Match 16 - France

The penultimate match was against France. Before the match, France is lying in third place, 5 VPs in front of us. Thus, this can be viewed as the decider in the race for qualifying. Indeed, if any team can etch out a big win, they will almost certainly qualify.

France boast the likes of De Tessieres, Julien Gaviard and the Bessis brothers, sons of 2 world champions, they are certainly a very strong team and no doubt deserve a place in the top 4 of the tournament. They have had a rollercoaster tournament so far, losing 25-4 to the Americans in the first match and defeating Jordan by only 18-12. Nonetheless, they have come back very strongly and are in good position to win a spot in the last 4. It is inevitable that this decider against the surprises of the tournament would be on vugraph.

Back in Singapore, the match is held at the same time where the Singapore is holding their Pesta Sukan, a national championship. They have made arrangements to screen the vugraph match live so there will be lots of morale support there. Over here at the playing venue, the general feeling is that most of the spectators are rooting for France to teach these upstarts a lesson or two. It is quite interesting situation, that as a neutral, who would you support? Well, I confess I would not have backed the underdogs. For me, if the stronger team wins, it will make for more exciting knockout matches. However, there are many who would be behind the giant-killers.

As the RR closes, we are glad we are still in the thick of things and still have lots to play for. You can imagine there are some teams that are already just playing for pride. The other side of things is that, we are forced to play on with our strongest 4 again. The fact that we have been playing 9 matches in a row meant there is no rest. To their credit, our third pair did not ever complain. They were still there every match, watching our running scores (this would turn out to be of crucial importance) waiting to take over if anyone of us was in no shape to play.

After 2 abysmal performances in the Vugraph Open room, our pair found ourselves in the closed room this time round. This time round, we do not have to wait agonisingly in the spotlight and so we got started.

The very first hand:

♠ T 8 3
♥ A 8
♦ K Q 9 8 3
♣ 8 7 5

RHO passes, I pass, LHO opened a strong NT, RHO staymaned. Normally , I would pass but this time round, I came in with 2D.

I saw this as a chance to push things a little and showed them we are not going to lie down flat. Well, if I wanted a chance for a swing, I got it: LHO dbled and it was passed out.

The K of H was led and partner put down a typical:

♠ K Q 9 6 5
♥ T 7 4
♦ T
♣ T 4 3 2


♠ T 8 3
♥ A 8
♦ K Q 9 8 3
♣ 8 7 5


Oh well, at least 3NT or 4H can make for them. Meanwhile, I surveyed the dummy to see how i can minimize loss. The play took a very long time and was quite complex. Mainly, I was trying to lure them into a defensive error since it was almost 3 down for sure if they didnt make a mistake. I succeeded to cash a second S trick and that meant only 2 down. -300 for 3imps! That set a fast tempo for the match..

A couple boards later:

♠ 5 4 3
♥ K 9 5 4 2
♦ T
♣ K Q T 2

RHO opened 1D, I passed, LHO 1S which RHO raised to 2S. Still feeling aggressive, I came in with a takeout dbl. LHO brushed it aside and went straight to 4S. My dbl helped partner who had a lead from

♠ 8
♥ T 6 3
♦ A Q J 8 6 4
♣ J 7 5

After a club (or H ) lead there was no way home. At the other table, our opps had no help and unfortunately led the ace D (after all the D bidder was on his left). That let the game home for another 11 imps.

Then came a series of 4 boards which decided how the match is going to be:

♠ -
♥ A K J 9
♦ K T 7 3 2
♣ K 8 6 5


♠ 6 5 4 2
♥ 6
♦ A Q J 8 6
♣ A Q 4

After North deals and East come in with a Michaels (both majors) how would you bid? (West will raise to 4S immediately) Both sides bidded to the excellent 7D. Unfortunately, at our table the bidding was less than convincing with many bids being explained as 'no agreement'. Thus, we let them play in it. At the other table, our teammates were much more confident, being able to show their void in S. This in turn induced the French defenders to trust them and sacrificed in 7S for -1400 but 12 imps for them.


Vul against not,

♠ Q 8 7
♥ K Q T 7
♦ K 9 6
♣ A 6 5

I opened 1NT, LHO preempted 3S, Partner came in with 4S (undiscussed). RHO gave it a long look before passing, your bid?

Well, I admit I was cursing for being given such a difficult decision. With the previous board and the vulnerablity in mind, I quickly decided to push things a little: 5NT (choose a slam)

Partner chose 6C and RHO was there with the expected 6S, I doubled for +800. This time though, 6C was cold. Partner had:

♠ -
♥ J 9 8 6 5
♦ A Q 4
♣ K J 7 3 2

With the Q of clubs placed nicely and no H ruff available, it would be an easy +1370. Shucks... did we lose another board? This board proved to be tough for everyone when only 2 out of 18 pairs in the Youth category bid to slam. Luckily, our opps were not one of them, they stopped in game and we had a 5 imps gain.

