Vugraph Deals #160

Six of the eight teams that had qualified by right to play in Group A took up their places. Those absent were the two teams that had finished first and second in Heat 1, MOSS and BLACK. The other six qualifiers were joined by FREDIN and CANTOR to give us an eight-team field for Group A.  

The format in this heat and for the rest of the year, is a complete round robin of seven 16-board matches followed by a single match with opponents determined on the Swiss basis. Thus, the final match will always pit the two leading teams against each other. The remainder of the field would play an eight-round Swiss in Group B. 

Just one bidding problem for you this week. With neither side vulnerable, you are West holding: 

What action, if any, do you take?  

We join the action on the first deal of Round 1, which generated a swing in all four Group A matches. 

Emile Schols effectively opened a weak two in diamonds for the Dutch, but the South African pair brushed aside such a minor irritation to reach slam in double-quick time. Hennie Fick won the opening diamond lead with the ace, crossed to the ♥J, and ran the ♠J successfully. A spade to the queen disclosed the bad break, but declarer was in control. He just ran dummy’s heart winners, pitching clubs from his hand. South could ruff at any point, but that would be the only trick for the defence: E/W +980. 

North did not open at the other table, so MACAVITY’s Belgian contingent had the auction to themselves: 

Although Dennis Dewit has a huge hand, where do you think you should be playing opposite a weak hand with 4+♠/6♣? Without the momentum injected by North’s pre-empt, the Belgian auction understandably stalled in 3NT. E/W +460 and 11 IMPs to FREDIN. 

Perhaps you don’t like West’s 1♥ opening bid in the Belgian auction?  

Jacek Pszczola opened with a strong/artificial 2♣ and Marty Seligman made a positive response, showing a good club suit. Pszczola bid his strong six-card suit and Seligman showed his second suit but, here too, the auction ended in 3NT. Reaching slam is not as easy, perhaps, as it might seem: E/W +490. 

At the other table in this match, the Poles also took advantage of a weak two opening, although not by North: 

At this all-Polish table, Anna Sarniak got the ball rolling for the Mixed team with a 2♠ opening, showing a weak hand with spades and a minor. Marciej Kolarz was never going to stop short of slam now. Wlodek Starkowski opened the ♣K, but Sarniak found a line of play that catered for just about any layout. She ruffed in dummy with the ♠Q, then continued with the ♠A and a second round of trumps. Starkowski won with the ♠K and switched to diamonds, but declarer rose with the ♦A, ruffed a diamond to hand and drew the remaining trumps to leave dummy with just winning hearts. E/W +980 and 10 IMPs to BRIDGE24.PL MIXED.  

FREDIN scored the biggest win of Round 1, 41-10 over MACAVITY, to head the table at this early stage. Wins, too, for SELIGMAN, ULI and LEBOWITZ. 

In Round 2, Board 3 produced a major swing in all four Group A matches.  

Michal Kwiecien first represented Poland in 1992, winning the European Junior Teams. He won the Open Pairs playing with Jacek Pszczola at the 1998 World Championships in Lille, and made his debut in the Polish Open team the following year. He collected a silver medal at the 2000 Olympiad and a bronze from the Rosenblum Cup at the 2002 World Championships. He won the Senior Teams at the 2018 World Bridge Series in Orlando and was a member of the winning Polish team in the 2022 d’Orsi Trophy, the Seniors event in Salsomaggiore. 

Wlodek Starkowski opened a natural, Precision-style 2♣ and subsequently showed 4-6 in the rounded suits. Kwiecien agreed clubs, discovered that his partner held the ♥K, and then settled for the small slam when Blackwood revealed that one of the top clubs was missing.  

Starkowski won the diamond lead in dummy, played two rounds of spades to pitch the diamond loser from his hand, and then ran the ♣J. Four rounds of trumps picked up East’s holding in that suit and, although declarer subsequently misguessed in hearts, he had twelve tricks. N/S +920. 

For the young Canadians, Daniel Lavee started with 1♣ and hearts were quickly agreed. Jacek Pszczola overcalled 2♠ on the West hand, but Jacob Freeman soon established a cue-bidding sequence that led to slam in the major. Pszczola doubled 6♥ for the lead and Marty Seligman obliged with the ♣6. Declarer played low from dummy and Pszczola ruffed. Freeman won the diamond switch with the ace and pitched dummy’s diamond loser on a high spade before setting about trumps. Here, finding the ♥Q was critical and, when declarer guessed wrong, he was one down. N/S -100 and 14 IMPs to SELIGMAN, who won the match 56-16 to move to the top of the table after two rounds. 

In the other match between teams that won in Round 1, Schuster/Primavera also reached 6♥-X for ULI. At that table, too, West ruffed the opening club lead and returned a diamond. When declarer then played on trumps and misguessed without first discarding dummy’s diamond loser, the defenders were able to score the ♦K for an extra undertrick: N/S -300. 

After the same natural start had uncovered the heart fit at the two level, Neville Eber’s jump to 6♣ briefly got the South Africans to the impregnable slam. With four-card heart support, Hennie Fick ‘corrected’ to hearts and Gabriele Zanasi made a Lightner double on the East cards. Eber had what he thought was the perfect answer to the impending ruff, though, and converted to 6NT.  

With the club suit producing six tricks, declarer has 12 tricks without making a third heart, so Eber was under no pressure. He got the hearts wrong, but that was still N/S +990 and 15 IMPs to FREDIN. It was the Austrians who had the last laugh here, though, winning the match 52-26 to move above the Swedes into second place in the table. 

