We are in France again this week, for the Channel Trophy, a four-way competition between junior teams from England, France, Belgium and Netherlands. Each of the four countries sent three teams to Lille in northern France, Juniors (Open Under-26), Girls (Women’s Under-26) and Youngsters (Under-21). Each team will play a double round-robin of 18-board matches against the other three teams in their category. These were the standings in each category after the first two matches:

JUNIORS:

GIRLS

YOUNGSTERS

One match from each of the six rounds was broadcast live on BBO VuGraph, and we will pick out the best of the action from those matches. In Round 3, we get our first look at the Youngsters event, with a match between the two unbeaten teams, FRANCE and NETHERLANDS.

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you are East holding:

What do you bid? 

Next, with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting in the North seat with this impressive collection:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with neither side vulnerable, you hold as West:

What, if anything, do you open?

While you mull those over, we start with the very first deal of the match.

Maxence Roches opened 1♦ and Martijn Goor chose an overcall in his moderate heart suit on his 5-6 hand. Clement Bens advanced with a 2♥ transfer and the Dutch bid to their game. However, Bens had enough to bid 4♠, which left Goor with the decision to play or defend. He opted to bid a fifth heart and Roches doubled on the way out. 

The defence started with a top spade, a heart to the ace and a second trump. Declarer won, unblocked the ♣K, and ruffed a spade back to his hand. He then cashed the ♣A and ruffed a club. To get out for two down now, declarer needs to overtake the ♥Q and give up a club. The defenders can then cash a diamond, but that is all. When Goor instead ruffed a spade, he had lost control. He ruffed a club in dummy but could then score no more than his high trump. N/S +500. 

The French East did not bid on his weak 6-5 hand, so the Dutch had the auction to themselves.

The auction was natural other than the fourth-suit 2♥. Having created a game-force, Jorn Essink first rebid his spades and then showed his diamond fit. Gabor Friesen was happy to co-operate, so he advanced with a heart cue-bid. When Essink then rolled out Blackwood, Friesen clearly thought the agreed suit was diamonds, as he showed two key-cards plus the trump queen. Essink was now committed to slam, and he chose to play in what looked like his solid major. 

When dummy came down and the opening lead was a heart, declarer must have been overjoyed. However, that sense of elation lasted only until East failed to follow to the second round of trumps. The defence duly came to a trump and a club for one down: N/S -50 and 11 IMPs to FRANCE.

Had Essink bid 6♦, the fate of the IMPs would have rested on Aurele Gallard’s opening lead. The ♣A and a second club for partner to ruff would have produced the same result. On any other defence, say the singleton spade lead, declarer can set up the long spade to get rid of all but one of his rounded-suit losers, and the swing would then have gone in the other direction.

Although Maxence Roches (left) may look like a 10-year old in whose mouth butter wouldn’t melt, he is one of the most experienced players in the Youngsters event. He first represented France in the Under-16 Teams at the 2019 European Championships. At the World Youth Championships that same year, he played in both the Under-16 Teams and the Under-26 Board-a-Match Teams. In the Under-21 Teams at the 2022 European Championships, Roches collected the first medal (a silver) in what looks likely to be a long and impressive career as a junior. At the World Championships in Salsomaggioere earlier this year, he was a member of the French team that finished fifth in the Under-26 Teams.

On this deal, Roches’s aggressive four-level overcall left Martijn Goor with the first of this week’s bidding problems. When Goor decided that he could bid no more than 4♠, Roches had earned a potential slam swing for his team. E/W +680.

Aurele Gallard (right) played in his first international event, the Under-16 Pairs, at the 2017 World Youth Championships, on home soil in Lyon. In 2018, he was a member of the French team that collected silver medals in the World Under-16 Teams. 

In the replay here, Friesen understandably settled for a vulnerable three-level overcall on the North cards. Although he had an extra level of bidding, Gallard still had not learned a great deal more than his Dutch counterpart at the other table by the time he had to make the critical decision. When he opted to Blackwood, Romain Bloch showed two aces, so Gallard took a shot at slam. Like all the best partners, Bloch produced the perfect dummy to match his partner's bidding: E/W +1430 and 13 IMPs to FRANCE. 

FRANCE led 35-16 at the midway point of the match, but the Dutch came back strong in the second half, eventually losing the match by just 1 IMP. With one full round robin completed, FRANCE led the Youngsters event with a 3-VP lead over NETHERLANDS. It was an excellent third round for the home teams: FRANCE had opened an 18-VP lead and looked to be running away with the Juniors event, and they were 7 VPs ahead of ENGLAND in the Girls event.

VuGraph coverage switched back to the Juniors event for Round 4, and a match between the leaders, FRANCE, and ENGLAND. Junior bridge is rarely dull. Take a look at this early deal:

Theo Guillemin (left) is probably the most experienced player in the event. He began his international career winning a silver medal as a member of the French Under-16 team at the 2014 European Youth Championships. He became a World champion in 2017, winning the Youngsters’ Teams on home soil in Lyon. A year later, he completed his medal set by claiming a bronze from the same event. Earlier this year, Guillemin was back in the winner’s circle, with victory in the Under-26 Teams at the European Championships. Along with partner Arthur Boulin, Guillemin has also collected two medals from matchpoint events, a bronze from the Youngsters Pairs at the 2017 World Championships and a silver in the 2022 World Under-26 Pairs in Salsomaggiore.

