| 35th World Interzonal Team Championships, Paris, France | Sunday, 28 October 2001 |
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USA II vs Israel Venice Cup - Round 14 With four rounds to go, USA2 were lying ninth and Israel twelfth, but still in touch. This was a crucial match for both teams and Israel in particular could not afford to lose it. After a string of flat boards, Israel were first on the scoreboard:
Three No Trump was, of course, an easy make, with Joan Jackson winning the club lead and passing the queen of hearts to establish eleven tricks; +460.
But declarer was also at fault, because she could have avoided the trump promotion by returning a club at trick two, intending to play to ruff the third round with dummy's three. The point is that the lead of the seven of clubs is not consistent with South holding king to six clubs, so there should be no danger of North over-ruffing the suit.
Breed passed as dealer then transferred and followed an invitational sequence, which Quinn accepted. Poplilov led the king of clubs to the ace and Quinn crossed to the ace of hearts to play a diamond to the nine and king. She ruffed the club return in dummy, drew the remaining trumps and played three more rounds of diamonds. Campanile won her jack but one spade trick was all that was to come for the defence; +420. Naveh had a weak option available and when she showed her two
suits Melech jumped to the heart game, but this time it was played
from the other side. Petra Hamman also led a club, however, looking
for a ruff. The play record states that Naveh won the ace of clubs,
drew trumps in three rounds then played a low diamond from hand,
losing to the bare king. She ruffed the club return and laid down
the ace of diamonds. From here it appears that there should be no
problem in coming to ten tricks but declarer made only nine for down
one; -50 and 10 IMPs to USA2.
Quinn/Breed were allowed a free run to 2ª. Poplilov led the king of clubs to the ace and won Quinn's play of a spade towards the queen to play two more rounds of clubs, Campanile ruffing. From here, it was only a matter of the heart guess for the overtrick after Campanile tried to cash the ace of diamonds. Quinn got the hearts wrong so that was +110. Hamman overcalled at the other table and that enabled Jackson to compete and push Melech to the three level. Here the lead was a diamond, ruffed, and Melech played a spade to the queen, ducked, and a club for the jack and queen. She too got the hearts wrong and was down one for -100 and 5 IMPs to USA2.
Breed's 1ª opening worked out better than Naveh's 1§. Campanile showed hearts and another and Quinn a constructive or better spade raise. When Breed was not doubling Poplilov's pre-emptive heart jump, it was clear for Quinn to go on 5ª. Campanile cashed the ace of hearts then switched to a trump, so that was +680 to USA2. At the other table, the slower start to the auction meant that North and South had both done all their bidding by the time that Jackson competed to 5©. Melech could not know of the ten-card fit, though she had some idea of the double fit. Still, 5© rated to go down while 5ª was by no means assured of success, and she settled for taking the money - alas for her, only 100 on this occasion; 11 IMPs to USA2.
The American auction simply did not get the job done and with thirteen tricks available in any of three denominations they languished in 6§ for +940. Once Campanile had rebid 3§, Israel were always going to reach the grand slam; +1440 and 11 IMPs to Israel.
In 2NT, the lead was a heart to the queen and Naveh's ace. She passed the ten of spades to the king and back came a club, on which she played the king. Naveh eventually emerged with ten tricks for +180. Poplilov's weak no trump created a different scenario in the other room and Breed found herself in game when the partners' respective ranges were difficult to sort out. Still, 3NT could easily be let through so this was an important deal. Campanile rose to the occasion, leading the queen of diamonds through dummy's second suit. Breed ducked but won the second diamond and played a third round. Poplilov won and underled the ace of clubs to Breed's king. After some thought, Breed ran the ten of spades and Poplilov quickly won and cashed out for one off; -100 and 7 IMPs to Israel - enough to win the match by 32-31 IMPs, a 15-15 VP draw. That result was better for USA2 than for Israel but both teams were still alive in the hunt for a top eight place. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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