The second set of the UNN Rao Memorial Bridge Tournament saw a total of 131 participants.
Dr. R L Sanghi and S M Moin won this set ahead of the young pair of Arnab Basu Roy and Abhirup Ghosh. The Latvian pair of Karlis Rubins and Jelena Alfejeva were third. We are particularly happy for Dr. Sanghi and Moin as we have watched them seriously grapple with network connection issues over the past several months. We are pleased that all the cards fell into place yesterday.
The results of yesterday's game can be seen here.
Special Prizes
Yesterday, we had announced a special prize for the first Redoubled Contract that is made. While this also was not seen, we did see a grand slam being bid and made. We will dwell more on the same a little further down the column!
Today's special prize is for the first pair to bid and make 2 slams. We hope that there are enough exciting boards to make this happen.
Greenhorn Prizes
The first prize for the Newcomer Class Pair has been lifted by Subhrajit Mukhopadyay and Arpan Banerjee. The second prize goes to Tapan Mitra and S Nayak. The third prize has been won by A Kumaresan and Sunil Dhawan.
Interesting Hand
Board 3 yesterday provided the first opportunity for a grand slam. The auction employed by EW in the diagram on the left was fairly simple and replicated at a couple of other tables as well.
However, with 2 Kings missing, the grand slam depended on the heart finesse. With the heart J and ten at that! As a matter of technique, when bidding a grand slam, it is important to find all the kings as well.
The 5NT King-ask response structure is what makes the auction interesting. Several people play specific Kings, while some use a "Show or Deny" method, in which the 6 level bid will show either the King bid or the other two. If the response can be calculated based on the holding of the person who asked, we can resolve a sort of 50% uncertainty.
Here EW have employed this gadget. However, the East here was extremely optimistic in assuming that Wests 5 Club bid referred to the red kings.
R Venkatesh and Arvind Srinivasan, one of the top pairs in the country tried a bit harder than that. After 6 Clubs, Arvind tried a 6D bid in this case, hoping the partner would comprehend the message. As RV's 6H bid is not explained, Arvind must have taken that as confirmation of Two Red Kings and bid the grand.
Partnerships who use this method will have another chance to fine tune their technique.
Today's Game
Today's game starts at 1830 IST / 1300 GST / 0500 PST / 0800 EST.
Click here to sign up for today.
And come and have fun