Ten invited all-star teams congregated at the RAC Club in London to contest the 2024 Lederer Memorial Trophy. The Lederer has been shown live on BBO VuGraph for more than a decade. This year, there was one table shown from each of the first seven rounds, and then two tables from the final two matches of the event.

The format is a complete round-robin of nine 10-board matches with a scoring method that is an unusual hybrid of Board-a-Match and IMPs. Each board is scored BAM style, with 2VPs for a win and 1 for a tie, giving a possible total of 20 VPs from each match. The IMP difference is then also converted to VPs on a 15-15 scale and each team’s two VP tallies are added together to produce an overall score for the match, with a maximum win of 50-0.

After our last visit, five matches had been completed. These were the overnight standings:

The top four have opened a sizeable gap between them and the rest of the field.

As usual, we start with a couple of problems. Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you are North holding this powerhouse:

What do you bid?

Next, with both sides vulnerable, you are sitting in the East seat with:

What do you bid?

While you consider those, we start in Round 6 with a head-to-head meeting of two of those leading four teams, IRELAND and LONDON. Those watching live on BBO VuGraph did not have to wait long for the first explosive deal.

John Carroll opened 1♠, but the English pair then bid unopposed to game in no-trumps. Mark Moran (left) had to find an opening lead, and he put his faith in his own long suit, leading the ♣5. Declarer played low from dummy and Carroll won with the ♣Q. Partner is marked with the ♣A, but is returning a club enough to beat the contract? On this layout, that is indeed the winning defence.

However, Carroll opted for an alternative defence. Playing his partner for something like xx/Axx/xxx/Axxxx, he switched to a low heart at trick two. Sally Brock played low from her hand and dummy’s ♥10 won the trick. She then took a losing diamond finesse, but the defence could get no more than the ♣A from here. N/S +630.

Does this defensive strategy hold water? If the hearts are wide open, a club return does not cost as declarer is unlikely to have nine tricks (six diamonds and one in each black suit). What if declarer has seven diamond tricks and the ♠A? If hearts are wide open, would her best chance of making the contract not then be to rise with the ♣K at trick one?

The auction started the same way at this table, but Richard Fedrick took a second bid, getting his hearts into the auction. Now, when Adam Mesbur bid 3NT on the South cards, Mike Scoltock (right) decided that he had enough to double.

Whilst Moran’s club opening theoretically simplified the defence at the other table, Scoltock perhaps left his partner with more work to do by leading the ♠6. Fedrick covered dummy’s ♠8 with the nine and was allowed to win the trick. Could he find the winning continuation? Yes, Fedrick accurately tabled the ♣Q at trick two. Well defended indeed!

The defenders came to five clubs, one spade and one diamond, so three down. N/S -800 and 16 IMPs to LONDON. The Irish enjoyed much the better of the remaining boards, and had established a lead when the final deal of the match arrived. Both North players had to answer the first of this week’s problems. After the board we have just seen, the boot was very much on the other foot this time…

For the English, Barry Myers (left) advanced with a natural 2NT, showing something in the 19-21 range, which looks about right. In fact, the only contract that N/S can legitimately make is 3♦. However, 2NT is not likely to go down, as East needs to find an unlikely diamond lead, enabling West to switch to a club at trick two.

John Carroll led a spade to the eight, jack and ace. Declarer led a diamond, taken by West with the queen, and Moran continued with a second spade. Myers won in dummy with the ♠9 and played a second diamond. This time, Moran switched to a club and Myers took the losing finesse. Winning the club continuation, there was little for declarer to do other than cash out for eight tricks. N//S +120.

After the same start, Zia moved forward with a game-forcing 2♦, checking on the possibility of a 4-4 spade fit. That failed to materialize, but he did find out that his partner held three-card heart support. Perhaps that tipped the balance in Zia’s decision to raise to slam on the South hand.

Here, too, East led a spade to his partner’s king. Volcker’s spade return gave Dennis Bilde (right) nothing. With only six tricks in the black suits, declarer needed quite a lot to go right. It appeared that declarer would need at least three heart tricks, so Bilde played a heart to the jack fairly early in proceedings. When that finesse failed, he was one down. N/S -100 and another 13 IMPs to IRELAND.

IRELAND dominated the IMPs aspect of the match 47-6, which resulted in a 44-6 VP win. With CROCKFORDS losing 23-27 against EDMONDS and DE BOTTON tying 25-25 with GILLIS, IRELAND moved into first place with a 19-VP advantage over second place.

