BBO Vugraph #178

We return to Wroclaw in southwestern Poland, where four very strong teams have survived to contest the semi-finals of the World Mixed Teams. CORIANDRE (France) have jumped out to a 25-IMP lead against FERM (USA, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland). The other semi-final is a meeting of primarily Scandinavian heavyweights, with MINITER (USA, Sweden, Norway) holding a 4-IMP lead over DONNER (USA, Sweden, Canada) after the first of the four 14-board stanzas.

As usual, we start with a couple of problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are South holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with only your opponents vulnerable, you are sitting East with:

What action, if any, do you take?

It is time to strap in for some fireworks, as both South players faced the first of this week’s problems of the opening deal of the set:

North/South had a couple of chances to sidestep impending doom, but perhaps the final contract was almost inevitable. Fredrik Nystrom found the heart lead that kept +800 on the table. Sanna Clementsson then needed to play either her diamond or trumps. When she instead switched to her partner’s suit, declarer was up to six tricks. Nystrom won with the ♣K and played a second round to Clementsson’s ace, and then she switched to a low spade.

Declarer won the trump switch cheaply in hand and played the ♦A then ♦Q, covered by ♦K and ruffed in dummy with the ♠7. East overruffed with the ♠Q and played ace and another trump. Rimstedt won in dummy with the ♠J, cashed the ♣J, then advanced the ♥Q, ruffing away East’s ace. The ♦J came next and, had East ruffed this with her last trump, she would have been endplayed to lead away from ♥9-2 into dummy’ ♥J-5. Clementsson therefore pitched a heart and the defence took the last two tricks. N/S -500.

When Gillian Miniter chose instead to rebid her strong diamond suit, retribution was only a heartbeat away. Marion Michielsen led the ♣3 and Per-Ola Cullin put in the ten, so declarer won with the queen, which seemed to be a good start for the American. First appearances can be deceptive, though.

Cullin won declarer’s heart exit and switched to his trump, Michielsen capturing the queen with her king and returning the ♦10. Declarer won with the ♦J, cashed the ♦A, then exited with a spade around to East’s queen. Now Cullin cashed the ♣A and continued the suit, forcing declarer to ruff. Declarer then played a second round of spades, West pitching her last heart as Cullin won with the ♠A. The ♥A came next and, when declarer erroneously ruffed that trick, Michielsen could overruff and claim the rest. N/S -1100 and a trick dropped at each table meant 12 IMPs to DONNER to start the set.

There was a similar swing in the other semi-final, although there it was 2♦-X that escaped for 500. At the other table, N/S climbed even higher, to 3♠-X, and the defence was deadly accurate to collect +1100.

No one was quite sure who could make what on this deal. As it turns out, the answer was no one and nothing, but that didn’t stop both sides bidding game. When the music stopped, though, it was the Americans who were left holding the baby.

Michielsen led a diamond to the ace and Cullin switched to spades. Michielsen won and cashed the ♠A, and the defenders still had a heart to come. N/S -300.

Sandra Rimstedt’s slightly off-centre 1NT opening created an entirely different scenario. East doubled North’s transfer to show her diamonds, Rimstedt passed denying three hearts, and Nystrom introduced his spades. It looks like North’s 3♦ was intended as a re-transfer, but such is the problem with unfamiliar partnerships. Rimstedt soldiered on to 3NT and Amoils decided he still preferred to play in hearts. Message received this time!

Nystrom led the ♦10 and Clementsson won with the ace. Of course, she could have beaten the contract by one with a spade switch, but does the singleton club not look more attractive? Indeed, it also opens the way to a second undertrick via a later ruff. Rimstedt won with the ♣A and played a heart to the nine and East’s king. Now Clementsson’s decision was critical.

Perhaps she expected declarer to have more in the pointed suits for her 3NT bid. It was certainly believable that declarer would have the ♠A and a third diamond (and West, therefore, a singleton). So, she played a diamond, but declarer won, repeated the trump finesse, and claimed the rest. N/S +450 and another 13 IMPs to DONNER, who had outscored their opponent 32-2 over the first five board of the stanza.

