43rd GENERALI EUROPEAN BRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIPS
DAILY BULLETIN

Editor: J.-P. MeyerCo-Editor: M. HortonWeb Editor: Th. Matziaris
No.: 12 • Wednesday, 25 June 1997

Results Contents
OPEN Round 26, Round 27
LADIES Round 17, Round 18
SENIORS Round 8, Round 9
BUTLER scoring, Open Round 26
BUTLER scoring, Ladies Round 17
Open, Spain v Iceland by Brian Senior
Nice Defense byTjolpe Flodqvist
The hand of the tournament by Hans Werge
A Hungarian Exercise by Daniel Auby
The New Laws of Bridge (3) by Ton Koijman
A Belgian Slam by Herman De Wael



Italy almost a full match ahead

With only eight matches to go Italy has nearly a full match advantage, exactly 24.5VP ahead of the Spanish team. Poland holds are third, just half a point behind Spain. The dangerous French team, the Olympiad champions, are in fourth position with a thin edge over Norway. As things stand at the moment, these five teams will be making the trip to Hammamet at this point of tournament.

Great Britain take the lead

The British ladies burst into the lead after the 18th round, so don't miss this mornings match on Bridgerama at 10.00am because Great Britain meets Israel, the team currently placed second. France ran into problems, scoring only 15VP in yesterday's two matches. The teams that can still qualify for the Venice Cup short include Germany, Spain, Austria, Italy, Poland & Sweden.

In the Seniors Series, it is a close thing as one VP separates Netherlands A and France and they meet this morning in what will surely be a decisive match. The biggest threat to these two teams comes from Poland B and Italy.


OPEN TEAMS Spain v Iceland
by Brian Senior (Great Britain)


Going into this match Spain were lying fourth, one place ahead of their opponents. An important match, then, and early on it was all Spain.

Board 1. Dealer North. Love All
10 7
9 8 6
J 6 4
A Q 9 8 4
5 2 8 6 4 3
A Q 10 7 K J
9 7 2 Q 10 8 3
K 10 7 5 J 6 3
A K Q J 9
5 4 3 2
A K 5
2

Open Room
West North East South
Jorgensen Knap Thorvaldsson Wasik

Pass Pass 1
Pass 1NT Pass 2NT
Pass 3NT All Pass

Thorvaldsson led a low diamond and Knap ran it round to his jack then claimed nine tricks; +400.

Closed Room
West North East South
Lanteron Jonsson Goded Arnarson

Pass Pass 1
Pass 1NT Pass 2
Pass 2 All Pass

Arnarson's pass of 2 looks a little cautious and it resulted in a 7 IMP swing to Spain when 2 made on the nose; +110.

Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Game
A Q 6 5
A Q 10 8 6 4 3
9
8
K 10 9 8 7 3 J
K J 9 7 2
A K 4 2 Q 7 6 5
9 7 4 Q 5 2
4 2
5
J 10 8 3
A K J 10 6 3

On viewgraph, Wasik opened 3 on the South cards and Jorgensen overcalled 3. Nobody had anything to add to that and Knap led his singleton club. Wasik won the jack and switched to his singleton heart without cashing any more clubs. Jorgensen discarded a club on this trick and Knap won the ace and returned a low heart to the jack, ruff and over-ruff. Jorgensen crossed to Q to pass the J and Knap ducked. Declarer ruffed a heart back to hand and continued with K to the ace. Back came another heart, forcing the king, and now Knap could not be prevented from getting a third trump trick. There was also a diamond to come; two down for -100.

There was more action in the Closed Room. The first two bids were the same but now Jonsson bid 4 as North and Goded doubled, ending the auction. The J went to the queen and Jonsson played ace and king of clubs to get rid of his diamond loser. Now he ruffed a diamond and tried to cash the A but Goded ruffed and played 7 round to declarer's eight to draw dummy's trump. Jonsson exited with a spade and Lanteron won and played two more rounds of the suit. The last one was ruffed and over-ruffed and Goded exited with a diamond. The contract was three down for -800 and 14 IMPs to Spain.

Iceland picked up 2 IMPs on Board 3 but then Spain picked up another big swing.

