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Belgium v
France – Round 15 Juniors
Beware of
Derby-matches
By Jean-Francois Jourdain (
Belgium)
For the first time since I became the captain of the Belgian
Junior team (this means 1998), my boys managed to beat France,
forcing me to go for the third time of the tournament to the
grocer’s, buying a bottle of Mumm Cordon Rouge (some in my team
prefer Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin, but this is my business after all).
Belgium had an excellent day on Wednesday, winning their three
matches against Portugal (18-12), Romania (23-7) and finally France.
The Frenchies, however, were the first to fire :
| Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
|
| |
♠
-
♥ K 7
♦ A 9 8 7 6 4 3
2
♣ A J 7 |
♠ A 10 9 8
5 3 2
♥ J 2
♦ 5
♣ 10 5 2 |
 |
♠
6
♥ 9 4 3
♦ K Q 10
♣ K Q 9 6 4 3 |
| |
♠
K Q J 7 4
♥ A Q 10 8 6
5
♦ J
♣ 8 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Hubert |
T Bessis |
Guiot |
Gaviard |
| |
1♦ |
Pass |
1♥ |
| 3♠ |
4♦ |
Pass |
4♥ |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| De Tessieres |
De Donder |
O Bessis |
De Roos |
| |
1♦ |
2♣ |
2♥ |
| 2♠ |
3♦ |
Pass |
3♠ |
| Pass |
6♦ |
Dble |
All Pass |
In the Closed Room, France had a fairly easy auction to reach
4♥ when Gaviard seemed not to be too
interesteinby his partner’s long diamonds. This contract was made
with an overtrick when West immediately covered the K♠, allowing declarer to take the ruffing
finesse; France +450.
In the Open Room, Olivier Bessis overcalled
2♣ and Godefroy de Tessieres prudently
bid 2♠. Sitting behind the cards of Steve
De Roos, if I had not known Godefroy for so many years, I should
have thought he had simply psyched, but it appeared not to be the
case at all. Intending to show his spade stopper (and what a
stopper!), De Roos bid 3♠, which
encouraged De Donder to leap to the thin diamond slam. This simply
requires an even break in both red suits, and that was not the case.
Olivier Bessis doubled happily but could not bring it more than one
down. Anyway, 11 IMPS went to France.
France did not stay in the
lead for very long. This is what happened on Board 6:
| Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul. |
| |
♠
J 10 5 2
♥ 3
♦ 10 9 8 6
♣ J 5 4 2 |
♠ K 9
6
♥ 10 4 2
♦ K 4 2
♣ A 10 8 7 |
|
♠ A 7
4
♥ K Q 9 8 7
♦ A J 7
♣ Q 9 |
| |
♠
Q 8 3
♥ A J 6 5
♦ Q 5 3
♣ K 6 3 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Hubert |
T Bessis |
Guiot |
Gaviard |
| |
|
1♥ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Pass |
2NT |
Pass |
| 3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| De Tessieres |
De Donder |
O Bessis |
De Roos |
| |
|
1NT |
Pass |
| 3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
When I started to play bridge, it was stated in all French bridge
books that the 1NT opening bid with a five-card major was a kind of
heretic disorder, but nowadays they know better. Both tables avoided
the inferior contract of 4♥, which can
still be made if you guess right in clubs, providing two discards
for declarer’s two losers, one in diamonds and one in spades. In the
Closed Room, Gaviard was told a heart lead was insane, and led the
♣6. This soon gave two early club tricks
to declarer. After that he played on hearts and made his contract
easily with three hearts and two tricks in each side-suit; Belgium +
600.
In the Open Room, De Roos knew nothing about declarer’s
heart holding, so he simply started his long suit. This ran to
dummy’s ten. Back came another heart to the king which was ducked by
South (the key play), De Donder discarding the ♦10. A third heart was taken by the
jack, De Donder pitching this time the ♠5. De Roos switched to the ♠Q and Bessis ducked. He had to win the spade
continuation in hand in order to clear the hearts. Back came a spade
for dummy and now declarer had to guess the clubs right to make his
contract. With only one entry left in his hand he could no longer
take the double finesse in clubs, so he tried a club to the queen
and he was doomed to go down; 12 IMPS to Belgium.
A few seconds
later, the Frenchies had a disaster:
| Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul. |
| |
♠
Q 10
♥ 6
♦ A 6 4 2
♣ Q J 9 8 6 4 |
♠ A K J 9
3
♥ A 7
♦ 10 3
♣ A K 7 3 |
|
♠ 8 7 6
2
♥ K 10 9
♦ K Q 9 8 7 5
♣ - |
| |
♠
5 4
♥ Q J 8 5 4 3
2
♦ J
♣ 10 5 2 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Hubert |
T Bessis |
Guiot |
Gaviard |
| 1♠ |
2♣ |
4♠ |
5♣ |
| Dble |
Pass |
Pass |
5♥ |
| Dble |
All Pass |
|
|
Julien Gaviard took a very optimistic save in 5♣, hoping to find some heart values with
partner. Alas, this was not the case. Alexandre Hubert had no
difficulty in finding a double which could reward him. This would
have been +1400 after the lead of two top spades and three rounds of
trumps. Gaviard changed his mind and ran to hearts, so he escaped
for ‘only’ five down. Belgium +1100 and that meant a first drink to
pay for me.
