Marc Smith visits the Swiss qualifying stage of the MontreAlt

Last week, we left MontreAlt at the midway point in the Swiss Teams qualifier. With five straight victories, GUPTA, winners of the first Major Alt and the most dominant team in the Open Alt series, had established a substantial (more than 17 VP) lead over the rest of the field. Behind them, less than 17 VPs separated the American team lying second, POTTER, from the team in 19^th place in the 32-team field. So, there was still plenty to play for before the eight teams who would qualify for the knockout stage would be decided.

As usual, we begin our coverage with some problems for you to consider. First, with both sides vulnerable, you hold as North:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with neither side vulnerable, your hand as South is:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with just your side vulnerable, you hold as West:

What action, if any, do you take?

While you mull those over, let us head straight into the action from Round 6. A fairly quiet set, but our deal created a double-digit swing in three-quarters of the matches. Many of those swings arose from North’s choice on the first of those problems posed above:

Both Vul - Dealer East

The strong Chinese/Netherlands team, ZHAO, had climbed up to fifth place and it was now their turn to take on the leaders at Table 1. The two auctions in this match typified those from across the field:

North has two realistic choices over West’s One Spade, a Two Diamond overcall or a takeout double, both of them flawed in their own way. Ricco van Prooijen, a member of the Dutch team that won both the Bermuda Bowl and the World Mind Sports open team event in 2011, was one of the eight players in this field who opted for a Two Diamond overcall. All eight played in Two Diamonds with varying degrees of success. Here, two rounds of spades followed by a club shift gave declarer no chance of making the contract. When van Prooijen subsequently misguessed everything he finished three down: N/S -300.

West – Molenaar  North – Zia  East – Verbeek South – Gupta

All but one other player faced with this problem started with a takeout double. (Swedish women’s star Cecilia Rimstedt was the exception, choosing to pass, which at least led to a plus score, but only N/S +100, which was 11 IMPs out). Zia chose a direct heart raise at his second turn. Other players opted to advance with Two Spades or Three Diamonds, but everyone who started with a double ended in the same Four Heart contract.

With the hearts 2-2 and the ¨K both onside and ruffing down, declarer loses at most one club and two spades. Favored with the ªA lead, Naren Gupta made eleven tricks: N/S +650 and 14 IMPs to GUPTA.

It was something of a surprise that I searched through quite a few auction before I found a table that produced the alternative (and to me obvious) route to the top spot. It was not unexpected that I would find at least one example of the auction I sought in the all-British matchup between BLACK and BARNSLEY.

West – King  North – Hydes  East – McIntosh South – Plackett

It is a standing joke when commentating with David Bird that player seem to look for any number of reasons not to open with a weak two. Whilst quite a few players seemed to find at least one on this South hand, those who did not simplified the auction immensely for their partner. Alex Hydes inquired with 2NT and Richard Plackett showed a diamond shortage. At other tables, North simply raised directly to game at his first turn.

GUPTA notched up another win, although only by 35-26. That was still enough to increase their lead at the top, with MACAVITY and BARNSLEY moving up to head the chasing pack.

Match 6 produced another deal that generated a significant swing in most matches. We’ll look at the action from the top two matches, where players found three different solutions to the second of the bidding problems posed at the top of this article:

None Vul - Dealer East

At one table in each of the top matches, East/West chose to defend. We begin at the only table where South was not faced with a One Spade opening on his right:

Hungarian Peter Barczy opted for a strong, artificial Two Club opening and Richard Plackett did well to get his side into the auction. When Alex Hydes pressed on to the five-level, East made one more try with a forcing pass, but Daniel Gulyas not unreasonably decided that three tricks were more likely than eleven.

He led a club and Barczy cashed one high spade before switching to a trump. Declarer knew that East held six or seven spades, but had few other clues to the distribution. He ruffed a club in dummy and returned to hand with a second round of trumps, playing for clubs to divide 4-3. He eventually ran out of trumps and had to concede a trick at the end: N/S -100. A potentially poor result for the British pair, perhaps?

West – Lorenzini  North – Dewitt  East – Bessis South – Vandewiele

For the Belgians, Emiel Vandewiele overcalled what looks to me a fairly normal Two Hearts on this South hand. Dennis Dewitt’s 3NT bid was described as “a raise to Four Hearts with some defense”. Having bid all the way to Four Spades by himself, showing a two-suited hand on the way, Thomas Bessis doubled Five Hearts. It is surely asking far too much to expect Cedric Lorenzini to bid five-over-five on that West hand, although on this layout doing so would have been right.

Again, the defenders cashed two winners before playing a trump. Forewarned of the distribution of the defenders’ hands, though, Vanderwiele risked playing a second round of diamonds to his ace after taking his first club ruff. When East could not ruff, declarer was home on a crossruff: N/S +650 and surely an excellent result for MACAVITY.

Let’s see how the alternative actions by South worked out. In MACAVITY vs GUPTA, Naren Gupta decided not to intervene:

West – v.Bijsterv't North – Zia  East – Schols South – Gupta

Having decided against a Two Heart overcall, imagine Gupta’s surprise when his partner then made that same bid. He carried on the the five-level, but the auction had tempoed in such a way that Niels van Bijsterveldt was able to get in a Four Spade bid on the West hand. There was now no stopping East, and Emile Schols took out the insurance by pushing onto the five-level when Gupta’s Five Heart bid came around to him. A defensive slip then allowed declarer out for one down but that made little difference: N/S +50 and 12 IMPs to MACAVITY.

The defensive stakes were higher in the second table of the match between BARNSLEY and the transnational BRIDGE TOO FAR:

West – Cope North – Kemeny  East – Crouch South – Trenka

Hungary’s Peter Trenka found a third option, a Micahels Cue-bid showing hearts and a minor. Gyorgy Kemeny asked for partner’s minor and, when Peter Crouch jumped to Four Clubs, Trenka told him with a red card. Simon Cope gave preference to spades and Kemeny opted to ignore his five-card heart support and defend. It seems to me that someone is wrong here: if that South hand is suitable for a Michaels bid (and that is something for the partnership to agree on) then the North hand is surely not a double.

The defense began with two rounds of hearts, declarer ruffing. Crouch then cashed both black aces before exiting with the ¨Q. South ducked and, after winning with the ¨K North must exit was a diamond, knowing that declarer is going to ruff down his partner’s ace. When, instead, Kemeny returned his low spade, Crouch was home. He finessed the ªJ, drew North’s last trump with the king, and then led his low club towards dummy’s §8. South could make the §J now or later, but that was all. A spectacular N/S -590 and 10 IMPs to BARNSLEY despite the misguess at the other table.

MACAVITY had managed to inflict the first defeat on GUPTA (although only by 31-30), with the result that gap between first and second place was reduced to less than 12 VPs. BARNSLEY (who won their match 75-1) and ZHAO occupy the other podium places. MACAVITY, now the only qualifier in the top ten, are just behind them in fourth place.

BARNSLEY played GUPTA in the top match in Round 8. On our next deal, West had to solve the third of the bidding problems posed earlier. Thereafter, everyone judged well but the outcome was still a big swing.

E/W Vul - Dealer North

Passing this West hand over Four Hearts might be right, I suppose, but surely most players would choose between a takeout-ish double and a Four Spade overcall. Cedric Lorenzini went for the double and heard Four Spades from Thomas Bessis. When Richard Plackett carried on to the five-level in hearts, East/West took the theoretically correct decision to defend. The defense scored their obvious three top tricks: E/W +100 was the best they could do from here with Soutb having an obvious club lead to defeat Five Spades.

West – Cope North – Zia  East – Crouch South – Gupta

In the same situation, Simon Cope set his side on the way to a significant gain by introducing his spade suit at the four-level. Once again, South persisted in hearts, but Peter Crouch quite understandably went for the vulnerable game bonus rather than the pitiful penalty he was being offered. Yes, Zia might have guessed to lead a club, but why should he? After the ©A lead, declarer was able to dispose of all but one loser: E/W +680 and 11 IMPs to BARNSLEY.

GUPTA won the match by 8 IMPs to maintain their lead and MACAVITY skipped past BARNSLEY into second place, but it was UK teams third and fourth with two matches remaining in the qualifier. The second of those two teams, BLACK, would be up against GUPTA in Round 9. Behind them, less than 12 VPs separated the team in fifth place and the one in 13^th, so there were still plenty of teams vying to make it into the top eight.

In Round 9, Board 3 created plenty of swings and we’ll take a look at the action from the top two tables, GUPTA vs BLACK and BARNSLEY vs MACAVITY.

E/W Vul - Dealer South

Simon Cope came in with a heart overcall of Kees Bakker’s artificial strong club opening and Peter Crouch mentioned his eight-card suit, Once the opponents found their spade fit, though, it was clear to the English pair that they did not have the goods to swim against the tide at this vulnerability.

Cope led his diamond and Bakker won and cashed just one high spade before playing three rounds of clubs, ruffing in dummy. He could then return to hand whilst drawing a second round of trumps and ruff his last club loser. The Dutchman exited from dummy with a diamond and eventually led a heart towards dummy for his tenth trick. N/S +420.

