Round 5: The Dawn of Day 2

Bd: 1 Dlr: North Vul: None K6 K10942 J984 103 Q10987 -- AQ107 KJ98 AJ53 AJ6 653 Q52 42 Q8753 K2 A764

"All together now. One...two...three...' Row,row, row, your boat..."

The spade slam is not a good proposition for E/W but with the 10 doubleton and both pointed-suit kings in the slot, it has the singular advantage of being cold. DEFENDING CHAMPS' Chen-Hirata amd ESPERANZA's Tan-Sekiyama bid it but only the former pair brought the contract home: the CHAMPS won 11 imps against CHINA; ESPERANZA lost 11 imps to BRIDGE FORUM. OLYMPIAD OPEN's Naito-Nishida thought they had a better idea when they tried 6. Unfortunately, like the Edsel, the world wasn't ready for their vision of the future: they lost 11 imps to DARUMA. AUSTRALIA NEWMAN's Newman-Del'Monte put it to GREAT BRITAIN's Hackett twins when they bid quickly to 4 and Justin (East) sat for Jason's double. A trick got away on the A opening lead and the twins collected plus 300 against their own 480 (they were never getting to slam); 5 imps to the Aussies.

This was another game for E/W; 3NT is cold while 4 makes on a non-diamond lead. The Hackett twins for GREAT BRITAIN, Naito-Nishida for DARUMA, Wang-Ming for CHINA and Tashiro-Yoshimi for YOUTH all failed to bid game and lost 6 or 7 imps in the process. Sekizawa-Fukuda for OLYMPIAD WOMEN, Mittleman-Kokish for CANADA OLYMPIAD, Geller-Ogihara for GOING, Tsao-Chuang for SAN HAI, Hiramori-Nakakawaji for MERRY QUEENS and Chiba-Sakamoto for BRIDGE FORUM all found the diamond lead against 4 contract to win 10 imps for their teams.

Bd: 2 Dlr: East Vul: N/S J5 KQ AJ52 K10652 Q10942 J7 874 AJ4 AK87 A865 K63 Q9 63 109432 Q109 873

Bd: 3 Dlr: South Vul: E/W A6 AKJ K974 Q876 KQ72 10874 A86 103 J854 9 QJ1053 A42 1093 Q6532 2 KJ95

For those brash enough to enter the auction against North's strong notrump, E/W are a finesse from making 4. For those N/S's aggressive enough to bid it, 4 could make on a defense that fails to find the spade suit soon enough. The results reflected the complex possibilities. Hanlon-McGann bid and made 4 for IRELAND to pick up 6 imps against GOING, as did Nakamura-Shimizu for OLYMPIAD OPEN against DARUMA. Tumiwa-Bakti for PATTIMURA also bid the game but gained 10 imps when at the other table Borewicz-Otvosi for POLAND bid the game as well but failed to make it. Hiratsuka-Banno for PENSEE and Newman-Del'Monte for AUSTRALIA NEWMAN also went down in 4 to lose 5 or 6 imps when game was not reached at the other table. Both pairs in the matches between the DEFENDING CHAMPS (Ino-Teramoto) and CHINA (Gu-Yalan Zhang) and CHUA (Marston-Mayer) and HIRATA (Takano-Kobayashi) bid 4, but all went down.

Bd: 4 Dlr: West Vul: Both J52 5 K108642 A87 K103 K764 A95 653 AQ74 A1083 Q Q1094 986 QJ92 J73 KJ2

4 on the E/W cards depends on several factors including trumps splitting and either the J coming down or the club suit behaving. About half the pairs bid the game and went down one or two tricks for their efforts. Especially unlucky was CANADA OLYMPIAD, when Lebi-Hanna failed in 4 at one table and Mittleman-Kokish (N/S) were doubled by USA's Freed-Robison in (only) 3 at the other table and went minus 500; 12 imps to USA. OLYMPIAD OPEN's resident wild man Kenji Miyakuni, some of whose exploits were chronicled in these pages only yesterday, bid to 3NT on the E/W cards and brought the contract home to win 10 imps against DARUMA. Numerous other swings in the 6-8- imp range were registered on this deal when heart partscores and games clashed.

