Flights and Destinations: The TVS Mobility Swiss Pairs
- Priya Balasubramanian
The TVS Mobility company produces gears, switches and such like, however my instant recall on hearing TVS name are their cycles.
Not owning cycles and never having ridden one, one summer vacation we three friends decided to remedy the gap in our knowledge. One hot afternoon, we made our way to the local rental shop and rented three rickety cycles for a princely sum of Rs 2 each. While our feet did not quite reach the pedals, we quickly were able to go up and down the flat path. A little knowledge or little expertise is dangerous. The time had come for the black slope, we decided. This black slope was a nearly vertical road in our hilly locality in Bangalore. We lugged the cycle up the road. I decided to go first as usual. As I hurtled down the path, desperately clutching the brakes which failed to work, I had to make a quick decision between the tree, the ditch and a mound of jelly stones piled up at the end of the road.
The TVS Mobility Swiss Pairs has a format that is designed to give maximum play. All the contestants, based on their standing at the end of the first day, are eligible to take one of three flights the next day. They are subdivided as Flight A, B and C and have to fight it out within their groups tomorrow.
Just like bike rides (by a novice), bridge hands can be treacherous and take the unsuspecting through perilous journeys.
A single bridge hand can have multiple destinations and possibilities based on the bidding. It can be a crash landing or the sought-after getaway.
We encountered one such hand today.
With a hand like this, many outcomes (or destinations) are possible. We highlight, for your reading pleasure, a few of them below.
Note: These bidding sequences were picked up from actual boards yesterday.
When you board Flight A, opponents’ pre-empt and raise make it very difficult to communicate your two-suitor hand with void and you end up in the safe but unexciting destination of 4♠ making +2.
When you board Flight B, you literally reach the promised hand with South opening 1♠ with a light, but 7 loser hand. The bidding is brisk but the mecca of 6♠ is reached safely. The exclusion bid of 5♦ worked here, but can oftentimes misfire with two quick losers in hand.
When you board Flight C, North is delighted to show his lower suit of 4♣, and when the same is interfered with, he shows his second suit of spades and they end up in a 6♠ contract which is X by West. This X is a Lightner double commanding partner to find an unusual lead. When partner [East] makes the inspired lead of heart, the contract goes one down. Modern bidding uses the bid of 4♣ in a Leaping Michael's fashion to show “spades and clubs". North would bid 4♥ which South would correct to 4♠. Unfortunately, if NS now take it to 6♠, the double would be automatic and easier to fathom.
Flight D finds unusually subdued East and South who both pass in the none vulnerable board. West opens 1♥ and North bids a Michael's 2♥ showing spades and minor and they safely reach the destination of 6♠. A more cautious route than asking key cards would be with cue bidding. South could cue bid 4♥ after the 4♣ bid. North could in turn cue bid 5♦, after which they could reach the destination of 6♠ with information.
Here’s hoping you board the right flight tomorrow and switch into top gear.
PS: If you are wondering about my choice of destination, it was the ditch.
PPS: Many thanks to Subhash Bhavnani for the technical edit.
Priya Balasubramanian
Very nicely composed article, Priya
I take a deep bow
Thank you Arun 😊