This week we are in Tignes, in southeastern France, near to the Italian border. The venue for the freestyle skiing at the 1992 Winter Olympics, Tignes has the highest skiable area in the Alps and the longest ski season in Europe. A total of 46 teams, with players from 27 different countries, arrived on the starting line for Les Etincelles Cup. Ahead of them lie a 12-round Swiss of 12-board matches played over three days, from which the top 16 teams will advance to the knockout stage.

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

What do you bid?

Next, with both sides vulnerable, you are sitting South with:

What is your plan?

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

What action, if any, do you take?

While you mull those over, we begin our coverage with a match between WIGODER (England, USA and Norway) and KNOTTENBELT (England). Both East players faced a variation on this week’s first problem on this early deal.

E/W have a finesse position in all four suits but, with North having bid, the odds perhaps favour him holding the majority of the missing kings. The decision for Ollie Burgess in the problem position was whether to settle for game or head off in pursuit of a possible slam. Perhaps the compromise is to head for game in diamonds, leaving room for further investigation on the way.

Burgess opted for 3NT, ending the auction. There is some confusion in the VuGraph play record, but declarer made eleven tricks: E/W +660.

After the same start to the auction, Boye Brogeland rebid 2NT (showing something in hearts) rather than 3♦ at his third turn. Charles Wigoder (left) cue-bid again with 3♥ and Brogeland groped with a waiting 3♠. Wigoder now suggested some slam interest with 4♣ and, although I cannot explain the exact meaning of the rest of the auction, it seems that Brogeland was sufficiently encouraged by this development to drive to slam.

Kieran Dyke opened the ♣8, declarer ducking to the king and winning the club return with the ace, retaining a club entry to his hand. A trump to the ace dropped North’s queen, so declarer drew trumps in four rounds and took the spade hook. A club back to hand then enabled him to repeat the successful finesse and claim. E/W +1370 and 12 IMPs to WIGODER.

WIGODER won the match 34-6. The leader-board at this early stage was topped by AZS WRATISLAVIA (Poland), who recorded a near maximum for their 51-0 victory.

We take a look at the action at Table 2 in the second round, with FRANCE GREEN taking on POLAND JUNIORS. On the first deal of the encounter, both South players had to decide how to approach the second of this week’s problems.

Maciej Kedzierski opted for a raise to 3NT. If you intend just to settle for game, it seems to me that 5♦ is likely to be a better proposition than 3NT. On a heart lead, might you not go down in 3NT if the diamond suit does not come in? As the cards lie, declarer could not go wrong in diamonds, or could he…?

Blazej Krawczyk allowed the ♥Q to win at trick one, won the heart continuation, then advanced his low diamond. When Pierre Franceschetti smartly inserted the ♦Q, declarer was forced to duck to maintain communication. N/S +660.

The French father/son combination were more ambitious. Jerome Rombaut’s 2♦ opening could have been various types of strong hand and his 2NT rebid showed a balanced 20-21, putting Leo Rombaut (right) in much the same position as the Polish South at the first table.  

Leo’s jump to 4♣ was a transfer, showing at least mild slam interest with diamonds. (With no interest beyond game, South could jump to 5♦). North’s retreat to 4NT was not particularly encouraging and, presumably, in the light of West’s double, also showed decent clubs. Leo limited his hand when he retreated to 5♦, but Jerome liked his controls and advanced to the slam: well judged on both sides of the table.

Slam is certainly a good proposition, needing either the diamonds to come in for no loser or the spade finesse. With both pointed suits working for declarer, making 13 tricks was easy enough: N/S +1390 and 12 IMPs to FRANCE GREEN to get the ball rolling.

The French won the match 34-17. Meanwhile, the Polish leaders’ stay at Table 1 proved to be a brief one, as they went down by a remarkable score of 3-80 over just 12 boards. After two rounds, the leader-board was topped by SANDFIA (England), who had scored 39.64 VP out of a possible 40. Right behind them came WIGODER and FRANCE GREEN.

In Round 3, we take a seat at Table 1 to see the early high-flyers, SANDFIA v WIGODER. This early deal set the tone…

Ben Norton opened 1♠ on the West hand, but the young English pair did not make any further contribution to the auction. With no great fit and a combined 25-count, the final destination was hardly surprising.

Norton led the ♣Q, which held, and he then switched to a heart at trick two. That left Boye Brogeland (left) with the simple task of establishing the diamonds for five tricks, to go along with two hearts and two black aces. N/S +600.

A low club continuation, knocking out dummy's entry and thus cutting declarer off from the long diamonds, may look like a winning defence. However, declarer can win the third round of clubs, cross to the ♦Q, and lead a spade towards the queen to set up his eighth trick. If West cashes his club winner, things are easy. If he does not do so, declarer crosses to the ♠Q and plays a fourth round of clubs himself. When declarer later cashes the ♠A, East will be squeezed in the red suits to concede the ninth trick.

