The World University Championships
Tianjin, China 21-27 Oct 06.

Daily Blog entries by NPC Bryan Maksymetz.
Click on photos for enlargement.

CHINA WRAP-UP

Well, the 10 days have flown by and a most memorable tournament is over. The hospitality of the Chinese was overwhelming. We completed our final 3 matches and slipped from 11th to 14th after 3 close results. China A, USA and Poland B took the medals - no surprise with USA or Poland, but it was nice to see hard work pay off for the Chinese.

After a somber closing ceremonies (the WBF president Jose Damiani was in attendance), we enjoyed a closing banquet and then had each continent do an amateur performance. The USA/Canada contingent sang "Take me out to the Ball Game." The somber mood was due to a tragedy on Monday, when 4 Organizing Committee members went to the Great Wall to see that conditions were ok for our Tuesday outing to go there. They were involved in a serious car accident and one of the members was killed.

In the second last match, Anton and Charles had an interesting auction to a slam.

8 6 4 K J 9 8 4 A Q 7 5 3	ANTON P 3 (tsfr) 3NT 5 6	CHARLES 2NT (20-21) 3 (fit showing) 4 5 Pass
A 2 A Q K 10 9 3 2 A K 7 6

Although 7 is cold, getting to slam after their start was no small feat!

Bye from China,
Bryan Maksymetz

DAYS FOUR AND FIVE

China Day 4 was a day off to travel. However, the Great Wall trip was cancelled due to bad weather. Our team spent most of the day shopping and the prices are great for good quality products. I bought a back pack with leather for less than $3 Canadian. We went to the best restaurant in Tianjin - it was the size of a small shopping mall - $300,000,000 Yuan to build. It was like a tropical forest, all glass, with streams and pools - a lot of sea life, including a pool with 4 seals. The waiters travelled the main floor on roller blades to get around - the food was fabulous.

China Day 5 was Team Canada's best day. My goal for the team was to get 120 VP's from the 6 matches and we got 117 to move from 19th place to 11th. We also had our first 2 blitzes, getting 25 VP's against Belgium B and Botswana. Our goal was to make the top 10 so if we have a good day we can move up 1 notch. There are only 3 matches today.

One of our big pickups was in Match 19, board 7, all Vul, below:

Board: Dealer: Vul.:	9 10 9 6 J 10 7 5 2 K Q 5 3
K Q 10 3 J 7 2 A K Q 6 3 6		A 8 7 6 4 2 3 9 8 4 10 9 4
	J 5 A K Q 8 5 4 - A J 8 7 2

Open
North	East	South	West
-	-	1	2
2	2	4	4
Pass	Pass	Pass
Closed
North	East	South	West
-	-	1	2
2	3	4	Pass
4	Pass	Pass	5
Dbl	Pass	Pass	Pass

In the Open room, Dave Sabourin made an excellent 2 bid. Light on values, the hand has a 6 card suit headed by the Ace, shortness in the opponents suit and a partial fit for partner's suit. When South chose to show Diamond shortness instead of bidding his long Club suit, the NS pair sold out to 4. After the K lead, they could only get 1 Diamond ruff and Dave and Brian Hardy were +620. In the Closed Room, Charles Halasi made a better bid of 4 and Anton Blagov, North had a chance to find an aggressive 4 cue-bid to reach the cold North/South slam. Still, North/South here were never going to sell out to 4 and ended up +800 against 5 doubled. 16 IMPS to the good guys.

