This is our last visit to the TGR club for the final stage of the trials to select England’s representatives in the Seniors Teams at the European Championships in Herning, Denmark this summer. The two teams in this final are MOSSOP (David Mossop, Gunnar Hallberg, John Holland and Alan Mould) and WARD (Trevor Ward, Rob Cliffe, Pat Shields and Richard Chamberlain).

The format of the final is a 112-board match divided into eight 14-board stanzas. When we left things after out last visit, MOSSOP led by 31 IMPs (164-133) early in the penultimate stanza.

As usual, we start with a couple of problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are East holding:

What do you bid?

Next, with only your opponents vulnerable, you are sitting in the East seat with:

What do you bid?

While you consider those, we begin midway through the seventh stanza with a rather strange deal.

What a very unusual auction. It is rare to see a pair pass throughout the first three rounds of bidding, and then suddenly wake up and bid game, but that is what happened here.

Richard Chamberlain opened the 11-count and showed a weak no-trump hand type with three hearts after Pat Shields’ transfer. Having found that his side had only a seven-card heart fit, Shields then used XYZ to manoeuvre the partnership into a diamond partial. Just as it seemed the auction was about to end, Gunnar Hallberg (left) backed in on his skinny spade suit, and quickly thereafter found himself in game. And, 4♠ was not a bad contract either: There were two aces to lose, so declarer had only to negotiate the black suits for one more loser.

Hallberg won the opening heart lead in dummy and cashed a high trump, the ♠10 dropping from East. He then crossed to the ♥A and took the spade finesse, losing to East’s queen. East forced declarer with a heart, but the club position was fairly well marked now by West’s opening bid and his failure to lead a top diamond at trick one. Leading twice towards dummy restricted Chamberlain to just one club trick: N/S +420.

If that was a strange auction, the other table produced one that seems equally unlikely…

We have seen earlier in the match that John Holland (right) is a very sound bidder, so it was no great surprise that he did not open the balanced 11-count in first chair. That left Trevor Ward to kick things off. Most Precision-type systems allow a 1♦ opening on a singleton to cater precisely for the 4-4-1-4 shape. Thus, 2♣ shows at least a five-card suit. In the Ward/Cliffe version of Strong Club, they play that a 1♦ opening guarantees at least two diamonds, and thus the 4-4-1-4 hands are incorporated into the 2♣ opening, hence Ward’s strange-looking opening bid. Perhaps they may want to rethink that after this result, as no one else had anything to contribute.

Ward did manage to make 11 tricks in his lowly partscore: N/S +150 but 7 IMPs to MOSSOP.

Cliffe opened a Precision-type 1♦ and Holland showed both majors via a Michaels cue-bid. North’s double then left Alan Mould (left) with the first of this week’s problems. With the king in both of his partner’s suits, is a free 2♠ bid enough on this East hand? Mould thought so, but Holland was not galvanized to bid again, so perhaps it isn’t. I’ll leave you to judge.

Cliffe did not have an attractive hand from which to lead. Even so, his choice of a low trump from Q-x-x does seem somewhat eccentric. Not that any opening would have held declarer to less than ten tricks. Mould won in dummy with the ♠J and played three rounds of hearts, ruffing low, which enabled Cliffe to score his ♠Q with an overruff. However, the defenders could score no more than the two minor-suit aces from here: E/W +170.

Hallberg upgraded his hand to a 1NT opening. Although there are no alerts or explanations in the VuGraph records, it looks like 2♣ showed majors and Pat Shields’ 2♦ was some sort of inquiry. Richard Chamberlain (right) jumped to 3♥ and Shields raised to game.

The defence began with a diamond to the ten and jack, and the ♦A ruffed by declarer. Two top hearts left the defence with a trump winner, but Chamberlain was not hard-pressed to pick up the spades for no loser after South’s opening bid. E/W +620 and 10 IMPs to WARD.

WARD won the seventh stanza 35-30, so they went into the final set of 14 boards trailing by just 10 IMPs, 167-177. Still anyone’s game. The second deal of the set added to the MOSSOP comfort blanket…

I suppose it is a matter of style. Personally, I think it is clear for West to raise to 2♠ at his second turn, but Ward preferred to rebid his diamonds. That left Rob Cliffe (left) with the second of this week’s problems. Perhaps Cliffe’s jump to 3NT is the pragmatic choice, but an alternative approach would have worked better opposite this West hand.

Not that 3NT was a completely hopeless contract, but it was not destined to succeed on the layout at the table. For a start, Hallberg had an obvious club lead, and North had been dealt the ♣K. Even if the diamonds came in for six tricks, declarer would still need to find the ♠K onside. That plan did not make it past first base and, with diamonds breaking 4-1, Cliffe’s goose was quickly cooked. E/W -100.

In the replay, Pat Shields (right) came in with a thin 1♥ overcall, which had the effect of simplifying things considerably for his opponents. Now Alan Mould’s 1♠ bid promised at least a five-card suit, so John Holland had no reason to do anything but raise spades.

The defence began with two rounds of hearts, declarer winning in dummy to run the ♠Q. Cliffe won with the ♠K and switched to clubs, but Mould won with the ♣A, ruffed a club, and cashed the ♠J. A diamond to the king enabled declarer to draw the last trump. Mould lost a club at the end, but that was still E/W +420 and 11 IMPs to MOSSOP.

Four boards into the final set, MOSSOP’s lead had mushroomed to 28 IMPs. We conclude with the deal that provided the final nail in the WARD coffin. Aggressive pre-empting at one table combined with a touch of timidity at the other rather summed up the whole match…

Richard Chamberlain was allowed to open in fourth seat. Pat Shields’ decision to pass 1♠ was entirely in keeping with the partnership’s tendency to take the conservative approach that has been evident throughout this match. I certainly cannot argue that raising on this fairly awful North hand will often lead to partner bidding too much but, on this layout, it proved disastrous. South’s singleton was in the right minor and spades broke 3-2, so Chamberlain had an easy ten tricks in his lowly 1♠ contract. Indeed, he even managed to slip and overtrick through: N/S +200.

Who knows? Perhaps, left to their own devices, N/S here would have duplicated the auction at the other table. However, Cliffe’s third-seat weak two opening gave Gunnar Hallberg yet another opportunity to take the optimistic view, and he employed Leaping Michaels to show his strong two-suited hand. David Mossop (left) had been dealt the perfect hand to justify his partner’s bidding and they had arrived in yet another ideal contract.

There was nothing to the play and Mossop was soon claiming his ten tricks. N/S +620 and another 9 IMPs to MOSSOP.

MOSSOP won the final stanza 33-9 and the match by 34 IMPs, 210-176. Congratulations to David Mossop, Gunnar Hallberg, Alan Mould and John Holland. Good luck in Denmark this summer.

The European Winter Transnational Championships start in a few days at a venue that will be familiar to any fans of the Tour de France, the famous Alpe d’Huez. However, we just have time for a quick trip across the Atlantic Ocean to bring you the highlights from the 2024 South American Zonal Championships before heading up into the French Alps.