Joe Clark passed in first seat, giving the French a free run. Guillemin opened 2NT and Boulin duly raised to game via Stayman. Not finding the eight-card fit was probably a good thing, as the major-suit game appears to have no chance. The nine-trick game does not have great prospects either, but Guillemin found a way to induce an error from his opponents.

Harry Madden led the ♣3 (fourth-best) to his partner’s ace, declarer following with the queen! Best would be a spade switch by Clark, but that is not obvious and he continued with the ♣6 to the eight and jack. Looking at all four hands, it is easy to see that a spade switch will defeat the contract. Indeed, West can also afford to cash the ♣K to get a signal from his partner. 

Let’s look at things from the West seat. First, what is the club position? If partner had started with ♣-A-10-6, after the play to trick one, would be not have been worried that declarer started with Q-J doubleton? Would he not therefore return the ♣6 from that holding, rather than the ♣10? Convinced that declarer had started with only a doubleton club, Madden now continued with a low club to his partner’s presumed ten. Curtains! Guillemin won with the ♣10 and played the ♦A and a second diamond. He now had nine tricks, five hearts, two diamonds and one in each black suit. A spectacular N/S +600.

As a team, if you are going to have a disaster at each table, it is much cheaper if they occur on the same deal, and that is what happened to the English here. If you thought letting through 3NT was a bad board for the English, take a look at what happened at the other table, where North had to deal with the second of this week’s problems.

Thomas Guichet’s 2♠ opening on the East hand put a completely different complexion on the auction. Too strong for a 2NT overcall, Kripa Panchangula had to start with a takeout double. Louis Bonin advanced with 2NT on the West cards (who knows what that was supposed to mean) and, taking him seriously, Guichet raised to 3NT. Panchangula doubled and Bonin correct to 4♠. When that came back to him, Panchangula doubled for a third time, leaving North with the apparent problem posed at the top of this article. 

The general theory is that when you hold a bad hand in this type of auction, particularly at these colours, you pass on the basis that it is more likely you can take four tricks than eleven. Indeed, it will often be the case that, even if 4♠-X is making -590, that may still be the cheapest option. Aaron Hutton’s decision to offer his partner a choice of minors with 4NT is, therefore, at best questionable. Guichet doubled, presumably to show some defensive values, but Panchangula, clearly entranced by looking at all the high cards in his hand rather than listening to the auction, decided his hand was good enough to force to slam. Thus, it was that the English pair found themselves at the six-level in a seven-card fit on a combined 23-count. 

The only other remarkable thing about this auction was West’s failure to double when the auction stopped at the six-level. Had his partner not shown defensive values with his double of 4NT? I won’t bore you with details of the play: suffice it to say that the defence can always take six tricks but, perhaps understandably, declarer did not give the play his full attention and managed to drop a couple more. That produced a very unusual score: N/S -700 and 15 IMPs to FRANCE. 

The ability to cope with bad result is an important trait for young players to develop, and the set was not all one-way traffic. On this deal, both West players had to decide what, if anything, to open on the last of this week’s bidding problems.

Harry Madden (right) made his international debut in the England Under-16 team that came fourth at the 2015 European Youth Championships. A year later, he just missed out again, finishing fifth in the European Under-16 Pairs. He finally made it onto the podium, collecting a bronze medal from the Under-21 Teams at the 2019 European Championships.  

Madden opened 1♠ on the West cards, and quickly found himself in 4♠-X. There was no winning opening lead for North to find. Boulin started with the ♦Q, Madden winning in dummy with the ace and correctly playing a heart. Boulin won and played a second diamond for his partner to ruff, but thereafter the defence could score no more than their trump winner. E/W +590.   

I suppose it’s a matter of style, and we may find out in the coming months what the BBO expert panel thinks, but I personally prefer either 1♠, 2♠ or 3♠ to Pass on that West hand. Events at the other table demonstrate one of the downsides to starting with a Pass. 

Bonin’s pass allowed Aaron Hutton to open 1♦ on the North hand. South duly bid his hearts and now Bolin came in with 1♠ but, crucially, North was able to bid his second suit. Now the auction took off, with East pre-empting in spades, but the damage had already been done. The French wouldn’t allow Panchangula to play in 3NT but he had a second string to his bow, and he continued with 5♣ when West’s 4♠ bid came around to him.

East led a heart around to declarer’s jack and, double dummy, declarer can actually make the contract by playing a low trump and finessing at trick two. Of course, declarer is never going to do that at the table and, when Hutton cashed the ♣A at trick two, he was destined to finish a trick short. E/W +100 but 11 IMPs to ENGLAND.

FRANCE won the match 42-23 to further extend their advantage at the top of the leader-board. With two matches remaining, these were the standings in each of the events:

JUNIORS:

GIRLS

YOUNGSTERS

So, it is the home team with a massive lead in one category and their noses ahead in a second, whilst the Dutch lead the way in the third event.

We will be back next week with the best of the action from the final two rounds.