Patli Gali Se

India B seniors won their semi final encounter with Japan by the slimmest of margins. Every gain in every set contributed to the victory. In the last round India round, a lot of IMPs were exchanged.

On the first board itself, India claimed 14 imps when Jitu (Solani) and Chotu (Rajesh Dalal) opted for the safer 6♣ contract rather than the not unreasonable 6NT in the other room which has no chance of making.

In the very next board though, Japan reclaimed 11 imps when the open rooom sacrificed in 4♠ and were lucky to be let off for -1 only.

Board 4 saw a strong club system gain a 10 imp when the Indian East (Jitu Solani) opened 1♣ and they managed to reach 4♠. The Japanese EW languished in 1♠ making 10 tricks.

A couple of boards later disaster struck India when the Indian NS managed to bid 7NT missing an ace! Since the player on lead held the Ace, he happily doubled and collected 17 imps.

The next board, India recovered 9 of these imps when Anil Padhye was doubled in 1NT. (This hand is not covered in any other coverage).

He was helped by the lead of a low diamond won by the ♦9 in dummy with RHO pitching a spade. He then cashed 2 more rounds of diamonds on which East discarded a heart and one more spade.  After that, it was a simple matter to play a spade to the Ace and back a spade to get 3 spades, 4 diamonds and the ♥A for 8 tricks and +280.

In the other room, Jitu Solani opted to show his club suit and East West played in 3♣ making 10 tricks and +130 giving India +410 and 10 imps.

A couple of boards later, Rajesh Dalal found a deadly opening lead to beat a vulnerable 3NT game and gain 12 imps. A more professional analysis suggests that South could have still made the game, but he missed the correct line of play. This pushed India into a 1 imp lead for the first time in the semis!

A small gain of 3 imps on board 12 and India led by 4 imps

However, India conceded 10 imps on the next board when both Jitu and Chotu opted to hide their 4 spades (each) and languished in 3♦ when there were 10 tricks to be had in the spade game. 3 boards left and India were 6 down!

And then, on board 14, Jitu and Chotu, reached  5♠ which the Japanese North, sitting with 5 spades in his hand, doubled. However, after the Club lead to the ace and return to the ♣K, Jitu played simply, yet elegantly to score the rest of the tricks and win back 8 imps. 2 boards and India were up 2 imps.

Japan won back 1 imp on board 16, but that was all and India had squeaked into to the final!

Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.