Next, our turn to bid:

♠ J 5
♥ A K 7 4 3
♦ A K Q 3
♣ 7 2


♠ K
♥ Q T 9 8 5
♦ T 6 4
♣ A K 9 8

We had a system gadget to uncover the good fit and we soon cruised to slam for an easy +1460 (opps didnt cash their S). It looked pretty flat at that time. Indeed only 5 pairs failed to find the slam. Very luckily, our opps at the other table lost their way a little and stopped in game, a lucky 13 imps for us.

The less said about the next board the better, in essence, my partner decided he had to do something after opps stopped in an unmakeable game and came in with 4S after 4 rounds of silence in the bidding. Our Opps geefully dbled and took their 9 imps (3NT-1 in other room)

Oh well, I was fuming.. the last string of boards didn't look promising with at least 2 good boards for the French. But as I learnt in the Israeli match, it was not the time to start venting my anger, I had to concentrate and focus for the final 12 boards.

Partner was having another bad match on vugraph:

♠ K 6 4
♥ Q T 7 4
♦ J T 8 5
♣ K 9

RHO opened 1D LHO 1S, RHO bid an artificial 2NT which could be one of many hands, but later revealed to be both minors and a strong hand. Partner led the obvious H:

♠ J T 7 3 2
♥ A J 9 6
♦ 9
♣ 8 7 2

Dummy's 9 held the trick (5 and 2 from me and declarer). Next declarer ran the 9 of D to your T, your lead now?

It seems easy now, but partner had a mindblock (admittedly perhaps confused by my carding) but he continued H and declarer soon wrapped up 9 tricks. The winning choice was a low S as I had AQ985, we would collect 4 S tricks, capturing the JT on the way. Our teammates played in on the other side and had no chance on a S lead, 13 imps away.

To their credit, up to now, our teammates were having a great match.. bidding everything accurately:

♠ Q 8 7 6 4
♥ A 9 7
♦ Q 7 2
♣ 8 4


♠ -
♥ K J 8 6 3
♦ A 9
♣ A K Q 9 5 3

Perhaps they are enjoying the vugraph spotlight as they were 1 of only 3 pairs to reach the slam in H.

It was a technically interesting hand. On a D lead to the Q K and ace, you play a H to the ace, the Q appearing on the left, how do you play?

Our opps, not unreasonably finessed the 9 of H and partner (West) turned up with the T and cashed the D. Unfortunately, our opps are only in game so that meant only 1 overtick saved. Credit to partner though for shaking off his bad patch to find this elegant falsecard.

Luckily, our teammate didnt face the same problem and when LHO contributed the T, he played for the drop and soon had his slam for 11 imps.

At our table, we began to played well and made no obvious mistakes till the end of the match. Our teammates at the other hand, began to lose it a little and had 2 bad boards in a row, :

♠ A 7 5 3
♥ K 7 6 5 3
♦ T
♣ Q J 3

♠ T 6 4
♥ A J
♦ A 5 4
♣ A T 9 8 4

South deals and they lost their way in the bidding to reach 5C going down when the French opps made 3NT (club K was onside)

The very swingy match continued (there were only 2 pushes in the 20 boards):

Vul against not:

♠ A 3
♥ 9 5 4 3
♦ K Q 7 3 2
♣ A 8

After 2 passes, you open 1D, LHO overcalls 2C, partner is there with a NF 2H, RHO dbls to show S+ club tolerence.

You try 4H but LHO was there with 4S passed to you, any bid?

The French opp got it wrong when he thought we were sane and quietly passed it out

♠ K Q 9 8 7
♥ J 8
♦ T 8 4
♣ J 4 2

♠ 6 5 2
♥ K 2
♦ A 9
♣ K 9 7 6 5 3

It was very atypical bidding of our overcalls but thankfully I chose a right time to do it. 4H made at the other table meant 10 imps for us.

Perhaps indicative of the long tournament week and the very aggressive bridge at the youth level, at the end of it all, 130 imps have changed hands! Score wise, there wasnt much between us. We edged the French out by 73-57 imps (18-12 in VPs) for an important victory.

That match meant we overtook the French by 1 VP going into the last match of the RR... but we still remained in 4th spot when Italy crushed Japan 23-7:

1 USA 1 312
2 POLAND 295
3 ITALY 284
4 SINGAPORE 281
5 FRANCE 280
6 NORWAY 276
7 ISRAEL 270

With USA and Poland almost through for sure, the remaining 2 spots remained up for grabs...