THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TASMAN SEA
Entry to each of the numerous tournaments at the eight-day 37th New Zealand National Bridge Congress in the Mercury Baypark in Tauronga, which begins next Saturday (23 September) will normally "be accepted up to about a day in advance.". Visit nzbridge.co.nz/overview.html for comprehensive detail and guidance.
Other things readers may like to know about the Congress include the news that there will be cost-free card-by-card bridgebase.com live coverage of the open teams final on the last two days of September; and that an enhanced version thereof with local expert commentary may (check nearer the date) be available from time to time via bridgetv.com.au . Also potentially interesting is the fact that, like its comparable February Australian event at the Gold Coast, it is part of the World Bridge Tour.
Today's deal from last year's semi-finals of its main event, the NZ Open Teams, was written up in one of last year's daily bulletins by Julian Foster (NSW) who was North in the diagrammed uncontested auction. His partner was Jenna Gibbons (NZ) and his team-mates, EW at the other table, were Canberrans Christy Geromboux and Sebastian Yuen.
In the preceding 62-team 10-round Swiss qualifying stage that team not merely finished first. It won all ten matches whereas no other team won nine and only two won eight. It attained top place after round three and never relinquished it. Moreover, it amassed 239 IMPs which exceeded the next highest total by more than 52%.
Its results in the subsequent knock-out were not as uniformly good. A win by eight IMPs in the round-of-16 would have been a loss by one IMP but for a nine-IMP carry-over. A victory by 58 IMPs (89-31) in the subsequent quarter-final was more enjoyably clear-cut. It was in the last of four stanzas of the that disaster struck.
A 12-IMP carry-over and small wins in each of the first three stanzas had combined to put the top-qualifiers 35 IMPs ahead with only 12 boards left to play. All seemed over but the shouting until, improbably, the lead changed hands for the last time on the antepenultimate board. 53 IMPs were won and lost in in the stanza, every single one of them in the same unexpected direction.
The silver medallists-to-be likewise included three Australians - James Coutts, Shane Harrison (both NSW) and Andy Hung (WA) - and one New Zealander. My following account of how the play went in West's double-dummy-unbeatable 4♠ contract (though, of course, a diamond lead defeats 4♠ by East) is closely based on Foster's daily bulletin report.
Whether or not, after the diagrammed unrevealing auction, the ♣10 "blind" opening lead North disliked even more after trick one than when he unhappily nevertheless selected it simplified declarer's single-dummy planning, he won the trick with ♣Q and tabled ♥6.
North correctly rose with ♥A and exited in hearts. Withholding dummy's ♥K, West trumped with ♠2, crossed to ♠J, trumped East's last heart spot-card with ♠Q and led ♠K. After thus belatedly learning of the unwelcome one-four NS trump split, West undauntedly led low to ♣J, cashed ♥A and ♣A and ♥A.
Nothing bad having happily so far happened, the lead was still with East who was down to ♠A8 ♦72 opposite declarer's ♦K106 ♣8 while the North-South cards were respectively ♦A985 and ♠106 ♦KJ. Needing two of the last four tricks, declarer gave up one by leading low to Q-K-A. Holding no non-diamonds, North perforce continued low to South's ♦J after which South's was end-played in trumps and 4♠ came safely home.
As Foster wrote,
"Beautifully played for +420 and a well-deserved IMP pick-up. We could have afforded a few swings out like that but, sadly, not the 53 imps worth of swings that did happen in the last set! You just never know what will happen in this game. One minute everything is going your way (in set three partner miscounted her key cards so we stayed out of 7♥ and gained 14 imps when it went off at the other table!), the next minute all the decisions go wrong."