Vugraph Deals #154

For our penultimate visit to the first post-COVID World Championships in Salsomaggiore in northern Italy, we turn our attention to the Wuhan Cup, where the leading Mixed teams have been battling it out for a world title.  

France and USA-1 topped the table at the end of the 23-match round robin, with the French little more than 1 VP ahead of the Americans. In the quarter-finals, the French led Romania by 58 IMPs with 32 boards remaining, but ended up hanging on for a 189-181 victory. In their quarter-final, USA-1 trailed Latvia after two of the six sets but eventually pulled away to win 212-185. The French coasted through their semi-final, Germany conceding after five sets, down 228-154. The Americans had a much tougher battle against Italy. Again, they trailed after two stanzas, then produced a big third set to forge ahead and then gained another 47 IMPs in the final set to make the 221-151 scoreline look more comfortable than it was. 

On the first day of the final the American led 46-45 after the first set, and the French by 10 after the second. At the midway point, France held a 107-86 advantage, which is where we join the contest. For the first time this tournament, I was assigned a session at stupid-o’clock in the morning and it did not take me long to discover why David Bird has looked upon the day’s first session as his private fiefdom for the past two weeks. Perhaps they put something in the morning coffee in Salsomaggiore, but the players came out of the traps like their tails were on fire.  

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting East holding: 

What do you bid? 

Next, with both sides vulnerable, you are West with: 

What action, if any, do you take? 

While you think about those, we jump right into the action with the opening deal of the day, on which the French benefited greatly from playing the Multi rather than natural weak twos. One of the downsides of playing the Multi is that it gives the opposition more room but, curiously, on this deal that apparent flaw worked to its advantage. 

Migry Zur-Campanile raised to 4♠ with an expectation of making, and that is exactly what declarer would have done if East does not find a club lead (or cash the ♠A and switch to one), as the ♥K sets up for a club discard. Not that there was any chance of 4♠ ending the auction on this layout, and Lionel Sebanne duly came in with 4NT, showing two places to play. Vanessa Reess chose her lowest playable suit and Zur-Campanile doubled.  

Now the critical question of what to lead had moved 90 degrees around the table. When Zur-Campanile not unreasonably opened with the ♠4, away went dummy’s two diamond losers. Declarer knocked out the ♣A and later took the heart finesse for an overtrick. E/W +550 was not far from the expected result on this combination and, indeed, was duplicated at both tables in the Bermuda Bowl final. 

Not here, though, as the French N/S pair were playing the Multi. Yes, it led to the same contract, but with a crucial difference: 

South’s intent in the auction was essentially the same but, because of the Multi, Joanna Zochowska had to raise to game via 4♣, asking opener to transfer to his major. This allowed Chris Willenken to come in with a 4♥ overcall. When this came back to Zochowska, she competed with 4♠, but Willenken was not done, and he continued with 5♣. South’s double ended the auction in the same contract that had been played at the other table except with one crucial difference – North was on lead here. 

Pierre Schmidt duly led the ♦K and continued at trick two with the ♦Q. He then switched to the ♥10. Declarer rose with dummy’s ace and played a trump, but Zochowska rose with the ♣A and cashed her ♥K. There the play record ends with declarer apparently claiming nine tricks, so what happened to North’s heart ruff remains a mystery, but the board was scored as E/W -300 and 13 IMPs to FRANCE. 

Then came consecutive deals to test the slam-bidding capabilities of the E/W pairs. 

West appears to hold a balanced hand in the 15-17 range, so I cannot explain the 1♥ opening, but it worked effectively on this layout. Vanessa Reess forced to game with 2♣ and agreed hearts at the three-level. A couple of cue-bids and Blackwood then led to the 12-top trick slam being easily reached, as one would expect at this level. Apparently, declarer claimed 13 tricks at trick one, and the defenders acceded, although quite where the thirteenth might materialize from is a mystery to this humble scribe: E/W +1460. 

For the Americans, Chris Willenken did open 1NT, but getting to slam should have proved no more problematic after this start. Amber Lin started with Stayman but then inexplicably just raised the 2♥ response to game in the position set as this week’s first problem. This is a particularly feeble effort although, in fairness to Lin, this is not a regular partnership as she was drafted in as a replacement following positive COVID tests within the team earlier in the week. E/W +680 and another 13 IMPs to France. 

For students out there, East should jump to 3♠ after the 2♥ response to Stayman. This cannot be natural (with a natural spade bid you would have started by transferring to spades, not with Stayman), so 3♠ would agree hearts and show a spade control. The auction could then have proceeded in similar fashion to the French one at the other table. 

The very next deal saw a much trickier combination for the E/W pairs to tackle. 

The small slam in diamonds is obviously an excellent contract, with only an opening heart lead reducing it to a 75% proposition. On any other lead, declarer can establish a heart discard on the clubs even if the ♣K is offside. 

Willenken had a difficult rebid after his partner’s 1♥ response, and I have to confess that I have had limited success with jumping to 3♦ on an eight-card suit, as partner inevitably cannot picture so many winners. It would seem to me that Lin’s 4♣ bid should be control-showing agreeing diamonds, but it appears that she intended it as natural. Willenken surely took it as such, otherwise he would have an obvious 4♠ cue-bid in response. 

It would seem that Lin’s 4NT was then Blackwood, neither particularly useful when your suit is a minor, not very suitable with two low spades either, but it was effective on this layout and landed the partnership in the optimum contract, even if rather fortuitously. North led a spade and declarer was soon claiming 13 tricks: E/W +1390. 

I suppose it is a matter of personal style, and whilst I really dislike the very idea of making a takeout double on the sort of hand North held here, I will admit that it worked well for the American pair on this occasion. Vanessa Reess started with a redouble and Migry Zur-Campanile’s pre-emptive jump to 2♠ then left the French West with a problem. Bidding 3♦ now really does not seem anything like enough, even if you play 2NT as a weaker hand with one or both minors. Sebbane’s solution was a jump to game in his long suit, but that left Reess with a complete guess. 7-2 is the worst hand you can pick up in Texas Hold’Em, and it isn’t a great holding to have in the spade suit on this auction either. Reess guessed not to raise, thus undoing some of the damage inflicted on the Americans early in this stanza. E/W +640 and 13 IMPs back to USA-1. 

There were still more big swings to come in this early morning outing. The contract on our next deal was the same in both rooms (albeit doubled at one table). 

The Americans bid aggressively to game in clubs, but the hands did not fit well and there appeared to be at least three unavoidable losers. 

Zochowska led the ♦J. Declarer won with the ♦A, ruffed a spade to her hand, and advanced the ♣K. Pierre Schmidt won, cashed his two diamond winners, and delivered his partner’s ruff for two down. E/W -200. 

The auction at the other table was identical except for Rosenthal’s double of the final contract. Of course, declarer could have saved one trick at the first table, by cashing the ♠A for a diamond discard before playing trumps. Could the French declarer flatten the board despite the double? 

Zur-Campanile also opened the ♦J and Reess won with the ace. When she led a low spade from dummy at trick two, though, the American North, presumably concerned that declarer might hold a singleton jack, fatally rose with the ♠K. Reess ruffed, cashed the ♥A and re-entered dummy with a heart ruff. Away went two of declarer’s diamonds on the ♠A-Q. Reess could now ruff her last heart in dummy and concede just one trick in each of the minors. E/W +750 and 14 IMPs to France. 

On the penultimate deal of the set, the Americans bid to 3NT having failed to locate their eight-card heart fit. 3NT was always likely to make, but not certain. As the cards lie, declarer managed eleven tricks: a fairly unimpressive N/S +660. At the other table, the French pair not only found their major, but bid to a slam that needed a bit more than a 3-2 trump break, but was certainly a reasonable proposition. When trumps split 4-1, that was curtains for declarer: N/S -200 and a fortunate 14 IMPs to USA-1.  

The Americans gained a partscore swing on the last deal to make the set score 43-39 in favour of the French. With 32 boards left, the French therefore lead by 25, 150-125. It was not an insurmountable lead, but the French had much the better of this set and were unlucky not to gain significantly more, whilst the Americans seemed to be just hanging on by their fingernails. It would require a dramatic turnaround for the Americans to pull this one out of the bag, and at the end of this stanza I wagered my rapidly-devaluing rouble on hearing “La Marseillaise” at that evening’s presentation ceremony. And so it was: the French gained a further 12 IMPs in the penultimate set, and although the Americans won the final stanza 20-19, it was too little too late. France won the Wuhan Cup final by a margin of 199-163. 

Next week, we will end our coverage of the Salamaggiore world championships with a look at  the best of the action from the late stages of one of the most exciting Bermuda Bowl finals of all time.