4TH FORBO INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE TOURNAMENT "experts in floor coverings" Organized by The Hague Visitors & Convention Bureau under the auspices of the Dutch Bridge Federation Scheveningen, Steinberger Kurhaus Hotel, February 9-11, 1996 BULLETIN #3 ************************************************************** Triumph for German team Haas Team Haas won the 4th edition of the Forbo-Krommenie International Teams Tournament. In the one but last round the Germans made an important strategic move by defeating Italy (see page 8 of this Bulletin) and consolidated their position with a draw versus Lavazza. These are the members of team Haas: Steve Haas (captain) - Dr. Michael Elinescu and Andrzej Holowski - Tomasz Gotard. The best Dutch team was Modalfa (Abram - Kirchhoff and Pol -Englander) who finished second. ************************************************************** A Word From Pim Verzijl I would like to take this opportunity to thanks the organization and technical staff of our tournament. They surely did a wonderful job. Furthermore I thank Mr. Jose Damiani, President of the World Bridge Federation for joining the event and of course all the players. I hope they enjoyed this years tournament as much as I did. The players are of course the key factor. they are assured of our support for at least another two years. Pim Verzijl, Managing director Forbo-Krommenie ***************************************************************** Group A Rank Team Rank Team 1 Haas 124 11 Menro 108 2 Modalfa II 121 12 Gullberg 102 3 Lavazza 121 13 Novo Nordisk 102 4 Danish Juniors 116 14 Steen Moeller 98 5 Italy 116 15 Sundelin 93 6 Netherlands 116 16 Daehr 89 7 Baldursson 115 17 Jansma 88 8 Intercontinental 112 18 Both 86 9 Van der Neut 111 19 France 85 10 Kroejgaard 110 20 Horton 76 *************************************************************** Group B Rank Team 1 Danish International Team 129 2 Uijting 112 3 Stomphorst 111 4 Enfants Terribles 108 5 Buitenhof II 102 6 Aukje 94 7 Bridgewinkel Alert 90 8 de Wilde 85 *************************************************************** Group C Rank Team 1 Hungary 127 2 Norris 119 3 Dutch Ladies White 104 4 Kreijns 102 5 Drukkerij Weimar V 100 6 Modalfa ! 99 7 National Team Sweden 94 8 England 87 ************************************************************** Group D Rank Team 1 Netherlands Juniors A 126 2 Von Seida 120 3 TVM 118 4 Bridgesoft 103 5 Dutch Laies Blue 98 6 van Valen 94 7 Netherlands Juniors B 92 8 Kamerbeck 86 *************************************************************** Group E Rank Team 1 Wanufel 121 2 Ghestem 112 3 Infotech 111 4 Versluis 108 5 Gelders 103 6 Romania 102 7 Drukkerij Weimar IV 90 8 van der Bergh 88 *************************************************************** Group F Rank Team 1 Worm 146 2 Westvleteren 141 3 van Lanschot Bankiers 127 4 Journalists 106 5 van Ammers 88 6 Dutch Ladies Red 79 7 Paape 75 8 Pino 72 *************************************************************** Group G Rank Team 1 Ron 143 2 Heemskerk 120 3 Grootens 106 4 Britain 101 5 Marina 95 6 DBC 93 7 Faase 91 8 Bylorussia 84 *************************************************************** BEING LUCKY WHEN TRUMPS BREAK BADLY It doesn't often happen that as declarer you are glad that trumps break badly. Especially, when you are vulnerable, and the contract is on the five level and doubled. Still it's possible. See what happens to Damiani-Chemla when they (France, Drukkerij Weimar II) played against the Dutch Van der Neut team in the A-finals on Sunday morning: N/NS S K Q 7 3 H J T 6 3 D - C K Q J 9 5 S - S A 9 8 2 H K 5 H A 9 7 2 D Q J T 8 6 4 3 2 D K 9 C A 8 3 C 7 6 2 S J T 6 5 4 H Q 8 4 D A 7 5 C T 4 West North