On VuGraph for the last match of Saturday’s play it was the teams lying third and fourth facing off head-to-head, LONDON against DE BOTTON. Both needed a big win to keep in touch with the leaders. This deal looked like a potential banana skin, and it did not disappoint.

Sally Brock showed an invitational or better three-card heart raise with her 2♠ cue-bid. Barry Myers (left) chose to jump to game, ending the brief auction. South had three top winners to cash, but that was it for the defence. E/W +620.

For the Irish, Nick Fitzgibbon (right) looked more optimistically at his 21-count, so he continued with a 2♠ cue-bid, suggesting something close to a 2♣ opening. Adam Mesbur retreated to 3♦, which Fitzgibbon might have passed, but the Irishman had not come this far to put his huge hand down in dummy in a partscore. Better to rely on the fabled ‘Luck of the Irish’!

The first four tricks were the same as those at the previous table. Here, though, when Mike Scoltock got in with his second diamond winner, he switched not to a club but to a heart. Fitzgibbon won in his hand and played a third round of diamonds, finally establishing the long winners in dummy’s motheaten suit. Three spades, four hearts, two diamonds and one club added up to 10: N/S +630 and 11 IMPs to IRELAND.

IRELAND won the IMP scoring 46-21 and the match overall by 39-11 in VPs. With DE BOTTON winning against PERICULO, but only 28-22, and CROCKFORDS losing 16-34 against HARRIS, the Irish advantage at the top of the leader-board was now 20 VPs.

The VuGraph match for Round 7 was third-placed DE BOTTON against one of the teams struggling in the lower half of the table, the always-dangerous KNOTTENBELT. KNOTTENBELT led 18-0 at the midway point of the match

Ed Jones (left) showed a big balanced hand with his 2NT rebid and Kieran Dyke advanced with Puppet Stayman. Having found a 5-3 spade fit, Dyke continued with a natural 4♦, showing some slam interest. When Jones retreated to 4NT, suggesting a minimum and no particular liking for diamonds, Dyke gave up.

A club lead to the king and ace was hardly a dagger to declarer’s heart. Three rounds of spades gave Jones eleven tricks, and the 3-3 diamond split eventually added a twelfth to his tally. E/W +690.

Thor Erik Hoftaniska settled for a sedate 1♠ opening, and heard the young Norwegian protégé Nicolai Heiberg-Evanstad (right) respond with an artificial 2♣. One option for the 2♣ response was an invitational or better spade raise. A relay auction revealed the pertinent details of Evanstad’s hand, which was just what Hoftaniska decided he wanted. Indeed, only when he eventually discovered that the ♠Q was missing did he give up on his grand slam ambitions.

Hoftaniska won the opening diamond lead in his hand and cashed two high trumps. He then reverted to diamonds and, when that suit behaved, he claimed twelve tricks, conceding a trick to North’s ♠Q whenever she wanted to ruff in. E/W +1430 and 12 IMPs to DE BOTTON.

The final board of the match arrived with KNOTTENBELT still ahead, but only by 4 IMPs. The East players both had to answer the second of this week’s problems.

Kieran Dyke (left) answered the bell with a 4♣ splinter bid. Ed Jones had no interest, so he quickly signed off in 4♥. There was little to the play, with two black aces and a trump to lose. E/W +620.

At this table, Evanstad chose to start with an artificial 2♣, for which one of the options was an invitational or better heart raise. The downside of this approach was that it allowed Michael Byrne to get into the auction with a 2♥ cue-bid showing spades and a minor.

Maggie Knottenbelt (right) bid a quiet 2♠, and Evenstad revealed his hand as a heart raise with diamond values. Despite his minimum, the diamond fit encouraged Hoftaniska to accept the invitation to game. That left Knottenbelt with a decision and, when she pressed on to 4♠, the Norwegians only had a choice of losing options.

They chose to go quietly, which at least secured them a plus score. Declarer had three top losers in the red suits, but she managed to negotiate the trump suit for one loser without running into a club ruff. That was only one down: E/W +100 and 11 IMPs to KNOTTENBELT.

KNOTTENBELT won the IMP battle 29-14 and the match 33-17 in VPs, denting the DE BOTTON ambitions near the top of the table. However, there was good news for DE BOTTON, as all of the other teams in the top four also lost in this round.

With just two matches remaining, these were the standings:

In the last two rounds, IRELAND will play BLACK ADDERS and DE BOTTON whilst CROCKFORDS play DE BOTTON and LONDON. Advantage to the Irish, but still all to play for.

We will be back soon with the best of the action from the final two matches.