Last week, we saw the highlights from the opening day’s play in the national final of Division 1 of the French Interclub championship. After the first four matches, the top of the leader-board looked like this:

As usual, we begin with a couple of problems for you to consider. Firstly, with neither side vulnerable, you are West holding:

What do you bid?

Next, with only your side vulnerable, you hold in the West seat:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, a lead problem. With both sides vulnerable, you are sitting South and hear the following auction:

What do you lead?

The BBO VuGraph match for Round 5 featured B.C. Of Saintes captained by Pascal Gombert against B.C. Rennais, led by Dominque Bretange. The action began with both West players facing the first of this week’s bidding problems whilst many kibitzers were still getting coffee and finding their seats. 

With a decent suit and 13 HCP facing a better-than-minimum opening bid, how enthusiastic are you about this West hand? Deterred by the void in his partner’s first suit, Jean Marc Huiban decided it was worth a raise only to game. Two club ruffs in dummy gave declarer 13 tricks: E/W +510.

After the same start, Olivier Desages (left) took a more optimistic view and advanced with a 4♣ cue-bid. He was rewarded when he then heard 4♥ from Sam Bahbout. Not only did this show a heart control, but it denied one in diamonds, so Desages could safely use RKCB despite holding a void, as he knew his partner did not hold the ♦A.

The 5♥ response confirmed possession of all the relevant key cards and Desages now made a grand slam try with 5NT. Bahbout’s 6♣ showed the king of clubs. Could Desages have now asked for the ♥K with 6♥? 

North led a trump against 6♠. Desages won cheaply in hand, crossed to the ♣K, and returned to his hand with a second round of trumps. A club ruff, a diamond ruff, and a second club ruff then enabled him to claim all 13 tricks. E/W +1010 and 11 IMPs to GOMBERT on the opening board of the match.

 Two boards later, the respective West players were again in the spotlight, faced with the second of the bidding problems posed at the top of this article.

Jean Marc Huiban had a tricky decision. Should you bid no-trumps and, if so, how many? Should you instead raise spades and, if so, should you do so via a strength-showing cue-bid? Once again, Huiban took a conservative approach, simply raising to 2♠. Philippe Roger was not tempted to take another bid on the East hand, so the pair from Bridge Club Rennais played peacefully in a partscore. E/W +200.

It is said that fortune favours the brave, but it also helps to have a prevailing wind behind you. Olivier Desages opted to advance with a not-particularly-encouraging 1NT, but he was given a second bite of the cherry when Sam Bahbout (right) retreated to 2♠. Reassessing his hand, Desages grasped the nettle and raised to game.

Sam Bahbout was a regular member of the Belgian junior team from 2011 until 2017. He made his debut in his country’s Open team in 2016. Playing in 4♠, he won the opening heart lead in hand with the ace and immediately played a club to the ten. He then cashed the ♣A and ♥K, pitched a club on the ♦A, and cross-ruffed his way to 11 tricks, losing just two trumps. E/W +650 and 10 IMPs to GOMBERT. 

Both teams had a chance to gain the advantage on a tricky play and defensive deal midway through the match.

Only an opening heart lead legitimately defeats 4♠, but that would not be the first choice of many. With neither major looking attractive after this unrevealing auction, Desages duly kicked off with what looks like a normal low club. 

Patrice Fouillet captured East’s ♣Q with the ace and started trumps by cashing the ♠Q and then playing low to dummy’s king, revealing a loser in that suit. Declarer can still make the contract by crossing back to the ♠A and playing a club to the ten. When, instead, Fouillet tried to cash the ♦A, the roof fell in: West ruffed, played a heart to his partner’s king, received a second diamond ruff, and cashed the ♥A for one down. N/S -100.

The contract was the same in the replay, but the bidding had been much more revealing and Jean Marc Huiban duly began the defence with the ♥A and a second heart to his partner’s king. Philippe Roger switched accurately to a diamond at trick three, declarer putting up the king and Huiban ruffing. How should West continue?

If West exits with a trump, declarer eventually runs out of steam and falls a trick short. When Huiban instead switched to a club, declarer was in with a chance, and South was not a player to whom one wants to give chances. Sylvia Gombert (left), perhaps better known around the international bridge world as Sylvia Willard, has ten European titles to her name and was a member of three French Venice Cup winning teams.  

Gombert captured East’s ♣Q with her ace, drew two rounds of trumps with the ace and queen, and then played a club to dummy’s ten. After ruffing a club, dummy was now high, so she returned to dummy with a third round of trumps and claimed the rest. N/S +620 and another 12 IMPs to GOMBERT, who won the match impressively by a score of 64-5.

After that big win, the team from Bridge Club Of Saintes remained on VuGraph for Round 6, this time to take on the overnight leaders, Bridge Club de Marle, captained by Philippe Caralp. The match was close throughout, with CARALP leading 19-18 going into the final few deals. 

With North having bid the suit, Leo Rombaut had no problem identifying the ♦K as the right opening lead. Jerome Rombaut overtook with the ♦A and cashed the ♦Q. A third round of diamonds would have allowed South to force dummy to ruff with the ♠Q, generating a trick for North’s ♠J. When North instead switched to his singleton club, declarer was able to take advantage of the 3-3 trump split to register an overtrick. E/W +650.

That looks like a normal-enough result. The fate of the match, though, was to lie in the hands of the South player at the other table, who faced the opening lead problem posed earlier. 

Here, North did not brave the three-level, vulnerable against opponents already in a game-forcing auction, so Karim Chraibi was able to show his second suit at the three-level. Ricardo Salvador’s raise to 4♣ quickly agreed the suit. It seems that Chraibi was intending to bid slam anyway, so he perhaps missed the chance to make a Zia-style, lead-inhibiting 4♦ cue-bid, on the way. As it turned out, the diamond lead was not so easy for South to find anyway. 

When Olivier Desages led a trump against 6♣, it was easy enough for declarer to draw a second round, unblock the ♠Q, return to hand with a third round of trumps, and ruff a spade. Dummy’s high hearts took care of declarer’s red cards, leaving him with only winners in his hand. E/W +1390 and a match-winning 13 IMPs to CARALP. 

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