dec4

English 56 West holding a doubleton spade together with ♦ Qxx. Wolff could now have saved the day by switching to hearts, but how could he know that partner had king-queen of that suit? In case South had ♥ Q and West had ♥ K, a heart switch would have been too terrible for words. So Wolff continued spades. Multon won the ace, cashed two top diamonds followed by the jack and entered dummy in hearts to cash two more diamonds. Thirteen IMPs to France. In the following deal from the same match, the roles were reversed: Dealer South, Vul All ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ K642 9 KT8 KQT75 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ Q8 AKQ82 9652 J6 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AJT73 743 743 82 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 95 JT65 AQJ A943 West North East South Meckstroth Mouiel Rodwell Multon 1♣ 1 ♥ 1♠ 2 ♥ Pass Pass Dbl Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass North had 11 HCP with good clubs, vulnerable at IMPs he had no choice but the slight overbid to 3NT. Meckstroth kept it simple by leading top-of- sequence. Rodwell followed suit with ♥ 7 (UDCA, high=discouraging). Meckstroth certainly believed South’s 2NT bid. He knew that declarer had four hearts headed by JT, and that any further heart play would develop a trick for his opponent. In addition, he couldn’t be sure about the quality of his partner’s spades, so declarer was spared the lethal ♠Q switch. Meckstroth made a fine switch to clubs (a great play, demonstrating why he has won so many world championships). That was enough to beat the contract, as declarer couldn’t develop a 9 th trick. West North East South Perron Wolff Chemla Hamman 1 ♥ Pass 2♣ Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass At the replay, Hamman/Wolff were playing strong club + four-card majors, and their systemic opening bid was 1 ♥ . That stopped East/West from competing in hearts, but the final contract was identical at both tables. Perron had the extra information that South was holding at least four hearts, and he tried to make some intelligent use of it. He imagined partner with jack-doubleton, declarer with four cards headed by the ten, and made an inspired lead of… ♥ 2!! I’m afraid that was too intelligent. Declarer won a cheap trick with dummy’s ♥ 9 and claimed his contract (Twelve IMPs back to USA). Perron might have beaten it by keeping it simple, leading a high heart (and later defending like Meckstroth). Granovetter’s reaction: “You see what happens the moment the French try to get brilliant”? After a very tough struggle, France prevailed by 27 IMPs and won the Bermuda Bowl. Granovetter’s conclusion: “It was an exciting match, with much sparkling defense, but many flaws in the bidding. The team that made fewer errors was victorious”.