Riga Round 17: Norway vs Greece, Sweden vs Israel

Even despite the weak hand from North, the North-South side still had slam available to them.

O. Rimstedt	Toledano	M. Rimstedt	Zamir
			1♣ (1)
P	1♦ (2)	P	3♠ (3)
P	3NT	AP

1. Artificial, 16+

2. 0-7

3. Some splinter

Khutorsky	Upmark	Zeitak	Nystrom
			1♣ (1)
P	1♦ (2)	P	1♥ (3)
P	1♠	P	2♣
P	2♦	P	2♥
P	3♣	P	3NT
AP

1. 16+

2. 0-4zz, A=3, K=2, Q=1

3. 20+

After both Precision auctions, the North South pairs both survived in three no trump to secure nine tricks.

On the other hand, Greece jumped on this hand to gain the game swing.

Soumplis	Bakke	Papaspyrou	Brogeland
			1♣ (1)
P	1♥ (2)	P	2♦
P	2♥ (3)	P	3♥
P	5♣	AP

1. 2+

2. Spades

3. Could be worst hand

Brogeland did not show much interest in a slam after partner's two-heart bid. It was likely not clear to him what his partner's exact shape was or what losers he could potentially hold. Slam was still an option that rated to be a little better than a finesse on this board.

Berg	Kritsalis	Grude	Skordas
			1♣ (1)
P	1♠	X	2♦
2♥	P	P	X
P	3♣	P	6♣
AP

1. 2+

After a rather unscientific auction, the Greek pair reached slam when Skordas jumped directly to the six level over his partner's three clubs bid. He likely knew that the king of hearts was favored to lie favorably onside given East's double, but he also maintained an additional chance if the ace of diamonds was well placed onside.

Sweden vs Israel:

O. Rimstedt	Toledano	M. Rimstedt	Zamir
P	1♣ (1)		1♥ (2)
P	1♠	P	2♠
P	4♠	AP

1. 16+

2. Any 8-11 without 5 spades

A low club was led, meaning that Toledano only had one club loser remaining. After winning the ace of clubs, Ola Rimstedt underled a diamond, which was taken by East's queen. Despite this defense, declarer only had three losers since the trump finesse was working.

Khutorsky	Upmark	Zeitak	Nystrom
P	1♠	P	2♥ (1)
P	4♠	AP

1. Good+ raise in spades

The queen of clubs was led here and ducked by dummy, and a club was returned to the ace. Rather than underleading a suit, Khutorsky cashed the ace of diamonds and played another diamond, which was won by Upmark's king. Unfortunately, Upmark decided to cash the ace of spades. His reasoning was likely that since West was a passed hand and had already shown up with two aces, it would be highly unlikely for him to also hold the king of spades. However, this line of play failed when the king turned out to be located favorably onside.

The Greek pair tried the exact same approach but ended up losing ten IMPs on the board.

Soumplis	Bakke	Papaspyrou	Brogeland
		1♣	P
1♥	P	4♦	P
4♥	AP

I don't know what 3♦ would've meant in their system but it seems like 4♦ was a stronger slam try with shortness in diamonds. As Soumplis had no spade or club control, it seemed fair that he bid 4♥. For what it's worth, I think 6♥ is a much better contract from the East end than the West. On this hand, however, either side can make 13 tricks in the suit.

Berg	Kritsalis	Grude	Skordas
		1♣ (1)	P
1♦ (2)	P	3♦ (3)	P
4♥	P	4NT	P
5♦	P	6♥	AP

1. 2+

2. 4 or more hearts

3. Splinter with 4 card heart support

There were two distinct advantages to bidding three diamonds in this sequence. First, it permits intermediate cuebids compared to a four diamonds jump, which leaves very little room to operate if you want to make a cooperative slam try with the West hand. Additionally, the three diamonds bid was not game forcing, meaning partner could have signed off in three hearts. Therefore, the four hearts bid by opener would show enough values to want to compete in a game contract even opposite a minimum hand with a singleton splinter.

With that in mind, Grude had a relatively safe keycard ask that ultimately landed them in six hearts the wrong way, which still made due to all the favorable card placements. Norway picked up eleven IMPs on this penultimate board, but they unfortunately conceded twelve IMPs on the final hand to lose the match by a single IMP.

Israel did not gain a significant swing on this hand, as the final few boards of their set against Sweden resulted in only minor overtrick differences. They ultimately secured victory by a score of thirty one to three in the match. This was a much needed win for the team following their heavy defeats at the hands of both Norway and Sweden.