Avoidance Spades by Ace Ventura Cristina Golin and Massimo Lanzarotti in Team Allegra must have had a bad experience playing spades contracts recently. When they faced Kowalski in round four of the Swiss, for some reason they avoided spade-fits. Well, see for your self. Would nine spades be enough for Golin/Lanzarotti? The answer is: no! Dealer West, All vul Board 4   ♠ A K 7 5 4 ♥ 10 8 7 ♦ 10 6 3 ♣ 10 9 ♠ J 10 9 ♥ 6 4 ♦ J 8 4 ♣ K J 5 3 2 ♠ Q ♥ K J 9 3 ♦ K 9 7 5 ♣ 8 7 6 4   ♠ 8 6 3 2 ♥ A Q 5 2 ♦ A Q 2 ♣ A Q West North East South Rosenblum Lanzarotti Panina Golin Pass Pass Pass 1♦ Pass 1♠ Pass 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass   West North East South Buratti Tuslynski Paoluzi Sarniak Pass Pass Pass 1♣ Pass 1♠ Dble 4♠ All Pass       1♦ was natural unbalanced or a balanced hand with 18-20 HCPs. 1NT showed the balanced hand and Lanzarotti tried 3NT. Golin liked her three tenaces and passed despite four spades. When 4♠ needs a little help from the defence, you can see that 3NT is a perfect contract. Michail Rosenblum led the three of clubs to the queen. Three rounds of spades followed and West cleared the club suit. After two high spades declarer has to choose which red suit to finesse, but as the card lied it did not matter. Golin went for the heart finesse and when it held the trick she cashed in; Allegra +400. In the Closed Room Simonetta Pauluzi, seated East, led an unlycky heart, which gave declarer three heart tricks – just enough to make the contract and that was worth 1 IMP to Kowalski. 3NT was played at only 4 of 36 tables. All the rest reached 4♠, defeated at 18 of them. Dealer South, All vul Board 7   ♠ Q 7 4 3 2 ♥ 7 4 ♦ Q 8 3 ♣ A 6 2 ♠ 9 6 ♥ A 8 ♦ A J 7 6 4 ♣ K Q J 9 ♠ 8 ♥ Q 10 9 6 5 3 ♦ K 10 ♣ 8 7 5 3   ♠ A K J 10 5 ♥ K J 2 ♦ 9 5 2 ♣ 10 4 West North East South Rosenblum Lanzarotti Panina Golin       1NT Pass 2♥ Dble 3♠ Dble Pass 4♣ Pass 4♥ Dble All Pass   West North East South Buratti Tuslynski Paoluzi Sarniak       1♠ 2♦ 3♠ All Pass   It might come as a big surprise, of course Golin/Lanzarotti’s 11-14 HCPs no trump opening may contain five cards in a major… This time they had ten spades together and again made the right move, to avoid continuing bidding spades. 4♣ is a nice contract for East/West but Rosenblum corrected to 4♥. The Italians did the right thing when they doubled 4♥. With open cards 4♥ can be made by playing a heart to the eight, but in practice it is more likely for declarer to play trump ace and a trump up towards dummy in order to see which card North shows up with. When Lanzarotti led a very helpful eight of diamonds Rosenblum easily made his doubled contract. Declarer won with dummy’s ten, then played another diamond to the ace and cashed the trump ace. The spade loser was pitched on the jack of diamonds. The defence now only had three winning tricks, two in hearts and the ace of clubs; Kowalski +790. At the other table 3♠ went two down after the lead of king of clubs; -200 and that was another 11 IMPs to Kowalski. Allegra just scored on one deal. This one: Dealer West, None vul Board 8   ♠ Q J 5 2 ♥ A Q 10 8 6 ♦ A ♣ J 10 6 ♠ A K 8 4 ♥ 9 7 3 2 ♦ 9 7 3 2 ♣ K 5 4 ♠ 3 ♥ 7 3 ♦ K Q 8 5 ♣ A 9 8 7 3 2   ♠ 10 9 7 6 ♥ K J 9 2 ♦ J 10 6 4 ♣ Q West North East South Rosenblum Lanzarotti Panina Golin Pass 1♥ 2♣ 4♥ Dble Pass 4NT Pass 5♣ Dble All Pass   West North East South Buratti Tuslynski Paoluzi Sarniak Pass 1♥ 2♣ 3♥ Dble Pass 4♣ All Pass Here Golin/Lanzarotti again ignored spades, quite understandable since they this time had nine hearts. In 4♥ a correct defence will win the first five tricks (singleton spade to A-K, spade ruff, a club to the king and another spade ruff). North/South were not left to play there, instead Larysa Panina’s 4NT held the auction alive. Rosenblum preferred to play in clubs and Lanzarotti had his doubts. The defence got their four tricks; -300. Tuslynski/Sarniak did the right thing when they let Buratti/Pauluzi play in 4♣; down one for a score of –50 but that was till 6 IMPs to Allegra. Kowalski won the match 20-10 (23-6 IMPs). Both teams qualified easily to the 16 th finals from their 12 th place in the Swiss. Testing Declarer The Popova team finished on top of Group L, defeating the runners up, Hirchenaut 17-13 in the last round. Declarer failed to pass her test on this deal: Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.   ♠ Q 9 4 2 ♥ 9 5 4 ♦ 10 8 3 ♣ A 9 6 ♠ K 10 7 ♥ A J 10 2 ♦ K Q J 9 ♣ 8 4 ♠ J 6 3 ♥ K Q 8 7 3 ♦ A 6 ♣ J 3 2   ♠ A 8 5 ♥ 6 ♦ 7 5 4 2 ♣ K Q 10 7 5 West North East South Gunev Popova 1♦ Pass 1♥ Pass 2♥ Pass 4♥ All Pass   South led the king of clubs, continued with the queen and switched to a spade. Imagining South had the ♣AKQ declarer naturally paced the ace of spades with North and played low. How many of you got it right by putting up the king

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