Ergun Korkut Turkey

As everybody knows Salsomaggiore is very hot these days. In our match against Italy in the seniors the air conditioning was not working properly. Mr Ricciarelli showed his hospitality by bringing us cold drinks.
At the end of the 17th board we were leading 42/28.

This was the bidding on the next deal:

Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.

West	North	East	South
Ricciarelli	Sarimsakci	Baroni	Korkut
		1¨	2ª
3©	3ª	4©	All Pass

North led the ace of spades and this is what I could see:

I played a small spade indicating a club switch. North led the seven of clubs showing a doubleton. When declarer played small from dummy I won with my queen. If I put the declarer in dummy I can win the second diamond and give my partner a club ruff. I played the king of clubs. My hopes were shattered when declarer ruffed the second diamond, ruffed his losing spade and conceded a trump trick to my partner. This was the full deal:

	ª A 10 5 3 © Q J 5 ¨ Q 10 5 2 § 7 4
ª Q 2 © K 10 9 7 6 4 3 ¨ 6 § J 6 2		ª 9 © A 8 ¨ A J 9 7 4 3 § A 8 5 3
	ª K J 8 7 6 4 © 2 ¨ K 8 § K Q 10 9

In the open room they played Four Spades down one on the North/South cards so the difference was +320 points meaning 8 IMPs.

If I had led a heart or a spade rather than the club, West would be one down meaning 4 IMPs to Turkey. We lost the match 42/45. Without this result it would have been 46/37.

Mr. Ricciarelli was very quick to bring another drink - a glass of cold water.

Nice play!

By Peter Lovász, Hungary

In recent years the Hungarian team was not between one of the strongest but sometimes some achieved good results. Still, there are some good players on the two sides of the Danube.

Women's series, Round 12
Hungary v Denmark

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

West	North	East	South
Mezei		Kerekes
Pass	Pass	1§	Pass
1¨	Pass	1ª	Pass
3ª	Pass	3NT	Pass
4ª	All Pass

1§ is min. 16 HCP, 1¨ max 7. HCP. 1ª may be four cards, and East offers the 3NT contract. But Kati Mezei - she knows why - decided four spades will be better.

The lovely Danish South started with a small club to the king and the ace. East followed with the queen of clubs, and ruffed a club on the table. Now declarer played three rounds of hearts, finishing on the table, and played a small ª to the 7-2-A! South was in trouble! She switched to the queen of diamonds, but Kerekes found the right way: she won with the king of diamonds, and played the three of spades to the ten and jack. The third, and the last trick for N-S was the king of spades, as declarer could draw the last trump with the queen of spades and finesse in diamonds.

It was nice play - was it not?

Bidding Downwards

By Peter Lund

Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
	ª J 10 9 6 © - ¨ A 7 § J 10 9 8 6 5 3
ª 7 2 © 9 8 7 4 2 ¨ J 9 6 5 4 § 7		ª K Q 8 4 3 © A Q 3 ¨ K 2 § A K 4
	ª A 5 © K J 10 6 5 ¨ Q 10 8 3 § Q 2

West	North	East	South
Møller		Lund
Pass	Pass	2§*	Pass
2©	All Pass!

Lead: jack of clubs

In Christmas tourneys`in Denmark, as a special gadget, each pair is allowed to bid downwards once. Using a special Danish convention, you can do exactly the same at a European Championship after partner's 2NT opening: in other words, opening 2NT and now 2© or 2ªby responder!

It sounds weird, I know, but the explanation is quite simple. If your 2§-opening contains a balanced 20-21, partner may sign off directly by bidding 2©/ª showing 0-3 HCP and a 5-card suit.

This convention, invented by Lauge Schaffer (Danish Open team), worked perfectly for Steen Moller (Danish seniors) on this layout (Round 16/board 20).

Moller never touched trumps and cross ruffed his way - with a little bit of help from South - to 9 tricks. Who else would be able to stay this low in a natural system I wonder?

(Other special bids: 2§§-2NT: weak with minor,2§ - 3§/3¨: 0-3 and 6 card - can only be played with strong 2-openings in ª and ©)

Moller never touched trumps and cross ruffed his way - with a little bit of help from South - to nine tricks. Who else would be able to stay this low in a natural system I wonder?