Marc Smith visits the Junior Camrose Trophy

Newport in South Wales was the venue as the Welsh Bridge Union hosted the 2020 Junior Camrose and the Peggy Bayer, the annual contest between Under-26 and Under-21 teams representing the home nations. Scotland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were all represented in the Junior Camrose. England were invited to field a second team (designated as ‘EBU’) to even up the numbers.

The format was a complete double round robin of 16–board matches, with two matches Friday evening and four each on Saturday and Sunday. One match from each session of the Junior Camrose was broadcast on BBO VuGraph, and hundreds of kibitzers tuned in to watch the top British younsters in action. 

This week, we bring you a handful of the swings that helped to win the trophy. As usual, we begin with some teasers for you to consider. We will find out later how your choices would have turned out. We start this week with a lead problem. With just your opponents vulnerable your hand as East is:

What do you lead?

Next, with both sides vulnerable, you hold as North:

East opens a Multi (showing a weak two in either major), partner overcalls in spades, and West doubles to show interest in competing in hearts (or defending if opener’s weak two is in spades). What do you bid now?

In the second match on Friday evening, England suffered a 40-27 loss to EBU, thus proving that there were no favors on offer there. Meanwhile, the ‘Auld Enemy’ was already flying high. While you mull those problems over, we begin our coverage with the first meeting between the two pre-tournament favorites, England and Scotland. The action began right away, with both East players effectively called upon to solve the opening lead problem posed above:

N/S Vul - Dealer East

Favorably placed diamond honors persuaded Glen Falconer not to sacrifice when Four Hearts came back to him. The onus then fell on Athena Chow to find an opening lead to justify that decision.

And find it she did: Chow tabled the ♥9, killing dummy’s club ruff. No matter what he did now, Tony Ye could do nothing to avoid losing three spades and one club. N/S -100.

West - Wieczorek North - Pinder East - Covill South - Pinkerton

After a similar auction, the English East was faced with the same lead problem. Laura Covill did not find the spectacular trump lead, but she at least kept her side in the game by opening the ♠4 (which I suspect was the popular choice amongst readers). Declarer played low from dummy and Ewa Wieczorek won with the ♠Q. 

To beat the contract now, West must return a low spade for her partner to ruff. East can then exit with her second trump, leaving declarer with a further loser in each black suit. Note that East must not blindly follow her partner’s suit-preference signal and return a diamond after scoring her spade ruff. Partner does not know that you hold four small cards in the suit. East needs to realize that partner is unlikely to hold the ♣A, and with five clubs he surely would not have defended, so declarer has ♣A-x and needs to take a ruff in dummy. 

When the English West, instead, cashed the ♠A at trick two and then delivered her partner’s ruff, there was nothing that East could do. She tried a diamond in response to her partner’s signal, but declarer ruffed, crossed to the ♥A, and cashed the ♠K to discard her club loser whilst the defender with the outstanding trump had impotently to follow suit. N/S +620 and 12 IMPs to SCOTLAND.

The next deal produced another double-digit swing:

E/W Vul - Dealer South

Athena Chow’s Four Club bid said nothing about clubs, but just showed a sound raise to at least Four Hearts. West’s Five Diamonds is clearly a slam try and I have to agree with the comment made by one of the commentators on BBO VuGraph, who described East’s Five Heart bid as ‘lame’. 

The opponents have bid to the five-level, so partner surely cannot have as many as two clubs. Even so, he has made a five-level slam try holding no aces. If this is not a time to accept his try, when are you ever going to do so? Indeed, after 5♦, might the bidding not even proceed 5♠-6♣-6♦-7♥?

Dummy’s third spade disappears on declarer’s fifth diamond, so there are 13 easy tricks: E/W +710.

West - Wieczorek North - Pinder East - Covill South - Pinkerton

After the same feeble Five Heart bid at this table too, Ewa Wieczorek at least realized that her partner was almost sure to hold at least two of the three missing aces for her game-level cue-bid. What else could she have, assuming that the opponents will hold most of the high clubs. The grand slam was missed, but with the Scots floundering in game just reaching the six-level was all that was needed here: E/W +1430 and 13 IMPs to ENGLAND.

