16th World Bridge Games – Day 12

Before we cover the finals, congratulations to France, who won a tightly contested play off for third place.

In the finals, the Indians are trailing by 39 imps

The first session of the finals saw India donate two big boards.

In Board 4, Arun Bapat bulldozed his way into a non existent slam after his partner had signed off.

Mark Horton, in today's WBF Bulletin, has written:

Amazingly there was a way to arrive at 12 tricks!  Declarer knows North must hold the ♥K and cannot have the ♣AK. Having taken the spade lead in dummy declarer must cash the ♠Q and then run the ♦J. Then a diamond to the ace is followed by a spade to dummy’s seven allowing a club to be discarded on the ♦K. Declarer ruffs a diamond and plays another trump to reach this position
When declarer cashes the ♠J North cannot afford to part with a heart so must pitch a club. Declarer throws a club and South a heart. Now declarer plays the ♥T. If North has pitched the ♣K it will be enough to win with the ♥Q, cash the ♥A and play a club towards the queen, but if North has pitched the ♣8 and now follows with the ♥8 declarer must let it run and then exit with a club. If North is allowed to win he is endplayed to lead into dummy’s heart tenace, while if South overtakes declarer scores the last two tricks with the ♣Q10.
Its also worth noting that were declarer to play a club from dummy at trick two South would need to avoid winning with the ace and playing a second spade as then declarer would (by guessing diamonds) be able to squeeze North in hearts and clubs.

Then, on Board 9, Badal Das opted to upgrade his 19 point hand to 20 points and opened 2NT. This simply took away the room to find the spade slam which all the other tables bid.
India recovered a bit on Board 10, when the Milner and Lal decided not to attempt a sacrifice in 5♥, a decision which cost the USA 12 imps.

On Board 15, Arun Bapat opened 1♣, probably planning to reverse the hand in spades. However, Eric Rodwell overcalled 1♠ and, when partner Ravi Goenka passed, Arun subsided and settled for +200. In the other room

In the other room, the auction was more animated when Badal opted to double 1♣. The rest of the auction was quite natural, but the hand was such that no side could really make any contract if they were declaring. However, by the time the auction reached 4♣, it was obvious to Bardhan that they had nowhere to go and he doubled to collect 800 and 11 imps

 

The first session thus ended almost square and one can't help but think that those two boards may well be very very costly.

In the second session, Zia Mahmood again drew first blood on Board 18 when on this auction. There may have been a different story to tell had Kamal Mukherjee led a diamond, but he opted to lead his 4th best heart. Zia proceeded to win the ♥A, cash 6 clubs and take the spade finesse. With the heart suit blocked, there was no way South could be denied 9 tricks. Indeed, he took the precaution of pitching the ♠A on the heart return so that he wouldn't get locked in hand. In the closed room, North decided against transferring to clubs and they scored 10 tricks in 1NT against a vulnerable game.

Then on Board 21 more drama happened when in the Open Room, Zia elected to open a very light 1♦. For reasons best known to him, Kamal Mukherjee elected to not overcall  1♠ and the auction progressed as alongside. Michael Rosenberg led the ♦Q followed by the ♦J. Zia overtook this with the Ace and fired back the ♥T. Kamal took the finesse which lost and the diamond returned sealed East's fate for 6 imps to the US.

 

India commenced fighting back on the Board 22 when Kamal Mukherjee and Vibhas Todi were allowed to play in 5♥ which Vibhas played beautifully to make 13 tricks in the Open Room. In the closed room, Badal and Bardhan sacrificed in 5♠ which went just 2 light and gave the Indians 9 imps.

They pulled back 9 imps more on Board 24 when Milner and Lal misdefended against a 5♥X sacrifice in the closed room letting India off lightly for just 1 down. In the open room, Kamal and Vibhas made no mistake and collected 5 tricks for 500 points.

On Board 25 Vibhas misdefended against Zia's 4♠. After the ♥K lead, Kamal continued with a club to declarer's Jack. When Vibhas was put in with the ♠A, he opted to play back a small heart. This allowed Zia to knock off the ♥A and pitch his club loser on the established ♥T.

Board 26 gave India some joy when Kamal elected to open 1♥ with the West hand in the open room after which they inexorably drove to 6♠. In the closed room, Milner chose a more sedate 1♠ after which, despite East's 2NT response, they were unable to reach the cold slam. 11 imps to India and the lead had changed hands!

India had a narrow escape on Board 29 when Zia elected to pass 5♦ after the marvelous auction shown alongside. I have used the the auction from LoveBridge as it seems to give a better picture. The 2NT was a transfer to clubs and 3♠ was a splinter. Kamal chose to double this rather than overcall 2♠ in the first place. Rosenthal now made the brilliant bid of 5♦. Had Zia raised him, it would have meant 12 imps for the US. However, against 5♥ by Badal and Bardhan, this cost the US 1 imp

Kamal Mukherjee played Board 30 brilliantly to make his 2NT contract and secure 6 imps more for India.

At the end of session 2, India were 4 imps ahead.

India gifted 10 more imps to the US in Board 3 of yesterday's final session when this auction saw the India subside in 2NT in the open room. It is not clear what that 2♠ meant.
In the closed room, the auction was fairly normal with East pushing to 3NT. Now, technically, this goes down as North South can cash 4 hearts and the club king but the lead is not very clear. The record shows that Bardhan led the ♦6,a card he does not hold! It is clear that declarer raced away to 9 tricks before the defence could discover their hearts.

In Board 7, Rosenberg and Zia bid 6♦, a contract which has no chance whatsoever, in the open room. In the closed room, however, India doubled a 3♣ preempt by Rodwell, a contract which cannot go down to give USA 11 imps.

In Board 9, India managed to recover a bit. In the open room, Arun and Ravi could were lucky not to have been doubled in 4♠. In the closed room, however, Badal and Bardhan pushed on to 5♥ (which does not make) and Rodwell appears to have bid 5♠ in the momentum which duly got doubled. He managed to get away with 9 tricks, as opposed to 8 in the open room to concede 500 and 7 imps.

In Board 12, Badal appears to have adopted a wrong line of play causing him to go 1 down in a 3NT contract which appears to have been made by everybody else. 12 imps to the US

Board 13 appears to be a story of unwarranted doubles. In the open room, Arun made a simple 4♥ overcall on Zia's 1♣ opening.  With 4 hearts and nothing else, Rosenberg decided to maintain Zia's take out double, probably because he couldn't figure if the alternatives were worse. Arun duly made 10 tricks.
In the closed room, however, there was a lot more drama in the Auction and East ended up declarer in 3NT doubled. This contract goes down double dummy but, at the table, declarer somehow managed to score 11 tricks! This gave the US another 8 imps.

More disaster was in store for India on Board 16 as Arun and Ravi bid a sedate 1♥ - 1NT - 2♥ in the open room. In the closed room, the auction went as shown on the left. 2♦ was probably Flannery promising 5 hearts and 4 spades. 3♥ probably showed a strong heart suit which Rodwell raised to game and 8 more imps for the US.

 

All in all, a disastrous session for India who conceded 43 imps in the session

It will be an uphill task for them if they hope to win tomorrow.

The Open Teams finals is very closely poised with Italy just ahead on the nod, as it were.

Switzerland has handily won the 3rd place play off.

The Women's final is very close too with Sweden ahead by a short head.

 

USA has won the third place play off comfortably.

 

China has taken a handy lead over Poland in the Mixed finals.

Germany won the play off hands down to finish in 3rd place.