Board 4. Dealer West. Game All
6 3
8 5 4 2
10 9
A K Q 6 3
A 8 7 K Q J 4 2
A J 10 3 9 7
Q J 7 4 3 2 K 6 5
8 7 5
10 9 5
K Q 6
A 8
J 10 9 4 2

Both East-West auctions began: 1 - 1 - 2. Now the paths diverged. Jorgensen passed and the excellent game was missed; +150. Goded continued with 3 and Lanteron bid 3. Looking at a fit in two suits, Goded raised himself to game. Arnarson tried 6 against 4 and Goded finessed then knocked out A. He had twelve tricks for +680 and 11 IMPs to Spain who led 32-2 after only four boards.

Iceland clawed back 3 IMPs on the next board for an extra undertrick then Spain went even further ahead.

Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Game
9 5
Q 10 9 7 3 2
Q
Q J 9 7
Q 6 10 8 7 2
A K 6
A K 10 7 5 2 9 8 4
K 10 2 A 8 5 4 3
A K J 4 3
J 8 5 4
J 6 3
6

The Closed Room auction was very straightforward. Lanteron opened 1 in third seat, Jonsson overcalled 2 and Arnarson raised to 4. That ended the auction and the defence took the four obvious tricks; -50.

Open Room
West North East South
Jorgensen Knap Thorvaldsson Wasik

Pass Pass
1 2 Pass 4
Dble Pass 4 Dble
5 All Pass

1 was strong and again came the weak jump overcall and raise to game. Jorgensen doubled, basically for takeout, and Thorvaldsson tried 4. When that attracted a prompt double from Wasik, Jorgensen ran to 5. Nobody felt like doubling that but after three rounds of spades, ruffed and over-ruffed, there was still a club to lose so Jorgensen was down two; -200 and 6 IMPs to Spain.

Board 7. Dealer South. Game All
K J 9 7 4
K 9 5 3
Q 3
7 2
Q 10
A 6 4 2 J 10 8 7
K J 5 A 10 9 6 4 2
A 10 8 5 J 9 3
A 8 6 5 3 2
Q
8 7
K Q 6 4

Open Room
West North East South
Jorgensen Knap Thorvaldsson Wasik

Pass
1NT Pass 2NT Pass
3 Pass 3 3
All Pass

2NT was a transfer to diamonds and 3 showed a diamond fit. 3 was to play and Wasik judged that his side should be able to make something. Facing a passed partner, Knap judged correctly not to raise to game. East-West can make 5, though this needs some good fortune, so to sell out to 3 was a bit of a soft result for the Icelanders. 3 made exactly for +140.

Closed Room
West North East South
Lanteron Jonsson Goded Arnarson

1
Dble 4 5 5
All Pass

Arnarson's 1 opening put a lot of momentum into the auction. Lanteron doubled and when Jonsson raised to 4 Goded had enough distribution to try 5. With his minimum hand and extra spade, Arnarson judged to go on to 5, probably correctly as declarer would have no particular reason to misguess trumps in 5. 5 lost the same four tricks as had 3 in the other room; -200 and 8 IMPs to Spain. And Spain picked up 4 IMPs on the next board when Iceland managed to play 2 at both tables, a total of three down, extending the lead to 50-5. Iceland rallied on the last few boards of the set.

Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Game
3 2
Q 10 9 8 4
Q 7 3
Q 7 3
9 6 A Q 10 7 4
A 2 K 6 3
A 9 8 6 2 K 10
A 10 9 5 J 6 2
K J 8 5
J 7 5
J 5 4
K 8 4

3NT was reached at both tables but from different sides. Spain played it from the West hand and Jonsson had no difficulty in finding a heart lead. Lanteron cleared the diamonds but with the spades offside and North having a club entry he had no chance, eventually finishing down two; -200.

The Icemen managed to get it played by Thorvaldsson, East, after an unrevealing auction. Wasik took a long time over his lead, deciding between the two red suits. Finally he selected the J. Thorvaldsson won the king and played two more rounds of the suit. Knap switched to a heart but it was too late. Declarer took the double finesse in clubs and soon had ten tricks; +630 and 13 IMPs to Iceland.

