Marc Smith visits the early rounds of Heat 8 in the New Alt Competition 

The leading four teams from Heat 7 are back to compete again this month, MOSS, BLACK, FREDIN and the reigning champions from Turkey, SALVO. Joining them is VINITA (USA/Denmark), back after a month away from the competition, and the winners of Group B last time out, ULI (Austria/USA/Italy). 

As usual, we begin with some problems. We shall discover later how your choices would have worked. Firstly, with neither side vulnerable, you are East holding:

What do you bid? 

Next, again with neither side vulnerable, you hold as East: 

What action, if any, do you take? 

We open our coverage with one of those problems. On the very first deal of the event, just about every East player had to decide to do on the first of the problem hands presented above. One for the BBO Prime Panel to wrestle with later, perhaps: 

For newly-promoted ULI, Stewart Rubenstein opted for a 3♥ overcall. Gokham Yilmaz was not to be shut out, and he was no doubt relieved to hear Ali Ucar bid spades in response to his wafer-thin three-level negative double. With only seven of her 12 HCP looking to be working, it is hard to criticize Anam Tebah for choosing to defend. North/South had judged well. With declarer setting up dummy’s clubs and guessing the trumps to bring home nine tricks, N/S +140 looked like an excellent board for the Turks. 

Erke Suicmez, who represented Turkey in the Junior Teams at the 2002 European Championships in Torquay, preferred to start with a 1♥ overcall on these East cards. South was now able to get his spades into the auction in comfort, but it also allowed Ozgur Goksel to show some values on the West cards. Thus encouraged, Suicmez decided that his hand justified a shot a game. 

Suicmez ruffed the diamond lead and immediately played a spade. When the finesse won, he cashed the ♠A, ruffed a diamond back to hand, and ruffed his third spade in dummy. There was now just a trump and two clubs to lose: N/S -420 and 11 IMPs to SALVO. The newcomers thus found themselves trailing by double figures after just one deal, and things did not get much better either. SALVO won the match 47-12 to start this heat where they had finished the previous one, leading the pack. 

In the other matches, MOSS beat VINITA 34-6 and BLACK defeated FREDIN 30-24. This deal also contributed to the winning margin in those matches, where two very different views of the East hand also led to a swing. In BLACK vs FREDIN: 

David Gold ended the auction almost as soon as it had begun, shutting out the opponents’ spades in the process: N/S -420. 

Terje Aa started with a 1♥ overcall at this table. Simon Hult made a negative double and Allan Livgard was able to show values with a doubleton heart via a redouble, enabling the Norwegians to reach their game. Unfortunately, the Swedes had also been listening to the auction, and Hult pressed on to game with the South cards. Livgard doubled, but 4♠ was only one down: N/S -100 and 8 IMPs to BLACK.

The same pair of scores gave MOSS 8 IMPs in the third Group A match when Michal Nowosadzki also overcalled 4♥. For the record, at the 24 tables in the Alt, only five East players overcalled 1♥, seven bid 3♥, and 13 jumped to 4♥.

The early leaders clashed head on in Round 2: MOSS vs SALVO. Board 3 was about a 35% slam (essentially on the trump finesse and a 3-2 break). With K-Q facing a splinter and two key cards missing, you might expect the deal to be flat in game at this level. However, it generated a swing in all three Group A matches. 

The Poles conducted a scientific auction to what was theoretically a safe contract. Hearts were agreed at the three-level after Michal Nowosadzki had shown six. When he then showed short diamonds, though, Jacek Kalita quickly lost interest. Nowosadzki had one more go, venturing beyond game with a spade cue-bid but, two low trumps and the ♦K-Q was sufficient for Kalita to bypass his club control despite holding the ♠A too. Nowasadzki respected his partner’s signoff, and Ilker Ayaz led his singleton club.

Declarer won in dummy and successfully took the trump finesse, but entries to dummy are a problem with the clubs now blocked. Playing in only 5♥, Nowosadzki played a diamond at trick three, so East won with the ♦ A and gave his partner a club ruff to save the overtrick: N/S +450.

The Turkish system was not so well defined: Gokhan Yilmaz advanced with 4♣ over 3NT and Ali Ucar now bid 4♥, the suit his partner had bid three times. Is it clear which suit is trumps? Apparently not, as the pair then bid on to the slam, but in their 4-3 fit. Yes, it was unfortunate that their trump suit split 5-1, but in truth justice was done as they were theoretically too high. N/S -100 and 11 IMPs to MOSS. 

In the other two matches, justice was well and truly not served. We try to teach beginners that Blackwood is a convention not for bidding slams, but to avoid bidding poor ones. On this deal, though, two N/S pairs used Blackwood and then bid a slam missing two key cards. One pair in each match, McIntosh/Paske for BLACK and Primavera/Gandoglia for ULI, stopped in the good 4♥ and scored N/S +480.

