Marc Smith visits the conclusion of the mini Alt Swiss Teams

Over the past two weeks, we have looked at the action from the first two days play in the mini Alt Swiss Teams. Now we return for the conclusion with the leaderboard looking like this with eight of the twelve matches played:

ZHAO enjoyed a 10-VP lead overnight, whilst less than 7 VPs separated the chasing seven teams. All to play for the on the final day. As usual, though, we begin with some problems for you to consider. We will find out later how your choices would have worked. Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you hold as North:

What action, if any, do you take?

Secondly, with just the opponents vulnerable, you are South with this hand:

What action, if any, do you take?

We start this week with the two top matches in Round 9, ZHAO against the French team, BANANAS, and QUARANTEAM vs the Israelis, ALTSHULER. At one table in each match, North had to deal with the first of this week’s bidding problems. We begin, though, at a table where the Dutch failed to put Thomas Bessis to the test:

Bob Drijver decided that this West hand was worth only a pre-emptive raise to the three-level. When Thomas Volcker re-opened with a double, Bessis had a fairly clear Four Club bid. It was not the best of contracts and lost the obvious five tricks after Bart Nab’s diamond lead. With neither Dutchman able to find a double, though, that was just E/W +200.

In the replay, Hilda Setton pre-empted to the limit on the West hand, and now South’s double presented a much more testing problem for China’s Jing Liu. Passing was not the winning option on this layout: the defenders can take just their two aces against 4♥-X: E/W +990 and 13 IMPs to BANANAS.

At Table 2, the Israelis went relatively quietly after Alon Birman began with an initial pass on the North hand.

Marcel Verhaegen’s jump to 2♠ by a passed hand showed an invitational or better heart raise with ‘an ugly singleton’ somewhere, which is quite a good description of this West hand. Birman belatedly tried to enter the fray, but it was all too late and the Israelis gave up when Gabriele Zanasi jumped to game. E/W +650.

Christian Lahrmann is currently a member of the Danish Under-21 team but he already has five years of international experience, having first played for the Danish Schools team in 2015. He found himself in the hot seat on this deal:

Lahrmann faced the same problem as Liu had in the other match, and solved it with a 4NT bid, offering his partner a choice of minors. Neither of the Israelis doubled South’s 5♦, and West led a heart to his partner’s king. To beat the contract by two, Jossef Roll now needs to find the spade switch. When, instead, he cashed the ♣A, felling his partner’s king, all he could do was deliver the club ruff to inflict a one-trick set. E/W +100 and 11 IMPs to QUARANTEAM.

ZHAO defeated BANANAS 43-25 and thus retained their advantage atop the table. MOSS scored a big win, 64-15 over DONNER, to climb into second place ahead of QUARANTEAM, who beat the Israelis 43-31. AMATEURS beat BALDURSSON 28-23 and move up into fifth place, meaning it is their turn to take on the leaders in Round 10. Board 2 generated a large swing in nine of the eleven matches.

With the hearts offside and an apparent loser in each minor, the Dutch world champions seem to have judged this hand well against the young American pair. Franco Baseggio opened a strong notrump and then doubled Ricco van Prooijen’s Three Heart overcall after Jiang Gu had shown clubs. Gu removed himself to Four Club and there matters were allowed to rest. Van Prooijen led his singleton diamond, and Verhees won the first round of trumps to deliver his partner’s ruff. Three rounds of spades them held declarer to just eight tricks: N/S +100.

Guy de Leon started with 1♣ (clubs or balanced) for the Dutch, and Thibo Sprinkhuizen raised pre-emptively to the three-level. Egypt’s Ahmed Soliman braved the adverse vulnerability with a jump to game and de Leon ended proceedings with a sharp double.

Although partner has bid clubs, it looks eminently reasonable for East to open a top diamond. The question for West, though, is how to persuade partner to switch to clubs at trick two. Sprinkhuizen followed with the ♦Q, but that did not get the message across and de Leon continue with the ♦K. That was all the assistance declarer needed: he ruffed and played the ♥K. East won with the ♥A and belatedly switched to clubs, but Soliman won with the ♣A and ruffed a diamond. He cashed the ♥Q and then played a spade and finessed the jack. Another diamond ruff established the long card in that suit, so declarer crossed to the ♠K and discarded his club loser on the thirteenth diamond as East ruffed with his trump trick. A spectacular N/S +790 and 12 IMPs to AMATEURS.