Good teams simply do not know how to lie down, though, and we have already seen numerous amazing comebacks at these championships.

Don’t you just love partners? You manage to slip your penalty double of North’s vulnerable 1NT past leftie, but partner thinks you need to be rescued! Per-Ola Cullin restrained his frustration at +500 slipping away and managed not to just jump to 4♥ in a fit of pique. Then, to add insult to injury, the Americans would not even allow him the play the hand. It appeared, though, that here was a pot of gold at the end of the Swedish rainbow after all, as it was not even possible to defeat game in spades. N/S +170. Not that bidding to that particular spot was easy…

Sanna Clementsson made her international debut in the Swedish Under-16 team in 2014. Still eligible as a junior, she has already won one World and one European junior title. She also won the European Mixed Teams in 2019 and the Venice Cup twice, in 2019 and 2022.

Faced with the last of this week' problems on this deal, she showed amazing restraint for one so young, passing throughout with her solid eight-card major. Sandra Rimstedt had no reason to bid anything other than 3NT once she failed to find an eight-card spade fit, and Clementsson no doubt enjoyed cashing every one of her eight winners. N/S -400 and 11 IMP to MINITER.

DONNER won the second set, but only by a score of 32-28, so they went into the mid-match break all square at 45-45. MINITER then edged ahead by 1 IMP, winning the third stanza 39-38.

It is very rare that I report on a deal played at the one-level, but I think you will agree that this one is worth it. For a start, there were six rounds of bidding to get to 1♥! Remarkable in itself, but the auction was also identical at both tables.

Theoretically, the defence can hold declarer to five tricks for a +500 penalty, but the card play needs to be precise. At the table where Helgemo declared, Marion Michielsen started accurately with the ♥K and, when that was allowed to win, she then switched to her low diamond. Per-Ola Cullin won with the ♦A and continued with the ♥Q, taken in dummy. A spade then went to the queen and ace and Michielsen played a club to her partner’s ace. Although he holds a tenace, with the ♥J-9 over dummy’s ♥10-8, Cullin now needs to play the jack and another trump at this point. When he instead played a diamond, Helgemo was in control even though he put in the ♦10 and thus had to ruff North’ jack in dummy.

Helgemo cashed the ♠K and ruffed a spade in his hand. He then ruffed a diamond and advanced dummy’s last spade. What could Cullin do? If he pitched a diamond, declarer would score his final trump and the ♦Q would be his seventh trick. So, Cullin ruffed. After cashing his other trump winner, though, he then had to lead away from his ♦9-7 into declarer’s ♦Q-8. Again, the Norwegian maestro had seven tricks: a spectacular E/W +160.

At the other table, Sanna Clementsson also led the ♥K against the same contract and, at trick two she switched to the ♣Q, ducked to South’ bare ace. Frederick Nystrom continued with the ♥Q and Cecilia Rimstedt again ducked the ace. Here, too, South would have done best to play a third round of trump into dummy’s tenace, but Nystrom cashed the ♦A first and then exited with the ♥9.

Declarer can still make six tricks now. A spade went to the queen and ace, and Clementsson continued with the ♣J, South ruffing dummy’s king with his remaining trump. A diamond would now have let the contract through if declarer guesses the position, but Nystrom accurately exited with the ♠J around to dummy’s king. After ruffing a spade in her hand, declarer needs to cash the ♦Q to get out for one down. When, instead, Rimstedt exited with the ♦10, Clementsson won with the jack and had only black-suit winners left. Declarer could make the ♥A, but that was all: E/W -800 and a massive 14 IMPs to MINITER.

MINITER won the final stanza 55-32, and the match 139-115 to claim their place in the final. The final margin of victory may look comfortable but, in reality, it was anything but. 

The final promises to be a mouth-watering affair, with MINITER’ Scandinavian giants containing two double Venice Cup winners, against the FERM team that includes two members of the Swiss team that won the Bermuda Bowl three months ago and a member of the Dutch team that narrowly lost to them in that final and then won the European Championships in Madeira just a few weeks ago.

We will be back next week to see the best of the action from that final.

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