This week we are in the historic ‘Pink City’ of Jaipur, home to more than 3 million people and the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan. We are here for the 64^th Winter National Bridge Championships and, specifically, to see the best of the action from the final of the Ashok Ruia Gold Teams of Four. 

The format of the final is a 56-board match played over four 14-board stanzas. The two teams are FORMIDABLES, perhaps the best-known Indian team on the international circuit, against HEMA DEORA, the latter starting with a 7-IMP carry-forward advantage from the qualifying rounds.

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are South holding:

What action, if any, do you take? 

Next, again with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting West with:

South’s 2♦ opening shows a weak two opening in one of the majors and North’s jump to 3♥ is willing to play at the three-level in whichever major opener holds. What action, if any, do you take?

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

What action, if any, do you take?

While you mull those over, we start with an early board in the opening set. The timing of the auction was crucial to the outcome on this deal:

Dhruba decided to treat his moderate seven-card suit as a weak two, so he opened with a Multi 2♦ and Sandeep Thakral’s 2♠ overcall on the North cards was the equivalent of a takeout double of hearts. East bided his time, and Jaggy Shivdasani showed an invitational hand with spades. Thakral accepted the game try and now Podder came to life with 5♥. South felt he had nothing more to say and Thakral closed the auction with a double. This was well-judged by Podder as there were just three aces to lose in 5♥-X: N/S +200.

Rajeshwar Tewari was not ashamed of his hand and pre-empted to the maximum, but his 3♥ opening completely changed the timing of the auction. Rana Roy doubled on the North cards and Bhabeh competed to 4♠ over East’s heart raise. Keyzad also bid 5♥, as had East at the first table, but Bhabesh thought he still had something to spare, so he bid on to 5♠ on the South hand. 

Could Tewari find the trump lead needed to defeat this contract? No, he opened the ♥K and declarer ruffed in dummy. Next came the ♣A and a club ruffed with the ♠7. West’s discard was perhaps something of a surprise for declarer, but Tewari could not find the ♠8 amongst his trumps. Taking advantage of this favourable development, declarer was able to take two more heart ruffs in dummy. Six trumps in hand, three ruffs in dummy and two minor-suit aces added up to eleven: N/S +650 and 10 IMPs to HEMA DEORA. 

However, FORMIDABLES rallied after this early setback and won the first set 47-24. That gave them a lead of 16 IMPs (47-31) once the opponents’ carry-forward advantage had been added. There was only one swing of any note in the second stanza, and it came on the very first deal.

Rana Roy (left) was a member of the Indian Open team at the both the 2004 Olympiad in Istanbul and the 2015 Bermuda Bowl when it was staged on home soil in Chennai. Hands like the North one on this deal are regularly posed as problems in Bidding Challenges and, unless you have a systemic method for showing strong hands with both three hearts and six diamonds, there is no ideal solution. Roy’s answer was to hope either that his partner would hold at least five hearts, or that Bhabesh would handle the play masterfully in a Moysian fit.

Like all good partners, Bhabesh obliged by holding the right hand to justify his partner’s bidding. The defenders led a spade to the ace and switched to the ♣K. With hearts splitting 3-2, the defenders could cash a club when they got in with the ace of trumps, but that was their lot. N/S +620.

Rajeshwar Tewari (right) made his debut in the Indian Open team at the 1992 Olympiad and is one of the country’s most experience campaigners. He was a member of the Indian team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2005 Bermuda Bowl and, playing with an Indian-American team, he collected a bronze medal in the Open Teams at the 2009 European Transnational Championships. He has been a regular member of the FORMIDABLES team since 2014. Tewari has twice reached the final of the World Open Pairs, finishing thirteenth in Philadelphia in 2010 and eight in Wroclaw earlier this year.

On this deal, he was faced with the first of this week’s bidding problems after East had doubled his partner’s third-seat 1♦ opening. Passing is certainly one option, vulnerable on this junk. Another alternative is to bid that motley heart suit despite East suggesting he has length in it. Tewari opted for the middle-ground third choice, showing a weak hand with some diamond support via a simple raise to 2♦. West competed with 2♠ and North now made a takeout double. Should Tewari retreat to the relative safety of 3♦, introduce his hearts at this late stage, or show his spade stopper with 2NT? Tewari opted for the latter and Keyzad duly raised to game.

The defence started with a spade to the ace and the ♠Q, squashing dummy’s jack. Tewari held up the king until the third round of hearts but, against the odds after East’s takeout double, it was West who showed up with the ♥A. A rather unfortunate E/W -100 and 12 IMPs to HEMA DEORA.

After that opening deal, FORMIDABLES blanked their opponents for the rest of the stanza, but there was little in the other deals on which to gain IMPs either, and the set finished 12-10 in favour of HEMA DEORA. FORMIDABLES thus led by 14 IMPs (57-43) at the midway point of the final.