East South Jansen Chemla Westerhof Damiani 1C Dbl 1S 5D 5S Dbl pass pass pass In fact, with his eight card suit Piet Jansen did not even need the aggressive take out double by his partner to leap to 5D. Paul Chemla's 5S looked obvious, as did Jan Westerhof's second double. Jose Damiani received the lead of the HK. Another heart was for the ace and declarer was waiting for the inevitable ruff. A third round of hearts followed. However, due to the lucky 4-0 break in trumps, the ruff did not come and the contract 'only' went 500 light. Still a 2 imp gain for France since at the other table Stoppa-Meijer made 5D doubled. ******************************************************************* DO YOU KNOW YOUR PERCENTAGES? E/- S A 9 6 2 H Q T 7 3 D K J 4 C A K S Q 8 3 S J 7 4 H J 9 8 2 H K 6 5 D T 5 D 9 6 3 C T 8 6 4 C J 9 5 2 S K T 5 H A 4 D A Q 8 7 2 C Q 7 3 This is an interesting board on the very last deal of the qualifying rounds. Les Enfants Terribles, with Henk 'It's All in the Small' Willemsens, needed a good win against Drukkerij Weimar V to make it to the A-finals, so they produced the following bidding sequence: West North East South v.Wel Felten Scherders Willemsens pass 1D pass 1H pass 1NT* pass 2D** pass 3D pass 4D pass 4H pass 4S pass 5D pass 6D all pass * 15-17 ** GF-relay West leads the C6. How do you play this board? You can try to develop the fourth spade for a heart discard, or try to set up a heart trick for a spade discard. And if you go for the spades, how do you tackle the spade suit? Many questions to which you have to find an answer. Henk went for the following line of play: CK, three rounds of trumps (west discarding a club), HA and a heart to the H10. With the actual lay-out there is hardly a way to go wrong. Henk decided to go for this plan, because there are three chances to bring home the slam: a) West has the HJ, b) the HK comes down in the third round of hearts, c) a squeeze can be set up against the player who holds the HK and the four card spades or three card spade with the queen and jack. A quick calculation shows that Henk's line of play has a success rate of around 76%. But what about playing the spades for three tricks? The correct way to do this is play a small to S9, and later SK and SA. If you played the board like this, you nearly equaled Henk's line of play, because this is the right play in 75% of the cases! 'It's All in the Small' does it again! ********************************************************************* Iceland vs Krojgaard Last year's Forbo winners, team Krojgaard, and the Icelandic former Bermuda Bowl champions had the best start this morning, so they had to play each other in the second round. It turned out to be an exciting match, in which most of the imps went to the Icemen. Brd 11 S/- S A J 9 8 H A J 7 4 D Q T C Q J 7 S Q 7 5 2 S 6 H T 9 6 H Q 8 5 3 D J 6 5 4 D A 9 8 3 C 5 3 C T 8 6 4 S K T 4 3 H K 2 D K 7 2 C A K 9 2 Armandsson opened a strong club in the South hand, after which Baldursson quickly showed a 4-4-2-3 with 15-16 HCP and four controls, in hearts and spades, but not in clubs. Slam was not sure, but Armandsson decided to have a shot at it. The H10 lead was covered with the jack and queen. Now he guessed the trumps right by playing the SK and small to the nine. When East showed out, he had to play carefully. Ruffing a heart first before forcing out the DA is wrong, but Armandsson accurately played the DQ now. East took the ace and returned the suit, but Armandsson was in control now: he took DK, followed by another spade finesse. He ruffed a heart in hand, crossed to CQ and drew the last trump. Twelve tricks, and an 11 imp gain because the other table stopped in 3NT. Brd 13 N/All S Q T 5 H A J 6 5 3 D A J 7 