Here, too, South advanced with 4♣ over his partner’s 3NT. Peter Fredin now bid Blackwood on the North cards, though, and Alon Apteker showed two key-cards plus the trump queen. Fredin duly bid slam in the minor, but Apteker knew hearts was a 6-2 fit (Fredin had shown delayed support at the three-level), so he corrected the final contract to hearts at the six-level. 

Anam Tebha led the ♦J to king and ace, and Stewart Rubenstein returned a club. Declarer won in dummy with the ♣J and took a trump finesse. He then returned to the ♠A to play a second round of trumps. Overtaking the ♣Q provided the late entry to the ♦Q, on which the spade loser was thrown: N/S +980 and 11 IMPs to FREDIN.

Emil Jepsen first represented Denmark in 2004 at the age of just 17, and he won the Junior Teams at the 2008 World Bridge Games playing with his current partner’s older brother, Dennis Bilde. He is now a member of his national Open team. 

This auction was identical to the Fredin/Apteker one until North chose a 4♦ cue-bid over 4♣. Clearly, when Jepsen then bid 4NT, Bilde assumed that clubs were agreed, hence his two key-card response. Jepsen, though, thought the 3 ♥ bid had agreed that suit, so his 3♠ and 4♣ bids were both intended as control-showing and 4NT was Blackwood for hearts. Facing what he thought was the ♠A and ♥K, he had a clear raise to slam. It was thus a misunderstanding rather than youthful optimism that resulted in bidding slam even though there were two missing key cards. 

West led his club, and Jepsen won in dummy with the ♣J to take the heart finesse. He then correctly crossed back to dummy with the ♠A to repeat the trump play. Having drawn trumps, Jepsen then played a diamond, establishing a discard in that suit in order to overcome the club blockage. N/S +980 and 11 IMPs to VINITA. 

The reigning champion Turks won the top match, but it was close, 25-19, and MOSS retained second place despite the loss. FREDIN defeated ULI 47-28 to move up into third place, and VINITA’s 68-17 drubbing of BLACK lifted them above their opponents into fourth. 

In Round 3, third-placed FREDIN and second-placed MOSS battled it out whilst the resurgent VINITA took on the leaders. All six East players in Group A were faced with the second of this week’s problem hands on the opening board of this match: 

Emil Jepsen opted to defend on the East cards. Leading the singleton club (or a low spade) would have given the defence a chance of +800, but one of the defensive tricks disappeared when Soren Bilde opened with a top trump. When he then switched to a diamond at trick two, though, it really was a case of Turkey celebrating Christmas, as declarer was now in a position to escape for just one down. 

Away went both of declarer’s club losers on dummy’s top diamonds. Ilker Ayaz then ruffed a club to hand and had to guess the trump position. When he advanced the ♥Q from his hand and the jack failed to drop, the defenders were back to five tricks: N/S -300. 

Faced with the same bidding problem at the other table, Gokhan Yilmaz chose to remove the double to 4NT, showing both minors. Nezih Kubad duly gave preference to his six-card suit, and Morten Bilde doubled.  

Bilde opened a top trump against 5♦-X and, seeing dummy, the spade switch was not exactly difficult to find. Vinita Gupta won with the ♠A and returned a heart for her partner to ruff. Two down: N/S +300 and 12 IMPs to VINITA. 

Of the remaining four East players faced with the bidding problem, two defended and two advanced with 4NT. That meant a flat board for N/S +300 from 5♦-X in BLACK vs ULI. In the other match, Alon Apteker for FREDIN and John Hurd for MOSS, both passed the double. The deal, though, was still far from flat. 

For the Swedes, Fredin led a diamond at trick one, and away went declarer’s clubs. After this start, declarer was not tempted to play for a singleton ♥J, so he lost just two trump tricks: N/S -100. 

Jenny Wolpert first represented her native Sweden in the Schools Teams at the 2002 European Youth Championships. Two years later she claimed a silver medal from the Girls Teams at the same event. That same year, she also played in the World Team Olympiad on the Swedish Women’s team. Nearly a decade later, having switched allegiances, she became a World champion as a member of the USA team that won the 2013 Venice Cup in Bali. 

Against 4♥ -X, Wolpert led a top heart and then switched to a spade at trick two. Declarer captured East’s sxQ with his ace and played a low trump, but Wolpert won, cashed her two spade winners, and then played a club for her partner to take two tricks in that suit. N/S -500 and 9 IMPs to MOSS.  

SALVO’s unbeaten record ended here, with VINITA winning 36-26, but the Turks stayed at the top of the leaderboard with their opponents moving up into second place. FREDIN beat MOSS 42-35 to stay in third spot, although the top three teams were now separated by less than 1.5VPs, with MOSS only a couple of VPs behind if fourth place. 