Board 11. Dealer South. Love All
A Q 8 4
A 10
Q 8 7 5
A 4 2
K 10 7 6 J
K J 4 2 7 6
6 3 A K J 4 2
Q 6 5 J 10 9 8 7
9 5 3 2
Q 9 8 5 3
10 9
K 3

Open Room
West North East South
Jorgensen Knap Thorvaldsson Wasik

Pass
Pass 1NT 2NT Pass
3 Pass Pass 3
All Pass

2NT showed the minors and Wasik waited until the next round to bid 3, clearly just competitive. The lead was a diamond to the jack and Thorvaldsson switched to a club. Wasik won in hand and played a diamond and back came another club. He won dummy's ace and ran the 8, pitching a spade while Jorgensen ruffed. Back came a club and Wasik ruffed and took the spade finesse then played ace and another trump. That meant two trump losers and there was a spade to come as well; two down for -100.

Closed Room
West North East South
Lanteron Jonsson Goded Arnarson

2
Pass 2NT Pass 3
Pass 4 All Pass

2 was either weak with diamonds or both majors or an artificial game-force, 2NT enquired and 3 showed the weak major hand. Jonsson had a pot at game but this time weak meant just that and the best he could do was two down for another -100 and a flat board.

At half-time, Spain had a very handy lead of 50-24 IMPs and things continued in similar vein after the break. Spain won the match by 79-29 IMPs or 24-6 VPs, greatly improving their chance of reaching their first ever Bermuda Bowl and severely damaging the chance of Iceland, one of their main rivals.


Nice Defense
by Tjolpe Flodqvist (Sweden)


Henry Francis had mentioned this excellent effort and described the play in the encounter between Lebanon and France, but a problem with his computer meant we were unable to decipher the narrative. Thanks to Tjolpe we are now able to bring you the full story.

People like me, who check out the Bridgerama now and then during the day, would of course prefer to read about other matches in the bulletin, since we already have seen or heard of what happened in the rama on most of the more interesting boards. Anyway I always carefully read the bulletin through and thought that my friend Henry Francis had not given full credit to a very nice little defence by Michel Eidi in the Tuesday match between Italy and Lebanon, which actually got a round of applause from the audience.

Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Game
A 8
K 9 2
A 9 3
J 9 6 5 3
7 5 4 K Q 9 6 2
Q 6 4 3 10 8 7
K Q 5 10 7 2
A Q 10 4 2
J 10 3
A J 5
J 8 6 4
K 8 7

In the closed room the Lebanese pair got to 2 by East after 1-1,1NT-2, and South lead a diamond. Declarer could have ducked the lead to his ten, but did not and eventually finished one down. In the open room West became declarer in 2 after a weak notrump and a transfer response.

West North East South
Harfouche Duboin Eidi Bochi

Pass 1NT Pass 2
Pass 2 All Pass

Eidi led a club to the king and ace and West played a spade to the king. He then ran the heart seven to North's nine. Now Eidi was a little bit endplayed and he tried the heart king. Seeing his partner's Jack he found the only way of beating the contract, returning a low diamond from his ace. He actually played the nine, which ran around to declarer's queen. A spade to the ace was then followed by a heart to the ace and a club return, leaving declarer without any chance to make the contract. In practice he drew trumps and tried a diamond to the king.


The hand of the match - and
of the tournament?
by Hans Werge (Denmark)


Round 23. Great Britain v Spain
Board 11. Dealer South. Love All
A K J 5
10 8 6
J 8 4 3
4 2
9 3 2 Q 7 6
Q 9 7 K 3 2
K 10 9 A Q 5 2
A Q 10 5 K 8 3
10 8 4
A J 5 4
7 6
J 9 7 6

Open Room
West North East South
Wasik G. Tredinnick Knap S. Tredinnick

Pass 1 Pass
2NT Pass 3NT All Pass

Spain is performing very well, and Tuesdays vugraph-match in the Open series against Great Britain brought a hand, which might be a candidate for the title 'Best played hand of the tournament'.

Against 3NT North led the ace of spades and continued with a small spade taken in dummy with the queen. Relying on the opponents count signals, Wasik decided to play a third spade, and North saw no reason not to take a forth round of the suit, dummy discarding a club, while both South and West discarded a small heart.

North switched to a heart taken by West's Queen over South's Jack. The contract now depends on getting 4 tricks from one of the minor suits.

While the audience thought that his club-discard from dummy would be fatal, keeping him away from the finesse, Wasik managed to make his nine tricks this way: First he played ace and king of diamonds, trying for the jack doubleton in either hand. Then he hoped for diamonds 3-3, and still he had no luck. He then tried ace of clubs and the club king, but the club jack also refused to show up. But probably West now started making a count of the North hand. Four spades, four diamonds, probably three hearts and thus a doubleton club.