In Round 3, the leaders faced off against the dangerous SCORWAY (Scotland, Norway, USA). However, a missed chance at one table and a misunderstanding at the other handed the leaders a dream start… 

It is amazing how often there is confusion when auctions start 1any-Double-Redouble. The old-fashioned idea was that redouble essentially showed any hand with 10+ HCP and all other bids showed less and were non-forcing, including changes of suit. Modern theory suggests that a better approach is for responder to simply bid what he would have bid had his RHO passed, essentially ignoring the double (although after a major-suit opening you may also choose to play transfers after a takeout double). What this means, though, is that a redouble can now be assigned a specific meaning – fairly short in opener’s suit and an active interest in doubling at least two of the opponents’ suits. You can see that the South hand here is perfect for this treatment – short in spades and certainly interested in doubling either red suit.  

North/South missed a big chance here: after West’s 2♣ bid, they had their opponents on toast, with a substantial penalty available whichever suit East/West chose as trumps. Playing redouble as specifically seeking a penalty, it would surely be obvious for Steve Levinson to double West’s 2♣ bid. A double by opener should say nothing about extra strength, but simply show some club length. It says to partner, if you can double either red suit, I think we should be defending.  

After Levinson’s pass, what could Barnet Shenkin do when 2♣ ran around to him? He could hardly double on a doubleton king but, of course, his 2♥ bid let the fish off the hook. The pseudo-Scottish pair then fumbled around, looking for a fit, before eventually landing in the poor 3NT, which Jacek Pszczola doubled to add insult to injury. 

Any lead that Marty Seligman chose would be good news for declarer, and the ♣10 enabled him to win with the ♣K and play a second round of the suit, forcing Pszczola to split his honours. Declarer now had four club tricks to go with his two top spades. A heart to the ace and the ♦Q, covered, gave the defenders three diamond tricks, one heart and one club. With no entry to dummy, declarer still had to lose a spade at the end: N/S -300. 

At the other table, Scotland’s Derek Diamond was faced with this week’s only bidding problem: 

Unlike his counterpart at the other table, Brian Spears understandably did not double North’s 1♠ opening. Starkowski responded with a forcing 1NT and Kwiecien rebid 2♣, alerted as showing 2+♣. Now, Spears doubled and Starkowski advanced with 2♥, leaving Derek Diamond with a decision. What did his partner’s double of 2♣ show? 

Yes, 2♣ might be bid on only a doubleton, when opener is exactly 5-3-3-2 shape, but most of the time he will hold clubs. It seems to me that a double of a bid which is ostensibly natural should be taken as meaning exactly the same as it would be if the bid had not been alerted – ie. East has both red suits. That was certainly Spears’ intention. However, Diamond decided that the double showed clubs, hence his competitive 3♣ bid. This development did not pose a bidding problem for Michal Kwiecien, who was no doubt delighted to double and defend with five trumps in his hand, rather than putting down a dummy containing only a singleton trump.  

With their teammates collecting +300 at the other table, the Poles would have gained a small swing whether 2♥ made or went one or two down. Defending 3♣-X magnified the importance of this first deal of the match enormously. Declarer managed to make just four tricks: N/S -1100 and a massive 16 IMPs to SELIGMAN on Board 1. They would go on to collect a near maximum with victory by 70-13, consolidating their place at the top of the leader-board.  

Elsewhere, ULI also scored a big win, 62-20 over CANTOR, opening a significant gap between the top two and the rest of the field. The leaders continued their excellent start with another big win in Round 4, against FREDIN, but the Swedes could certainly consider themselves unlucky on our last deal this week. 

Jacek Pszczola opened with a strong/artificial 2♣ and Marty Seligman gave a positive response, showing a good club suit. All well and good so far. Pszczola now introduced his hearts and Seligman bid his second suit. Seligman clearly intended 3♠ as natural, but Pszczola’s failure to raise/support spades at any point suggests that he thought it might be control-showing. Pszczola tried to uncover the conundrum with a 4♦ cue-bid, but Seligman’s 5♣ didn’t tell him much, so he simply raised to slam in his partner’s long suit. 

Declarer won the diamond lead, cashed the ♣A-K, then played two top hearts to pitch dummy’s diamond loser. He then claimed twelve tricks, just conceding the ♣Q: E/W +920. 

Alon Apteker waited with 2♦ and then showed his clubs at his second turn. When Peter Fredin then introduced spades, Apteker showed a good raise with an artificial 4♦. With a minimum for his initial 2♣ opening, Fredin signed off, but Apteker continued with Blackwood and jumped to the grand slam when he found all the key cards present. 

Fredin won the diamond led and drew trumps in three rounds. With the trumps breaking, the grand slam was an excellent proposition. Fredin crossed to the ♣A and cashed the ♣K, ready to claim if both defenders followed or North discarded. Only when South showed up with a singleton club was declarer unable to set the club suit up with a ruff. That left Fredin needing five tricks from the heart suit. The odds on the jack falling doubleton or tripleton are obviously less than 50%, so Fredin went with the odds and played a heart to the ten. North produced the ♥J and cashed a diamond for two down: E/W -100 and a fortunate 14 IMPs to SELIGMAN. 

In a close match between ULI and MACAVITY, the Belgians bid to 7♠ for MACAVITY. Emiel Vandewiele followed the same line as Fredin and thus also went two down. This resulted in 17 IMPs to ULI when their declarer in the same contract won the diamond lead, drew trumps and then played hearts from the top before testing clubs: an inferior but, sadly, more effective line. 

At the midway point, with four matches played, these were the standings: 

Elsewhere, AMATEURS had opened a sizeable lead at the top of Group B ahead of two English teams, JUPITER and JEDI KNIGHTS. 

We will be back next week with the best of the action from the remaining four rounds of this second heat of Alt-22. 

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