The Lebanon national team has been performing quite well at recent European Team Championships. Here in Menton, three of them were doing even better on Sunday afternoon, as one of their regular players is being replaced by Polish veteran Krzysztof Martens to make up the team. They were scheduled to play against the Smith team from England, though Czerniewski is actually a Welshman (one might think however that he and Martens have some roots in common…). Their second pair in this match were Hoskins and Southwell.

It was mainly a battle of partscores, in which the Lebanese had the upper hand more often than not. Near the end, the only game swing of the match occurred, and that was a curious one as you will see.

The first board was an easy enough partscore, but on the second board something happened:

Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul.
	ª 10 9 © Q 10 ¨ A K 10 2 § K J 7 5 3
ª K Q 7 4 3 2 © 8 ¨ 9 8 7 3 § Q 10		ª A 8 6 © K J 9 5 3 ¨ Q 6 5 § 4 2
	ª J 5 © A 7 6 4 2 ¨ J 4 § A 9 8 6

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Czerniewski	Tchamitch	Smith	Baroudi
2ª	Pass	3ª	Pass
Pass	3NT	Pass	4§
All Pass

Tchamitch sportingly balanced with 3NT for a minor take-out, having first passed over 2ª. Thus, Baroudi ended up in 4§ which makes if declarer takes the right view in trumps. When the §10 appeared in West when a club was led up to dummy, declarer had the option of finessing on the way back. Statistically right, but not successful this time, Smith +100.

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Martens	Hoskins	Eidi	Southwell
2ª	Pass	3ª	All Pass

The British sold out to 3ª and collected two undertricks for another +100 and 5 IMP’s.

The next board was a matter of subtle bidding:

Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.
	ª A 8 © K 9 6 ¨ J 3 § J 9 7 4 3 2
ª K Q J 7 4 © 10 8 7 4 ¨ 6 4 § A 5		ª 9 2 © A Q 3 ¨ A 10 9 8 7 5 § Q 6
	ª 10 6 5 3 © J 5 2 ¨ K Q 2 § K 10 8

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Czerniewski	Tchamitch	Smith	Baroudi
	Pass	1¨	Pass
1ª	Pass	2¨	Pass
2©	Pass	2ª	All Pass

A nice false preference did the job for the British. A club went to the queen, and king, declarer ducking. A trump came back to the queen and ace. Another club now went to declarer’s ace and a diamond was ducked to South’s queen. Back came a club, but it did not matter any more. Dummy ruffed and declarer ruffed out the diamonds and conceded a trick to the last trump out before claiming the balance for +140.

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Martens	Hoskins	Eidi	Southwell
	Pass	1¨	Pass
1ª	Pass	2¨	Pass
2©	Pass	2NT	All Pass

Though 2NT was played from the right side of the table, declarer could not quite handle it. The lead of the §8 ran to the queen and a spade was led, dummy’s king winning as Hoskins rightly held off his doubleton ace. Eidi then crossed in diamonds to lead another spade to the queen and the ace and Hoskins cleared the clubs. When the spades did not break, Eidi successfully took the heart finesse but he still had only seven tricks. Smith +100 and 6 IMP’s.

More partscore battling two boards later:

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

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Czerniewski	Tchamitch	Smith	Baroudi
			1¨
Pass	1ª	Pass	1NT
All Pass

Czerniewski made the unlucky lead of the §A which cost a tempo. When he next played a spade to Smith’s ace, the entry to his possible diamond tricks, the defence was badly placed. Smith returned a spade to declarer’s king, but there was ample time now to cash the clubs and concede a heart to the king. Eight tricks, Eidi +120.

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Martens	Hoskins	Eidi	Southwell
			1©
Dble	2©	3¨	All Pass

Here we saw the Canapé in action. It backfired this time, as it enabled EW to find a good fit in a suit no longer available to their counterparts at the other table. The play was nice too: Club to the ace, club ruff, heart to the king, heart won by North who returned a trump to queen, king and ace. Another club was ruffed in hand, a heart ruffed in dummy and the ¨J cashed. Declarer had lost only one tricks so far, so he could afford to put South on play with the last heart. South could take two more high trumps, but then had to lead away from his ªK to render Eidi his contract for a well-earned +110 and 6 IMP’s.

