QUARTER FINALS SET 1 The bridge players who really make themselves popular with the journalists are those who voluntarily confess their sins (mea culpa, mea maxima culpa). Well we do not have the power to absolve the miscreant of their offense, but we can at any rate thank them for their thoughtfulness in providing the bulletin with the details. (By the way, I’m sure you know the definition of an expert is someone who never makes a mistake – or if they do, they only make interesting mistakes.) Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul.   ♠ A 6 5 ♥ J 7 6 3 ♦ K 9 6 2 ♣ Q 2 ♠ K Q 2 ♥ A K 8 2 ♦ J 7 ♣ A J 6 3 ♠ 8 7 4 3 ♥ 10 ♦ A 10 8 ♣ K 10 9 5 4   ♠ J 10 9 ♥ Q 9 5 4 ♦ Q 5 4 3 ♣ 8 7 West North East South Khazanov A Levy Lebedeva A-F- Levy   Pass Pass Pass 1♣ Pass 2♣ pass 2NT Pass 3♠ Pass 4♣ Pass 4♦ Pass 5♣ All Pass     The 1♣ opening was strong, and Khazanov made no move to slam since he knew his partner was a passed hand, who might have opened a shapely 10 or 11-count. Alain Levy did well when he led a heart to the first trick; Khazanov then followed the natural lie of winning in hand and drawing trumps in two rounds, then leading a spade to the nine, king and ace. The count in the spade suit was unclear (his partner might have had Q1092 for example) but in any event Levy could really do nothing but return a spade at trick five. With the suit splitting 3-3 declarer could shake his diamond loser on the fourth spade. Had Levy played a diamond back instead, Khazanov could have changed tack and set up a diamond to discard his spade loser. As Alain pointed out, since declarer is sure to hold either the spade jack or queen, maybe the winning defence is not impossible to find. If he ducks the spade, declarer is caught o the horns of a dilemma; if he continues to play on spades the defence have time to cash their winners by shifting to diamonds. If he switches his attention to diamonds the defence go back to spades. We also owe our thanks to Gunnar Hallberg for letting us have the details of this deal, very nicely played by Lars-Erik Goldberg. Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul.   ♠ K 8 6 2 ♥ K 9 8 5 ♦ A K 10 ♣ K Q ♠ 9 5 ♥ A Q J 7 ♦ Q 8 4 3 ♣ J 9 2 ♠ A Q J 10 4 ♥ 10 3 2 ♦ J 7 ♣ 10 7 6   ♠ 7 3 ♥ 6 4 ♦ 9 6 5 2 ♣ A 8 5 4 3 West North East South Pass Pass Pass 1♣(1) 1♠ Pass Pass 1NT All Pass   (1) Strong Janet De Botton did well not to lead a spade, although a heart lead might have caused some real problems. On the low club lead to the ♣J and ♣K Goldberg played three rounds f diamonds to West, as East pitched a heart. Now Hallberg knew declarer was specifically 4-4-3-2. He led the ♠9, which held the trick, then the ♥Q, (not best) covered with the ♥K.   ♠ K 8 6 ♥ 9 8 5 ♦ --- ♣ K ♠ 5 ♥ A J 7 ♦ 8 ♣ 9 2 ♠ A Q J 10 ♥ 10 ♦ --- ♣ 10 7   ♠ 7 ♥ 6 ♦ 9 ♣ A 8 5 4 Declarer can now succeed by force; he cashes the ♣K, exits with a low heart, and comes to two more tricks by force, one way or another. He actually chose to play a low spade at this point though. When he cashed the club king and got out with a spade, De Botton won cheaply and led the ♥10. The defence had one more chance: if Hallberg ducks this, East can cash the spade ace and play another spade, so that West takes the last two tricks. Instead Hallberg overtook the ♥10 with the ♥J and cashed the ♥A, planning to endplay North to concede the last two tricks. But Goldberg saw this coming, ands unblocked the ♥8 under the ♥J and the ♥9 under the ♥A!. Now Hallberg could cash the ♥7 but was left with a losing diamond and club to concede to dummy. In the second half of the matches Tor Helness perpetrated a significant overbid, then had to find a way to justify his bidding. Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.   ♠ 5 3 ♥ K 6 4 2 ♦ K 7 6 5 ♣ K Q 9 ♠ A K J 10 6 ♥ Q J 9 8 5 ♦ 4 ♣ 5 4 ♠ Q 8 ♥ A 3 ♦ Q 3 ♣ J 10 8 7 6 3 2   ♠ 9 7 4 2 ♥ 10 7 ♦ A J 10 9 8 2 ♣ A Helness Moss Helness Greenberg West North East South   Pass Pass 2♦ 2♠ 4♦ Pass Pass 4♥ Dble 4♠ Dble All Pass       Brad Moss’ jump to 4♦ worked to lure Helness into the auction again on the basis that he thought someone was stealing from him. Not so; in fact 4♠ doubled did not look a healthy spot, until the ♣K lead crashed Gail Greenberg’s ♣A. Gail did her best by returning the ♦A and another diamod, which declarer had to ruff. Now when Tor advanced his second club, how would you rate the defenders’ chances? Personally I think only Deep Finesse and the Rueful Rabbit could defeat the hand. When Brad Moss rose with the ♣Q he had to shift to the ♥K to dislodge dumy’s entry and declarer could draw trumps and run hearts easily enough. If Moss had ducked the club Greenberg would have ruffed and now can play a heart – again forcing North to give up his trump trick – or could give a ruff and discard, letting declarer ruff in dummy and ruff a club, then draw trumps and claim. So what is the defence? Moss must duck the club, and South must throw a heart! The Rueful Rabbit could do this easily enogh – thinking he was defending to 4♥ – but could any of you have found the play? Declarer can only play another club, pitching a heart from hand to retain control, but South pitches her second heart and gets a heart ruff to set the game! Ilan Herbst and Marion Michielsen produced a couple of splendid results to win their match against Armstrong. Board 22. Dealer East. E/W Vul.   ♠ Q 4 ♥ K 7 2 ♦ K J 9 5 4 2 ♣ Q 7 ♠ K 8 3 ♥ Q J 6 4 ♦ Q 10 7 ♣ K 10 6 ♠ A 10 9 7 2 ♥ A 10 ♦ A 6 3 ♣ J 9 4   ♠ J 6 5 ♥ 9 8 5 3 ♦ 8 ♣ A 8 5 3 2 West North East South 1♠ Pass 1NT (F) 2♦ Pass Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass As you can see, 4♠ has no practical chances of success, but 3NT was quite challenging on Armstrong’s low heart lead. Herbst won dummy’s ♥10, then led ♠A and passed the ♠10 to North, who played a low club away from his ♣Q7 to Smith’s ace for a diamond switch. Herbst put in the ♦10 and ducked the ♦J, and now had nine tricks by force. On a heart return he would win the ♥A and cross to the ♠K to drive out the ♥K, with the ♣K as a re-entry for the fourth heart. Nicely played. Two boards later came the critical deal: Board 24. Dealer West. None Vul.   ♠ J 10 9 6 ♥ 10 8 ♦ 9 8 6 4 ♣ 6 4 2 ♠ 2 ♥ K 7 5 3 ♦ J 10 3 2 ♣ K 10 8 7 ♠ A K Q 8 7 4 3 ♥ 6 ♦ K 5 ♣ A 9 5   ♠ 5 ♥ A Q J 9 4 2 ♦ A Q 7 ♣ Q J 3 Arnolds opened the East hand 1♠, then jumped to 3♠ after a 2♥ overcall came back to her. Michielsen opened 4♠ -- a trifle rustic with so many controls, but the play’s the thing. Smith as South doubled and everybody passed. What would you lead to the first trick now? Smith started well when she selected the only card in her hand t give the defence a chance, namely the ♥A. After that, she again only had one card in her hand to set the game, namely her trump. Had she found the play, declarer is forced to use her entry to dummy at an inconvenient moment to grab her discard, and she can no longer make. But Smith quite reasonably played the ♦A, hoping her partner had either the ♦K or ♣A – which is certainly what she would have expected to be the case. After the play of the ♦A Michielsen could concede a trump and claim ten tricks.

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