marchnew_INT

English 55 Youth vs Experience Ram Soffer The following two hands are taken from a match between two very strong teams in the French team championship which took place on 20 January, 2019. I am going to focus on the players in the West seat, two of the greatest bridge personalities of our time: Highly acclaimed player and coach Krzysztof Martens (playing for Zimmerman’s team) and Thomas Bessis, who by his early thirties can already boast a long list of achievements in the strongest events. On board 25, the bidding was identical at both tables up to West’s third turn: Board 25. Dealer North, Vul E/W ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ QT763 62 Q86 T32 West North East South Pass 1♣ 1 ♦ Pass 1 ♥ Dbl 2 ♦ 2♠ 3 ♦ 3♠ Pass ? For Martens this didn’t seem to be much of a problem. He held four HCP, two of which were pretty worthless after his opponents bid and supported diamonds. Nevertheless, partner’s double over two bidding opponents showed quite a strong hand, so he freely bid his five- card major. Then his partner competed to three spades over three diamonds, and Martens Pass ed. Bessis took a different view: East’s three-level competitive bid at unfavorable vulnerability hinted at extra strength, so despite his meagre values he took a shot at Four Spades. After all, playing IMPs such a bid would show a long-run profit even if the chances of making game were 40%. When the smoke cleared, it turned out that Bessis was definitely right: ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ J8 KJ954 J53 K64 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ QT763 62 Q86 T32 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AK42 AQ73 4 QJ95 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 95 T8 AKT972 A87 Making four spades required a successful heart finesse (pretty much expected in view of the bidding) and the inability of the opponents to ruff a third round of clubs (a fair chance). West’s club ten turned out to be a big card. Two boards later, our two champions sitting West held a much stronger hand: