Italian Teams Clubs Championships 2010
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Champion: Associato Allegra |
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(Photo´s source: FIGB) |
COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!!! by
Jim Gordon.
The recent Italian Teams Clubs Championships gave
BBO vugraph spectators the chance to see four great pairs slug
it out, head-to-head, for an extended match. Five of the
six segments featured:
Duboin-Sementa vs Helgemo-Helness and
Bocchi-Madala vs Fantoni-Nunes.
That Allegra pulled out a
1-IMP victory over Angelini on the final board of the match
was icing on a very rich cake.
The second board of the match provided one of the more
interesting layouts that we’ve seen in quite a while:
Sitting West, you hold:
A 9 8 4 2
J 8 5 4
9 6 6 5
Partner opens 1
and RHO overcalls 1NT. You call 2,
Mitchell Stayman for the Majors. LHO jumps to 3NT, ending
the auction.
Your lead… (Would you change your choice if
we revealed that there’s only one card that leaves declarer
no counter?)
Helgemo chose the 9
and dummy hit with:
Declarer let this ride around to his Queen, (Partner
playing the 3) and played the 7
to the T
in dummy (Partner discarding the 7).
Next came the 2
– 4 – J – 6 and the J
to your Ace (Partner discarding the 9). You’re back in the spotlight, and again there’s only one
card that leaves the defense in control…
After long thought, Helgemo chose the J,
which wasn’t the needed card, but which left Madala unsure
of the position of the T.
When he chose to play Helgemo for that card (and ran the
Heart to the Queen in his hand), he could no longer come to
nine tricks.
The full layout:
The hand is (overly) rich in complexities. From the
auction, Declarer can be reasonably sure that the Major-suit
Aces are split between the two defenders. To succeed,
Declarer needs Dummy entries. His initial plan is to lead
Diamonds twice, but he may adjust this as the distribution
is revealed. On this layout, or if East held the A
doubleton, the winning play at Trick 1 is the T
from Dummy. The only holding to which that loses is if East
held the A
singleton. (All of which helps explain Helgemo’s choice of
spot card for his lead.)
As for the winning lead/shift, fans of Kelsey (as well as of
old-time crime movies) might have recognized the fascinating
variation on a
surround play represented by the 8.
The complete (and totally
unlikely) winning line on the lead of the 9
is T,
to the Jack,
Q
ducked all around, Q.
If West takes the Ace and returns a Spade, Declarer wins the
King and East has no good pitch:
If East pitches a Heart, Declarer leads a small Heart from
Dummy. If East plays low, he’ll be end-played when Declarer
ducks the second round of Hearts. If East rises with the
Ace and exits with a Heart, the third round of Hearts will
leave Declarer in Dummy and force another pitch from East.
If East pitches a second Club, Declarer leads a Club honor
from Dummy. East must duck else Declarer has three tricks
in Clubs, ending in Dummy. After East ducks, Declarer
reverts to Diamonds and East will be thrown in to lead from
his Heart holding.
If East pitches a third Diamond, Declarer leads Dummy’s
remaining Diamond and East will be end-played.
If West ducks the Q,
Declarer overtakes in Dummy and leads another Diamond to
again threaten an end-play.)
Jim Gordon (foto
source:
Peg
Kaplan)
September, 2010