GIB7

This article first appeared in

vol. 9, nr. 7, Oct./Nov. 1998.

The GIB Zone (7) 'The Par Contest'

by Onno Eskes

Professor Ginsberg and his intelligent bridge program didn't exactly receive a warm welcome at the Lille world championships. Pietro Bernasconi, the Swiss problem composer who had been working for two years on the twelve devilishly difficult deals of the Par Contest didn't think much of a computer participating.

He was afraid; in fear that all his masterpieces - the result of two years' hard labor - would be dealt with in short order by the bridge program as though they were problems for novices. Afraid, too, that the world-class players in his tournament were going to be humiliated by a computer.
Only after Jose Damiani - the WBF's CEO - told him that he personally had alotted a spot for GIB in the Par Contest, was Ginsberg allowed to unpack his computer. And for the rest he wasn't to count on any co-operation. Bernasconi consistently refused to include GIB in the rankings, but fortunately, the Bridge Plaza Crew managed to channel GIB's exploits from the computer onto the Internet and into the daily bulletins.

Pretty confident
Prior to the start, Ginsberg tells me he feels 'pretty confident.' GIB's results on the problems from eight years ago leave little doubt. But GIB already goes astray on board 1. After 1NT by South, West overcalls 2, which gets doubled by North, and West runs to 2NT, looking for an escape into a minor, as most participants deduce, and therefore probably showing a 5-0-4-4-shape. GIB doesn't catch on, and instead, plays West for a balanced hand with cards. A false start.

Problem 1 S/EW	A J 6 5 2 J 10 9 8 7 6 9 6 -		WEST - 2 2NT Pass West leads A-K and switches to a club.	NORTH - Double 41) Pass 1)transfer	EAST -------- Pass Pass Pass	SOUTH 1NT Pass 4
-----------		------------
-	K 7 A K Q Q J J 8 7 5 4 3

-
This first problem is a welcoming prelude, and twelve of the 35 players solve it. West's club switch is flawless. Else, you win the spade return, finesse the

J (East ruffs and returns a trump) and there are enough trumps left in dummy to ruff two clubs, ruff two losing spades in South, pull trumps and cash the

A. The club return removes one of dummy's trumps prematurely for that line to succeed, but it opens the door to an alternative winning line: developing the clubs. Ruff the club return; spade to the king; club ruff; and now a small spade off dummy. East must ruff and return a trump to prevent the impending cross-ruff. South wins, ruffs another club, and plays the

A in this position, leaving East without recourse:

-	A J 6 J 10 - -
Q 10 9 - 10 A		- 5 4 8 7 5 -
-	- A K - J 8 7

I can hear Ginsberg swearing under his breath, as he watches the second problem appear on the screen. He notices the spade suit:

AJ109 opposite

K52. GIB's known weakness is finding queens and jacks. He always optimistically assumes that will turn out alright until the supreme moment arrives and he's at a loss what to do.
Ginsberg fears the worst but the board proves to be a 'simple' only-chance type of deal.

Problem 2 N/EW	A J 10 9 A 10 9 4 3 A 6 5 4		WEST - Pass Pass Pass Pass West leads a diamond	NORTH 1 2 4 6	EAST Pass--- Pass Pass Pass	SOUTH 2 3 4 Pass
-----------		------------
-	K 5 2 7 2 8 6 4 A K 8 7 3

Lack of entries in the South hand prevent you from ruffing two diamonds, and consequently, the heart suit will have to be developed. Again, for entry reasons, West must hold two honors doubleton so that East's lone honor can later be picked up through a ruffing finesse. Next, East can be thown in to give dummy a heart trick. Therefore, East must have a tripleton trump, and because four spade tricks are required to ditch South's heart loser, East must hold four spades as well, and that's where the

Q must be found. In short, Bernasconi had arranged for East to hold

Qxxx

Kxxx

QJx, necessary for the contract to be made. GIB calculates that in a flash, after which the play is straightforward: win

A; take two finesses in spades; cash the top trumps; cash

K; heart to the ace;

A and discard South's second heart; heart ruff; diamond ruff; heart ten, covered and ruffed. East, now left with a high trump and a heart, is thrown in and has to yield a heart trick.

