Riga Round 23: Belgium v England

Score: 31-57. Many exciting boards in this match!

Board 19

With both NS pairs playing a strong NT, many would expect the auction to end after North opens 1N. However, neither table followed the expected scenario.

First, Belgium's NS pair:

West (Paske)	North (De Donder)	East (Gold)	South (Bahbout)
			P
P	1N	P	2C
P	2D	P	2N
P	3N	All Pass

Bahbout decided that with the 5-card club suit and major suit holdings, he was strong enough to invite to 3N. He may have been planning on bidding 3H over 2H and passing 2S, since the singleton diamond warns against playing notrump. However, the South hand is just too weak, with not even a single ace or king. Nevertheless, 3N was actually a success story. Gold led the Q of diamonds, where declarer won and played CK then CT overtaking with the Q, West winning the A. Paske then returned a spade, and East won declarers SQ with his king. Gold then cashed a diamond and found out about the bad news. From here, the contract was already made: 2 diamonds, 2 spades, 3 hearts, 2 clubs was 9 tricks. Crucially, South's J of spades provided the entry to take the heart finesse. It would've done East no good to duck the SQ to try and deny dummy's entry: declarer could just play SA and another spade to endplay East. Well played by declarer to make the pushy 3N contract, which was making on this layout after the lead.

The other table's auction:

West (B. Dehaye)	North (Byrne)	East (C. Dehaye)	South (Dyke)
			P
P	1N	P	P
2C (majors)	2D	All Pass

With 4-4 in the majors and unfavorable, 2C was a bold bid. But it worked: with a 5-card diamond suit, Byrne reasonable overcalled 2D, where East was happy to pass with his 6-card diamond suit. 2D went down only 1, giving 10 IMPs to Belgium. It's not everyday a pair plays in a 5-1 fit but the trumps split 6-1!

Board 23

With 32 points combined and a 6-card diamond suit, slam seems to be within reach. Indeed, 6N is cold if hearts are guessed correctly. It seems like a simple enough slam, but pros don't get it right all the time.

West (B. Dehaye)	North (Byrne)	East (C. Dehaye)	South (Dyke)
			1S
P	2D	P	2N
P	3N	P	4N
P	6N	All Pass

2D was game forcing, but with 18 points, South had to make another move over partner's minimum 3N bid. North, holding a little more than his promised 12 or so points, jumped to 6N. Declarer played West for the HA to make the contract, taking 5 spades, 2 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 3 clubs. Simple enough. The other table:

West (Paske)	North (De Donder)	East (Gold)	South (Bahbout)
			1S
P	2D	P	2S
P	2N	P	4N
All Pass

2S could have only 5 spades, but 2N still may be slightly better: South would prefer themselves to declare to protect the AQ of clubs. Bahbout's 4N bid should show 18-19 balanced: with other hand types, he can take it slower, bidding naturally or 3N if he's 12-14 balanced. Despite the 14 points North has, they're all soft values. The KQ of spades is nice, but other than that, not much else is working. There are no honors in diamonds, and with no diamond support from partner, the suit is most likely dead. All these reasons made De Donder pass 4N. And he was partially right: 6N isn't a great contract, but it's not a terrible one either: it's just on a heart guess. 4N made 6, but Belgium lost 13 IMPs on this board.

Board 27

6S feels like a normal contract for EW, and this time, both tables planned to reach it. No funky hand evaluation, no destructive opponent interference, just one mistake at one table that cost everything.

West (B. Dehaye)	North (Byrne)	East (C. Dehaye)	South (Dyke)
			1D
3S	P	4C	P
4D	P	4H	X
XX	P	4N	P
5C	P	5D	P
5H	P	6D	P
P (!!!!)	P

The auction is pretty lengthy, but passing 6D was definitely a slip of mind. 6D was a grand slam try of some sorts, probably asking for the DK. West, intending to deny grand slam interest and retreat to 6S, forgot that the pair were in the wrong strain! This sort of slip of mind can happen to anyone, and it has happened to everyone many times. Things like these happen. If your partner does one of these, don't beat the dead horse: he definitely understands he's wrong. Instead, comfort your partner so they can play good bridge for the rest of the day.

6D went down 7, and England picked up 16 IMPs. It's a sad board to end the match on: although Belgium would've still lost even without this board, what should've been a push was a huge loss due to a slip of mind that happens to everyone. Unluckily, Belgium had it at such a critical moment.