48-18, more than wiping out their opponents’ lead at the top of the table. GUPTA defeated THE BOYS 29-19 to consolidate their hold on third place, and a remarkably low-scoring encounter between AMATEURS and QUARENTEAM ended 8-11, moving the latter up into fourth spot.

There was only one major swing in the Round 6 match between MOSS and GUPTA at the top table. East/West held a pair of 13-counts:

Simon DeWijs started with a Strong Club-style 1♦ opening. Bauke Muller’s 2♣ response was only invitational or better and now Sylvia Moss entered the fray with a takeout double having passed originally. DeWijs showed his club fit with a splinter, but Roger Lee cramped the auction with a Four Heart bid that took advantage of the vulnerability. Muller chose to bid the vulnerable game rather than accept a 500 penalty, but there was no room to investigate the hand further. With both minors behaving well enough, declarer had to lose just one high heart: E/W +620.

Sjoert Brink’s 1♦ opening strongly suggested at least a five-card suit (exceptionally 4441 shape) and, here too, the 2♣ response was not game-forcing. Peter Crouch preferred to show his five-card spade suit and Brink's double showed a hand with a fit but stronger than just bidding 3cx. Andrew Robson raised spades to the three-level and Brink now limited his hand with Four Clubs. When Bas Drijver advanced with a 4♦ bid, though, Brink’s hand improved enormously. He showed his heart control and, when Drijver then settled for Five Clubs, he continued with a ‘pick-a-slam’ 5NT. E/W +1370 and 13 IMPs to MOSS, who won a low-scoring affair 23-10.

ZHAO held on to second place despite losing 32-34 to QUARANTEAM, and big wins by BALDURSSON (Iceland) and ALTSHULER (Israel) propelled them into the top four. MOSS held an 8-VP lead over ZHAO, in second place, but they led only by the same margin over the team in eighth place, so it was all very tight behind the leaders.

Following their 57-2 victory over RIPPEY, it was the turn of the Icelanders to face MOSS. Our next deal produced a significant swing in eight of the eleven matches, including the top two tables.

The Icemen had a relatively natural auction, with North opening 1♥ and, eventually, bidding diamonds. South showed a game-forcing hand with clubs and then bid his spades twice. Jon Baldursson was left with a choice of playing in the 5-2 spade fit or giving preference to clubs on his singleton. He chose to pass.

Sylvia Moss led the only suit to legitimately defeat slam in spades, although when she picked out the ♦4 rather than the king it was inevitable that Roger Lee would undo some of her good work by playing the ♦A at trick one. Einar Gudjohnsen ruffed, crossed to the ♣A, and took the spade finesse. Moss won with the ♠K and could have made things interesting by continuing with the ♦K, forcing declarer down to fewer trumps than she held. When, instead, she switched to the ♥9, declarer was able to win with the ♥A, draw trumps and claim the rest. N/S +680.

The Dutch also had a quasi-natural auction, Drijver’s 2♦ rebid denying four spades rather than showing diamonds, though. Sjoert Brink showed his extra club length and then emphasized the suit quality by bidding them for a third time over 3NT. Suitably inspired, Drijver advanced with 4♠, showing a suitable hand for a club slam. Brink needed no second invitation.

There was little to the play. Declarer ruffed the ♦K lead, crossed to the ♣A, and took the losing spade finesse. He then ruffed the diamond continuation, drew trumps, and claimed once the spade suit behaved. N/S +1370 and 12 IMPs to MOSS.

Many of the matches in this round were very close, the exception being those at the top two tables. BALDURSSON inflicted a second defeat on MOSS, 43-26, knocking them off the top of the leaderboard. ZHAO’s 38-2 victory over the Israelis carried them into first place: they would play the Icemen in Round 8, while MOSS took on QUARANTEAM.

Israel’s Asaf Yekutieli was faced with the second of this week’s problems:

Perhaps put off by the Polish intervention in spades, the Israeli pair stopped in game with slam in either red suit heavily odds on. Can Ami Zamir do more on the South hand? This sequence is clearly stronger than just jumping to Four Hearts when Two Spades comes back to him, but is it enough? North knows his partner has no spades, Just how highly should he value his hand? Difficult.

There was little to the play: declarer won the club lead, ruffed a club, and discarded a club and a diamond on dummy’s high spades. There was a diamond to lose at the end, but that was all: N/S +680.

Katherine Todd did not overcall on the East hand. Young Danish protégé Christian Larhmann attempted to disrupt the Dutch auction with a pre-emptive intervention in clubs, but he was easily brushed aside. Bas Drijver’s jump to Four Spades was natural, strongly suggesting 5-6  shape, and Sjoert Brink’s 4NT was alerted as ‘should be a slam try in diamonds’. When Drijver signed off in game, though, Brink felt he had too much to pass, so added one for the road.

Drivjer won the club lead and played a trump to the ace. When the ♦K came down, that was all she wrote. Declarer forced out the ♦Q and claimed the remainder: N/S +1370 and 12 IMPs to MOSS.

There was even more excitement at the top table:

Jon Baldursson’s 1♠ opening initially silenced East, but Guy de Leon was happy to join in once his partner had overcalled at the three-level. Expecting a singleton club opposite, Einar Gudjohnsen had no obvious scientific way forward, so he simply bid what he thought he could make. Well judged!

The Iceman won the club lead, ruffed a club, ruffed a spade, and drew trumps. Again, there was a diamond to be lost at the end: N/S +1430.

The ZHAO North/South pair conducted an impressive relay auction and then bid one more than anyone else in the room. I could have set this as a lead problem, but I suspect everyone would have considered the ♣K so obvious as not to be worth thinking about. At the table, Sverrir Armannsson thought exactly that, but it was a lead that gave Chen Zhao a chance to bring home his ambitious contract. (Only a red suit lead legitimately beats the grand slam.) By a strange quirk of fate, South happens to have been dealt the ♣8, a vital card, as it means West has sole control of both minor suits. Had declarer won the club lead, ruffed a club, and discarded two diamonds on dummy’s top spades, he could then have ruffed a spade and drawn trumps. Cashing all of his remaining trumps would then have squeezed West in the minors for the thirteenth trick. When, instead, Zhao discarded that vital ♣8 on one of dummy’s spades, there was no longer any route to 13 tricks. N/S -100 and 17 IMPs to BALDURSSON.

ZHAO recovered to win the match 35-25 and thus open a moderate gap at the top of the leaderboard. QUARANTEAM beat MOSS 32-16 to climb into second place. These were the leading teams at the end of Day 2:

ZHAO enjoys a 10-VP lead overnight, whilst less than 7 VPs separate the chasing seven teams. All to play for the on the final day. We will return next week to see the best of the action as this event draws to a close.