Round Robin, Round 2

In the second round of Round Robin B, the Turkish champions TOFAS had to face the titleholders, Tennis Club PARIOLI Angelini from Rome. In Round 1, Tofas had held the strong squad from Wroclaw to a draw, whereas the Italians had blitzed the hosts. So the latter were looking as if they were back already on the same track as last year, but Tofas would certainly have other ideas a mere two weeks before the Istanbul Olympiad, wanting to repeat the form they showed at this year’s Europeans in Malmö by finishing 7th.

After two quiet boards to start with, things began to happen on board 3:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Versace	Pehlivan	Lauria	Uzum
			2©
2ª	3©	4©	5©
Dble	All Pass

Versace led a trump, and continued trumps when in with the first diamond. On the second diamond, Versace won the ace and tried to cash a spade, Uzum ruffing. When Lauria won the third round of diamonds, he could cash the top trump and go back to spades, but declarer was not fatally shortened, though he and the contract had to go three off. Parioli +800.

This looked a fair enough result until they made a mistake in the Open Room:

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Kolota	Fantoni	Atabey	Nunes
			Pass
1ª	2§	3§	3©
Pass	Pass	4ª	5¨
Dble	5©	Pass	Pass
Dble	All Pass

The same contract as at the other table, as could be expected. Kolota led the ªA ruffed by Nunes, who next played a club to the king and ace. This way, he handed back the tempo gained on the spade lead, as Atabey now could play a trump with declarer already down to only five of them. Play then went mainly the same as in the Closed Room, but after conceding the 4th diamond to East Nunes was out of trumps after ruffing another spade with his last trump. This all of a sudden meant down six for a remarkable +1400 to Tofas and 12 IMPs.

Two boards later, we saw an exciting example of superior judgement and hand evaluation by Lauria:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Versace	Pehlivan	Lauria	Uzum
	Pass	1§	1ª
Pass	2ª	Dble	4ª
Dble	All Pass

Lorenzo Lauria lived up to his reputation as he once again managed to make world class bridge look incredibly easy. At his second turn, he judged his hand worth a take-out double which enabled Versace to axe the completely normal final contract. Parioli +500 on a club lead and club continuations by the defence, as declarer lost three tricks in the red suits, a club overruff and a second natural trump trick to West.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Kolota	Fantoni	Atabey	Nunes
	Pass	1§	1ª
Pass	2ª	Pass	3¨
Pass	3©	Pass	4ª
All Pass

Without the double, the play took a different course. Club to the ace, ¨A and a diamond ducked to East’s queen. A heart to the ace, ªA getting the bad news and another heart, East winning his king. Now, we saw a funny finale: East cashed his ¨K and continued the suit, West shedding both his low clubs! So Nunes’ ¨10 won the trick. Declarer then cashed the ªK and ruffed the last heart in dummy, but after the ªJ West’s ª10 had to score a second undertrick as declarer could not get back to his hand to draw it. The position will be basically the same if the ªK is not cashed before.

Not that it mattered very much, as Nunes was not doubled. He lost 200, but Parioli had recouped 7 IMPs to trail by 6 at this stage.

Another two boards later Tofas were outbid by their opponents:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Versace	Pehlivan	Lauria	Uzum
			Pass
1¨	Pass	2§	Pass
2¨	Pass	2©	Pass
3§	Pass	3ª	Pass
3NT	All Pass

Versace’s 3§ was well-timed, as it kept all options open. Lauria could either go on in clubs, or try to find out if his partner held a spade stopper after all.

On the lead of a low spade from North, the ªQ quickly became declarer’s 9th trick when Uzum continued spades and Versace ducked twice. Parioli +600.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Kolota	Fantoni	Atabey	Nunes
			Pass
1¨	Pass	2§	Pass
2¨	Pass	2©	Pass
2ª	Pass	3¨	Pass
4§	Pass	5§	All Pass

Had East bid no-trumps over 2ª, as he might, the declaration would have been placed at the wrong side of the table and 3NT would probably have gone down. Probably, 3¨ suggested spade shortness which made 3NT look less attractive to West. In a sense, he was right, but 5§ was not a success either and went down two due to the bad trump break. Please note that on a good day you might make it!

