35th World Interzonal Team Championships, Paris, France Thursday, 1 November 2001

Austria vs Germany

Venice Cup SemiFinal 4

At the half-way point in their semi-final match, Germany led their long-time rivals Austria by 128-108 IMPs. Set four saw plenty of action on vugraph. Germany had added an IMP to their lead when Board 3 hit the table.

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

West North East South
V Arnim Erhart Auken Smederevac
      Pass
1¨ Dble 2§ 3©
4§ All Pass    

West North East South
Weigkricht Nehmert Fischer Rauscheid
      Pass
1ª Pass 1NT Pass
2¨ All Pass    


Erhart Maria, Austria
 

Maria Erhart did something very good for her side when she found an off-centre take-out double that, I confess, would not have occurred to me. That allowed Jovanka Smederevac to jump in hearts and force her opponents to an uncomfortable level. The lead against 4§ was a heart to Erhart's ace. She switched accurately to a low spade, the key to the defence, and that went to the jack and ace. Smederevac won the first club lead and played king and another spade. Sabine Auken ruffed and drew trumps before taking the diamond finesse; down one for -100.

In the other room, Terry Weigkricht and Doris Fischer were allowed a free run and settled in the safer looking spot of 2¨. Pony Nehmert led her singleton club to the jack and ace but Andrea Rauscheid did not give her a ruff, switching instead to a trump. Weigkricht finessed and Nehmert took her king and switched to ace and another heart. Weigkricht had the rest now for +130 and 6 IMPs to Austria.

Note that a club ruff at trick and a spade switch could have netted six tricks for the defence.

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

West North East South
V Arnim Erhart Auken Smederevac
  Pass 1§ Pass
2ª Pass 3© Pass
3ª Pass 4© All Pass

West North East South
Weigkricht Nehmert Fischer Rauscheid
  Pass 1§ Pass
2§ Pass 2© Pass
3§ Pass 3© Pass
4© All Pass    

Neither pairs' strong club methods coped well with this deal - and indeed, it caused plenty of problems in other matches also. Von Arnim showed a positive with one minor in a balanced hand then set hearts as trumps, but Auken expected club wastage and made a rather cautious sign-off in 4©. Weigkricht showed five controls then showed her clubs. She had no clear cuebid available at her third turn so simply raised to 4© and Fischer too took the cautious view, fearing too much wastage; no swing.

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

West North East South
V Arnim Erhart Auken Smederevac
      1¨
Pass 2¨ Pass 3§
Pass 3ª Pass 4ª
All Pass      

West North East South
Weigkricht Nehmert Fischer Rauscheid
      1NT
Pass 2© Pass 2ª
Pass 3¨ Pass 3ª
Pass 4§ Pass 4¨
Pass 4ª All Pass  


Nehmert Pony, Germany
 

The Austrian canapé auction rather pinpointed the heart weakness and Auken had a fairly easy time in finding the best opening lead. The ©9 went to the ace and Von Arnim returned a low heart to the king. A third heart to the queen was followed by a passive diamond exit, leaving Erhart with the queen of trumps to find. She won the ace and tried the king of clubs, in the hope of getting an honest count signal from Von Arnim. Whatever she saw didn't help because she continued with ace and another spade and was one down; -100.

I would have thought that the cuebidding sequence in the other room had also indicated that a heart lead would be the most effective one, but it was a little more difficult from the west hand and Weigkricht actually chose a club. Rauscheid won the ¨A, crossed to the ªK and took heart discards on the clubs, picking up the trumps along the way as Weigkricht ruffed in on the fourth round; +710 and 13 IMPs to Germany.

Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul.
  ª 9 8 4 3
© A Q 6
¨ K 9 7 4
§ 10 7
ª Q 10 7
© 8 3 2
¨ 10 8 6
§ A K 9 3
Bridge deal ª A K J 5 2
© K J 10 5 4
¨ 5
§ 6 2
  ª 6
© 9 7
¨ A Q J 3 2
§ Q J 8 5 4

West North East South
V Arnim Erhart Auken Smederevac
Pass Pass 1ª 2NT
Dble 4¨ 4© Pass
4ª 5¨ Dble All Pass

West North East South
Weigkricht Nehmert Fischer Rauscheid
Pass Pass 1ª 2NT
Dble 4¨ Pass Pass
Dble Pass 4© All Pass


Smederevac Jovanka, Austria
 

The two auctions were identical as far as 4¨ but then Auken judged to show her second suit immediately while Fischer preferred to wait until her partner doubled. I doubt that these choices affected the outcome significantly, rather, it was another case of Erhart taking a solo action that was not found at the other table when she went on to 5¨.

Auken led a top spade against 5¨ doubled but could not read her partner's play of the seven and switched to a heart, losing the defensive trick in that suit. Erhart won and crossed to dummy with a trump to play a club up. Daniela Von Arnim won and Erhart soon claimed one down; -100. Where 4ª might have proved to be hard work due to the 4-1 trump split, 4© posed no major difficulty for Fischer. She won the spade lead in dummy and played a heart up. Nehmert took the ace to deal her partner a spade ruff, but with the heart finesse marked on the auction there was only one diamond to come from here; +420 and 8 IMPs to Austria.


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

West North East South
V Arnim Erhart Auken Smederevac
  Pass 1¨ 1©
Dble 1NT Pass Pass
Dble Pass Pass 2©
3§ Pass 3© Pass
3ª Pass 4§ Pass
5§ All Pass    

West North East South
Weigkricht Nehmert Fischer Rauscheid
  Pass 1¨ 2©
Dble 4© Pass Pass
5§ Pass 6§ All Pass

Again Erhart found a combination of calls that would not have occurred to many of us, creating difficulties for her opponents. In the circumstances, Auken/Von Arnim did very well to get to the club game. But bidding to game proved not to be good enough. In the other room, Weigkricht doubled the weak jump overcall then, rather than make a second double at her next turn, bravely bid her clubs at the five level. Fischer may have been looking at a weak no trump, but all her cards looked to be working and she added the sixth club. Weigkricht won the heart lead and played the §Q to the king and ace. A second club lost to the jack and Nehmert's spade switch saved Weigkricht the worry of finding the queen of diamonds - which you was heavy favourite to do anyway. That was +1370 for Austria and +620 for Germany; 11 IMPs to Austria.

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

West North East South
V Arnim Erhart Auken Smederevac
    1ª Pass
2© 3¨ Pass 5¨
Pass Pass Dble All Pass

West North East South
Weigkricht Nehmert Fischer Rauscheid
    1¨ 1ª
2§ Pass 2NT Pass
3NT All Pass    

The Austrian run continued with another double-figure swing. Fischer's 1¨ opening silenced Nehmert and the Austrians overbid to the bad no trump game. Rauscheid led the ace of hearts to take a look at dummy then switched to a low diamond. Nehmert won the ace and returned a diamond, ducked. Now Rauscheid just cashed out for down one; -100.

Erhart found the courage (it is called something else when the result is -1100) to overcall 3¨ and Smederevac raised to game. You or I might have been tempted to redouble with the South hand when Auken doubled, but then we are not as used to playing with Maria and Smederevac was happy to put down a rather suitable dummy in 5¨ doubled. Auken led a spade and Erhart won the ace and gave up a club. Unable to attack trumps to good effect, the defence was powerless to prevent Erhart from ruffing two clubs in dummy for +750 and 12 IMPs to Austria, who had moved into the lead by a single IMP.

