Day 4 at Marrakesh was a good one from India and has left one brimming with some hope albeit only time will tell our final standing.
The Open Team has continued to maintain its solid steady performance keeping our hopes up. The seniors team posted two big wins yesterday to raise hopes of the possibility of qualification. The ladies team too had a decent day and are now placed in mid field. The mixed team too has managed to raise itself to mid field levels. Let us hope to see a great performance today as well.
Do follow our mini bulletins. And all contributions are welcome.
The Indian Open team started their campaign today with Canada, a team that had performed with much promise on the opening two days and so, a team to be careful about. However, they conceded the lead on the second board of the day itself with this board.
With the spade king right, 12 tricks are available in 4 of 5 denominations (as the cards lie). However, Sandeep Thakral and Jaggy Shivdasani inexplicably opted not to explore the slam and languished in 3 NT. As a matter of fact, only 3 out of the 24 tables in play were not in a slam. This board cost the team 10 imps.
India went on to lose this match by 14 imps (32-46)
Their second match was against bottom ranked Panama which they duly cashed in on winning by 52 imps to 13.
Their final match was against Belgium, a team which was ranked just one place above them at the time of engagement. This match was keenly contested with neither side conceding any big board. India had the better of the exchanges and won the match by 6 imps (19-13).
However, the last win was not enough to climb over Belgium and they ended the day in 9th Place
For today, they have two matches against lower placed teams (Singapore and South Africa) and one against a strong Netherlands team. We should hopefully see them consolidate their position.
Here's wishing them all the best.
India's scorecard, as well as their upcoming matches can be seen by clicking here.
The ladies started their campaign against a tough team Turkiye. They appeared to match them virtually blow for blow until the last board which was as below
After West's pass, Kalpana Gurjar elected to open 1NT (probably 15-16) with this hand, which Vidhya Patel, with a nothing hand, elected to pass. They ended up making 6 tricks. In their closed room their opponents stretched themselves to reach 4 Spades which, if played by South, is undefeatable. Even if played by North (which was the case at the table), it possibly depends on guessing the clubs correctly. They guessed correctly and gathered 10 imps to win by 11 imps (35-46). Nevertheless, it was a well fought match.
Their next match was against bottom ranked Barbados and they extracted close to maximum, winning the match by 65 imps to 11. They would have had a whitewash had Alka Kshirsagar and Bharati Dey not missed this Grand Slam below
While the miss was immaterial in this match, it could well have been critical in most other matches.
Their final match was against another lower ranked team, Hong Kong China. Unfortunately, they could not make inroads into this team. One of the boards lost was particularly unfortunate.
In the Open Room, North would have opened 1NT after 2 passes which was duly passed out. In the closed room, it would appear that West would have opened 1 Diamond (7 loser hand?). East West managed to end up in 4 Spades after this light opening which can be made if declarer guesses the heart Jack. She did and they made 10 tricks and gained 12 imps.
The other board that cost India 15 imps was the one below
In this double fit hand, Asha Sharma and Puja Batra elected to not 'sacrifice' 5 clubs. In the closed room Kalpana Gurjar and Vidhya Patel elected not to 'sacrifice' 5 spades (which would have been the par score). The result was a double swing and a loss of 15 imps.
Notwithstanding these two boards, the Indian team managed to square the match (34-34).
India's position has now improved to 13th and, even though they are extremely far away from the qualifying mark, they are respectably placed at 13th.
Today, they have two tough matches against Canada and Denmark and a relatively easier match against Chinese Taipei.
We wish them all the best.
India's scorecard, as well as their upcoming matches can be seen by clicking here.
The Indian Seniors had a tremendous day today seeing them jump up to 11th spot and just four odd VPs adrift of the last qualifying spot.
They started their campaign against lowly ranks Colombia who they duly whitewashed 89-26
Their next match was against a much stronger team, Sweden. This was a tough match which they lost narrowly by 26 imps to 35.
The final match was against neighbours Pakistan. Pakistan took an early lead of 18 imps after the first four boards, but the Indian team continued to play solid bridge and comfortably won this match by 58 imps to 32.
Today, they have one tough match versus leaders USA1, followed by a relatively easier match against China and finally, a lowly ranked Reunion team.
We wish them all the best for a critical day today!
India's scorecard, as well as their upcoming matches can be seen by clicking here.
The Indian team had a much better day today although they are extremely far away from the qualification cut off.
They started their day against the bottom ranked Barbados team. The match was played well enough though Barbados surprised our team on this board
In the open room Barbados bid and made this low probability 6 Hearts which requires a lot to make (although many tables did score 12 tricks). Cost India 13 imps and restricted their victory to 14 imps (49-35) when they would have been hoping for a far bigger margin.
Their second match was against another lowly ranked team, Egypt, which they won comfortably by 52 VPs to 20.
Their final match was against Israel, a much better team than the previous two. India, nevertheless managed to win this match as well by 35 imps to 25 which has placed them in 15th position.
As they are over 22 VPs away from the cut off score, their chances of qualifying are infinitesimal, if any and we are praying for miracles here.
Tomorrow they play Argentina, a middling team, hosts Morocco, a bottom hugger and a tough USA2 team.
We wish them all the best.
India's scorecard, as well as their upcoming matches can be seen by clicking here.
Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.