Like London buses, you can wait ages for a double-digit swing and then three come along together. This deal has some instructional points in both the bidding and the play:

N/S Vul - Dealer East

This East hand is not easy to bid after partner responds One Spade. At both tables, East/West were playing the Gazzilli convention (Two Clubs showed either clubs or any hand of 16+ HCP). so at least East did not have to commit immediately. West’s Two Diamonds then promised 8+ points, establishing a game force unless partner has clubs. This enabled Laura Covill to agree spades (rightly or wrongly) at the two-level. As a result, they were at least able to avoid climbing beyond game in spades.

Not that even the four-level is completely safe: had Jun Nakamura-Pinder managed to find a heart lead for some reason (might South have perhaps made a Lightner double?) the defense would have three quick tricks via a heart ruff, a diamond to the ace and a second heart ruff. With the ♠K still to come, that is one down.

When North chose, instead, a club as his opening lead, declarer should have managed to bring home her contract. She won and cashed the second high club for a diamond discard, and then ran the ♠Q to South’s king. However, when Stewart Pinkerton returned the ♦J, declarer made the fatal mistake that many players do when the contract looks easy. She failed to ask ‘What can go wrong?’ It is a question that my students probably get bored of hearing, but diligence sometimes pays off and good habits are worth acquiring.

The only thing that can go wrong at this point is that you cannot draw trumps. Declarer ruffed with the ♠7 and cashed the ♠A, uncovering the 4-1 break. When she then led the ♠9, South was not magnanimous enough to cover with the ten, so declarer found herself stuck in dummy, unable to draw the last trump. When she tried to cross to the ♥9, South rudely ruffed to set the contract by a trick. (I’m not sure why it was only one down: should the defense not now be able to cash three diamonds and one club?)

That was unlucky! Or was it? Certainly not. If declarer ruffs the diamond instead with the ♠9, she would be able to cash the ace and then lead the ♠7 towards ♠J-8 in her hand. Finessing against the marked ♠10, she would then be in hand to draw South’s last trump. Paying attention to small details sometimes avoids the roof tumbling in around your ears. E/W -50.

West - Falconer North - Ye East - Chow South - Kennedy

After an identical start, Athena Chow made a much better bid by jumping to Three Hearts. With hands like this East collection, it will be right most of the time to play in your strong suit. After all, if partner has high spades, they will be just as useful in a heart contract as they will if spades are trumps. Playing a delicate 4-4 fit, though, can prove problematic, particularly if trumps do not split evenly.

Yes, with every missing high card lying badly for declarer, an opening diamond lead would have beaten Six Hearts, but I can see no reason to criticize Stephen Kennedy’s choice of the ♣Q. Declarer quickly cashed dummy’s second club winner to dispose of her diamond loser and drew trumps. She was not then hard-pressed to play the spade suit for one loser. E/W +980 and a well-deserved 14 IMPs to SCOTLAND.

SCOTLAND won the match, but only just, 40-35, which translated to 11.58-8.42 in Victory Points. Even that small win was like gold dust for the Scots, though, as it meant they had won all five matches in the first round robin to open a modest lead over the second English team. The standings after five matches were SCOTLAND 79.92, EBU 70.19, IRELAND 64.93, ENGLAND 57.44.

ENGLAND began the second round robin with a small loss to IRELAND. As a result, when England met the EBU team for the second time, they were looking for a big win, not just for revenge but to haul themselves back into contention.

N/S Vul - Dealer East

For EBU, Oscar Selby opened One Spade. South overcalled pre-emptively and Harry Madden raised via a Four Diamond cue-bid, showing a sound raise to at least game. With a minimum opening bid, though, Selby had no reason to bid anything other than Four Spades, and there matters ended. The defense led hearts and took their ruff, but declarer then had the rest: E/W +450 looks like a flat board, but this is a junior event and they do love to bid.

