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Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship
2002
by
Judith and Nicholas Gartaganis
Day
#1 of the Round Robin
After
a somewhat restless night we awoke and took advantage of the breakfast
buffet that the EBU had arranged as part of the accommodations.
Following breakfast we walked to Whitworth Hall at Manchester
University, a twenty-minute stroll. Manchester University was
established in 1851 and Whitworth Hall was one of the original
Victorian buildings. The massive hall has cathedral ceilings,
a magnificent pipe organ, immense stained-glass windows, and was
a wonderfully spacious venue. It easily accommodated the thirty
teams in play.
The
participants were divided into two groups of 15 teams. After a
complete round robin of nine boards per match, the top two teams
from each "Pool" would advance to the semi-finals. The
World Bridge Federation 30 Victory Point (VP) scale was in use
with 25 VPs being the maximum a team could win and zero VPs, the
minimum. Teams that tied earned 15 VPs each. In our Pool, we expected
India, England, Scotland and the Maple Team to be the major challengers
for the top spots, although all the teams had some potential to
qualify. In the other section Australia, the Patron Team, Pakistan,
South Africa and Wales rated to be among the leaders.
Our
first round was against the Isle of Man. The initial board of
the event began inauspiciously. Judith held
 AK973
 AQ542
 Q54
 --
With
nobody vulnerable Right-Hand Opponent (RHO) opened 1
and Judith bid 2
(both majors 5-5+). The auction proceeded 2
from Left-Hand Opponent (LHO), 4
from partner and 5
by RHO. What now? Judith ventured 5,
LHO passed and partner leaped to 6,
the final resting spot. Unfortunately partner's hand was 65
K109876
1098
A10
and RHO led the J.
5
makes because the 1
opener has J7 of diamonds and no hearts, but the play in 5
would have been interesting. Declarer might duck the J
hoping that it is a singleton so that later he can establish dummy's
spades to discard his diamond losers. At the other table Campbell
opened 2
(Precision) and later pulled Balcombe's double of 5
to 6.
The opponents doubled and collected +300. Lose 10 IMPs. Fortunately
the rest of the match improved considerably and we were able to
score a 23-7 VP win.
The
second match was against Jersey. The elderly gentleman, who was
Nicholas' screenmate (screens were in use throughout the event),
had never used screens and asked for assistance. Alas, superficial
appearances were deceiving. The gentleman defended a vulnerable
3NT with surgical precision, ably assisted by sub-optimal declarer
play. Nicholas went down three while the contract was made at
the other table. That translated into a cool 14-IMP gain for Jersey.
A few partscore pickups and a vulnerable game swing allowed Canada
to squeak out a 16-14 VP win.
The standings after two rounds were:
Pool
A: Zimbabwe (44) Jersey (39) Canada (39) Jamaica (38) Maple
Team (36) England (35)
Pool B: Northern Ireland (40) Australia (39) Malta (39)
Wales (39) Patron Team (33) Pakistan (32)
Canada's
third match was against Sri Lanka. Both pairs performed well and
Canada won the match 25-1 VPs. Judith made 3NT on the following
hand to earn 12 IMPs for Canada.
West
|
North
Nicholas |
East
|
South
Judith |
| - |
- |
Pass |
1NT
(1) |
| Pass |
2 |
Pass |
2 |
| Pass |
2NT |
Pass |
3NT |
| Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
|
(1)
11-13 HCP |
West
led the 10
and East ducked to declarer's King. Judith tried the 4
to the King and continued with the Q
from dummy, covered by the King and Ace. Judith played the 7
to East's Ace. Although West's duck of the spade turned out to
be a critical error, he was understandably concerned that his
partner had just the A
left. East returned the 8
to declarer's Jack and West's Queen and West exited with the 3.
Declarer won the J
and played four rounds of clubs ending in hand. West found himself
with no attractive discard on the fourth round of clubs. He decided
to discard a spade. Judith read the end position correctly and
exited with the 10,
finally scoring her ninth trick with the 6!
Had West discarded a diamond declarer can exit a diamond scoring
her ninth trick with the J.
The
last match of the day was on Vugraph -- a critical clash with
England. On the first hand Nicholas held A3
Q5
AKQ103
6543.
With both sides vulnerable, LHO opened 2
and Judith bid 3.
Nicholas used Blackwood and settled for 6
after partner showed two key cards. The English player took a
more subtle approach, transferring to diamonds and then bidding
just 4.
Partner held 865
KJ1084
--
AKQJ10.
Trumps behaved and Canada scored +1430 for a 13-IMP gain. This
lead did not survive the next board. With South as dealer, how
would you and your partner bid the following hands?
North:
AQJ9643
Q2
Q1074
--
South:
--
AKJ1087
AK
AK1064
Campbell
opened a strong 1
with the South hand and the final resting spot was 6,
which failed because West held K1072.
The English pair at our table had an excellent auction to reach
7
and won 17 well-deserved IMPs for England. Nicholas led a heart,
but declarer was able to ruff one club and pitch his other club
losers on the A
and Q.
The match flipped back in Canada's favour on the following hand:
West
Nicholas |
North
|
East
Judith |
South
|
| 1
(1) |
Pass |
3
(2) |
Double |
| Pass |
4 |
Double |
4 |
| 5 |
Pass |
Pass |
5 |
| Double |
All
Pass |
|
|
(1) 11-16 HCP, could be short in
(2) Weak |
West
|
North
Balcombe |
East
|
South
Campbell |
| Pass |
Pass |
3 |
Double |
| 5 |
Double |
All
Pass |
|
|
Both
Canadian pairs collected plus scores, +300 against 5
doubled and +200 against 5
doubled, for a gain of 11 IMPs. England rebounded with an 11-IMP
swing when Balcombe had a bidding tray accident, missed seeing
a takeout double, and went -380 instead of +140. Campbell/Balcombe
recovered some of those IMPs on the next board:
West
|
North
Balcombe |
East
|
South
Campbell |
| - |
- |
3 |
Pass |
| 5 |
All
Pass |
|
|
|
Campbell
led the Q
trying to fool declarer since the K
rated to be in dummy. It wasn't, but now it was easy for Campbell
to play A
then another spade, promoting his trump Queen. A mundane heart
lead allows Declarer to make 5
(the 5th heart is easily set up for a discard). We played in 3
so this fine defense earned Canada 5 IMPs rather than a loss of
10 IMPs. Canada eventually prevailed in a 43 to 29 IMP slugfest,
winning the match 19-11 VPs. Amazingly, the IMP exchange averaged
8 per board.
The
standings after four rounds were:
Pool
A: Maple Team (86) Canada (83) India (82) Jamaica (76) Zimbabwe
(68) England (66)
Pool B: Wales (77) Patron Team (76) Malaysia (72) Bermuda
(68) Australia (67) Guernsey (64)
As
expected, it was going to be a race to the finish line in both
groups. There were no further matches scheduled for the day and
we went back to the hotel to freshen up for the evening's festivities.
The EBU had arranged for a Thai dinner buffet at The Royal Orchid.
Although unassuming from the outside, The Royal Orchid served
up a spectacularly good, but spicy variety of foods. Each dish
was better than the one before. Fortunately there was no bridge
to be played afterwards so restraint was not required.
In
typical European tradition, the round robin was arranged with
an early start and a short break between sessions so that all
matches were concluded by 6:30 PM. This format allowed the EBU
to arrange a magnificent program of activities in the evening
(such as the Thai buffet). Following dinner we retired for late
evening drinks feeling some optimism about our standing after
the first day of competition.
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