It was Marty Bergen who once said “Colors are for children”, but if one lives by the sword then one will sometimes die by it, and a healthy respect for the vulnerability can sometimes be a good thing.

West – Schols North – Hydes  East – v.den Bos South – Plackett

Richard Plackett’s natural One Spade opening meant that West could not comfortably get into the auction on the first round. After his partner’s three-level, vulnerable overcall, though, Michel Schols decided that he had enough for a penalty-oriented double of Four Spades.

Tim van den Bos did not think much of his defensive prospects. What he, perhaps, should have considered, though, was that -590 might not be such a bad result. Of course, partner could have held high clubs rather than high hearts. Not today, though, The defenders had four top tricks and easily found their club ruff too, so the tariff was N/S +800 and 9 IMPs to BARNSLEY, who won the match comfortably by 34-8, virtually cementing their place in the knockout stages.

Events in the top match proved that silence can, indeed, be golden:

West – De Wijs North – Hallberg  East – Muller South – Hult

Four Spades was also the contract for BLACK’s lone true Swede, Simon Hult, (Gunnar Hallberg having taken root in London longer ago than even he cares to remember). Aggressive Dutch bidding, though, had given him enough clues to avoid any potholes on this road. He won the diamond lead and cashed both high spades before playing a heart towards dummy. De Wijs won with the ©A, cashed his high trump, and exited with a club. No problem: Hult simply took the heart finesse marked by the bidding to make up for the loss of one of his club ruffs: N/S +420.

West – King North – Bessis  East – McIntosh South – Lorenzini

Cedric Lorenzini was given no clues in the bidding, with the combination of West’s very reasonable pass, North’s pre-emptive spade raise and the vulnerability even shutting out McIntosh’s eight-bagger. Phil King led an innocent-looking §J. Is it so unreasonable for declarer to win and play a heart?

Good news for Lorenzini – King went up with the ©A. When he then continued hearts at trick three, declarer surely has no reason not to rise with the king. East’s ruff was the bad news, of course, as there was now no way to avoid losing a diamond and a spade. N/S -50 and 10 IMPs to GUPTA, who returned to winning ways with a 35-6 victory. MACAVITY dropped to fourth place, probably still safe but not yet guaranteed.

Behind the top four, came RED DEVILS (Belgium/Netherlands), but they had to play GUPTA in their final match and ZHAO (who would play BARNSLEY). The final two qualifying places were occupied by KOEPPEL (USA/Italy) and the East European qualifiers HUNGARY—GALIM, who would play each other. On the cusp, the teams in ninth and tenth, SWEICE and BRIDGE TOO FAR would play head to head in an attempt to move up.

We concentrate on that final match at Table 4, and a deal on which only five of the 32 East/West pairs managed to solve the bidding challenge presented by Board 2.

N/S Vul - Dealer East

For the Hungarians, Tamas Szalka started with an artificial, strong club and Csaba Czimer’s One Heart response showed 8-12 HCP and either four plus spades or balanced. Thereafter, Szalka relayed to find out more about his partner’s hand, Czimer showing five spades and either 4+§ or balanced (with 2©) and his 2NT confirming exactly 5-3-3-2 shape. Three Clubs then asked for range and Three Spades showed a minimum. Szalka now decided that he knew enough and jumped to Five Diamonds. Relay systems are usually well-suited to solving this type of combination but not on this occasion. With both minors breaking, declarer had no trouble driving out the trump ace and ruffing the clubs good: E/W +420.

West – Versace North – Gal  East – Tokay South – Gabor

Mustafa Cem Tokay began with a natural One Club and then reversed into diamonds over his partner’s natural One Spade response. Alfredo Versace forced to game with a fourth-suit Two Hearts and Tokay bid out his shape with Three Diamonds. Once Versace advanced with Three Hearts, there was no stopping Tokay, and he even made a grand slam try on the way to Six Diamonds. There were no problems in the play: E/W +920 and 11 IMPs to KOEPPEL, who both ensured their own place in the knockout stage with a 61-6 victory and eliminated the Hungarians from contention.

The beneficiaries of the heavy Hungarian defeat were SWEICE, who climbed from ninth to seventh place with a 6-IMP win and RED DEVILS, who slid down only from fifth to eighth despite a 37-21 loss to GUPTA. After ten matches, the final standings were:

As winners of the Swiss, GUPTA had first choice of quarter-final opponents from amongst the teams who finished fifth-eighth and they selected MACAVITY, the only qualifiers to survive to the knockout stage. BARNSLEY selected SWEICE and BLACK chose to play RED DEVILS, leaving KOEPPEL and ZHAO to contest the fourth quarter-final.

We will be back next week with the best of the action from those quarter-final matches.