THE NEC CUP: ROUND FIVE

Bd: 17 Dlr: North Vul: None North Q97 J95 K1063 753 West K62 KQ84 Q5 AK64 East J1054 A3 J72 Q1098 South A83 10762 A984 J2

3NT is cold on the East/West cards, and nine of the ten pairs bid it. In two of the four matches where 3NT was reached at both tables it made once while failing in the replay: 10-imps to GREAT BRITAIN versus TAKAYAMA and to USA versus PABF OPEN. In TATAI versus YAMADA 3NT failed at both tables and in the fourth match CHINA picked up 1-imp on an overtrick against YOUTH. NAITO won 5 imps against PABF WOMEN when they beat 3NT at one table while stopping in 1NT making three at the other. Go figure.

Game is on the spade finesse on Board 18, and we were on the losing side of yet another unlucky game contract. But when our teammates went plus 130 in 4 at the other table USA gained 2 imps against snake-bit PABF OPEN. TATAI picked up 2 imps against YAMADA on an extra undertrick in 4, while GREAT BRITAIN, riding an incredible streak of good fortune, gained 7 imps on poor TAKAYAMA by making both 3 and 4 at the two tables. CHINA's Ju-Fu bid the North/South cards to 5, but they failed on the four-one diamond split. Their teammates Liu-Zhang also failed in 4, so that was 4 imps to YOUTH. NAITO gained 6 imps on PABF WOMEN when they sawed off 4 at one table and beat it 300 while returning 50 at the other table in the same contract undoubled.

Bd: 18 Dlr: East North K872 3 9542 A753 West AQJ4 KQJ1074 10 106 East 10653 862 AJ87 Q9 South 9 A95 KQ63 KJ842

Bd: 19 Dlr: South Vul: E/W North 93 75 AQ543 A1094 West QJ876 942 K7 762 East AK542 A108 8 J853 South 10 KQJ63 J10962 KQ

With the K onside, 5 is a claim, as is 4 with trumps breaking three-three. Three pairs bid the 5 game: Itabashi-Simpson for USA, Papa-John for GREAT BRITAIN, and A Yamada-Ohno for YAMADA. Each gained 6 or 7 imps for their effort. CHINA pushed the board against YOUTH in diamond partscores, as did NAITO against PABF WOMEN. "Playing with Nobu is like eating ice cream."

Bd: 20 Dlr: West Vul: Both North 8754 J1094 62 K42 West - 8762 K954 AQJ75 East AQ963 AK AJ73 93 South KJ102 Q53 Q108 1086

6 is a fair contract for East/West. If the club finesse works trumps must come in for no more than one loser. If the club finesse fails, trumps must break three-two with the queen onside. If Kokish-san was a fatalist, as he should have been on this day, he would have listened more closely to me when I signed off in 5. Besides, the handwriting was on the wall from the previous nineteen boards. But would he listen? Nooo. 6 said he. Down one said I. But once again Itabashi-Simpson came through for us at the other table when Kenji Miyakuni somehow managed to go down three in the same contract. That was 5 imps to USA. GREAT BRITAIN and TAKAYAMA pushed minus 100's in 6 and 3NT, while TATAI gained 2 imps in overtricks against YAMADA when both played 3NT. 3NT yielded a push in CHINA versus YOUTH, while NAITO picked up 13 imps versus PABF WOMEN when they made 3NT at one table and collected the inevitable plus 100 against 6 at the other.

The results in VPs IMPs GREAT BRITAIN over TAKAYAMA 25-3 86-25 NAITO over PABF WOMEN 24-6 75-31 YAMADA over TATAI 23-7 65-27 CHINA over YOUTH 21-9 67-39 USA over PABF OPEN 18-12 45-30

THE NEC CUP: ROUND SIX
This round featured a crucial showdown between CHINA and USA, two struggling teams who were tied for fourth going into the match. Another interesting matchup featured YAMADA, running well, against TAKAYAMA, showing real staying power.
Bd: 1 Dlr: North Vul: None North QJ4 AKQ8 KJ63 43 West 972 75 AQ982 J97 East 1083 109643 54 AK10 South AK65 J2 107 Q8652	One of the delights of sitting out is trying to figure out how your teammates achieved some of their more brilliant results without knowing any of the details. Now take Board 1, where nine of ten North/South pairs reached 3NT and made it in relative comfort. The tenth, Messrs Fu and Ju of CHINA, did rather better, going plus 800 to win 8 imps against USA. Now, where on earth could they find a contract to net them 800 points? There it is now, Rich, looming on the horizon. 2 doubled, by East. My best guess is that the honorable Itabashi jumped to 2 over a strong club by North, and that North passed South's negative double for penalties. If we've maligned you, dear Mark-san, drop us a very short note in the Tijuana jail. On the other hand, if we've maligned you where malignancy is due, send us a small contribution to induce us to stay out of your dirty laundry.

