Last Saturday Anna and I made a return to the Scottish Cup. We last played in this event in 2015, and lost a nailbiting first round match by just two IMPs (see here). This year we teamed up with my former pupils Kevin and Michael, who have plenty of time on their hands before starting University in about October.
Our opponents were a strong team headed by Finlay Marshall and Patrick Home. It was to be a step up for all of us, not least in the number of boards, 32 in a row, starting at 730 pm. This represents a particular challenge for Anna and I, as one child goes to bed about 715 and the other about 830. At one point while dummy I went through to read Zoe as story and she said "you look very red-faced", but overall I think I handled the pressure well.
However, the match started poorly with a nervous 3H+2, before our opponents judged well to stop low and made 1NT (they were Norman Lazonby and Alastair White - who I have since learned are not as experienced as Finlay and Patrick, but are Scottish Senior Chess players and certainly played a good game against us). Our team-mates went off in 2NT, before things settled down.
Most of my declarer hands were very simple, and I played them swiftly. But this one was a challenge:
Anna's 2♠ bid showed a good Diamond raise. When it got back to me over 3♠ I thought I actually had rather a good hand, with good trumps, good Clubs, and nothing wasted in Spades, so ventured a natural 4♣. Looking back, maybe I should have passed, giving Anna the opportunity to bid 3NT. Over my 4♣ we had a rather uncertain auction but thankfully stopped in 5♦, which at least had some play.
I got a Spade lead to the Jack and Ace then a Spade return. It's tempting to let this run round and make dummy's Queen a winner, but actually that would be my second loser with at least one more to come. I worked out my only chance of making it was if the Club finesse worked, and the Heart finesse worked, and Hearts were 3-3 allowing me to discard the third Club from dummy. So overall not a great contract. I played for this line but got the timing wrong (drew trumps instead of taking the Club finesse when I had the chance), and ended in the wrong hand at the end. I was releived with the Club King was offside, as 5♦ was unmakeable, but I should have played it better.
On the other table East doubled instead of overcalling 1♠ and North-South got to 3NT. On the Spade lead this isn't guaranteed, but declarer guessed correctly to take the Heart finesse and made overtricks.
The team conceded a few game tight game contracts, which I put down to good declarer play by our opponents, and lost the first half 19-61.
In the second half this hand featured my second major blunder:
Patrick Home decided to open his hand at the one level, then insisted on Hearts up to 4♥. Anna led a Club, which declarer won in hand then played Spades. The defence started well, as I took the Ace of Spades (ducking gives the contract) then returned a Diamond (before declarer gets to discard it on the Spades). Then the crunch came as declarer led the ♥J from dummy. I paused, then fatally covered. This means the defence gets only one trump trick and the contract makes.
There are some layouts where covering gains a trick, but not many. And, crucially, we needed two trump tricks to beat the contract (which I knew), and ducking gives us the best chance of this. I was convinced that declarer had the ♥AK from the bidding, and didn't envisage this hand at all. For my money, if you're going to bid like that you might as well open 4♥, but perhaps I need to update my thinking. On the other table Michael opened 3♥ and played there, for a game swing away.
In the second half Kevin and Michael generated a few gains. Once they made 4♠ with four top losers (gaining one on the lead), then came this deal:
They've both bid to the max to get to a decent 4♠. Assuming one trump loser you have eight top tricks: 5 Spades, 1 Heart, 1 Diamond, 1 Club. You can ruff a Club for the 9th, and the Diamond finesse looks the obvious bet for the 10th. In fact, establishing the long Diamonds could generate plenty of tricks.
Michael got a ♣K lead. I might have ducked this, (hoping for a trump switch), but he took the Ace and returned a Club. East won and tried a trump now. West did well to withhold the King. Michael took a Diamond finesse and West now couldn't continue trumps without giving a trick. He tried a Club, and Michael was now able to set up the Diamonds (Ace and ruff high in hand) and still had an entry. In the end he lost just one Club, one Diamond, and one trump. Well played for 4♠=.
On our table North opened 1♠ (this pair like to open light - Finlay has explained that both this and Board #10 had two Aces so too many controls for them to open a Weak Two), and I overcalled 2♣. Anna and I navigated to 3♥ which I played rather casually for two off, but still a 10 IMP gain (Finlay says his pass and Patrick's 3♦ were both close decisions, else they might have got to 4♠ too)
On the final board we caught them in 4♥ and doubled for +500, a nice 14 IMP finish. This was the full board:
(Finlay took the blame for this one, though actually 4♥ isn't a terrible contract it just fails on this trump split)
However, overall still a 38-54 loss in the half, leading to 57-115 overall, a fairly sound beating.
Anna and I both had slumps in the second half, and as a team we lacked a bit of precision in play and defence, but still a satisfying match and a good evening's entertainment.