As North had not opened the bidding, he could hardly have the ace of hearts - so Wasik decides to finish by endplaying South on this Card, finishing with the "marked" finesse of the club jack.

West North East South
Calderwood Frances Shek Torres

Pass 1NT Pass
2 Dble 3 Pass
3NT All Pass

N/S could be happy, that they were not invited to try and defeat Two Spades doubled - they will hardly get more than 4 or 5 tricks.

South led the 4 to the jack and queen. Declarer played a diamond to the king, heart to the king and then tested both minors. But as he played for the clubs 3-3 - probably a little against the odds! - he only got eight tricks.

10 IMPs for Spain - and well deserved after the fine declarer play in the Open room.


A Hungarian Exercise
by Daniel Auby (Sweden)

How many of todays's competitors are aware that during the break-through era of Tournament Bridge, i.e. the thirties, Hungary was one of Europe's top nations, maybe even the best? How many of today's competitors are aware that arguably the greatest bridge writer ever was Hungarian? (See below if you don't recall his name, and remember that each man must be measured relative to his own time).

So, how is Hungary doing these days?

Well, if you look a little bit closer at their team this year you will for example observe a certain Gabor Winkler. He's only 22 years old though he made his debut in the 1992 Olympiad. Or take the pair of Daniel Gulyas (pronounced: guyash) and György Szalay (pronounced: chaalaai). They are 28. What will these guys be like in a couple of years? György made his debut in Menton 1993. Watch how he made short work of this little exercise.

Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Game
J 10 8 2 A K 7 5
8 7 6 4 3 K J 10 9 5
A Q 8 4
6 A Q J


West North East South
Gulyas Szalay

Pass 1 2NT
4 5 6 All Pass

The bid of 4 was a splinter alerted to the opponents. You get the lead of the ten of diamonds - Rusinow - from South. How do you plan the play?

You start the hearts and North turns up with AQx. North wins the second one and exits with a club. Your only remaining problem is the spades? How will you play them? Ace first and then finesse, just like an everyday man? The answer is that you do not attack the spades at all, at least for the moment. First play some minors and find out if anything happens.

So you crossruff your diamonds and clubs and cash the ace of spades. This crossruff will eliminate all of your trumps so you will risk a few extra undertricks if you missguess the spades. Lo and behold, North presents the king of clubs when you ruff your second club. You are in dummy (if you ruffed in the correct order) with just your remaining spades. They are: J10x in dummy and K x x in hand. You lead the jack from dummy and North plays a small one. Now is the time of truth. What do you play and why?

György made a quick mental calculation. North bid 5, not 4NT, and the club king fell on the third round, therefore South has exactly six clubs. North bid Five Diamonds so South has exactly five diamonds. Finally South has zero hearts and consequently two spades. How about the high cards? North has turned up with the AQ, the jack (or even king) of diamonds and the king of clubs. If North also has the spade queen he would have 12 HCP (or 14 if he had the king of diamonds).

Well, György thought for himself, so far in this tournament I haven't met a single bridge-player that first in hand, green vs. red passed on a 12 HCP-hand. They are an aggressive lot. So György confidently put up the king of spades and turned smilingly towards South who obligingly presented the queen.

P.S.

1. The greatest bridge writer ever is of course Robert Darvas - Right through the Pack! You perhaps guessed it was Geza Ottlik or even Paul Lukasz. Not to worry, they are also Hungarians.

2. Since we play with screens, where East and North are on the same side, in reality György of course smiled at North not South. On the other hand it could be considered as slightly impolite to smile to North as you fell his partners queen with your left hand, so perhaps it was after all to his own partner that György smiled. Alas, his partner was also on the other side of the screen so in the end poor György, playing modern bridge with screens, had to be content to smile for himself. But now, when the entire world knows about this hand, you can walk up to him and smile with him!


The New Laws of bridge 1997 (Part 3)
by Ton Kooijman (Netherlands)

The third article dedicated to the new laws deals with changes primarily of interest for tournament directors. Before starting, I should make it clear that the three articles together do not cover all the changes: some minor ones have not been mentioned.

The definition of a session has been changed. From now on, the organising committee has to define what it considers to be a session. This is important for artificial adjusted scores that might change depending on the duration of a session.

