England vs Austria

Women Round 7

By Tony Gordon

With England in second place and the new-look Austrian team hovering in mid table, England were hoping for a win that would keep them in touch with leaders Germany, and so it proved.

The first big swing went to England on board 4.

Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul.
	ª 8 © 9 6 ¨ K J 3 2 § A 8 7 6 5 2
ª A 10 7 6 5 © Q 10 8 3 ¨ Q 8 5 § 9		ª K Q J 4 3 2 © A K 4 2 ¨ - § J 4 3
	ª 9 © J 7 5 ¨ A 10 9 7 6 4 § K Q 10

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brunner	Popp	Goldenfield	Semmelrath
Pass	Pass	1ª	2¨
4§	4¨	6ª	All Pass

Michelle Brunner's 4§ splinter showed 8-11, and, as the opponent's bidding suggested her partner's values would be well-placed, Rhona Goldenfield jumped to the good slam. There were no problems in the play and England scored +1430.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Redermeier	Dhondy	Schnitzer	Smith
Pass	Pass	1©	Pass
2NT	Pass	3§	Pass
3©	Pass	4NT	Pass
5¨	Dble	5©	All Pass

A similar situation was reached in the other room where the Austrian's canapé approach meant that they locked into their shorter major-suit fit. Alice Redermeier's 2NT showed 7+ with a fit and a shortage and her subsequent 3© bid showed short clubs. Blackwood then discovered West's ace, but Susi Schnitzer was unwilling to gamble on a slam and settled for 5©. +680 to Austria, but 13 IMPs to England.

Austria's sole gain of any significance came on the next board.

Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.
	ª 9 6 © 9 7 6 4 ¨ Q J 8 7 4 3 § 3
ª K 7 2 © A 5 ¨ A 10 6 2 § K 10 7 4		ª J 10 8 © Q J 3 ¨ K 9 § A 8 6 5 2
	ª A Q 5 4 3 © K 10 8 2 ¨ 5 § Q J 9

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Redermeier	Dhondy	Schnitzer	Smith
	Pass	Pass	1ª
Pass	Pass	2§	Pass
2ª	Pass	2NT	Pass
3NT	All Pass

Nine tricks were not a problem and Austria duly scored +400.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brunner	Popp	Goldenfield	Semmelrath
	Pass	Pass	1ª
Pass	2¨	Pass	2©
All Pass

Karin Popp's 2¨ bid was not alerted, but even if it had been there seems no way for East-West to get into the auction once Goldenfield had reasonably passed the East hand. After a club to the ace and a low trump switch, the defence allowed declarer to take a ruffing club finesse and ruff a spade in dummy, so she was able to come to eight tricks for +110 and 11 IMPs to Austria.

Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul.
	ª J 9 8 5 4 © - ¨ Q 6 3 § A K 10 9 8
ª K 7 3 © Q J 8 7 4 2 ¨ J 10 § Q 7		ª 10 6 2 © A K 9 5 ¨ K 9 7 § 6 4 2
	ª A Q © 10 6 3 ¨ A 8 5 4 2 § J 5 3

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Redermeier	Dhondy	Schnitzer	Smith
2©	2ª	3©	4ª
All Pass

With spades 3-3 and the §Q onside, 4ª was unbeatable, and Heather Dhondy duly made her contract for +420 to England.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brunner	Popp	Goldenfield	Semmelrath
2©	Pass	4©	All Pass

North's failure to overcall and Goldenfield's raise to 4© ensured that England bought the contract in the other room. There were five potential losers, but the defence failed to switch to spades in time so Brunner was able to discard one of her spade losers on a diamond. -50, but 9 IMPs to England who led 24-13 at this point.

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª 4 3 © J 8 6 2 ¨ A 10 5 3 § A K 6
ª A K 9 8 5 2 © Q 10 ¨ 6 4 § Q 4 2		ª 10 © 9 7 5 3 ¨ K J 9 8 § J 8 7 5
	ª Q J 7 6 © A K 4 ¨ Q 7 2 § 10 9 3

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Redermeier	Dhondy	Schnitzer	Smith
		Pass	1§
2ª	Dble	Pass	2NT
Pass	3NT	All Pass

Nicola Smith won the low spade lead with her queen and cashed her top hearts felling West's honours. A club to the king and a diamond to her queen brought her up to eight tricks, and she continued by ducking a diamond to East. When Schnitzer exited with the ¨J, the hand was an open book. Smith won dummy's ¨A, cashed the §A and exited with a third club in the knowledge that whichever opponent won this trick would be endplayed. If East won the trick, she could cash a club and a diamond, but would then have to lead into dummy's heart tenace. If West won the trick, which is what happened at the table, she could cash her top spades but that would establish declarer's ªJ as her ninth trick. +400 to England.

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brunner	Popp	Goldenfield	Semmelrath
		Pass	1¨
1ª	Dble	Pass	1NT
Pass	3NT	All Pass

In the other room, Karin Semmelrath won the opening low spade lead with her jack and ran the ¨Q. This was not an auspicious start, but it was not immediately fatal. Goldenfield won her king and her club switch went to the nine, queen and ace. Now Semmelrath crossed to hand with the ©A and finessed the ¨10, which was fatal. Goldenfield continued diamonds and declarer took her ace and cashed the other top heart. Two more rounds of hearts endplayed East and guaranteed a trick for declarer's §10, but that was only her eighth trick, so she was one down for +50 and 10 IMPs to England.

The next board was a textbook hand.

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	ª K 10 9 7 6 5 © J ¨ 9 5 § Q 10 9 2
ª 3 © K Q 9 8 6 4 3 ¨ Q 6 § J 5 3		ª A J 8 4 © A 7 5 ¨ J § A K 7 6 4
	ª Q 2 © 10 2 ¨ A K 10 8 7 4 3 2 § 8

Closed Room
West	North	East	South
Brunner	Popp	Goldenfield	Semmelrath
			4¨
4©	Pass	6©	All Pass

Brunner's overcall made it easy for the English pair to reach the heart slam, and Popp led a diamond to her partner's king. Semmelrath switched to a trump and Brunner won in hand and ruffed the ¨Q. Isolating the spade menace was the next matter of business, so Brunner drew trumps with the ©A and then ruffed a spade. A club to the ace and another spade ruff completed the process, and the run of the trumps then squeezed North in the black suits for +980 to England.

Open Room
West	North	East	South
Redermeier	Dhondy	Schnitzer	Smith
			1¨
3©	3ª	4©	5¨
All Pass

Smith's 1¨ opening proved more effective in the open room where she was surprisingly allowed to play undoubled in 5¨. After a spade to the ace, on which Smith dropped the queen, East completed a hand she will want to forget by trying to cash the §AK. So England scored +600 for a gain of 17 IMPs.

That result made the score 59-17 in England's favour, and worse was to come for Austria when some injudicious biding on board 18 was punished to the tune of 1100 for the loss of a further 14 IMPs.

When the smoke had cleared, England had won by 82-17 (25-3 VPs) and were now only 4 VPs behind Germany at the top of the table.