The swing at Table 2 came in a completely different manner:

The French in this room were up against MOSS’s Polish Bermuda Bowl winners. The auction to game was as simple as could be, and Jacek Kalita ended proceedings with a double asking partner to find his long suit. Michal Nowosadzki did exactly as instructed, leading the ♥7. Declarer captured the ♥Q with the ace and started on clubs. South won the second round with the ♣A and continued hearts, and now the spotlight fell on Kalita. Would he find the spade switch needed to defeat the contract?

No, he cleared the hearts, hoping that the ♠A would provide the entry to his winners. Had South held the ♦K rather than the ♠K, he would have been right, but this layout was the one that suited the French and Pierre Franceshetti was able to claim 11 tricks: N/S -750.

At the other table, it was France against another pair of world champions, this time Dutchmen now wearing the Swiss flag. Bas Drijver opened a potentially short 1♣ and Sjoert Brink started with an inverted raise. Thomas Bessis contented himself with a two-level overcall and Drijver’s jump to game ended the brief auction.

Frederic Volcker also opened the defence with the ♥7, which went to queen and ace. He, too, ducked the first round of clubs and won the second with the ♣A. With the heart situation clear, Volcker did not leave the decision to his partner but, instead, took matters into his own hands and switched to the ♠2. The defence quickly collected their four spade tricks and the ♥K to beat the contract by two. N/S +100 and 13 IMPs to BANANAS.

ZHAO recorded their fourth consecutive victory, but it was only by a score of 38-36. With BANANAS defeating MOSS 39-19, it was QUARANTEAM who closed in on the leaders with a 58-10 win over BLACK. With the top teams all having already played each other, Round 11 was the last chance for them to score some ‘easy’ points against teams lower in the field. (The final round would allow repeated matchups.) This meant that ZHAO would be up against GUPTA, who may be lying in seventh place but should always be considered a dangerous opponent. And so it proved to be.

For a change, most tables played in the same contract on our deal from Round 11. This was a typical auction:

The Dutch Bermuda Bowl winners brushed aside their countrymen’s pre-emptive efforts to arrive in the normal game. Thibo Sprinkhuizen not surprisingly missed the heart lead that would have given the defenders a legitimate chance, opening instead with the ♦A. He switched to the ♥8 at trick two, and Guy de Leon had to make a decision: duck and hope declarer would not find the winning line, or play partner for a singleton heart. He chose to win with the ♥A and return a heart, hoping that declarer began with a four-card side suit. Bauke Muller ran the heart return to dummy’s jack and then played trumps from the top. West could score the ♠K, but that was the last trick for the defence. N/S +620.

Had de Leon ducked the first round of hearts, declarer can cash the ♠A and the ♣A-K before crossing to dummy by ruffing the ♦K. With the black-suit position as it is, declarer can then make an overtrick by pitching both of his remaining hearts on the ♣Q-10 before conceding a trick to West’s ♠K.

Naren Gupta chose not to pre-empt on the East hand. This resulted in an uncontested Strong Club auction that ended with Ricco van Prooijen declaring the normal 4♠ contract from the North seat.

Gupta led the ♦J to his partner’s ace and Zia switched to the ♥8. We have already seen two lines of play, both of which result in ten tricks for declarer. Gupta produced a third variation, by winning with the ♥A and switching back to diamonds. This removed declarer’s option of ruffing the second round of diamonds to reach dummy once the clubs were unblocked. Van Prooijen missed one line of play that would have succeeded: ruff the ♦K and run the ♥J.  When the second round of hearts wins, declarer plays trumps, just conceding a trick to West’s ♠K.

Instead, van Prooijen allowed the ♦K to win and immediately started on trumps. When he did so by cashing the ♠A, though, he could no longer make the contract. The only successful play after winning with the ♦K is to lead the ♠Q, pinning East’s ten. If West takes his ♠K, you will then be able to unblock the clubs and reach your hand with the ♠7 on the third round of trumps. The heart loser then goes on the ♣Q. If West withholds his king on the first round of trumps, declarer unblocks the clubs and then continues with the ♠J (or 9/8). Again, if West takes the king, the ♠7 provides an entry to the ♣Q. Alternatively, West can duck the ♠K for a second time, but then declarer just cashes the ♠A and the defenders score the ♥Q rather than the ♠K.