West - Kennedy North - Cope East - Ye South - T Anoyrkatis

Tony Ye had two ranges of weak two bid in his bag, the weaker version opened via a Multi, and a hand such as the East one here with a natural Two Spades, showing around 8-11 HCP. Once again, South overcalled and West raised via a cue-bid. Now, with a huge maximum for his initial action and a diamond control to boot, Ye decided he was too good for Four Spades so he temporized with a ‘last train’ Four Hearts.

This encouraged Stephen Kennedy to roll out the Old Black and, when his partner made a response consistent with solid spades, he bid slam. One has to wonder, though, quite what Kennedy hoped to find opposite when he bid 4NT. Surely, about the best slam can be is on a finesse, opposite something like the ♠A-K and ♣K. .Yes, partner’s Four Heart bid showed a maximum, but maximum is still only 11 HCP. 

As it happens, slam was much better than it might have been. On a non-club lead it just needs hearts 3-3 or 4-2. And why should South have a club lead? Isn’t his most likely holding something like ♣Q-x-x or ♣K-x-x, ♣K-J-x, or perhaps a doubleton honor, making a club lead unlikely?

Indeed, when Theo Anoyrkatis led the ♦Q against Six Spades, declarer must have been sure he was going to make the contract. In truth, though, Anoyrkatis was just toying with declarer’s emotions. The 5-1 heart break meant that declarer was left with one too many losers at the end. N/S -50 and 11 IMPs to EBU.

Note to today’s young players: some of the advice you may get from the blue heads is still relevant to the game today. As one commentator observed when watching this board on BBO VuGraph, there is a little old lady at his club who says that the only reason for not leading a singleton is because it’s a void. Not bad advice, actually.

The result was far from what ENGLAND needed, as EBU won the match 47-19, which converted to 16.88-3.12 in VPs. Meanwhile, SCOTLAND was running away from the field: they began the second round robin with a 20-0 win over NORTHERN IRELAND (their second whitewash of the Province) and a win by 18.66-1.34 VPs against WALES. The only team with a chance of catching the Scots was now EBU, and the two met head on in Match 8.

The very first deal produced a double-digit swing but not, curiously, because anyone remembered that little old lady’s advice. This was the layout

None Vul - Dealer North

Three Diamonds was a long-suit game try, and Sam Anoyrkatis decided his diamond holding was just good enough to accept the game try despite his minimum values. Ronan Valentine decided that the auction called for an attacking lead, so he looked no further than the ♠4. Liz Gahan called for the ♠Q from dummy and, when that held, she took a losing trump finesse. The defense just had a club to take now, so declarer was soon claiming eleven tricks: N/S +450.

Of course, East might have considered leading his singleton (I know, a novel idea, and obviously now very much out of fashion). He could then have regained the lead with the ♥K, put partner in with a club, and collected a diamond ruff. He could then exit with either a club or a trump and wait to score the setting trick with the ♠K. 

Let’s see what happened at the other table:

West - Madden North - Pinder East - Selby South - Pinkerton

Here Jun Nakamaru-Pinder was not prepared to stop out of game, and even made an ambitious slam try on the way to Four Hearts. Perhaps having learned that a forcing game is often a good idea when you hold four trumps, Oscar Selby also ignored the little old lady’s dictum and opened the defense with the ♣7. Harry Madden won with the ♣10 and continued with the ♣Q, forcing declarer to ruff. Declarer did well by ignoring the possibility of a winning trump finesse, continuing instead with the ♥A and a second trump, won in dummy with the ♥Q when East correctly ducked.

Pinder was now in position to make a strong bid for the ‘Best Played Hand’ award (or he would have been if there was one). Clearly, continuing trumps is a losing proposition as you lose control. The winning line of play from here is to ruff a club, cross to the ♦Q, and ruff dummy’s last club with your final trump. You can now just play winning diamonds. East can ruff whenever he likes, but when he does so he will be endplayed to lead away from the ♠K, giving you your tenth trick.