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.
  ª A J 8 4
© A J 9 7 5
¨ K 3
§ K 5
ª Q 10
© 8 3
¨ J 6 5 2
§ Q J 10 9 7
Bridge deal ª K 9 7 3 2
© -
¨ Q 10 9 8
§ 6 4 3 2
  ª 6 5
© K Q 10 6 4 2
¨ A 7 4
§ A 8

West North East South
V Arnim Erhart Auken Smederevac
      1©
Pass 2NT Pass 3§
Pass 3¨ Pass 3©
Pass 3ª Pass 4¨
Pass 4NT Pass 5ª
Pass 5NT Pass 7©
All Pass      

West North East South
Weigkricht Nehmert Fischer Rauscheid
      1©
Pass 2NT Pass 3©
Pass 3ª Dble Pass
Pass Rdbl Pass 4§
Pass 4¨ Pass 4©
Pass 4NT Pass 5¨
Pass 6© All Pass  

The Austrian lead did not survive the next deal as Erhart/Smederevac bid to the hopeless grand slam. Two No Trump was a forcing heart raise and 3§/¨ showed values in the bid suits. After an exchange of cuebids, Erhart took control, asking for aces then inviting seven by bidding 5NT. Smederevac decided that her sixth trump was an extra trick and bid the grand - down one for -50.

Nehmert also began with a forcing heart raise and Rauscheid showed a decent hand with no particular distributional feature to show. A series of cuebids again led to North asking for key cards but she then settled for the small slam, having been warned that the second round of spades would be a problem; +980 and 14 IMPs to Germany.

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

West North East South
V Arnim Erhart Auken Smederevac
    1© Pass
1NT All Pass    

West North East South
Weigkricht Nehmert Fischer Rauscheid
    1ª Pass
2¨ Pass 2© Pass
3¨ Pass 3NT All Pass

The West hand was a bad one for the German methods and semi-forcing 1NT response was the best solution that Von Arnim could find. With no attractive rebid, Auken passed, only to find that the combined 24-count was delivering a cold game, duly bid by Austria in the other room. Both declarers took nine safe tricks for 6 IMPs to Austria.

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
  ª A 7
© 4 2
¨ K 9 5 3
§ K 8 7 4 2
ª K 8 2
© A 9 7
¨ Q 8 7 4
§ Q J 6
Bridge deal ª Q 4 3
© J 8 6 3
¨ A J 6
§ A 10 5
  ª J 10 9 6 5
© K Q 10 5
¨ 10 2
§ 9 3

West North East South
V Arnim Erhart Auken Smederevac
      Pass
1NT Pass Pass 2§
Pass 2¨ Pass 2ª
Pass Pass Dble All Pass

West North East South
Weigkricht Nehmert Fischer Rauscheid
      Pass
1¨ Pass 1© Pass
1NT Pass 3NT All Pass

The two flat 12-counts do not fit well together and it was no surprise that Weigkricht could not find a way to come to nine tricks; down one for -50 after a club lead.

Von Arnim's mini no trump kept her side at a safe level and Germany was already booked for a modest gain when Smederevac came in with an overaggressive 2§ overcall to show both majors. Two Diamonds asked for the overcaller's longer major and when Smederevac showed this Auken doubled. Von Arnim gave that a long look but eventually did the right thing by passing.

It looks as though the contract can go for 800 if the defence is accurate, but the actual 500 was still quite enough for the Germans. Von Arnim led the jack of clubs, Rusinow, and Smederevac did well to cover. Now Auekn was on lead and wasn't sure that it was a good idea to play another club. She switched to a spade and Smederevac put in the jack. Von Arnim thought for some time before, surprisingly, playing the king. Smederevac won the ªA and played a heart to the ten and ace. Von Arnim played a trump and Auken won the queen and returned her low club. That was an important play and there was another important play to come as Von Arnim switched to the queen of diamonds. The defence had their seven tricks now for +500 and 11 IMPs to Germany.

Note that without the diamond play from West there is a danger that declarer can draw trumps and play three rounds of hearts to endplay East and force her to lead up to the king of diamonds.

Austria gained just 1 IMP on the set and trailed by 156-175 with 32 boards to play the next day.


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