The Round of 16: Orange 1 v. Zimmermann by Jos Jacobs On Monday afternoon, two of the strongest teams who had made it to the last 16 had to meet : Orange 1, the Dutch National Team in Malmö, would play a team consisting of Fantoni-Nunes, Quantin-Multon and Saporta-Zimmermann. For the first segment, Bertens-Bakkeren would face Saporta-Zimmermann in the Open Room, whereas Fantoni-Nunes would take on Jansma-Verhees in the Closed Room. Action right on the first board: Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.   ♠ 4 ♥ J 7 4 ♦ A J 7 3 2 ♣ K 5 3 2 ♠ K Q J 2 ♥ K 10 3 ♦ 9 ♣ A J 9 7 6 ♠ A 9 8 7 ♥ 9 ♦ K Q 10 8 5 4 ♣ 10 4   ♠ 10 6 5 3 ♥ A Q 8 6 5 2 ♦ 6 ♣ Q 8 Open Room West North East South Saporta Bertens Zimmermann Bakkeren   Pass 1♦ 1♥ 2♣ 2♦ 3♦ 3♥ 3NT Dble All Pass   When West elected to show his clubs first rather than double, the spades got lost when East, as a consequence of having made an opening bid, logically rebid his good six-card suit. Probably, West should have bid 3♠ as his partner could well have four of them. The defence against 3NT was easy enough: low heart lead, on which South played the queen and West the king. When the first diamond won the trick, declarer could have cashed out for down two, but when he played to establish clubs, North took the second round, cashed the ♦A and returned the ♥J and another. Down three for +500, a very good start for Orange 1. Closed Room West North East South Jansma Fantoni Verhees Nunes   Pass Pass 2♥ Pass 4♥ Dble Pass 4♠ All Pass     A great action by Verhees at the second attempt here. He passed in second position, unlike his French counterpart, but when Fantoni raised to 4♥ on his passed hand, East realised that action could well be required. Right he was, and Jansma happily bid 4♠. Had Jansma gone down in 4♠ the board would still have been a substantial gain for their team, but he managed to make the contract with some good play: Heart lead to the ace and the ♣Q back. He won the ace, discarded a club on the ♥K and led a diamond. North rose with the ace and played another heart, tapping dummy. The ♦K was ruffed and overruffed with the jack, and next the ♣J was successfully run. On the next club Jansma discarded from dummy when North did not cover, South ruffing. The heart return was ruffed in dummy, declarer discarding a club, a diamond was ruffed and the ♠K cashed, drawing South’s last trump. Contract made now with the ♦Q and the ♠A good for trick 9 and 10. Another +420 and 14 IMPs for Orange 1. Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul.   ♠ 6 2 ♥ A K 8 ♦ K J 10 7 3 ♣ K 8 7 ♠ Q 10 8 7 ♥ Q J 6 ♦ A 6 2 ♣ Q 9 4 ♠ A K 9 4 3 ♥ 3 2 ♦ Q 5 ♣ A 10 6 2   ♠ J 5 ♥ 10 9 7 5 4 ♦ 9 8 4 ♣ J 5 3 Open Room West North East South Saporta Bertens Zimmermann Bakkeren Pass 1♦ 1♠ Pass 3♦ Pass 3♠ All Pass The French did well to stop in 3♠ as game will be defeated easily when South leads his partner’s suit. In fact he did but Bertens, defending 3♠, did not bother to cash his ♥AK and wait for his club trick, so an overtrick was made. Closed Room West North East South Jansma Fantoni Verhees Nunes Pass 1NT 2♠ Pass 4♠ All Pass     After Fantoni’s weak NT, Nunes had a blind lead and, not unreasonably, put the ♥10 on the table. This way, declarer was in with a chance and Verhees immediately seized it. Dummy’s jack was covered by the king and Fantoni could only exit with a spade. After drawing two rounds of trumps declarer played ♣A and a club to the nine, Fantoni winning the king. Once again, he had no useful card to play, so he exited with a club. When the suit broke 3-3, declarer could cross in trumps, cash the club throwing a red card on it and play off the last trump, leaving the blank ♥Q and the ♦Ax in dummy with North to discard from ♥Ax and ♦KJ. By finding this nice and inexorable throw-in squeeze Verhees brought home his game and earned his side another substantial swing, 10 IMPs this time. The score now: 25-0. A few boards later, the same weak NT brought Fantoni-Nunes a much needed success: Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul.   ♠ Q 8 7 ♥ K J 8 ♦ K Q 10 7 6 ♣ 10 3 ♠ A 9 6 5 4 ♥ A 6 5 ♦ J 8 ♣ K 9 8 ♠ K J 10 3 ♥ Q 9 7 4 ♦ A 4 3 ♣ Q 5   ♠ 2 ♥ 10 3 2 ♦ 9 5 2 ♣ A J 7 6 4 2 Open Room West North East South Saporta Bertens Zimmermann Bakkeren   1♦ Dble 2♣ 2♦ Pass 2♥ Pass 4♠ All Pass     After the natural 1♦ opening, East could just find a double that made it easy for West to jump to game. Saporta had to play well to make his game, but he did. The ♣10 lead was covered by the queen and ace. South returned the ♦2 to the ten and ace. As clubs looked like being 6-2, North’s distribution might well be 3-3-5-2, so Saporta next played a spade to the ace and a spade to the jack. When the ♥K was well-placed too, as could be expected, he was home and dry for a fine +620 to his team. A swing looked likely. Closed Room West North East South Jansma Fantoni Verhees Nunes   1NT Pass 2NT Pass 3♣ All Pass   And it duly came when Verhees did not bother to overcall with any major-suit gadget on his flat 12-count. The contract went one down, but 11 IMPs went to Zimmermann. Zimmermann almost equalised in spectacular fashion on board 12: Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.   ♠ 8 3 ♥ 8 7 2 ♦ Q J 6 4 3 2 ♣ Q 3 ♠ J 9 6 ♥ 5 4 3 ♦ 7 5 ♣ A K 8 7 5 ♠ Q 10 7 ♥ A K Q J 6 ♦ K 9 ♣ 10 9 2   ♠ A K 5 4 2 ♥ 10 9 ♦ A 10 8 ♣ J 6 4 West North East South Saporta Bertens Zimmermann Bakkeren Jansma Fantoni Verhees Nunes Pass Pass 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass     The bidding was simple at both tables, but the declarer play made a difference of 9 tricks! Nunes in the Closed Room led a top spade and continued a low spade won by Verhees. To him, the best chance looked a successful double finesse in clubs; this probably is the best practical chance. When this lost to Fantoni’s queen, a diamond came back from Fantoni, so the defenders had three more spades and six diamonds for an unusual down seven. Zimmermann +350. Bakkeren in the Open Room led a low spade, won by Zimmermann who went on to cash his hearts, awaiting developments. Right he was, as South was well and truly squeezed. He first discarded his two low diamonds but on the last heart he had no good discard. If he throws a spade, declarer can play a low diamond from hand felling the ace and thus establishing the ♦K as his 9 th trick. If he throws a club, as he did in practice, dummy’s long suit will produce five more tricks. So Zimmermann scored a magnificent, maybe a little unexpected +460 and 13 IMPs as well. The score now: 25-24 to Orange. The hand is actually a beauty. South can discard in many ways, but East always has an answer. If for example South holds on to two diamonds and thus discards one more spade, he can be thrown in with the third club to cash his spades and present declarer with his 9 th trick as he has to give him the ♦K. There are many more variations, of course. More strange things occurred on the next board, the dreaded no. 13: Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.   ♠ 8 7 6 3 ♥ K J 5 ♦ K 5 3 2 ♣ A K ♠ 9 ♥ Q 10 7 6 3 ♦ Q ♣ 10 8 6 5 3 2 ♠ Q 10 5 2 ♥ A 9 2 ♦ A J 9 8 6 ♣ 7   ♠ A K J 4 ♥ 8 4 ♦ 10 7 4 ♣ Q J 9 4 Open Room West North East South Saporta Bertens Zimmermann Bakkeren   1♦ Pass 1♠ Pass 2♠ All Pass   West led the ♦Q which was allowed to hold. On the shift to the ♥10, Bakkeren put up dummy’s king which lost to the ace. Zimmermann returned his singleton club. Dummy’s ace won, but when Bakkeren next tried to cash dummy’s other top club the roof fell in. Zimmermann ruffed and cashed the ♦A, gave his partner a diamond ruff and overruffed dummy on the ensuing club return. Another diamond was ruffed in hand by declarer with his ♠K, so a trick had to be lost to the ♠Q as well for down three, Zimmermann +300. At the other table, they had much higher ambitions: Closed Room West North East South Jansma Fantoni Verhees Nunes   1NT Pass 2♣ Pass 2♠ Pass 4♠ All Pass       East was on lead here, so the defence was much more difficult. He led his singleton club won by declarer who next cashed a top spade and crossed in clubs, probably to finesse spades. Verhees ruffed this, however, and next underled his ♥A, no doubt hoping to get a diamond through. Fantoni won his ♥K and promptly finessed in spades. He drew the last trump, discarded his hearts on the ♣QJ and led a diamond up. The ♦10 thus became the game-going trick in the end. Nicely done and another +620 for Zimmermann, who now led 38-25. At halftime the score was 38-30 as the Dutch had managed to make 1NT at both tables on board 14. For the second half there were changes in both teams. De Wijs-Muller would replace Bertens-Bakkeren in the Open Room and Quantin-Multon would replace Saporta-Zimmermann and change rooms as well. It turned out to be a set of not very spectacular hands, mainly partscores, on which the Dutch did slightly better than their opponents. They had achieved a 6-IMP lead with some small pickups, the score standing at 48-42 in their favour, when the penultimate board arrived: Board 27. Dealer South. None Vul.   ♠ Q J 9 6 4 ♥ K J 7 3 ♦ A 6 ♣ K Q ♠ A K 10 8 ♥ Q 6 ♦ Q 7 5 3 2 ♣ 7 5 ♠ 7 5 ♥ A 10 9 8 4 ♦ K 9 ♣ A 10 9 6   ♠ 3 2 ♥ 5 2 ♦ J 10 8 4 ♣ J 8 4 3 2 Open Room West North East South Nunes De Wijs Fantoni Muller       Pass Pass 1♠ Pass Pass 1NT Pass 2♥ All Pass Another quiet partscore and +110 to Zimmermann. In the other room, the Dutch were very enterprising. As 11 h.c.p. represents an opening bid for them and as an opening bid plus an opening bid means the partnership should end up in game, this was their auction: Closed Room West North East South Jansma Quantin Verhees Multon       Pass 1♦ 1♠ 2♦ Pass 2♥ Pass 2♠ Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass If you bid like this, you have to play well, but Jansma rose to the occasion and brought home his contract in a very elegant way. He won the ♠ lead with the ace and immediately advanced the ♥Q. This happens to be the technically correct way to tackle the suit and this time too, it worked. Quantin did not cover, so next came a heart to the 10, the ♥A and a heart to North’s king. Quantin could already feel the endplay, but he did his best by playing the ♣Q (!). When Jansma immediately won the ace and led the ♣10 back, Quantin was on play again. With only spades and diamonds left, North was obliged to present declarer with his 9 th trick. This way, Jansma gained a 7-IMP swing for his team to put the match out of reach with one board to play. The final score: 57-42 to the Orange 1 team.

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