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The Fifth Commonwealth Nations Championships - Day 3

A Day of Two Halves

The last four qualifying matches. A steady showing over these matches could mean top 8 for New Zealand. For a while it looked a possibility with two wins before lunch. However, the two afternoon matches did not go New Zealand’s way leaving us in a final 22nd place, almost as low as at any time of the event.

Opponent

NZ imp score

NZ vp score

Position after match

Moren

+13

13.72

14

Wales

+12

13.48

11

South Africa 1

-19

  4.94

17

England B

-35

  2.23

22

A steady win (34-21) over an Australian team, Moren, was followed by a high-scoring win over the Welsh(51-39). We had our slamming boots on and the queens which were not gunning for New Zealand yesterday (remember the “3 queen” pre-empt and the correct finessing of the queens in the grand slam) looked rather more favourably on New Zealand today.

Board 13
North Deals
Both Vul
7
K 10 7 4 3
Q J 10 7
J 9 3
Q J 6 2
8 6
9 5 3
Q 10 6 4
 
N
W   E
S
 
10 9 5 4 3
Q 5
A 8 6 4
5 2
 
A K 8
A J 9 2
K 2
A K 8 7

 As South, John Wignall opened 2Club-small. That opening and the big heart fit propelled the partnership to 6Heart-small. Three queens were missing here, too, though only one was important….and after the Spade-smallQ lead, the Heart-smallQ appeared at just the right time so that John could lose to the Diamond-smallA and discard two little clubs on dummy’s diamonds (Yesterday I cursed holding 10’s which gave one those dreadful two-way finesse options. Today, the Diamond-small10 enabled this contract to make easily!) That was 13 imps in when the Welsh stayed in game.

Board 5
North Deals
N-S Vul
6 5 3
10 8 6
Q 8 5 4 3
Q 8
K 4 2
A Q 9 2
A K J 6
A K
 
N
W   E
S
 
A Q 9 8
K 7
J 10 7 6 4 3 2
 
J 10 7
J 5 4 3
10 9 7 2
9 5

 

As East, John Skipper opened 1Club-small. You try stopping Jane now. She checked on aces and kings and bid 7NT. Just two queens missing this time and just as on the above board, the key one came down in two rounds. Jane had 16 tricks! The Welsh pair only reached 6NT.

Kris Wooles would have loved the short auction on Board 8 and would be dreaming of a 4 figure penalty. As North, he held Spade-smallAK1082  Heart-smallA754  Diamond-small JT94  Club-small – and saw this bidding:

West                     North                    East                        South
3Spade-small                           Pass                       Pass                       x

Pass                       ?

Naturally, Kris passed out the double. What would you lead? Kris led Diamond-smallJ but did not enjoy the first few tricks:

Board 8
West Deals
None Vul
A K 10 8 2
A 7 5 4
J 10 9 4
J 9 7 6 5 4
A Q 8 7 6
7 6
 
N
W   E
S
 
Q 3
K 8 3 2
2
K J 10 5 4 3
 
Q J 10 9 6
K 5 3
A Q 9 8 2
West North East South
3  Pass Pass Dbl
All pass      

 

The Australian art of “fine” pre-empts had crossed the seas to Wales! Two diamond tricks, two diamond and  two heart ruffs made Kris feel slightly less ecstatic though the defence took most of the rest of the tricks for down 2, +300 and a tied board when Jane and John were doubled in 3Club-small. The moral of this story is to lead a trump if you can, just in case. Kris “could” here and could have scored a couple more tricks if he had done so.

The loss to South Africa was a low scoring affair (8-27) with 14 in the “out” column on one board. Let’s just say both pairs had a poor result on the same board. There is always (well, nearly always) something good to find about every poor result…if you look hard enough!

That left mathematically too much to do in the last match against England B. In the event a 12-47 loss left New Zealand well off the pace. Kris Wooles was at least happy to make 5Diamond-small on the following:

Board 11
South Deals
None Vul
A 5
7
Q 9 8 7 6 2
A 8 5 3
J 9 8 7 4
A K 10 6
3
K 10 2
 
N
W   E
S
 
K Q 10 6 3
Q 9 5 2
J
J 7 6
 
2
J 8 4 3
A K 10 5 4
Q 9 4

 

As North, he received the Spade-smallK lead. He won, played a diamond to the king and led a small heart off table. How could West duck? Hearts were continued. Kris ruffed and eliminated both major suits by ruffing and finally led a club from the North hand to the 9 and West’s 10. West was end-played and either had to give a ruff and discard or lead away from Club-smallK. Nicely played, Kris.

Barry Jenny  Gold Coast 18.jpeg 
It's strange to see them in the North and East seats. Barry and Jenny reflect on a day that did
not always go their way.

Alas, there was little other good news in the remaining 13 boards. The shame was New Zealand had got themselves in contention for a top 8 finish but could not pull it off. Nevertheless, three days of good competitive bridge. For the final Swiss results, click here. We will keep in touch with events in the final stages and at the Gold Coast Congress next week.

Richard Solomon

p.s. Congratulations to Ashley Bach and Liam Milne whose Leibowitz team qualified in 5th place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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