Having cashed the ♠A on the first round of the suit, declarer could no longer force an entry to his hand. He continued with the ♠Q but Zia ducked, won the third round of trumps with his king, and exited safely with a diamond. With no entry to his hand, declarer had to concede a second heart trick at the end. N/S -100 and 12 IMPs to GUPTA.

GUPTA won the match 49-32 and, although ZHAO remained in first place, the gap between them and the chasing pack was now less than 2 VPs. Second-placed QUARANTEAM also lost, 6-27 to BID72, as did fourth-placed BANANAS, 16-47 to AMATEURS. The only one of the top four to win in Round 11 was MOSS, who defeated THE BOYS 45-12. Going into the final match, the standings were:

In the final round, it would be ZHAO vs MOSS and QUARANTEAM vs AMATEURS. Most South players had to make the decision posed by the second of this week’s bidding problems:

Sjoert Brink’s 2♦ overcall looks like the normal action. Bas Drijver introduced his six-card major but, with West’s negative double advertising four hearts, North/South competed to the three-level in diamonds but gave up when East bid his spades for a third time. With four top losers in the black suits and hearts known to be breaking badly, they seem to have done the right thing. Declarer in spades had to lose a trump and three tricks in the red suits: N/S -140.

Chen Zhao’s 1NT overcall created an entirely different scenario. West had no reason to bid and thus North had no inclination of the adverse heart break. Louk Verhees transferred to hearts at the four-level, which left Michal Nowosadzki with the problem of what to lead. When he opted for the ♠J, the spotlight switched to Jacek Kalita in the East seat: could he find the necessary club switch?

No. Kalita returned the ♦2 and now Chen Zhao was in with a chance. He cashed the ♥Q and then the ♠K, shedding a club from dummy. Then came the two top hearts, revealing that West held a trump trick. When declarer cashed his diamonds, though, West had to follow three times. Another club disappeared from dummy as West ruffed the fourth round of diamonds with his trump trick. The defenders had just one club trick to take. N/S +420 and 11 IMPs to ZHAO.

When Ai-Tai Lo also overcalled 1NT, the auction followed the same path to Four Hearts. Here, though, West was young American protégé Finn Kolesnik, who collected a bronze medal representing Canada in the Under-21 Teams at the 2019 World Youth Championships in Croatia. He began the defence with the ♣K. A club to his partner’s ace, the ♠A, and a third round of clubs back to West’s queen gave the defenders the first four tricks. They still had their trump trick to come: N/S -100.

David Chechelashvili had an unusual club in his bag, a 2♠ opener that showed 10-13 HCP and a six or seven-card suit. Gabriele Zanasi was not to be shut out, though, and climbed in bravely with a 2NT overcall. Unencumbered with four-level transfers, Marcel Verhaegen had the option of who to make declarer, and he chose to play Four Hearts from his side of the table, putting the East hand on lead after West had doubled on the way out.

Chechelashvili began with the ♠A and got the ♠5 (udca) from his partner. Could he find the club switch. No, he tried to give his partner a spade ruff at trick two. Declarer won with the ♠K, shedding a club from his hand, and then followed the same line as Chen Zhao at the table above to come to ten tricks. N/S +590 and 12 IMPs to QUARANTEAM.

MOSS defeated ZHAO 34-24 to move 4 VPs ahead of their opponents in the standings. However, at Table 2, QUARANTEAM scored a resounding victory over AMATEURS, 50-19, enabling them to leapfrog both of the teams ahead of them and win the title by less than 2 VPs.

The final standings were:

Congratulations to Finn Kolesnik, Jacob Freeman, Katherine Todd, Christian Lahrmann, Marcel Verhaegen, Gabriele Zanasi, Asaf Yekutieli and Ami Zamir. It is great news for the future of the game to see such a collection of young players from all around the world coming together to finish ahead of so many much more familiar stars. I am sure we will see plenty more from these youngsters, though, for they are the future of our game.

Next week, we will be back with the best of the action as the third monthly heat of the Alt New-Co gets underway.