GIB also manages to perfectly solve the next three problems, but he slips up on the sixth one. Nevertheless, he's done well enough to lead the field at the halfway mark with a score of 9550 points out of 12000, ahead of the Pole Balicki with 8090. Ginsberg goes to sleep a happy man, with a world championship looming ahead. Bernasconi, on the other hand, has been walking around all day long with a long face.

The next morning I arrive at the playing area ten minutes late. Considering GIB's playing tempo of five minutes per board, I've already missed the first two boards (the contestants are given two hours for three problems). I join Ginsberg who is shaking his head, and I feel things have gone wrong. GIB has completely bungled the frirst two hands: four errors on each of them and consequently, zero points. The third problem doesn't go well, either. It looks as though Bernasconi already knew of GIB's Achilles' heel when he was composing the problems. The problem revolves around avoiding a decision in clubs: KQ98 opposite A1054. Impossible, with GIB's double dummy approach. He collects his third zero in a row and drops to ninth spot. A ray of hope appears on Bernasconi's face. "This afternoon, we get the really difficult problems," he adds, pleased as Punch for keeping the computer down after all.

Devoid of typical human traits, such as leading partner's suit, GIB misses an essential clue on problem 7. Also, the phenomenon of the Lightner double appears not to have been programmed in:

Problem 7 E/NS	A K J 10 A Q J 3 A 9 2 Q 5		WEST - Pass Pass Pass West leads 2	NORTH - Double 5 Pass	EAST---- 4 Pass Pass Pass	SOUTH Pass 4 6
-----------		------------
-	Q 9 7 3 6 5 4 2 Q J 3 A J

West would no doubt have led his singleton club, if he had one, and so, an expert of flesh and blood assumes West has a club void. East has failed to make a Lightner double and therefore, he holds no void in one of the red suits. He follows to the first two rounds of trumps, and so his distribution has to be 2-1-1-9. In that case, the hearts break 4-1 and there are only eleven tricks. The plan looks simple: throw West in with the fourth round of heart forcing him to lead away from his

10. That, however, requires three finesses in the red suits. The

Q is one entry and the

AJ are two more, unless East flies with the

K on the first club lead.
Do you see the solution? Give East a club trick. This trick is returned immediately in the form of a ruff and slough, which provides the extra entry. The full sequence will be: pull three rounds of trumps ending with the

Q, covered and won with

Q, not covered but won with

A anyway*; heart finesse; exit with a club. East wins the

K and returns a club:

-	J A Q 3 9 2 -
- K 10 9 10 8 7 -		- - - 10 9 8 7 6 5
-	9 6 5 4 J 3 -

Declarer ruffs in either hand and takes the rest on a simple red suit squeeze against West. A tricky problem, and only four of the contestants find the correct solution without making any errors.

*Note that declarer must lead the Q. If he leads a small club, East will insert the king and duck the club continuation. South is then on lead in North, the wrong hand, and the contract can be defeated. Ed.

The final set of three boards once again contains a suit combination that requires a guess: A432 opposite KQ109. Needless to say, GIB goes wrong again, and Ginsberg goes one for three on this set. Twelfth spot in a field of thirty-five world ranking players is, of course, no mean feat for a bridge computer - indeed, headline material in the Daily Telegraph and other papers - but Ginsberg is very disappointed, nevertheless.
The event is won by Michael Rosenberg with 16850 out of a possible 20000 points. Runner-up is Bart Bramley, who would have won if only he had solved the final problem in 'only' 43 minutes, rather than the 73 minutes it actually took him.
GIB got stuck at 11210 points, just ahead of the Dutch math whiz kid Roald Ramer.

Michael Rosenberg

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