Marc Smith visits the French Interclub Championship Final.

We return to the national final of Division 1 of the French Interclub Championship to see the best of the action from the last two rounds. The team representing Bridge Club de Marle, captained by Philippe Caralp, are based in the Champagne region in the northeast of the country. Their team consists of three players from Reims and three from the nearby city of Lille. They started with a 20-0 victory in Round 1, and have so far won all six of their matches to lead the field throughout. This week, we will see both of their final matches as two contenders attempt to knock them off their perch at Table 1.

As usual, though, we begin with a couple of problems for you to consider. Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you are East holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with both sides again vulnerable, you hold in the North seat:

What do you bid?

In Round 7, the leaders met the team representing La Bridgerie, captained by Eric Gautret.

Marc Mus passed initially but then came in with a diamond overcall at his second turn. Eric Gautret’s delayed spade bid presumably implied some diamond support, so Mus might have competed to the four-level, although the defenders can hold him to nine tricks by leading trumps. Taking his chances on defence, Mus led the ♦2 against 3♥.

Léo Rombaut (left) is the rising young star of French bridge. He was a member of the national team that collected bronze medals from the Under-16 Teams at the 2017 European Championships and then silver at the World Championships a year later. Rombaut then completed his set by winning the Under-21 Teams at the 2022 World Youth Championships. On this deal, Rombaut ruffed the second round of diamonds in dummy and led a low trump to his king. He ran the ♣9 successfully, then repeated the finesse, South ruffing. Gautret exited with the ♥J, but Rombaut won in dummy with the ace and advanced the ♠J. North won with the ♠K and returned a club for his partner to ruff, but that was the fourth and final trick for the defence. E/W +140.

Hubert Goubet’s 3♦ opening made life much more difficult for East/West in the replay. Regis Lesguillier (right) became a European champion a decade before Léo Rombaut was even born (he won the Mixed Teams at the 1990 European Championships on home soil in Bordeaux). He got into the auction with a takeout double and Philippe Caralp upped the pre-empt to the four level. Jean Loius Sinegre’s responsive double then left Lesguillier with the first of this week’s bidding problems. 

Pass and lead the ♦K would have won the board, but that is hardly the obvious choice and Lesguillier’s 4♥ bid seems eminently reasonable.

Here, too, the defence began with two rounds of diamonds. Lesguillier ruffed and started trumps by cashing the ace from his hand, then played a second round and ducked when South put in the ten. Caralp’s club exit was covered by jack, king and ace, and declarer led and ran the ♥9. Lesguillier then played a club, ruffed by Caralp, who forced dummy’s last trump with a third round of diamonds. Two rounds of clubs now put declarer back in hand to lead a spade. When Caralp followed low, declarer was at the crossroads. If South held both missing spade honours, he could make his game by playing the ♠10 from dummy. North had already shown up with the ♦Q, ♥Q and ♣K, surely enough for his 3♦ opening. Of course, Lesguillier called for the ♠10 from dummy: but North won with the bare ♠K and claimed the last two tricks with winning diamonds. E/W -300 and 10 IMPs to CARALP.

The Great Dealer chose to punish any E/W pair who bid to the good game on the next deal. 

I fundamentally disagree with West’s bidding on this deal, but I recognize that many players would bid exactly as Jean Louis Sinegre did. (For me, the auction is much more flexible if you start with a 2♦ overcall and then back in with a double to show extra values at your next turn.) Be that as it may, Lesguillier judged well to raise on his meagre collection and the excellent game was duly reached. 

Of course, the freakish distribution means that North can defeat the contract with a spade lead, but Hubert Goubet had no reason to lead anything but the ♥10 after his partner had bid the suit twice. There is more than one way to skin a cat, though, and the defenders can still legitimately beat the contract after this start, as South can win with the ♥A and play a second round of hearts. When he subsequently gets in with the ♦A a third round of hearts will then promote North’s ♦Q. 

When Caralp instead switched to a club after winning the ♥A, a clairvoyant declarer could make the contract by playing a low trump at trick three. The Great Dealer was not content with making the bidding difficult, he also made the play impossible. Of course, Sinegre won the club switch and wanted to lead trumps towards his hand, so he tried to get to dummy with the ♠K. Carlap ruffed with the ♦A and now the ♦Q had once again been promoted into the setting trick. Bridge can be a cruel game: a very unlucky E/W -100.