However, this could have been a pretty good result
for France if Olivier Bessis and Godefroy de Tessieres had bid
6♦ or even 6 NT in the
other room, but they found absolutely no reason to escape from the
nine-card spade fit, and so went one down in 6♠ when De Donder, who had pre-empted 3♣, found the lead of the ♦A and gave his partner a ruff at the
next trick. Anyway, after North’s pre-empt it would have been quite
difficult for declarer to find the ♠Q.
Belgium scored a further +50 and 14 IMPS.
On Board 13 Belgium
stopped in the Closed Room in 2NT for a simple make but, at the
table, the French players suggested that the vulnerable 4♥ should be cold. Deep Finesse thinks,
meanwhile, that it should go one down. he Frenchies were consistent
in the other room when they indeed settled for 4♥, doubled and two down; -500 and a further 12
IMPS to Belgium.
The Belgian lead had increased to an interesting
20-10 VP potential, when France went seriously wrong again, this
time in the Open Room:
| Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.
|
| |
♠
Q 9 6 2
♥ 10 9 8
5
♦ K 10
8
♣ 6 4 |
♠ K 4
3
♥ Q 6 2
♦ A Q 5
♣ K Q 3 2 |
|
♠ J
8
♥ J
♦ 9 7 6 4 3 2
♣ A 9 7 5 |
| |
♠
A 10 7 5
♥ A K 7 4
3
♦ J
♣ J 10 8 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Hubert |
T Bessis |
Guiot |
Gaviard |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
1♥ |
| 1NT |
2♦(i) |
Pass |
2♥ |
| Pass |
Pass |
3♦ |
3♥ |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| De Tessieres |
De Donder |
O Bessis |
De Roos |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
1♥ |
| 1NT |
2♥ |
3♣(i) |
3♥ |
| Pass |
Pass |
4♣ |
Pass |
| 4♠(ii) |
Dble |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♠ |
Dble |
Pass |
Pass |
| 6♣ |
Dble |
All Pass |
|
When Alex Hubert overcalled 1NT, Thomas Bessis transferred to
2♥. When that came back to him, Benoit
Guiot tried the simple and efficient competitive bid of 3♦, which should have been lay
down. Gaviard tried a third heart but it appeared to be one too
many. He guessed the spades right after the bidding, but had
nevertheless to go one down; Belgium +50.
In the Open Room,
Olivier Bessis transferred immediately to diamonds, but then took
the push to 4♣. Despite the fact that he
was facing a passed hand, Godefroy de Tessieres could still imagine
something like ♠Qx ♥- ♦Kxxxxx ♣Axxxx with his
partner and started cuebidding. His partner desperately tried to
stop him by bidding 4 NT but that only comforted de Tessieres in his
opinion that 4♣ was forcing, so he
answered to RKCB, showing two key cards and the Q♣. When the smoke cleared, and De Donder ran
out of doubles, he was four down for –800; Belgium another 13
IMPS.
Finally, France limited the damage a little on the very
last deal:
| Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul. |
| |
♠
A 10 8
♥ A 7 2
♦ 4 3 2
♣ A 7 5 3 |
♠ 9 7
6
♥ J 9
♦ A K J 5
♣ Q J 6 4 |
|
♠ K Q 4 3
2
♥ K Q 4
♦ Q 6
♣ K 9 2 |
| |
♠
J 5
♥ 10 8 6 5 3
♦ 10 9 8 7
♣ 10 8 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Hubert |
T Bessis |
Guiot |
Gaviard |
| Pass |
1♦ |
1♠ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
|
Pass |
3♦ Pass |
| 4♠ |
Dble |
All Pass |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| De Tessieres |
De Donder |
O Bessis |
De Roos |
| 1♦ |
Pass |
1♠ |
Pass |
| 1NT |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
In the Closed Room, Alex Hubert proved to be the most
conservative junior in the field when he did not consider his cards
to be worth an opening (this is not very surprising as he will be
too old next year to be a junior). So Thomas Bessis could enter the
bidding by opening his best minor (if you could say so).
Nevertheless, the Belgians rapidly bid the game, but it proved not
to be the best spot. Hubert should have settled for the obvious 3NT
when his partner showed a fair hand with diamond problems. Knowing
he was trailing, Bessis needed points and his three aces encouraged
him to double. Julien Gaviard took the lazy ♦10 in hand, but he had a sudden
inspiration and changed his mind, considering his best chance with
his poor hand was to get a club ruff. So it happened soon and France
scored +200.
In the Open Room Godefroy de Tessieres judged his
hand very well when his partner first transferred to 2♦, then offered a choice of
games. De Donder led the ♣5 for the two,
eight and queen. He played a spade to the king which held, then a
heart to the jack. De Donder hopped up with the ace and fired back
another club. As the cards lie (i.e. the ace of spades onside) the
contract could anyway not be defeated, but de Tessieres, not aware
of that, did well by putting up the king, pinning the ten, so he
made an overtrick and scored the last 13 IMPS of this exciting
match, enough to hold the French loss to 12-18
VPs. |