In the other room, the Norwegian legend offered his opponents a chance for a small gain on the board. The upshot was that they ended with a large loss in somewhat bizarre circumstances.

After an identical start to the auction, Geir Helgemo (left) braved the vulnerability and introduced his hearts at the three-level at his second turn. Mike Bell doubled, leaving Phil King with the last of this week’s problems.

Passing and accurate defence would have earned the English a small swing in their favour. Suppose South leads the ♦Q against 3♥-X, and then switches to a club at trick two. North wins with the ♣A and returns his trump. South takes the ♥Q and ♥A, removing dummy’s trumps. The ♦A-K and a diamond ruff then give the defence the first seven tricks for +800 and a 5-IMP gain for SANDFIA.

With a singleton heart and only a partial spade stopper, it is not so easy for North to bid 3NT. Once King had retreated to 4♦, Bell had no legitimate winning option.

A club lead would ensure the defeat of 5♦, but Helgemo opened the ♥J. Declarer correctly put in the queen and played a club, ducking when Zia played the jack. King won the trump switch in dummy with the ♦Q, crossed to the ♣A, and ruffed a club in dummy. A heart ruff back to hand was followed by two high trumps. At this point, Helgemo and King agreed that the contract was one down, and that was duly entered as the score. N/S -100 and 12 IMPs to WIGODER.

Note that declarer was actually on track to make eleven tricks. If he plays a trump, East wins and has only hearts remaining, so declarer wins with the ♥A, pitching a spade from his hand. When declarer then ruffs a heart with his last trump, West is squeezed in the black suits, having to discard from ♠K-J and ♣K. Either declarer scores the thirteenth club, or the ♠10 in dummy as his eleventh trick.

This deal signalled the opening of the floodgates, and WIGODER led the match 41-0 after eight boards. A mini comeback reduced the final margin to 41-15, but that was still enough to leave the Anglo-Norwegian team at the top of the leader-board. Hot on their heels came CROATIA and MULTON (Monaco/USA/Italy/Greece). We’ll stay at Table 1 to see the top two teams do battle.

The match did not go as you might have expected, in part because of a board that was worth a game swing in both rooms. It is often the case that when both member of a partnership are minimum for their bid, you get too high. Just occasionally, you both hold a maximum…

Yes, the South hand is a 10-count, but it is a pile of junk with nine losers and it’s hard to argue with Zia’s evaluation that it is not worth more than 2♠. We can certainly all agree that it is a maximum. Helgemo was close to making a game try, so he had a maximum pass and, with the hands fitting fairly well, game is a moderate proposition. With the spades lying favourably and the clubs suit guessable for three tricks, Helgemo made eleven tricks when the defenders did not lead diamonds. N/S +200 and a poor result for the leaders.

As it happens, it would have made little difference to the score even if they had bid game. Competitive bidding has become more and more aggressive in recent years, but it is possible to take a good thing just a tad too far.

Jurica Caric (right) is the best-known of all Croatian bridge players, and the most experienced, having begun his international career as a member of the Yugoslavia team at the 1976 World Team Olympiad. Since making his debut for Croatia at the 1995 European Championships, Caric has been a regular member of both the Open and Senior Croatian teams. Recent results include a silver medal in the Open Teams at the 2018 European Small Federations Games and a 6^th-place finish in the Open Pairs at the 2019 European Transnational Championships.

On this deal, Caric responded with a jump to 3♦, systemically showing 10-11 HCP with three-card spade support. Some may consider Boye Brogeland’s double rather crazy, but he was in fact right, as a diamond lead is necessary to give the defence a chance of beating 4♠. (After a diamond lead, declarer has to guess the two-way finesse for the ♣J but, on any other lead, that guess is for the overtrick as the diamond loser disappears on a heart winner.)

The problem with doubling on this type of hand is that partner will sometimes take you seriously, and that’s what happened here. When Marko Sipus jumped to 4♠, Charles Wigoder decided that 5♦ might be a cheap save. It wasn’t!

South led a spade and North took the ace and king before switching to the ♥K. Declarer won the ace and, had he played a trump immediately, he probably would have escaped for down four. When he instead ruffed his third spade and then started trumps by leading to the king, Caric won with the ♦A, cashed his two heart winners, and then played a fourth round of hearts for his partner to ruff with the ♦J. Declarer still had a club to lose, so that was down five. N/S +1400 and 15 IMPs to CROATIA.

CROATIA won the match 33-6 and moved to the top of the leader-board with four matches played. At the end of the first day, the top of the leader-board looked like this:

There are still two full days (eight more matches) before the top 16 teams advance to the knockout stage.

We will be back soon with the best of the action from the second day of the Swiss qualifier.