Priya Balasubramanian
The BCBA Annual Tournament kicked off yesterday. An impressive total of 116 pairs / trios participated in yesterday's game which was meant to draw out 50 pairs to compete for the Murli Deora and Girdharilal Agrawal Trophies.
At the head of the field were Pranab Bardhan and Badal Das along with Ramesh Kumar. In second place were veteran Alok Sadhu with two youngsters, Tanmoy Majumder and Sagar Bhuiya. The third place was held by the European pair of Karlis Rubins and Jelena Alfajeva.
The BCBA annual tourney is proving to be an eye opener in more ways than one. Interesting deals, difficult opponents and exciting prizes are all rolled up into a single beautiful package.
One interesting deal that needs special mention was board 30. 43 pairs bid 3N. Out of them 17 pairs made 3N + 3.
One of the declarers is rather special. A ten year old boy who needs a cushion to reach up to the computer.
In the words of Sandip Thakral,
A star is born.
No I am not talking about the famous Brad Cooper movie. I'm talking about a phenomenon that took place in our own backyard today. We saw a 10 year old execute a squeeze that a number of veterans failed to see.
Everyone meet the young star TirathRaj Chaudhary. The younger son of Mr Debraj, and brother of Tilak.
I'm fairly sure very soon we'll be introducing Debraj as father of young stars Tilak and Tirath. Keep it up young man.
See his play in the board along side. The lead was the 8 of Clubs. Winning with the Q in dummy, he sets about flushing out the Ace of diamonds. West winning the Ace of diamond returns a club. He then takes the spade finesse which holds.
He is able to count 11 top tricks. He makes a wish for the 12th one. If West has 4 spades to the K ( the Ks is already placed with West) and is also guarding the Heart King, then there is a positional squeeze on him. His entry to dummy is via the spade Ace, which he doesn’t cash. Instead, he plays a heart to the Ace, the key to setting up the squeeze.
He now runs off the diamonds watching West writhe in agony as he runs up to this 3 card ending position. When the heart king does not appear on the club king, he discards the queen of hearts disdainfully (off with her head).
He cashes the Ace of spade and his remaining spade comes through. To quote Sandeep once again;
Notice how he got HA out of the way before running the diamonds. Beautiful.
Click on Tirtharaj's Play for the trick by trick play.
Online bridge has been a blessing in tapping new talent. We have to thank organisers such as BCBA for providing a platform to unearth such shining talent.
Once again, special mention has to be made of Tirtharaj’s father Debraj Chowdhury who has encouraged both his sons in this great game.
Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.