6 C Q S A 9 8 7 4 S K J 3 H 7 H K T 8 4 2 D 4 2 D 9 C A J T 7 5 C K 9 6 2 S 6 2 H Q 9 D K Q T 8 5 3 C 8 4 3 West North East South Krojgaard Baldursson Bank Armandsson 1H pass 1NT 2H* pass 2S 3D pass 4D pass pass pass West North East South Thorvaldsson Krojgaard Jorgensen Caspersen 1H pass 1NT 2H* pass 4S pass pass pass Three swings in the first four boards brought Iceland a huge 25-0 lead. But the rough time for Kr jgaard was not over yet. Board 13 produced another big swing, mainly caused by a different agreement in competitive bidding. After 1H pass 1NT, both Kr jgaard and Thorvaldsson bid 2H, showing spades and another suit. The important difference was that in the Icelandic agreements 2H showed at least five spades, whereas in the Danish approach it could easily be bid on a four card suit. That was exactly what prevented Jes Bank from taking a more forward going action than only 2S, after which the good spade game was missed. At the other table Jorgensen boldly bid 4S after 2H and did not encounter any problems in the play, so Iceland could add another 11 imps to their lead. The final VP result of this Nordic blitz was 24-6. ************************************************************** FINDING A FIT MAY COST POINTS In the A-finals, the winner of the Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup, Italy, met a strong team with German internationals on Sunday morning. From this match a hand which shows that sometimes it can be dangerous to find a fit: W/All S Q H K Q 5 4 3 2 D A 9 5 2 C J 8 S A K 6 5 S J 7 3 2 H T 9 H A 6 D T 3 D J 8 6 4 C K Q 9 7 6 C 5 4 2 S T 9 8 4 H J 8 7 D K Q 7 C A T 3 Table 1 West North East South Lanzarotti Hopfenheit Buratti Schomann 1NT* 2D** pass pass pass *12-14 **one suiter hearts or spades Schomann easily made ten tricks. Table 2 West North East South Daehr Lauria Landwehr Versace 1S* 2H 2S Dbl** pass 4H pass pass pass *canape ** 'cards' Due to their canape system the Germans found their spade fit fast. However, this enabled Versace to make an invitational bid, accepted of course by Lauria: 620 to Italy and a gain of 10 imps. ************************************************************** LEAD DIRECTING OR NOT Question: Would you make a lead directing bid over 1C with an eight count and KJTxx of diamonds vulnerable? Answer: may be yes, may be no. Since we have here some world champions playing, let's get to know their opinion. It's Modalfa I versus Kreijns in the C-finals on Sunday morning: N/NS S K Q 7 3 H J T 9 D 3 C 9 8 6 4 3 S A 8 5 2 S T 9 6 H A K H Q 6 5 2 D Q 8 6 4 2 D A 7 C T 2 C A Q J 7 S J 4 H 8 7 4 3 D K J T 9 5 C K 5 Table 1 West North East South Donkersloot Maas Albertz Vriend pass 1C 1D pass pass Dbl pass pass Rdbl* pass 1H pass pass Dbl pass pass 1S pass pass Dbl pass pass pass *SOS After a lead directing 1D of woman world champ Bep Vriend, Maas was to play 1S doubled, which turned out to be a nightmare. East, young Thomas Albertz, kicked of with the S10: 4, 2 and king. Maas played his stiff diamond, suavely ducked by Albertz for the 10 and the queen. Rob Donkersloot cashed HA-K, reached his partner in clubs and ruffed the small heart return. Next came a diamond on which Maas discarded a club. East took the ace and played HQ, West pitching a club. Declarer tried a club to the king but West ruffed and went on with a diamond, ruffed by Maas with the 7 and overruffed by East with the 9. Now the CQ was played, ruffed with the jack in dummy, overruffed with the ace, where after another diamond promoted S6 with East: NS -1100. Table 2 West North East South Gosschalk Sillem De Bruijn Kreijns 1C pass 1D pass 1NT pass 3NT pass pass pass Former world champ Hans Kreijns carefully decided not to follow with a lead directing 