More partscore fun on the next board:

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	ª J 10 © Q 10 8 ¨ A 8 5 2 § K J 5 4
ª K 7 6 4 © A 7 6 4 ¨ Q 9 7 3 § 7		ª A 5 3 2 © 9 5 2 ¨ 10 § A 10 9 6 3
	ª Q 9 8 © K J 3 ¨ K J 6 4 § Q 8 2

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Czerniewski	Tchamitch	Smith	Baroudi
Pass	Pass	1§	Pass
1©	Pass	Pass	1NT
All Pass

A nice rubber bridge style auction and a perfect final contract. Once again an unlucky lead from West, this time a low diamond to the ten and jack. From now on, declarer had all the time in the world to come to two heart tricks and two club tricks, and eight in all for +120.

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Martens	Hoskins	Eidi	Southwell
Pass	Pass	Pass	1¨
Pass	2NT	All Pass

Here, East did not make a light opening bid, so NS were left to their own resources. 2NT proved too high when declarer, in the heat of the battle, forgot to put in dummy’s eight on the lead of the §6. When the diamonds did not behave, the defence could establish an extra trick in hearts when declarer started to attack this suit. One down, +50 to Eidi and another 5 IMP’s.

Eidi gained another 5 IMP’s when the Brits overbid to an impossible game and then we saw the advantage of missorting the cards in your hand.

Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	ª A 9 4 © K J ¨ 7 3 2 § A K 8 7 3
ª K 8 © A 10 9 8 7 6 ¨ Q 8 § Q J 2		ª Q J 10 6 5 2 © 4 2 ¨ J 10 9 5 4 § -
	ª 7 3 © Q 5 3 ¨ A K 6 § 10 9 6 5 4

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Czerniewski	Tchamitch	Smith	Baroudi
		2¨	Pass
2©	Pass	3©	All Pass

2¨ showed a weak two in that suit (no Multi!) and 2© was natural and invitational. West made a polite raise and there it rested. One down. What had happened was that West had mentally transformed half his spades into clubs.

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Martens	Hoskins	Eidi	Southwell
		3ª	Pass
3NT	All Pass

Well, this is what you get when you sort your cards correctly. With both the long spades and the long diamonds in the entryless hand, 3NT was never in danger. One overtrick, so Smith had gained 11 IMP’s, the biggest switch of the match, with no effort at all, to go into the lead by 6.

They lost most of that lead on the next board:

Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	ª A K Q J 5 3 © 7 6 ¨ 7 5 3 § 6 5
ª 10 6 © A 10 9 8 4 ¨ J 4 2 § A 9 8		ª 9 8 7 © 5 2 ¨ A K 10 8 6 § K 4 3
	ª 4 2 © K Q J 3 ¨ Q 9 § Q J 10 7 2

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Czerniewski	Tchamitch	Smith	Baroudi
			Pass
Pass	3ª	Pass	Pass
Dble	Pass	4¨	All Pass

When Baroudi quickly passed as dealer on his aceless hand, Tchamitch put pressure on the opponents by launching 3ª in 3rd position. When Czerniewski did manage to find a double indeed, his side got into some trouble. 3ª is down one but of course, Smith settled for 4¨ and that contract could not be made either. Eidi +100.

At the other table, The Lebanese-Polish combination had no chance to get into trouble when the Canapé came into operation once again:

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Martens	Hoskins	Eidi	Southwell
			1©
Pass	1ª	Pass	2§
Pass	3ª	All Pass

One down, Eidi another +100 and 5 IMP’s back to trail by 1.

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

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Czerniewski	Tchamitch	Smith	Baroudi
Pass	Pass	Pass	1ª
Pass	1NT	Pass	2¨
Pass	2©	Pass	4©
Pass	Pass	Pass

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Martens	Hoskins	Eidi	Southwell
Pass	Pass	Pass	1§
Pass	1©	Pass	1ª
Pass	2©	Pass	4©
All Pass

At both tables North was in 4© but as you can see, they had no trouble getting there in the Closed Room after the Strong Club opening, whereas Tchamitch had to introduce his meagre five-card suit to reach the game as well.

As we have said before at a number of occasions, bridge is a cruel game. Smith made the good opening lead of a trump, after which declarer was forced to ruff out the spades and make an overtrick when everything broke nicely. Eidi first cashed a top club before switching to a trump, so Southwell had time to ruff a club and thus lost the time needed to establish the fifth spade for the same overtrick.

In the end, missing the overtrick had its particular charm as the match now resulted in an exact tie, a fair result for an encounter played in an excellent atmosphere.