Action abounded in this battle-of-the-majors deal. After North's 1 opening some Easts got busy with a 1 or 2 overcall. West then settled for nothing less than game, making an overtrick. If East remained silent at his first turn West entered the auction over South's response and now it was East who persisted to at least the four level. Given the bidding order, most N/S's who bid on in hearts were not doubled (how could E/W guess it was their hand?) and found the unfavorable-vulnerability "save" quite acceptable, whether E/W obtained their minor-suit ruffs or not. In fact, it was N/S who often doubled (5 or even 4) and received an unfriendly minus 650 or 690 for their impudence. Such was the fate of ESPERANZA's Tan-Sekiyama (E/W) against BRIDGE FORUM's Chiba-Sakamoto (a 10-imp swing) and MERRY QUEENS'

Bd: 5 Dlr: North Vul: N/S 4 QJ6432 KQ AK106 K98652 A5 A1087 8 AJ1073 1097 9 J972 Q K8 J65432 Q543

Nishimura-Nishimura against HANAGUMI's Naito-Umezo. OLYMPIAD OPEN's Nakamura-Shimizu were rudely doubled by DARUMA's Naito-Nishida when they somehow found their way to 6; minus 800. The loss was held to 8 imps when teammates Miyakuni-Furuta played in 4 undoubled. Several N/S pairs played in 5 (Saito-Zhang for DREAM, Tsao-Chuang for SAN HAI, Ventin-Lantaron for SPAIN, Chiu-Hu for DON FUN; the latter two doubled). Those who played undoubled gained 6 imps while those who were doubled lost 4 imps. The remaining teams played in 4 or 5 at both tables, doubled at one of them, for 5-imp swings.

Bd: 7 Dlr: South Vul: Both 109 32 QJ42 K9653 QJ6 J874 853 J108 A754 1065 AK1076 7 K832 AKQ9 9 AQ42

3NT and 5 are both viable contracts. There are eight top tricks in 3NT and the K is readily available for the ninth. 5, however, takes careful play-usually aided by information from the bidding. Either two diamonds must be ruffed in the South hand (unless East cashes a high diamond to create a ruffing finesse position in that suit) or South's three losers ruffed in the North hand. But there are communication problems. On a heart lead by West (or a diamond lead and a heart shift) declarer wins, plays a diamond (if one was not led), wins the heart return, draws two rounds of trumps with the ace-queen, cashes the remaining high hearts pitching a spade from dummy, then ruffs the fourth heart and plays a spade. If East wins the ace South's 8 sets up for the eleventh trick (win the spade return, ruff a spade, ruff a diamond, then play the good 8).

If East ducks the spade declarer wins, ruffs a spade, ruffs a diamond, ruffs a spade and ruffs another diamond for his eleventh trick. Both declarers in 5 went down in JAPAN YOUTH versus DON FUN, while both made it in USA versus CANADA OLYMPIAD (but USA played in only 4 for a 10-imp gain for CANADA). IRELAND's Hanlon-McGann lost 12 imps to GOING when they failed in 5, but PATTIMURA's Tumiwa-Bakti won 9 imps against POLAND by making it (POLAND collected 200 against 2 doubled at the other table). OLYMPIAD WOMEN and SAN HAI lost double-digit swings when they failed in 5, but DEFENDING CHAMPS' Ino-Teramoto made 5 to preserve a 1-imp loss (minus 630 at the other table). CHUA and HIRATA pushed making 5 contracts. DARUMA's Sakamoto-Hasegawa made 5, only to lose 11 imps when OLYMPIAD OPEN's Nakamura-Shimizu caught 3 doubled for 1100. But the strangest pair of results on this deal occurred in CHUA versus HIRATA. There, HIRATA's Hirata-Hayashi played 2 sitting E/W (that's right, E/W) and went down six; minus 600. At the other table HIRATA's Takano-Kobayashi went two down in 3NT (minus 200) to lose 13 imps. Incredible!

Two pairs bid to slam (6 by Sekizawa-Fukuda for OLYMPIAD WOMEN and 6 by Naito-Umezu for HANAGUMI). As best we can determine, 6 can only be made on a minor-suit lead, but the play in 6 is simple and fascinating. Only a major-suit lead presents a problem. Declarer wins the suit led and finesses the Q (East must duck). Then three rounds of diamonds are played, pitching the loser in the major led. East can ruff, but the A is retained in dummy as an entry for the second pitch. In practice as in theory, only 6 was made; 13 imps to WOMEN. As an aside (Peter), the best play in 5(after a major-suit lead) is to just play ace and a club (not taking the club finesse) and concede a club and a trick in the major led.

Bd: 9 Dlr: North Vul: E/W A5 A2 A9 QJ109652 KQ8643 653 J86 8 J72 KQJ94 107 K73 109 1087 KQ5432 A4

Bd: 15 Dlr: South Vul: N/S J82 65 J7643 A87 A109754 K843 82 J K J10972 AK5 9642 Q63 AQ Q109 KQ1053

If South opens 1NT, it may be difficult for E/W both to get into the auction and to find their nine-card heart fit. If they locate it, 4 would be easy. In fact, even 4 will make on the three-three trump split. Those Wests who showed both majors (or hearts and another suit-ugh!) had a free run to game, but those who showed spades declared partscores. "He was much taller before he went for 1100."