1D. In fact, a few seconds later, he had to find a lead himself against 3NT played by Bas de Bruijn. Of course he started the DK!. Declarer took the ace and played the S10 which ran to North' king. At this point, by switching to a club, Camiel Sillem would have severely tested De Bruijns dummy play. Camiel however, decided to continue in hearts, where after all problems for declarer were solved. He unblocked the hearts, conceded one club and claimed nine tricks. ***************************************************************** Surprise lead. Hans Uijting found a funny defense playing against a Belgium team in the International Teams on Saturday: S K Q T 4 2 H J 4 D 9 4 C K T 7 5 S 8 3 S J 9 7 5 H K T 5 2 H 9 7 6 3 D 6 5 3 D K T C A 6 3 2 C J 9 8 S A 6 H A Q 8 D A Q J 8 7 2 C Q 4 The right spot of course is 3NT. However, South played 4S. West, Hans Uijting, started with the deuce of clubs for 5, 8 and Q. South fired back another club. West smoothly ducked and dummy's ten was for the jack. East switched to a heart, declarer played the 8 and west took with the king. At this point Uijting continued with another small club (!) (playing the ace would have worked as well) for 7, 9 and S6. And now declarer was down, because he could not get to dummy to finesse in diamonds. Did you notice declarer's mistake? In hearts he should have played the queen in stead of the 8, where after the HJ would be the vital entry to dummy. ******************************************************************** Poor man's fit successful again A trendy phenomenon is playing in a very poor trump suit. The Moysian fit (4-3) is well-known and often played. Last year's bulletin showed a hand played successfully by Kees Bakker in the 4-2 trump fit. The IBPA bulletin featured two successful 3-2 fits, although alternative contracts were available there. Jaap Stomphorst and Bert Kranenborg added their version: the 3-3 fit. (Stomphorst) (Kranenborg) S A x x S x x x H J T 9 x x H 8 D Q x D A J x x C x x x C A K x x x West North East South Stomphorst Blakset Kranenborg Blakset 1NT Dbl pass pass Rdbl pass pass 2H Dbl 2S Dbl pass pass pass Details on the bidding were not available, but Kranenborg ended up in the 3-3 spade fit. When Blakset forgot his theory and led a diamond instead of a trump, Bert could give up a heart trick. He took the trump switch, ruffed a heart, cashed a second diamond and CAK. A diamond ruff and another heart ruff were the seventh and eighth trick. Their +670 deserves an prominent entry on the growing list of successful mini-fits. ************************************************************** Grandmothers defense too difficult for Italians Surprising leader after the lunch break was the Danish Junior team. They had to play the new Nations Cup holders Italy. Something we have seen before in junior bridge happened again in this match: both Danish pairs insisted on playing the same contract as their team-mates! Andrea Buratti held DKQT8542 and was content when he heard his opponents bid up to 3D. Of course he 'forgot' to double this. Brd 30 E/- S A 6 H A T 8 4 D A J 9 6 3 C 8 4 S 8 7 4 3 S T 2 H 2 H Q J 9 3 D K Q T 8 5 4 2 D 7 C Q C A K T 7 5 3 S K Q J 9 5 H K 7 6 5 D - C J 9 6 2 West North East South Buratti Brondum Lanzarotti Ron 2C pass pass 2D pass 2S pass 3D pass pass pass A terrible result for Ron-Brondum, although understandable when you look at the bidding. North has a difficult hand after 2C pass pass, as does South after 3D. The contract went three off. West North East South J. Madsen Lauria M. Madsen Versace 1C 1S 3D pass pass Dbl pass pass pass Versace did not forgot to double Madsen's 'weak jump in competition'. It was possible for the Italians to take the first eight tricks with