Would the Rombauts bid equally well to flatten the board in the replay?

They were not really given the opportunity: Eric Gautret’s 4♥ opening left Léo Rombaut with little choice but to double. With what looks like a fairly worthless hand, Jérôme Rombaut had no reason to think his side would find it easier to make 11 tricks rather than four.

Léo started with a high club and switched to the ♥K at trick two. That was both good and bad news for declarer. So, too, was it when West won the second round of clubs and had no second heart to play. Declarer ruffed the spade switch and could now ruff a club in dummy, but East still had one club winner and a trump trick to come. Who would have imagined that East hand producing two defensive tricks? E/W +200 and another 7 IMPs to CARALP, who recorded their seventh consecutive win, 45-11. 

The large margin of victory in this match meant that CARALP had almost won the event with a match to spare. They were 19 VPs ahead of the field, so anything but a huge loss in their final match and the second-placed team winning with a blitz would see them crowned winners.

The final opponent for the leaders was the team representing Bridge Club Garches Vaucresson, captained by Hilda Setton. On the opening deal, both West players declared 3NT after identical auctions:

At both tables, North led the ♠3, South winning with the ace and returning the ♠9, covered by the queen. Here the play diverged.

For SETTON, Pierre Franceschetti withheld his king. Léo Rombaut chose to cross to dummy with a high club and play diamonds from the top, playing for either a 3-3 break or a doubleton honour. No dice! Franceschetti won, cashed his second diamond winner, then exited with a heart. When Rombaut allowed dummy’s king to win, his goose was cooked. He could cash the thirteenth diamond but then had to surrender a trick to North’s ♣Q. With declarer having discarded a spade from his hand, North could now cash two winners in that suit. E/W -100. (Had declarer overtaken the ♥K with the ace, he could still have made the contract via a successful club finesse.)

At the other table, Karim Chraibi won with the ♠K at trick two, and exited with a heart. Cedric Lorenzini (left) won with the ♥K and immediately played three rounds of clubs, North winning with the ♣Q. 

Chraibi exited with the ♦Q to dummy’s king, and declarer cashed his two club winners. When he then played a low diamond from dummy, North won with the ♦J but had only a choice of poisons. Playing a diamond would give the last three tricks to dummy, but a major-suit exit allowed declarer to win with the ♠J and ♥A-Q. E/W +400 and 11 IMPs to SETTON.

Late in the match, with SETTON ahead 19-11, both North players had to deal with the last of this week’s bidding problems. To me, the principle of raising with support makes starting with a Jacoby 2NT obvious (as the hand is too strong for a 4♣ splinter). At the table, though, neither player chose that option. Let’s see how their choices worked out.

With weak hearts and a singleton in partner’s spade suit, it would be difficult to get South enthusiastic about slam chances after this start. The problem was further compounded by North’s jump to 4♥ over 2NT. Perhaps the partnership plays fourth-suit as forcing only to 2NT (rather than to game) and thus a 3♥ continuation would show only invitational values. If forcing, does 3♥ not look like the obvious continuation? The root of the problem, though, is the 1♠ response IMHO. With trumps breaking 2-2, there were 13 easy tricks: N/S +710.

There were no alerts, so it would appear that Franceschetti’s 2♦ response was ostensibly natural and game-forcing. Setton raised the diamonds, then cue-bid her spade control over 3♥, which was all Franceschetti needed to enable him to Blackwood to the small slam. So, whilst not exactly getting the job done, the 2♦ response was effective enough: N/S +1460 and 13 IMPs to SETTON.

SETTON win the match 32-11, but that was not nearly enough to dislodge the leaders’ grip on the title. The only effect was to make the final result look a little closer than it really was. This was how the top of the leader-board looked at the end:

Congratulations to the Bridge Clue de Marle team: Philippe Caralp, Jérôme & Léo Rombaut, Karim Chraibi, Ricardo Salvador and Hubert Goubet. Speaking to Jérôme afterwards, he said that the team was looking forward to the third half of the event, the champagne celebration in Reims.

We will be back next week with the highlights of the Interstate National Bridge Championship from India. Following that, we will be returning to France to see the best of the action from the opening weekend of Division 1 of the French Premier League.