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A JOB WELL DONE…SO FAR

The New Zealand Open team had only two matches today as they finished the first round-robin with a bye. It was to be a day of mixed fortunes, too, with a loss, a good win and then a wait to see if they would end the first round-robin where they want to be, on top.

17-26 was not the imp score New Zealand wanted from their match against Korea 1 but 7.29 vps was not a disaster. Yet, with Chinese Taipei also losing, New Zealand remained first, albeit by less than one vp and fewer than 4 vps ahead of 5^th placed Japan.

The match was a story of three slams, one each way and one with an extraordinary result. New Zealand gained big, 15imps, when their opponents tried for grand which required finding the queen of a side-suit. With 6 cards missing, it sat doubleton behind the jack…and the Korean declarer finessed to the relief of Martin Reid who held it.

However, the imps flowed the other way when Korea 1 bid a small slam, not the worst ever seen but not the best either. As the saying goes, any making slam is a very good one!

However, the sensation was Board 13.

 

Michael Cornell thought he had a surprise for the declarer in the shape of high clubs but dummy had a nastier surprise for Michael! The joy of that lead was to be short-lived. 1860 including 200 for the overtrick. Two AKs and a queen were not even good enough for one trick. 9 imps out?

West	North	East	South
	Newell		Reid
	21	2	4
5	Pass	6	6
Pass	Pass	X	All Pass

               

¹  and a minor, minimum hand

6x was going for 800, maybe 1100, but Martin Reid began to see very few losers in 6. Perhaps East’s double was Lightner style, telling partner not to lead a heart. Whatever the intention, the result was the same. Just another flat board…hardly a boring one, though!

Our Ladies won again, this time 39-23 (14.42) over China Hong Kong. Ironically, they dropped two places to 6^th. They had two pick-ups on the key slams and also exchanged 1860’s in the 6 x freak.

West	North	East	South
Palmer		Cartner
	Pass	1	x
4	4	5	x
Pass	5	Pass	6
Pass	Pass	x	All Pass

 

West	North	East	South
	Humphries		Jacob
	2	3	5
Pass	6	x	All Pass

This was the slickest of the 4 auctions. After Susan Humphries’ minimal spades and a minor opening, Steph Jacob tried 5 asking her partner to raise to slam with a control in the enemy suit (hearts). Susan obeyed despite having little else. The double might have got her wondering but dummy was a joy. 5NT response shows total control of hearts. Would Steph have bid the grand after that bid, trusting her partner to hold the Q? How could East resist doubling that?

However, successful bridge does not all take place in the slam zone. Watch Susan Humphries and Steph Jacob in action against a “bread and butter” 1NT contract. There could be no slip-ups as in the other room, China Hong Kong had scored 110 in making 2. There was not:

 

 Steph Jacob (South) led a small heart with Susan Humphries winning and returning 4 to the8 and Steph’s 9. She could not be sure whether declarer had three or four hearts. So, she found an interesting solution. She exited K!

The surprised declarer might have thought she had a reprieve but it was short-lived. She played A and a second club but Steph ducked, cutting communications to the East hand. Steph won the third club on which Susan discarded her third heart. That gave Steph the true heart position. She cashed her remaining three hearts on which Susan threw low diamonds. Steph exited her 10 to the queen, giving Susan the rest of the tricks, two high spades and A… down 3 +300 and 5 well won imps.

Alas the Ladies’ final first round-robin match, against Indonesia, was a big disappointment, 6-59 (0.26). One excursion to the 5 level (10 tricks was the limit), a good dive found by the opposition….the list grew. We finished the round-robin 6^th but with a lot of work to do to catch up the top 4.

1. China                                  183.02                                      4. Indonesia                  133.40
2. Chinese Taipei                    152.60                                      5. Japan                        116.10
3. Australia                             149.66                                      6. New Zealand              113.91

However, our Open Team finished on a high with a 48-3 (18.93) win over Singapore.

While Michael Whibley escaped unscathed and only one down in 2 on Board 16, Michael’s teammates were much more ruthless at the other table:

 

Peter Newell’s trumps were not that threatening but were long, good enough to defend. Yet, his partner had a surprise of his own in the trump zone. Peter led his spade. Martin won with his ace and switched to 6. Two diamonds were followed by a diamond ruff, spade ruff and second diamond ruff. Another spade saw declarer discard his club loser as Peter ruffed again. That was two down and there was still the Q to come for 3 down and a well earnt +500. North might have wondered how bad the damage would have been if he had held a minimum overcall!

The imps all flowed in the right direction. The Open team still led the field but would only score 12 in the last match of the first round-robin. Would that be enough to retain their lead?

The answer was “yes” as Japan thrashed India while China fought out a near draw with China Hong Kong. These, then, are the significant positions at the half way mark:

1. New Zealand                              189.31
2. Japan                                         188.24
3. Chinese Taipei                           185.59
4. China                                         182.52
5. Indonesia                                   177.36
6. India                                           175.39
7. Korea 1                                      168.56

A lead of 1.07vps is hardly enough to feel comfortable but the team has been truly competitive and indeed much more in the first half of the event.

Although team results are by far more important, the overall pair datums has Whibley-Brown ranked 5^th, Newell-Reid 10^th and Cornell-Bach 25^th out of the 45 Open pairs. Humphries- Jacob, at 10^th out of 36 pairs are our best performing Ladies’ pair.

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

 

 

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