another trump trick to come, but this sharp defense was not found: cash all your aces and play your partners suit (my grandmother defends like that all the time). South cashes three more spade tricks and gives North a club ruff, after which North will still get another trick for five down. The Italians did not find it, and Madsen escaped with only two off. Still 10 imps to Italy. The young Danes got their revenge on the next board. Brd 31 S/NS S A T 7 4 H T D 7 6 5 3 2 C Q 5 4 S J 9 3 2 S 8 5 H Q 8 2 H A J 9 5 4 D K Q 9 8 D J T C J 2 C T 9 6 3 S K Q 6 H K 7 6 3 D A 4 C A K 8 7 Alfredo Versace had to play 3NT (after 1NT-3NT) in the South hand, on the lead of DQ (DJ in East). He ducked the first trick and now the defense did very well by switching H2 and playing the HJ in East. If East had played HA and another heart, Versace would have gotten count of the hearts, but now he had not. After taking his club and diamond winners, Versace had to guess the spades and he did them wrong. A nice reward for the good play of HJ in trick two. West North East South Buratti Brondum Lanzarotti Ron 1C 1D 1S 2H 4S pass pass pass There was more bidding action at the other table. Jakob R n hoped (or expected) his partner to have five spades, so he raised to 4S. Br ndum's excellent declarer play was enough compensation for the lack of a fifth trump in his hand. He took the DJ lead with the ace and crossed to CQ to lead a heart to the king. Lanzarotti grabbed the ace and played another diamond to Buratti, who continued the suit. Lanzarotti ruffed in with S8, overruffed in dummy with SQ. Br ndum cashed HK and got rid of C4 in his hand. Then he played CA and CK to arrive in this position: Brd 31 S/NS S A T 7 4 H - D 7 6 C - S J 9 3 2 S 5 H Q H J 9 5 D K D - C - C T 9 S K 6 H 7 6 D - C K 8 When CK was played Buratti was helpless. Throwing DK does not help, because declarer will pitch a diamond too, ruff a heart in hand and ruff his last diamond with SK. Then he can play another club to assure ten tricks. Buratti ruffed the CK, and that enabled Br ndum to make an overtrick by means of a complete cross-ruff. He ended in dummy and still had SAT in his hand with the jack well placed. 13 imps back to the Danish Juniors, who lost the match by a few imps (14-16). ******************************************************************** 21 Points Italy versus Team Haas from Germany. The one but last round. Italy's Alfredo Versace got this hand: S A K Q J T H A T 8 D A K 7 5 C 3 With all vulnerable it went pass, pass, 1S. What would you bid and did Alfredo bid? Versace decided to pass this 'ugly' 21 count, which was followed by two other passes. Defending 1S was not difficult with the obvious trump lead. Declare made only 3 tricks: S/NS S 8 3 2 H 9 D J 4 C Q T 8 7 6 4 2 S A K Q J T S - H A T 8 H J 6 5 4 3 2 D A K 7 5 D 9 6 3 2 C 3 C K J 9 S 9 7 6 5 4 H K Q 7 D Q T 8 C A 5 In the other room EW got overboard in 5H minus one. Three boards later the team Haas struck back: S/NS S A Q 9 H T 9 D Q T 6 4 3 2 C 4 2 S 4 2 S K T 7 6 3 H 7 6 3 H Q 8 4 D J D 9 8 5 C K Q J T 7 6 5 C 9 3 S J 8 5 H A K J 5 2 D A K 7 C A 8 At table 1 the Germans got plenty of bidding space. Their machine finally stopped in 6D. After a club lead for the ace, declarer drew trumps twice and took the heart finesse: 920. The other Table: West North East South 3NT* pass 4C** Dbl pass 4S (?!) pass pass pass * preempt in a minor, ** non-forcing relay 'It's majos what counts in bridge', this thought certainly must have crossed Lornzo Lauria's mind when he gave preference to his three card spade suit instead of bidding diamonds: 4S went two light. This hand and some other negative scores resulted in a 11-19 loss for the 1st Forbo Nations Cup winners.