In Match 22, board 6, EW Vul, the EW pairs had to judge a competitive slam hand:

March 22 Board 6 EW Vul	Q J 9 6 5 4 K 10 5 - J 10 4 3
K 3 3 A J 8 2 K Q 7 6 K 7		A Q 7 6 4 3 A 8 2 A Q 9 6
	10 8 7 9 J 10 9 5 4 3 8 5 2

Open
North	East	South	West
-	1	Pass	2NT
4	Dbl	Pass	4NT
Pass	5	Pass	5(p/c)
Pass	5	Pass	6
Dbl*	Pass	Pass	Pass
*Lightner
Closed
North	East	South	West
-	1	Pass	2NT
3	Pass*	Pass	4
Pass	4NT	Pass	5
Pass	6	All Pass

* Extra values

In the Open room, Daniel Korbel made the aggressive 4 bid and then made a Lightner Double asking for an unusual lead. Susan Korbel had no trouble finding the Diamond lead and the contract was down 1. West thought for some time and, on the auction, should have found the 6NT bid. In the closed room there was no Double, so the Spade lead saw 1430 to EW and a big pickip to help Canada to a blitz over Belgium B.

DAY THREE

The 3rd day saw indifferent play in general from the Canadian Team. We played a lot of solid European teams and China A, the deserved leaders. We held our own against the strong teams but struggled against the lower teams. For example, Serbia beat us 21 to 9, a team we should have blitzed 25 to 5.

The last (7th) match of the day was against a good Italy team on vugraph. BBO broadcasts 2 vugraph matches per round - starting at 9:30 PM EST and ending at 8:00 AM EST. I was assisting Jack Zhou as commentators, who is half of the famous Fu-Zhou partnership, winners of the Vanderbilt and World Open Pairs. At one point I commented to Jack how good the Chinese girls on China A were and asked if he coached them. The answer was what you would expect of China. They approach all things with a quiet dedication, attention to detail and a lot of pride. The girls had gone through training and practise for more than a year, but have much less experience than many of the teams trailing them. For the 6 weeks or so before the tournament they focused their entire day, each and every day, in training for the event. Jack participated, but there were other trainers and they did a lot of work on their own. For any serious partnership, this is a great way to jump start your bridge career.

On to the match. The first board was a difficult auction for Daniel and Susan Korbel. Dan opened 1 on A742 AK92 A72 A6, LHO overcalled 2 and Sue had J53 QJ85 QJ43 Q7 and chose a simple 2. Dan took a conservative view and passed, plus 110. The Italians started 1, had no interference and reached 3NT making, lose 8 IMPs. The 2 overcall was on K109 6 1095 KJ9853 - aggressive but effective.

On board 2, Sue had to decide what to do, Vul vs NV, over a 3 opening with AKJ 953 AKQJ106 4. She chose 4 and played there where the Italian doubled and ended in 5. Partner had Q8762 K 974 Q975, so 5 had 11 tricks, lose 10. 4 can be beaten, so pulling the 4 response to 5 was a winner - Diamonds were 2-2 and Spades 4-1.

Board 3 was a challenging 3 contract that may make on an unusual play. The auction is 1 - 1NT(F) - 2 - 3, the opponents silent. A Spade is led and here are the hands:

Board: Dealer: Vul.:	9 8 6 2 A J 7 6 4 A Q 5 2 -
Q 4 3 K 8 2 J 3 A Q 8 5 2		K J 5 10 9 5 3 10 9 8 6 4 K
	A 10 7 Q K 7 J 10 9 7643

Both declarers received the 3 lead and ended up losing 5 trump tricks after discarding one Spade on a Heart, after the Q is covered and one on the Q, which is ruffed. If, however, declarer ruffs a Heart after leading the Q, covered, winning with the Ace and cashing the Jack, he can give himself a great chance. Then K A Q, which LHO ruffs. Unless LHO exits with the 5, you can ruff the Spade and exit a small Club, which seems right as LHO has patterned out as 3325. RHO wins and plays a red card, you ruff with the J, LHO pitches his Spade and you lead the 10 from 1097 and RHO has AQ8 and no answer.

On board 4, Dan made a great bid and followed it up with even better play to win 10 IMPs back. He and Sue bid 1 - 2(const.) - 3 (HSGT) - 3 - 4.