The draw for Round 4 again produced a battle between the teams lying second and third. This one, though, turned out to be one of two thoroughly one-sided affairs in this round. Board 12 caused carnage in all three Group A matches:

We start with a rarity: a junior player passing in a situation where other players took action. When Soren Bilde elected to pass West’s 3♥ opening, the Norwegians were able to play peacefully in the unbeatable heart game. N/S -420. 

Peter Fredin was not to be denied by such trifling matters as adverse vulnerability and a less-than ideal shape for a takeout double at the three-level. Sacrifices at ‘red’ are never easy to judge, but the Swedes did so perfectly on this layout. Yes, the defence can hold declarer to nine tricks by leading a club and then forcing an entry to the West hand in diamonds to score the ruff. With South as declarer, though, and thus the singleton not on lead, that is far from an easy defence to find.  

When Morten Bilde led the fairly obvious ♦Q, the hand was all over as long as declarer did not win and play a trump, leaving West with an entry. When Alon Apteker played low from dummy at trick one, that was the end of the defensive chances. It had turned into the best type of vulnerable sacrifice: N/S +790 and 15 IMPs to FREDIN. The Swedes won the match 66-19, but still only moved up to second place as theirs was not the most one-sided match of the round. 

Simon Hult’s four-level opening gave the Turks little chance of finding their fit at this vulnerability. N/S -420 certainly looked like a good board for the Swedes, but this deal demonstrates that you never can be sure. 

Erke Suicmez began with the popular 3♥, and Thomas Paske’s double led to the same scenario we saw earlier. Here, though, Suicmez decided that his extreme shape justified taking a second bid, despite having started with a pre-empt. Paske expressed his opinion about the viability of a five-level contract with a red card, and Gokham Yilmaz showed great faith in his partner’s judgement by redoubling. 

Paske probably should have led the ♥A to take a look at dummy. Had he done so, the English pair would surely have scored their three aces to go plus and gain 12 IMPs on the deal. When, instead, he opened the ♠J, declarer wasted no time taking dummy’s two winners in the suit and divesting himself of his club losers. There were now just two red aces to be lost: a spectacular N/S -1000 and 11 IMPs to SALVO. The Turks won the match 67-17 to not only retain their place atop the leaderboard but actually widen their advantage. 

For ULI, Federico Primavera chose to pass the distributional West hand, perhaps with the hope of showing both suits later. With a spade void, though, this seems like a dangerous tactic, and so it proved. Alessandro Gandoglia got the Italians into the auction with a takeout double of North’s 1♣ opening, and West then jumped to 4♥ over South’s 1♠ response, but the horse had already bolted as Roger Lee was not to be shut out. Primavera opted to defend when his partner doubled 4♠ and, as at the previous table where this was the contract, he led the ♦Q. The play here, though, was much more exiting. 

Sylvia Moss chose to take the ♦A at trick one and, when she played a spade next (rather than a second diamond), the defence was theoretically ahead of the game. However, East gave declarer a second chance by playing low on the first round of trumps. Not having seen the danger, though, Moss played a second trump, and now Gandoglia won and switched to his singleton club. Now fully aware of the problem, Moss won in dummy with the ♣K and played the ♥A and a second heart. When East put up the ♥K, the last defensive chance had flown the coop — declarer pitched her diamond loser, thus cutting defensive communications for the ruff and dodging the bullet. Of course, West could have helped his partner by following with the ♥Q on the first round of the suit. For the Americans, it was a case of all’s well that ends well: N/S +790.

The Poles were well placed to win the board when Michal Nowasadzki opened 4 ♥ on the West hand. Not that the Italians went quietly, Giacomo Percario braving the vulnerability with a double despite the exalted level. When South’s 4♠ came back to him, Jacek Kalita made the winning choice in practise by bidding a fifth heart rather than just looking at his spade holding. Whether Percario would have found the winning defence to limit the loss on the deal we shall never know, as Don Giovanni di Stokatze judged to bid five-over-five and Kalita’s double ended the auction. 

Nowosadzki’s heart lead did not test declarer and the Italian lost just the three obvious tricks: N/S -200 and 14 IMPs to MOSS. Despite this loss, ULI still scored a commendable victory, 42-31, against the three-time champions and perennial pre-tournament favourites. 

With four matches played, these were the standings in Group A: 

SALVO	55.57 VPs
FREDIN	53.94
MOSS	39.59
VINITA	36.76
BLACK	29.93
ULI	24.21

Approaching the midway point of Heat 8, the top three teams were in exactly the same positions they had occupied at the end of Heat 7. There was already a substantial gap between the top two and the rest, but those top two teams were scheduled to meet head on in the final match of the first round robin. 

Elsewhere, BUQQY (China, Pakistan, Bulgaria) had opened a substantial lead over AMATEURS (USA) in Group B. In Group C, CANTOR (Denmark, Germany, England, USA) led, narrowly ahead of RIPPEY (USA, Poland, France), and KRUSE’S CARDCIRCUS (Denmark, Sweden) led Group D. 

We will be back next week with the best of the action from the middle rounds of Heat 8.