The 5^th South East Asia Bridge Federation Championships were staged in Bangkok, Thailand during the week before Christmas. The Open Teams attracted 23 of the top teams from around the region. The format was a 12-match Swiss qualifier, with the top four teams advancing to an all-play-all final consisting of three 16-board matches.

In an exciting final round, COUP DE GRACE (Singapore) scored a 37-3 victory which enabled them to leapfrog two Thai teams to claim the final spot in the final. This was how the top of the leader-board looked after 12 matches of Swiss:

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you are West holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with both sides vulnerable, you are sitting in the North seat with:

What do you bid?

Next, with neither side vulnerable, you hold as East:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with both sides vulnerable, you are in the North seat holding:

What do you bid?

While you consider those, we begin with a match between the hometown favorites, THAILAND VITHAYA, and the team that just made it into the final, COUP DE GRACE. The Singapore team led a low-scoring match by 4 IMPs when the Thai West player had to deal with the first of this week’s problems on Board 13. Would it prove unlucky for someone?

Kirawat’s decision to upgrade the East hand to a 15-17 1NT proved decisive on this deal, as Timothy Wu’s vulnerable 3♥ overcall then left Patnarin with a very tough decision. With 8 HCP and good honor structure, passing does seem rather feeble. A takeout double is another possibility, but is there not a chance that partner will jump to game in spades? If so, with your hand unlimited, surely then 4NT would be Blackwood rather than ‘pick-a-minor’. A third option, and the one chosen at the table, is to take a shot at 3NT.

Patnarin was right in that the hand belonged to EW: they can make ten tricks in either minor, whilst NS can make only nine in either major. However, 3NT was not a success on this layout, as South cashed seven rounds of hearts before playing a spade to his partner’s ace. Those vulnerable undertricks add up quickly, so that was E/W -400.

Bryan Yang’s decision to open 1♦ on the East cards worked well for the Singapore pair. South competed solo to the three-level but, by then, Linus Lee had shown a moderate hand with diamond support and a club suit. Thus, Yang was able to make the winning decision to compete to the four-level. A good auction from the Singapore pair: E/W +130 and 11 IMPs to COUP DE GRACE.

In the other match, the second Singapore team gained a similar swing, with 3NT-4 after the same auction in one room, whilst the Indonesian N/S were one down in 4♥ at the other table.

After the first round of matches, it was all Singapore. COUP DE GRACE scored a 35-23 win over the Thais, whilst AMANDA beat the Indonesians 57-20 to top the leader-board after one round.

The same boards often produce widely different results. In Round 2, THAILAND VITHAYA defeated AMANDA 20-8 in the live VuGraph match without a single double-digit swing. I am sure I could have found plenty to write about had the other match been shown, as DJARUM SUPER hammered COUP DE GRACE 76-13 over the same 16 boards, but that’s how the cookie crumbles.

With two matches played, the standings were:

In the final round of matches, it would be Thailand vs Indonesia, with the two Singapore teams playing each other, with both matches broadcast live on BBO VuGraph. We’ll check out the highlights of both matches. All four North players had to answer the second of this week’s problems.

For the Thais, Patnarin raised his partner’s 1♠ response to the three-level. It is hard to accuse South of lacking of ambition, but there were 12 easy tricks: N/S +680.

Leslie Gontha (left) was a member of the Indonesian Open team at the 2008 Olympiad in Beijing and at the 2019 Bermuda Bowl in Wuhan.

On this deal, Gontha raised his partner’s spades via a 4♦ splinter. That was all the encouragement needed by Stefanus Supeno, who drove to slam via Blackwood. An easy 12 tricks here, too: N/S +1430 and 13 IMPs to DJARUM SUPER.

In the all-Singapore clash, both North players jumped to 4♦ at their second turn, so the board was flat in 6♠ making.

Do you overcall 1NT on a poor 15-count? It was either that or pass on the third of this week’s problems…

Kien Hoong Fong (right) made his first international appearance in the 2002 Rosenblum Cup in Montreal. He has subsequently represented Singapore in the Bermuda Bowl in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

For COUP DE GRACE, Timothy Wu did overcall 1NT. Fong raised to 2♠ on the South cards, and Teo Xue Heng doubled for takeout. When Wu bid diamonds, Heng was happy to take his chances in no-trumps.

Fong got the defence off to the best start, the ♠J. Declarer ducked in dummy and won with the ♠A. Unluckily for declarer, it was not the opening bidder, but South, who produced the ♣A at trick two. The ♠10 now skewered dummy’s queen, enabling a happy North to cash four spade winners and the ♦A-K to put the contract three down. E/W -150.

Zhang Yukun passed North’s 1♠ opening, but he backed in with 2NT (presumably showing minors) when Bryan Yang’s raise came back to him. Yang took the opportunity to show his heart suit but, with six-card club support, Chengyen Lam was never going to be shut out, and his jump to game in clubs ended an enterprising auction.

North led his singleton ♥10, covered by queen, king and ace. South won with the ♣A at trick two, and returned a heart, but declarer was never going wrong after that auction. He put in the ♥8 and North ruffed, but that was the defenders’ lot. Dummy’s spade loser subsequently went on declarer’s ♥J. E/W +400 and 11 IMPs to AMANDA.

In the other match, one E/W pair also got to 5♣, but played from the East seat on a spade lead. Although the Indonesian declarer contrived to go one down by getting his ♥A ruffed, they still gained IMPs on the deal. In the replay, the Thais went very quietly, allowing North to play peacefully in 2♠, which made +110 for a 2-IMP gain to DJARUM SUPER.

The last of this week’s bidding problems created a large swing in one of the matches…

Stefanus Supeno opened 1♥ and reversed to 3♣ after his partner’s game-forcing 2♦ response, but Leslie Gontha decided that he could only bid 3NT. With the club fit never having come to light, Supeno had no reason to think this was any more than a misfitting game hand and so he gave up. Declarer got the clubs right to make all 13 tricks: N/S +720. 

In the same position, Patnarin raised to 4♣ for the Thais. Kirawat advanced with a heart cue-bid and Patnarin decided he had heard enough and jumped to slam. Kirawat does have significant extra values, so his raise to the grand slam is understandable, but the trump position means that the contract is not a good one.

You do not want to be in a grand slam missing Q-J-x-x trumps. Kirawat won the opening spade lead in hand with the king and laid down the ♣A. When West followed with the ♣Q, the Principle of Restricted Choice means that the odds are 2-to-1 on the queen being a singleton rather than from Q-J doubleton. Whether Kirawat simply did not know or understand PRC, or knew something that is not apparent from the VuGraph records, he bucked the odds and laid down the ♣K next. It was his lucky day, and West duly produced the ♣J, enabling declarer to claim. N/S +2140 and 16 IMPs to THAILAND VITHAYA.

The auctions at both table in the all-Singapore match were more accurate.

Linus Lee also raised clubs in the position posed as a problem. Bryan Yang rolled out Blackwood, found that the ♣Q was missing, and duly settled for the small slam. When he got the trumps right, he registered an overtrick: N/S +1390 and a flat board when a Precision auction reached the same spot at the other table.

THAILAND VITHAYA defeated DJARUM SUPER 41-32, which was enough to move the Thais ahead of the Indonesians. However, AMANDA defeated their fellow Singaporeans by 4 IMPs, 28-24, to keep their place at the top of the table.

The final standings were:

Congratulation to the AMANDA team: Lou Cheng, Kien Hoong Fong, Chengyen Lam and Zhang Yukun.

We will be back next week with the best of the action from one of the opening events broadcast live on BBO VuGraph in 2023. In the meantime, a Happy New Year to all of our readers.