I'm now in Amsterdam with the children so no blogging today. However, I received this from Alisdair, a report on the start of Match 11 vs Bulgaria:
-----------------
Today is my first full day with all the Captain duties to myself. I was there for all of Saturday, but the competition rules meant that Danny had to submit the lineup for the Netherlands match on Friday night, even though it was played on Saturday morning. Once the Italy match was underway, I went right ahead and enthusiastically submitted my lineups for the next three matches - forgetting that Sunday has only two, and we're good up to Monday morning now. Three mornings in a row where Jamie and Tamsin are playing the morning match - twice with Jack and Lydia as team-mates. Oops! I was prepared to go to the Director with my begging bowl and ask if I could change the lineup, but the team unanimously assured me that what we had already was probably the right idea.
The team are still in good spirits despite the fact we are still seeking our first win. Donald needs to be constantly reminded that we didn't actually "win" against Hungary. We socialised on Saturday night playing anything-but-bridge (although lots of card games were involved). I couldn't get the hang of all of them, but I won all the "chips" at Texas Hold Em'. (Scotland players and coaches do NOT gamble while on International duty; the chips were returned to the board game from whence they came). I found out Danny had schooled the team at the same game a couple of nights previously. Coaches have to show their worth somehow! The players' tendency to raise All In without so much as a pair revealed a lot about their bidding habits!
Conversation at Breakfast was upbeat as we pored over the Bulgarian convention cards and I gave some pointers for competitive auctions. Alas, we were not off to a good start. Board 2 was one of those boards where our pairs did little wrong, but are just not experienced enough to achieve the optimum result:
After a strong 1NT Opener from East, Lydia and Jack found their 8-card (6-2) heart fit, and their better quality 5-3 spade fit never got a look in. They rightly believed that Slam was a possibility, but investigated in the wrong major. They quickly found a missing Key Card as well as a missing Queen of trumps, and stopped in Game to notch up +650. At the other table, a Precision 1 Club opening allowed the Bulgarian pair to discover the spade suit, and they went to Slam in the correct Major. An 11-IMP setback was not the start we wanted.
Still, this team has learned nothing if not resilience this week, and they came storming back two boards later.
Unfortunately, we don't get Play records, so we rely on the players' recollections to report how it happened (and we can't ask until after the match). Quite often, all memory of the cardplay is flushed from their brains the moment they leave the playing area.
What we know is that our East-West Lydia and Jack got to a good - but tight - four hearts contract. It should make, but there is plenty opportunity to go wrong. Fortunately, our Declarer didn't and +620 was a good start. It got better: Tamsin came in with her spade suit at the 2-level over the Bulgarian's Stayman. Her counterpart had bid 3 when her LHO already knew of the heart fit, making 4H an easy bid. Here, I can only assume Tamsin's opponents had a misunderstanding about what the double of 2 Spades was, and Tamsin happily made an overtrick and collected +870 for a 16-IMP swing.
For the third match running, we had taken a lead early on, but far too early for me to have legitimate hope that we would still be ahead at the end of the match. Still, Jack and Lydia did their best to give me hope on the very next board:
The two main "bridge" topics of discussion at breakfast came together here, as Lydia and Jack had to deal with a Precision 1 Club Opener and compete. They had agreed what their double of the 1 Diamond relay was, and I thought they might use it here, but no: A direct 2 Diamonds bid was the choice. This was raised, the Bulgarians competed in hearts, and the eventual contract was 4 Diamonds Doubled. -100 was an excellent result considering a vulnerable Game was available the other way. Unfortunately, Tamsin (South) was not as forceful with her hearts as she should have been, and allowed her partner to play in 3NT rather than 4H. At first glance, it looks like he has plenty of tricks. But not if East ducks the Ace of hearts! This blocks Jamie out of dummy, and is why it was crucial to play in 4 Hearts which would have made. -200 scored for -7 IMPs, and thoughts once again turned from "Can we actually win this one?" to "Can we at least score some VPs?" On the face of it, not an encouraging thing, but this is a very inexperienced team that are gaining a lot of valuable experience. To have a glimmer of hope for three consecutive matches is not something that would have been possible at the start of the competition. As Tamsin said to me yesterday: "I've learned more in the last two days than I have done in the last two years". Comments like that, from a teacher's point of view, justify the team's participation in full.
-----------------
The final score was 25-51 IMPs.
Round 11 Victory Points: 4.16
Total VPS so far: 26.77 (17th place)
-----------------
Match 12 against Germany was a cracker. The four of Donald-Michael and Jack-Lydia lost 37 IMPs on the first four boards, but followed that up with several good ones to lose 40-57 IMPs.
This board caught my eye:
In the Closed Room Jack made our normal weak 2D opening. The German North doubled. Lydia could have come in with 3D here (showing a few Diamonds), but passed. The German south bid 2S, and played there.
With the trumps and Clubs both behaving declarer has nine top tricks - in fact ten with the Heart Ace onside. Jack led the Seven of Clubs, solving that suit for declarer, and he cashed out for nine tricks.
On the other table the German West had a natural 2D available, but went for 3D. North (Donald) also doubled this, and South (Michael) bid and played 3S.
Round 12 Victory Points: 5.81
Total VPS so far: 32.58 (17th place)
No comments:
Post a Comment