So Parioli had recorded another big swing and caught up Tofas to lead by 7 now.

After this, we had to wait quite a long time, even more so because they were not playing quickly in the Open Room, before another board worth reporting came up. A number of solid game contracts had come along, but only three IMPs had changed hands during the last six boards.

With the score at 23-15 to Parioli, this was board 14:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Versace	Pehlivan	Lauria	Uzum
		Pass	Pass
1§	1©	Pass	2¨
2 NT	All Pass

On the lead of the ªA and a heart switch, Versace had eight easy tricks. On the actual layout, the contract cannot be beaten as the defenders can never legitimately take five heart tricks (the ©Q ducked might do, however). Parioli +120.

At the other table, the weak two caused havoc:

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Kolota	Fantoni	Atabey	Nunes
		Pass	2¨
Dble	Redble	2ª	3¨
3NT	Dble	Pass	Pass
4§	Dble	All Pass

All pretty normal bidding, but for once North had all the missing high cards in the side suits. When South rebid his suit, showing a fair hand, and West bid again, this proved once too often. There were just eight tricks in this contract too, but Parioli had scored another +300 to gain 9 IMPs.

Two boards later (back into the initial swing rhythm), Tofas seized its chance:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Versace	Pehlivan	Lauria	Uzum
Pass	1NT	Pass	3NT
All Pass

The weak NT worked very easy here when Uzum stretched a little with his good five-card suit. When the spades broke 4-4 and the diamonds behaved, there were nine tricks for declarer before the defence could come to five after the lead of the ªK. Tofas +400.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Kolota	Fantoni	Atabey	Nunes
Pass	1NT	2§	Dble
2ª	Pass	Pass	3¨
All Pass

Another weak NT, but Atabey boldly intervened with a Landy-type 2§. Lacking a spade stopper, Nunes could do little else than retreat to 3¨. Assuming diamonds to be 4-2 he took a first-round finesse of the ¨10 after winning the heart lead in hand. When this failed, he suddenly was one down for another +50 to Tofas and 10 IMPs back. The deficit had been reduced to 8.

A few IMPs were added to the Italian total when the last board changed the outcome of the match quite dramatically:

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

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Versace	Pehlivan	Lauria	Uzum
2ª	3©	Dble	Pass
3ª	Pass	4ª	All Pass

Once again, making too much noise made it easy for the opponents to find their way through the minefields. This time, North was the culprit when he bid 3©. He led the ¨J, Versace winning this with dummy’s ace and continuing with the jack of trumps which held. The next trump went to the king and ace, and North tried a low club. When Versace ran this to his queen successfully, he had the rest of the tricks. Marked heart finesse followed by the “marked” ruffing finesse in diamonds.

Parioli +680.

Open Room:
West	North	East	South
Kolota	Fantoni	Atabey	Nunes
2ª	Pass	2NT	Pass
3§	Pass	4ª	All Pass

With nothing to guide him, Kolota had to find his way through the rough all on his own. Same lead of the ¨J, won in dummy, but Kolota immediately played the ¨Q on which he shed a heart. The good news was that Fantoni did not win the trick with a cunning ¨K, but the bad news was that Fantoni did win the trick after all, be it with the ª9. Next came a low heart, on which declarer played the ace. A heart was ruffed in hand and a low spade was won by North who led another heart, South ruffing and declarer overruffing. Next came a club to the ace and the ¨10 covered and ruffed. At this point, the hand can be made if declarer plays the §Q. Not illogically, West tried the more normal line of a trump to the jack and a low club from dummy, but when Fantoni produced all the high clubs the contract suddenly was down one for a big final swing of 12 IMPs to Parioli, who thus won the match 49-25 or 20-10 in V.P.