Board: Dealer: Vul.:	A 10 9 Q 9 6 5 4 2 7 5 J 3
Q 8 6 J 10 A 8 6 K 10 8 4 2		3 2 K 8 7 K 9 4 2 Q 7 6 5
	K J 7 5 4 A 3 Q J 10 3 A 6

The 3 trial bid talked LHO out of the Club lead that would instantly doom the contract. Instead, LHO lead the J and Dan made no mistake. It was covered all around and Dan led back a . LHO led to the K and a came back. Dan ruffed with the King and finessed the Queen successfully to score +620 - well done.

On board 5, Dan picked up AQ9 10952 A84 J43 as dealer, Vul vs not. and responded 2NT to Sue's 3rd seat 1 - a thin but makeable 4 was missed, but Dan made 9 tricks for a push.

On board 6, Dan had to lead vs the usual 1NT - 3NT auction. He held
A43 A102 1043 J943. What's your choice? Dan chose the 3 and although the contract was makeable double-dummy, declarer finished down 3. The Italian at the other table chose the 3 and Charles Halasi took advantage and guessed the hand well to score +600. The hands were:

Board: Dealer: Vul.:	A 43 A 10 2 10 4 3 J 9 4 3
7 5 K 5 4 A Q 5 2 A Q 8 5		K 10 6 8 7 6 3 K 7 6 K 10 2
	Q J 9 8 2 Q J 9 J 9 8 7 6

Against Dan and Sue, declarer ducked the first spade, winning the 3rd, discarding a heart. After a couple of Diamonds, he played a to the King, where maybe testing Clubs would have been better, but leading to down 1. So 14 IMPs to Canada - great lead Dan!

Both sides missed an opportunity playing 4 needing to guess Clubs with K754 opposite J862. You need 2 tricks and with no entry problems, lead low toward the King, the 9 appears and you cover losing to the Ace. When you lead low toward the Jack, the 3 appears. When the 9 came up, the situation becomes restricted choice. If you put in the 8, you win - both declarers played the Jack - down 1.

A nice finish for Canada - after spotting the Italians 18 IMPs on the first 2 boards, we cam back to win. We are in 19th place, but only face one of the top teams over the last 9 matches. We are hoping to make the top ten.

DAY TWO

Day 2 was a full day of bridge with 7 matches. The team played much better and without 3 or 4 partscore blunders that lead to big minuses, we would be in the top ten.

The hand of the day was another Charles and Anton slam. They reached 6 Hearts on these cards:

J
543
AKQ974
J53

AQ10
AKJ106
5
A862

Slam was also reached at the other table and both declarers received a helpful Spade lead to the J, K and Ace. How would you play it? It looks like all you need is 3-2 Hearts now. Charles, however, made the excellent play of the Heart J, which LHO took a long look at and ducked with Q972. Charles romped home with 12 tricks and a huge 17 IMPs.

The atmosphere is great, the Chinese extremely friendly and the event very well run. One of the more popular teams is from Botswana - it is great that they sent a team. The team is getting along well and I feel we will have a great Day 3!

Bryan

DAY ONE

The first day of the tournament was amazing. We all travelled to the new university campus of Tianjin for the Opening Ceremonies. We were met with a colourful display of dragons and drums. After some speeches, we were treated to an amazing spectacle of entertainment for over an hour. It was the best opening ceremony of any bridge event that I have attended.

Our first match was against Indonesia and we had a solid win thanks in large part to this hand that Charles and Anton bid to 6 Diamonds: Anton held A85 AK5 QJ982 KJ and opened 1D. Charles had Q106 Q8 AK7543 86 and responded 2D inverted. They proceeded to bid 2NT 3NT 4C 4D 4NT 5S 6D. The Ace of Clubs and a Club was the start for the defense. Anton cashed some Diamonds and 1 of the defenders was pseudo-squeezed with 4 Hearts and the KJ of Spades so Anton made it while the same contract at the other table was beaten by Dan and Sue.

We had small losses to Denmark and the US, and a near blitz by Poland A. We played 3 of the 5 or 6 teams in the event (Pland A is the favourite I think) and held our own. We hoope to improve today.

Bryan Maksymetz