This is a lovely 5 for East/West on no cards, with the K wasted, to boot. If the defense starts with two rounds of hearts to force dummy prematurely, declarer must take an immediate club finesse (low to the eight or jack). The horrible position of the trump piups leaves declarer with only one more entry to repeat the club finesse; he'll win any return, play ace-king of trumps, and run the 10. Six pairs bid 5 and made it and two others would surely have done so had East/West let them play it there. Sekizawa-Amano neglected to double TATAI's Hirata-Shimizu in 5, collected only 200, and lost 5 imps. Ino-Chen did not pass up the opportunity to double Kohno-Harada, and did well to get all their tricks (with North declarer, it was much easier to get the spade ruff: A, suit preference eight, diamond underlead) for down 800. 9 imps to PABF OPEN, 10-0 over YOUTH. CHINA gained another 6 imps against USA to go up 14-love when Itabashi-Simpson stopped in 3 (how, we dare to wonder, did Fu-Ju manage to sell out so early with their ten-card heart fit?). Shoko Fukuda recorded a coup of sorts by overcalling Justin Hackett's 1 with 1, and Kyoko Shimamura's jump raise to 3 over Jason's negative double bought the auction. Jason led a diamond, so Shoko made 3 for an 11-imp gain (Sakamoto-Toyofuku made 5).

Bd: 2 Dlr: East Vul: N/S North Q93 Q10974 Q10 K63 West K842 6 K432 10954 East A 85 A98765 AJ82 South J10765 AKJ32 J Q7

Bd: 3 Dlr: South Vul: E/W North AQ10 542 QJ1082 Q4 West 96 AK63 K73 J1053 East K75 Q98 A654 K82 South J8432 J107 9 A976 "When I grow up I want to be just like Mark."

The only declarer to make a contract on Board 3 was PABF OPEN's Tadashi Teramoto, who scored plus 80 in 1 (in a manner not immediately obvious to the naked eye). Small swings in all five matches. Marginal power slams on a finesse tend to produce random results, and so it was on Board 4, which gave 13 imps to USA (Cappelletti-Lipscomb bid 6NT), YOUTH (Kohno-Harada bid it), and YAMADA (Akihiko Yamada-Ohno bid it). Wasn't that fun? Bd: 4 Dlr: West Vul: Both North A8 A975 KQ97 AJ7 West 1075 Q10 A1042 10632 East 9642 J832 J63 54 South KQJ3 K64 85 KQ98

Well, maybe not, but this one was certainly fun. Consider the Open Room in PABF OPEN vs YOUTH:

Bd: 5 Dlr: North Vul: N/S North AK7 K9 KQJ1097 102 West QJ1063 AJ104 854 8 East 842 Q532 32 A764 South 95 876 A6 KQJ953

West North East South Chen Kohno Ino Harada 3NT Pass Pass 4 * Pass Pass ! Dbl. ! Rdbl Pass 4 Dbl. All Pass The intrepid Dawei Chen, with an eye on the vulnerability, protected against 3NT (Kohno was showing something like he had, perhaps with an extra diamond) with 4, intending it as takeout for the majors. Masayuki Ino misread 4, and left Harada with an unusual problem. He didn't want to pass out 4 and collect an infinite number of 50s, with a sure 600-odd his way. But he knew that someone would run if he doubled. He hated to double, but he did it, and it all ended at 4 doubled, three down; minus 500. That was a lovely 3-imp save against the cold 3NT, but Hisatomi-Teramoto finished in 5 instead, where they could have been beaten on a club ruff. Yoshida-Akama did not find their ruff, however. Whew! Everyone else bid and made 3NT.

East/West can't make a game if North/South defend accurately (two hearts and three diamonds without being unusually brilliant). And 4? Well, South has all those trumps, you see.
In GREAT BRITAIN vs PABF WOMEN, Sakamoto-Toyofuku fetched up in 4NT, declared by East. Brigitte Mavromichalis led a heart through, and Papa Bear switched to the J. The defense took five hearts and three diamonds for five down; minus 500. Looking good, Brits. Not good enough. After Justin opened the East hand with a 14-16 point notrump, the partnership settled in 4, which South (Shoko Fukuda) doubled. Jason, with something in reserve, sent it back. The good news for Jason was that Justin had to play it (transfers, you know). The bad news was that South got to lead hearts through the queen-jack. The defense was in the hunt for 1600 now, but a trick got away and Justin escaped for two down; minus 1000. "Sorry, dad." Well, maybe not really sorry. 11 imps to PABF WOMEN, 22-3. Now that's more like it. All those successful impossible contracts might have been going to their heads.	Bd: 6 Dlr: East Vul: E/W North - AK1032 J93 98654 West KQ1082 QJ4 10 AJ102 East A7 96 K87542 KQ3 South J96543 875 AQ6 7
Simpson made 4NT against Fu-Ju, presumably on a low heart lead. Lipscomb did not make 3 doubled with the North-South cards, but one down was good for 11 American imps and the lead in the match, 26-18. Harada could not make 2 with the North/South cards, but he came close. That might have been a reasonable result, but Teramoto made 3 doubled at the other table ... with an overtrick; plus 630. 12 imps to PABF OPEN, 30-13. Both East/Wests made 3NT in YAMADA vs TAKAYAMA. The biggest swing came in NAITO vs TATAI where Hirata-Shimizu made 3 doubled while Maeda-Hayashi made 3NT the other way. 15 imps to TATAI, ahead 25-2. At both tables, the bidding had started 1-2. Hayashi jumped to 3NT but Amano passed, hopefully, then left in the reopening double. When her opponents slithered into 3 with an SOS redouble, Amano doubled and led the Q, but there was no defense.