Instead, declarer just settled for one down by playing on diamonds, allowing East to score a trick with his low trump. The defense therefore made one club, one spade and two hearts: N/S -50 and 11 IMPs to EBU to start the match. By the midway point of the match, EBU had established a substantial lead, 38-6. 

On our final deal, the bidding problem posed at the top of this article raises questions both of judgment and of your methods.

Both Vul - Dealer East

East opened a Multi, South overcalled in spades, and West doubled to show interest in competing in hearts (or defending if partner’s weak two was in spades). How good do you think this North hand is?

Liz Gahan simply jumped to game in spades, ending the auction. To my mind, this hand is far too good for that. With West having shown an interest in competing in hearts, you can be fairly sure that partner has at most one card in that suit. You also know his spade suit is not particularly good, so is he not likely hold excellent minor suits for his vulnerable Two Spade overcall? Might your honors in those suits not be useful? 

Having decided that your hand is too good for Four Spades, how do you advance? The answer is that you need a partnership agreement that a bid of the other major (Three Hearts here) is a cue-bid raise, just as it would be if East had opened a natural Two Hearts rather than a Multi. If North shows some interest with Three Hearts, surely South will drive to the good slam. Partner could have bid Four Spades on much less than this, and there is no way that South can underwrite a five-level contract facing what could just be a defensive raise.

There was nothing to the play. Declarer ruffed the heart opening, drew trumps, and conceded a trick to the ♦A: N/S +680.

West - Madden North - Pinder East - Selby South - Pinkerton

The Scots breezed into slam. Once South starts with a takeout double, even West’s pre-emption to game is not enough to shut North out. In this auction, North might have waited for a re-opening double showing extra values, so when he bids Four Spades at his first turn he is likely to be bidding to make. The South hand is so slam suitable now that a try is clear. North needed no more encouragement and jumped to slam. Well bid! N/S +1430 and 13 IMPs to SCOTLAND. 

SCOTLAND gained another slam swing on the very next deal and won the second half of the match 36-12. EBU won the match 50-42, but that was only 12.29-7.71 in Victory Points. ENGLAND did their countrymen a favor in the penultimate match of the weekend, defeating SCOTLAND 16.09-3.91 in VPs, but the Scots held their nerve and collected 15.56 VPs from their final match, against IRELAND. 

It was a very close run thing in the end. The final standings were:

SCOTLAND 145.76 VPs
EBU 145.18
ENGLAND 132.09
IRELAND 117.91
WALES 33.76
N. IRELAND 24.30

Well done to the SCOTLAND team, Ronan Valentine & Liam O’Brian, Jun Nakamuru-Pinder & Stewart Pinkerton, Athena Chow & Glen Falconer, and npc Malgorzata Rozman. They take the Junior Camrose trophy north across the border for the first time since 2012.

In the Under-21 event, ENGLAND lost just one of their ten matches (against IRELAND) and recorded an impressive five 20-0 wins over the weekend to win the Peggy Bayer by some distance. There was no Northern Irish representation in this event, so a second Welsh team was invited. The final standings were:

ENGLAND 162.71 VPs
EBU 144.83
IRELAND 129.18
SCOTLAND 117.93
WALES   36.32
WBU   9.03

Well done to the ENGLAND team, Jack Ronayne & Theo Gillis, Imogen La Chapelle & Alex Pemberton, Henry Rose & Jasmine Bakhshi, and npc Heather Dhondy.

Congratulations are actually due to everyone who played in these two events. With the average age of bridge players across the globe rising by almost one year every year, these young players are the future of the game that we all love. These players representing their countries in Under-26 and Under-21 events today are the stars we will look forward to watching in major national and international events in years to come. Our thanks go out to every parent, teacher, etc that encourages young players to take up the game, and long may it continue.

Next week, we hop back across the Channel to Paris, for the final of the trials to select the French Mixed team for the European Championships in Madeira.