Shree Cement Championships – Approaching a climax

Shree Cement Final - The Clash of the Titans

Sukrit Vijayakar

As this article appears, the finals of the Shree Cement Teams tournament is just about to start. The contest is between two veritable titans in the arena of Indian Bridge viz Formidables and Aristos.

Formidables finished 9th in the Swiss League, a surprisingly low position by their standards. However, they were nothing short of awesome in the knock out stages. They first brushed off Team MJajoo without so much as a by your leave. Then in a brilliant quarter final match, they staged a miraculous recovery in the last of 3 session and overcame a carry over to emerge victors by 0.5 IMPs over the league winners Texan Ace. In the semi finals they were just too strong for their opponents Trifecta M who they overwhelmed in just 3 sessions out of the four required to be played.

Aristos finished second in the league and went about playing clinical bridge to dispose off their rivals viz. Spartans in the Pre Quarter Finals and R K Sinha in the quarters. They seemed to be cruising towards the finals after 3 sessions in the semis, but their opponents, Six Pack, had other ideas. In a veritable storm they not only wiped out a greater than 50 point deficit, but were also leading with 3 boards to go. However, Aristos dug in their heels and pulled out 26 imps from the last 3 boards to emerge eventual victors.

We wish the finalists all the best. Remind you that they are being broadcast with a 3o minute delay on the RealBridge kibitzing server

 

Stepping Stone

Priya Balasubramanian

That I overbid too much is my partner’s bone,
When the dummy comes down, I can’t hold back my groan
After the match, what I dread is my partner’s phone!
Stranded winners in the dummy, can I get a card on a loan?
Brainwave strikes, with glee, I use my opponent as my stepping stone

 

Teachers, parents, friends, bridge partners all have played the role of stepping stones helping us move closer to our goals. But when your opponent provides the stepping stone the success is that much sweeter.

The Shree Cement tourneys have been cementing their presence across the bridge world in India for the past week. The level of bridge has been sparkling and many interesting boards and plays were observed.

One such interesting hand as observed in the semi-final knock out is given below.

West disrupted the bidding by opening 2 alerted as 4-4 majors 3-8 points. North bid 2N and the contract of 3N reached. Other tables West stayed silent and a 4 contract was easily reached.

 

Declarer ducked the ♠Q lead and took the second spade with the ♠K. There are seven top tricks. If the K is not cashed, two more can be developed in hearts by finessing through West who is likely to have the Queen.

Declarer cashed the ♣K and ♣A and finessed the hearts twice, winning the last heart in hand with the A. He cashed the ♦A and ♦K.  Now for the elusive ninth trick. The ♥K was stranded in the dummy with no entry. He now exited with the last spade.

 

If East won the spade, he would have to give up a diamond trick. If West won the spade, she would provide the stepping stone to the K in the dummy. This end play resulted in cementing North’s contract.

As an aside, this contract makes 6, difficult to reach on current bidding. Assuming a spade lead, win the ♠K, ruff a spade. Finesse west twice with the J and 10, and play the ♥Ace. Come to hand with a diamond ruff. When the K is played there is a minor squeeze on East. The end position will be as below.

Hand viewer diagram and analysis courtesy Sandeep Thakral

 

 

PS: Thanks to Rajeev Khandelwal for bringing this hand to my notice.
PPS: Many thanks to Subhash Bhavnani for the technical edit.
PPPS: I don’t receive any compensation for these articles except reader’s feedback. So please don’t hold back.

Bridge in Hindi

Uttam Gupta

 

ब्रिज के खेल में अर्जियाँ नहीं चलतीं
दिलों के खेल में खुदगर्जियाँ नहीं चलतीं
चल ही पड़े हैं तो ये जान लीजिए हुजुर
ब्रिज की राह में मनमर्जियाँ नहीं चलतीं

This beautiful to a bridge partnership was composed by Uttam Gupta. While his exploits on the bridge table are well known, we thought we would present another facet of his character here.

He writes many such verses in various chat groups and we are happy that he permitted us to present this here.

Upcoming Events

The Bridge Calendar for the next few weeks is packed with a lot of exciting events with many more in the pipeline. As of now, the following events are coming up on RealBridge

  • Shree Cement Online Bridge Tournament (9-18 July 2021)

    The Shree Cement Online Bridge Championships will start in the second week of July. It will consist of a teams event, a pairs event and YES even a BBO event for those who cannot participate in the main events.

    Please click the links alongside to register for events|pairs|BBO Pairs

  • Fenesta Open Annual Bridge Tournament (24 July-01 August 2021) 

    This event promises to have the largest prize purse for an online event this year. Please click here for details. 

  • BFI Online Inter-State Championships (21 - 29 August 2021)In the light of the number of national events being hosted in the month of July, the BFI has postponed the start of the inter-state championships by two weeks.All state associations will be required to complete their state championships in good time in order to ensure that their state is appropriately represented. For more details, viewers may visit the BFI website

 

 

Keep watching our upcoming events table to stay abreast of the latest in the bridge schedules.

 

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