Israel vs Germany

Ladies Series - Round 7 - By Tony Gordon

Israel's 24-6 VPs win in this match probably caused a few raised eyebrows. This is what happened.

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

West	North	East	South
Levit-Porat	Auken	Zur-Campanila	von Arnim
			1©
2¨	Dble	2ª	2NT (1)
3¨	4©	All Pass
(1) 5+ hearts and 4+ clubs

Ruth Levit-Porat, Israel

The Israeli pair did not cause too many problems in the auction and Ruth Levit-Porat lead the ¨A against Daniela von Arnim's 4©. If the defence cash their three top tricks, declarer will have to drop the §Q to make the contract, but at trick two Levit-Porat switched to her spade. Migri Zur-Campanila took her ace and continued the suit, but declarer was home now when she ruffed high, drew trumps and discarded her second diamond on a spade. When she continued by cashing her top clubs, she had an overtrick and Germany scored +450.

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Naveh	Nehmert	Melech
			1©
2¨	3¨	4ª	5©
All Pass

The German pair were more aggressive at this table and Hanita Melech pushed on to 5©. That should have been at least one level too high, but when Andrea Rauscheid led the ¨K (king from AK with an outside singleton), Pony Nehmert ruffed and switched to a club and declarer had a chance to make the contract. She won and drew two rounds of trumps, finding that West had started with three trumps. She now played a spade and Nehmert took the ace and continued the suit, but declarer erred by discarding her diamond on this trick. Rauscheid ruffed and when Melech subsequently took the club finesse she was two down. The bidding and opening lead marked West with a singleton spade, so declarer should have ruffed high, drawn the last trump and discarded her diamond on dummy's remaining spade. If she now divines the club position she can bring home the contract, as it was, she was two down for +100 and 11 IMPs to Germany.

However, Germany gave those IMPs back when they missed the good slam on board 5, and they fell behind two boards later.

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

West	North	East	South
Levit-Porat	Auken	Zur-Campanila	von Arnim
			Pass
Pass	1ª	2©	2ª
Pass	Pass	Dble	Rdble
3©	Dble	All Pass

With diamonds 3-3 and the ace onside it looks like 3© will make, but the contract can be defeated. Von Arnim led a spade and declarer ruffed North's ace and played a club. Auken won her queen and played a trump and declarer won and played a second club. This time von Arnim rose with the king and continued with a second trump. Now declarer ruffed a club and played a diamond to her king. When this held she played a second round of diamonds. When von Arnim won the queen and played her last trump, declarer simply conceded a diamond and was home and dry. However, if Auken had won the second round of diamonds and played a club or a spade, declarer would not have been able to enjoy the diamonds and would have ended up a trick short.

Pony Beate Nehmert, Germany

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Naveh	Nehmert	Melech
			Pass
Pass	1§	2NT	Pass
3©	All Pass

The 1§ opening produced a different auction at this table and although Rauscheid also made nine tricks, that was 11 IMPs to Israel.

On board 9 both Souths declared 4H and needed to find the ¨Q to make the contract. Von Arnim received a trump lead and misguessed diamonds. At the other table Rauscheid led a diamond, so Israel gained 10 IMPs and now led 33-12.

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

West	North	East	South
Levit-Porat	Auken	Zur-Campanila	von Arnim
		Pass	Pass
Pass	1§	Pass	2ª
Pass	6§	All Pass

The 2ª response to the strong club opening showed a balanced positive with a 5 or 6-card minor. Armed with this information, Auken lept to 6§. There were no problems in making all thirteen tricks, of course, but could Israel do better at the other table?

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Naveh	Nehmert	Melech
		Pass	Pass
Pass	2¨	Pass	2©
Pass	2NT	Pass	3NT
All Pass

2¨ was a Multi and Nurit Naveh's 2NT rebid showed a balanced 20-22. 3NT was the obvious continuation, so Israel did not even reach a small slam and lost 12 IMPs.

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

Andrea Raucheid, Germany

In both rooms, East played in 4ª doubled after North had opened 1©. Von Arnim led a diamond against Zur-Campanila and declarer won dummy's ace and played a heart to the king and ace. Von Arnim continued diamonds and Auken won, perforce, and exited with a heart. Declarer carefully cashed her third heart before leading a spade and misguessing by playing dummy's nine. However, when Auken won her queen she was endplayed and the defence's club trick disappeared. So declarer was only one down for +200 to Germany. In the other room Melech found the inspired lead of the §7. Now the defence could take all their outside tricks, so that when Nehmert misguessed trumps here as well she was two down for -500 and Israel gained 7 IMPs.

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

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Naveh	Nehmert	Melech
Pass	1ª	Pass	2§
Pass	2ª	Pass	3NT
All Pass

3NT is where you would want to play with the North/South cards, and the Israeli pair had no problems in making nine tricks on a club lead. +400 to Israel.

West	North	East	South
Levit-Porat	Auken	Zur-Campanila	von Arnim
Pass	1ª	Pass	2NT
Pass	4ª	All Pass

Von Arnim's 2NT showed a balanced 12-13, so Auken elected to play in 4ª. Zur-Campanila led a heart and Auken played three rounds of the suit and discarded her club as Levit-Porat ruffed the third round. Three rounds of diamonds followed and Zur-Campanila ruffed the third round and underled her §A. The unexpected dummy entry meant declarer could now take the losing spade finesse and, uncharacteristically, she took the bait. That meant she was two down and the 11-IMP swing meant Israel led 55-29.

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

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Naveh	Nehmert	Melech
		1¨	1©
1ª	4©	5©	Pass
6ª	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Levit-Porat	Auken	Zur-Campanila	von Arnim
		1¨	1©
1ª	2ª	4ª	5©
Pass Pass	Dble	All Pass

Germany seemed to misjudge this hand in both rooms.
Israel took the obvious four tricks against 5H doubled, so Germany were two down for - 500.
6ª was mercifully undoubled, but went four down, so Germany lost another 200 and Israel gained 12 IMPs.

Board 20. Dealer West. Both Vul.
	ª A 87 © A J 9 8 5 3 ¨ K 9 4 § 6
ª 10 4 © K 7 2 ¨ J 10 7 5 § A J 5 4		ª K Q 5 3 © Q 4 ¨ A 3 § K 10 9 7 2
	ª J 9 6 2 © 10 6 ¨ Q 8 6 2 § Q 8 3

West	North	East	South
Levit-Porat	Auken	Zur-Campanila	von Arnim
Pass	1©	1ª	Pass
1NT	Pass	2NT	Pass
3NT	All Pass

The Israeli pair bid aggressively to 3NT and Auken led a heart won by dummy's queen. Declarer cashed the §K and played a second club. After a lot of thought she successfully finessed the jack and was soon able to claim nine trick by way of five clubs, two spades, a diamond and a heart; +400 to Israel.

West	North	East	South
Rauscheid	Naveh	Nehmert	Melech
Pass	1©	Dbl	Pass
1NT	All Pass

The German pair were not so aggressive and settled in 1NT. (In fact, only one other Ladies pair bid to 3NT and they went one down.) Rauscheid also took the club finesse and made nine tricks, but that was still another 10 IMPs to Israel who had won the match by 81-35 IMPs, 24-6 VPs.