The third stanza was mostly flat, but there was the occasional explosion. West on our next deal holds 20 HCP. At one table, the opponents’ bidding warned him to tread carefully:

Jaggy Shivdasani (left) is perhaps India’s best-known player. He made his debut in the Indian Open team at the 1984 Olympiad and four year later he collected a bronze medal at the same event. He has been a regular member of the FORMIDABLES since 2016. Shivdasani has also enjoyed success at matchpoints, making it to the final of the World Open Pairs four times with four different partners, and finishing eighth in Verona in 2006 in partnership with America’s Win Allegaert.  

Holding 20 HCP and a strong suit on this deal, you may think it rather timid to settle for a simple overcall at your first turn and then pass thereafter. But, what sensible alternatives are there to 2♦ on the first round? Holding only a doubleton in the suit partner is likely to choose, are you willing to risk a takeout double after the opponents have bid two suits? When the bidding came back to him for a second time, Shivdasani wisely heeded the warnings given to him by his opponents. With both opponents bidding, can partner really hold much of value? Have the opponents found a fit? With ‘No’ the answer to both questions, does it seem right to bid again? 

On this layout, E/W can make eight tricks in either red suit, but nothing more. The only plus score available at this point was therefore to pass and defend 2♠, which is exactly what Shivdasani did. Well judged. The legitimate defence to defeat 2♠ is for West to play four rounds of diamonds, East ruffing away declarer’s potential winner in the suit. The defenders will then end up with three diamonds, two clubs and one heart for a one-trick set.

Shivdasani started with a high diamond but then switched to a trump at trick two. Bhabesh drew three rounds of trumps and then played the ♦9 from his hand, Shivdasami winning and returning the ♣8. When declarer played low, East won with the ♣10 and could then have beaten the contract by two with a heart return. When he played back a club, the defence had three tricks in each minor but could no longer make a heart trick. Had declarer risen with the queen on the first round of clubs, he would have been home: playing the ♦J then allows West to take his five minor-suit tricks but he then surrenders declarer’s eighth trick whichever red suit he plays. N/S -50

At the other table, the opponents were less gratuitous with information, and thus West faced the second of this week’s bidding problems.

Satya’s opening pass created a completely different scenario. Kiran Nadar opened with a Multi 2♦ in third seat and Dhruba doubled on the big hand. Satya’s jump to 3♥ then showed a willingness to play at the three-level in opener’s major, and Kiran duly revealed her suit, leaving Dhruba with the bidding problem posed earlier.

We have already seen that passing is the winning option, and accurate defence to 3♠ would then have led to a 2-IMP gain for HEMA DEORA. When Dhruba doubled for a second time, though, his side were in trouble. It is obviously asking far too much to expect Podder to pass his partner’s takeout double of 3♠ with that East hand, and he responded with the obvious 4♥, Dhruba did not fancy that game and he at last introduced his own strong suit at the five-level. Satya was apparently convinced that his opponents had much better hands than was actually the case, as he failed to double. Thus, it was that N/S allowed the chance to take a 1400 penalty slip past them. However, with their teammates avoiding a minus score at the other table, any sizeable plus would produce a significant swing: N/S +500 and 11 IMPs to FORMIDABLES.

Just a couple of boards later, both North players had to deal with the last of this week’s problem hands.

Jaggy Shivdasani came in with a 4♠ overcall on the West cards, and no one had anything further to say. The defenders had two aces to cash, but declarer was soon claiming eleven tricks: E/W +650.

Bachiraju Venkata Satya (right) was a member of the Indian Open team at the 2016 World Championships in Wroclaw. After the same start to the auction, he appreciated that his partner’s failure to bid a major guaranteed at least four-card support for one of the minors. He thus backed in with 4NT despite holding only 11 HCP. Kiran duly bid her clubs and no one had a double.

Could Dhruba find the heart lead that would legitimately defeat 5♣? Of course not: he opened a high spade, giving declarer a chance. 

Kiran got off to an excellent start, ruffing the spade lead, cashing one high trump from dummy, and then playing a diamond to the ace to reveal the 4-0 break in that suit. There are sufficient entries in dummy to set up the diamonds if declarer continues with the ♦K and another diamond now. When, instead, Kiran ruffed her remaining spade, she had removed an entry prematurely and she could no longer avoid losing two hearts and a diamond. Even so, Satya’s enterprise in the bidding had already won the board: E/W +50 and 11 IMPs to FORMIDABLES.

FORMIDABALES won an otherwise remarkably dull set 22-11, so they led by 25 IMPs (79-54) with one 14-board set remaining in the final. The final set was another relatively quiet one which allowed the trailing team little chance to overcome the deficit. FORMIDABLES gained another 6 IMPs and won the final by 31 IMPs, 101-70.

Next week, we return to Europe. Having seen the best of the action from the English and French Premier Leagues in recent months, we will be tuning in for the knockout stage of the equivalent event in another of Europe’s top bridge-playing nations, the Polish Grand Prix.