Since nobody seems to deal cards clockwise, the obligation to do so has been changed in a recommendation. Personally, I hope that everybody doing it right at the moment will continue that habit.

Before '97, the TD had to give an adjusted score when somebody with more than or fewer than thirteen cards made a call. From now on, he may decide to let the board be played if he deems the wrongly placed card not to be an important one. But he needs the co-operation of the players for that.

From now on, the bidding period for a pair starts as soon as one of the players of that pair looks at his cards.

Law 23B has been removed; the new general law now covers the problem it was meant for.

When a player makes a call at his RHO's turn to call, which is not accepted, and his legal call thereafter shows the same denomination(s) (instead of naming the same denomination, as it has been until now), the offender's partner has to pass once.

An opening lead, face up or face down may not be retracted as soon as one or more cards from dummy are visible.

If both defenders find an opening lead, one face down and the other face up, the latter is treated as the lead. This brings us an interesting question. If the open card is from RHO, declarer has the option not to accept it. If he now allows the LHO to lead a card of his choice, should that be the face down card? I think it should. Which means that the TD should not allow LHO to take back his lead out of turn before declarer has made his choice among the many options he has. I am interested in other opinions in this matter.

If there is a revoke at trick 12 by a defender when his partner did not yet play to that trick, the declarer may not force him to play a card he never would have played. The laws become more human to players with bridge problems. They should strive for a steady tempo, but may vary if really necessary. Of course, partner may not use information arising from a pause for thought.


A Belgian Slam
by Herman De Wael

A brilliant auction can sometimes put the opponents on the wrong track: (from match Belgium-France)

Belgium v France
Board 1. Dealer North. Love All
9 7 5 2
10 3
A 4 2
J 9 7 3
8 4 A K 10
K Q 7 6 A J 9 2
Q 9 5 K 8 6 3
K Q 6 5 A 8
Q J 6 3
8 5 4
J 10 7
10 4 2

Open Room
West North East South
Kaplan Mari Delforge Levy

Pass Pass(1) Pass
1(2) Pass 1(3) Pass
2(4) Pass 2NT(5) Pass
3(6) Pass 6(7) All Pass

(1) see below
(2) whew!
(3) Non-forcing, but do you have methods in your system to cover this situation?
(4) Whew!
(5) General trial bid
(6) I did not expect you to have much partner
(7) That should do it

This was the very first deal on one of the longest days of the championship, after this pair had played all 72 deals the previous day. So it was not really surprising that concentration was not yet at full level. Claude Delforge explained afterwards that it had happened before to him to miscount his points, but never to this magnitude!

When he finally did notice three more aces, he was prepared for the worst, when to his great relief his partner opened. Now not a single system in the world includes a bid to show 19 HCP on a passed hand, so Claude decided to keep the bidding low. When partner showed his support, he finally had a forcing bid, but at the next turn he simply bid the slam. His luck didn't end there.

A heart was led, and Claude knew he had to take advantage of the smokescreen he had inadvertently created. He immediately played a diamond from the table. Christian Mari took a five minute pause to analyse the hellish bidding sequence and, since East must have some strange shape, finally played the ace. 2 seconds later the contract was made.

At the other table, the same contract was reached after a more revealing auction and the defence took their due. Down one trick. When we told this to some other people, Liz McGowan related her story on the board. The same contract was bid by the Irish Ladies. Now Liz broke a very well known British Rule of Defence against an Irish slam 'Lead your ace, then spot your partner's ace, and then wait for your natural trump trick,' so Ireland went one light as well.

Given the ludicrous bidding we would all have done as Christian Mari did. However, even if he plays low, the slam can still be made. Declarer wins with the king and plays three rounds of clubs, ruffing the last one in hand. He then draws trumps and cashes the king of clubs to leave this five card ending:

9 7 5
A 4
8 4 A K 10
K
Q 9 8 6
Q J 6
J 10

When the last trump is played North has to keep two diamonds, else declarer can simply duck a diamond. East discards a diamond from hand and South, having to keep three spades, must part with a diamond. Now the ace and king of spades are cashed and a diamond played to the queen, forcing North to concede the last trick to dummy's nine of diamonds.

Whilst the name of this squeeze escapes us (vice, winkle, stepping stone) there seems little chance that declarer would have found it at the table!


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