A Day in the Life

By Herman De Wael

As part of my functions of Scribe of the Appeals Committee, I calculate the relative frequency of appeals during European Championships, and express this as the "BAR" (Board Appeal Ratio). At these championships, the BAR is currently at a relatively low value of 0.26 appeals per 1000 boards. I will let you know the final figure in tomorrow's bulletin.

In order to calculate the BAR, I need to count the total number of boards played at the championships, and I do this meticulously by checking the number of players in every session, especially here, where the heat means that nearly every time, some pairs have dropped out. That is what I call "checking the holes", and now I know how many holes it takes to fill the Palais de l'Europe.

On Wednesday evening, I just had to laugh when the figure had reached the high 90,000's, and I calculated that we would reach the sixth digit sometime Thursday morning. After checking Thursday's holes, I calculated that the 105th table to play the seventh board of the first session would be the special one. Of course it is impossible to find which one of 256 tables in 10 rooms in 3 buildings is the 105th to start play, so I decided to simply use the 105th table, starting from A1, as the special one. That turned out to be K4.

So let me introduce to you: the 100,000th board of these Championships.

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

West	North	East	South
Salomone	Bruhn	Bertello	Eriksen
	1¨	Dble	Pass
2©	Pass	2NT	Pass
3§	Pass	3NT	All Pass

Asger Bruhn opened hostilities with 1¨ and Renato Bertello was unstoppable. Giovanni Salomone introduced both his suits and was rather sad ("what do I bid when I am negative?") when he put his dummy down. Christian Eriksen did pick his partner's long suit by leading the ¨J, but Renato made the grade when he was able to set up the clubs for 10 tricks.

Tiger Bridge

By Mark Horton

Some of you may be lucky enough to have a copy of Tiger Bridge by Jeremy Flint & Freddie North. One of the chapters discusses the idea of doubling when you know the opponents are limited and you suspect the cards may be lying badly for them.
In the quarterfinal match between Reps and Chemla, Josef Piekerek made a typical ‘tiger double’.

Board 25. Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	ª 9 4 2 © A 8 ¨ 8 6 3 § K 10 9 8 3
ª Q J 7 5 © 7 4 ¨ A K 10 § J 7 6 4		ª K 6 3 © Q 10 9 5 2 ¨ Q J 2 § A Q
	ª A 10 8 © K J 6 3 ¨ 9 7 5 4 § 5 2

West	North	East	South
Cronier	Gotard	Chemla	Piekerek
	Pass	1©	Pass
1ª	Pass	1NT	Pass
2NT	Pass	3NT	Dble
All Pass

South reckoned he had three tricks coming and the auction had suggested the opponents were limited. He led a diamond and declarer won with the queen and played a spade to the queen and a club to the queen. South took the next spade with the ace and played a second diamond. Declarer won in dummy, played a spade to his king, cashed the ace of clubs, played a diamond to dummy, cashed the last spade and played a heart. North went up with the ace and played his remaining heart. Southcould win and play a diamond and declarer was one down.

West	North	East	South
Von Arnim	Abecassis	Auken	Soulet
		1NT	Pass
2§	Dble	2©	Pass
2ª	Pass	2NT	Pass
3NT	All Pass

South dutifully led a club and declarer won with the queen. She played a spade and South went in with the ace to play a second club. Declarer won, played a spade to the queen and the four of hearts. When North played low it was all over. South could win with jack and return a spade but declarer won in hand, crossed to the ace of diamonds and played the winning spade. North knew he was about to be endplayed, so he threw the ace of hearts. That certainly avoided the endplay, as the Tigress in the East seat now claimed nine tricks.