CONTRACT BRIDGE Mixed pairs events can be trying

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33516, 23 April 1974, Page 11

CONTRACT BRIDGE Mixed pairs events can be trying

f Contributed by

J.R.W.)

The fourth world bridge ' pairs tournament will start on May 5 at Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands. It immediately precedes the 1974 contest for the Bermuda Bowl, the symbol of international bridge supremacy, which will be held in Venice. In mans ways it is a great; pitv that New Zealand, with its bridge heavily oriented towards matchpoint duplicate, will not be represented at Las Palmas, but is of course already committed to the Bermuda Bowl Traditionally the pairs olympiad starts with a mixed event, the result of which, it has been said, usually depends on one of two factors — the skill of the lady player or the ability of her partner to keep her quiet. From which it is clear that equality of the sexes is present in the world of b- dge more in name than in fact. Indeed, even the seating arrangements are preordained: the men sit north and east and the women south and west. VNPREDICT ABLE PARTNERS The 1966 mixed pairs event was won by Ivan Erdos and Mar\ Jane Farell. a couple of Californians who. although far from a regular partnership, as bridge professional' had both had plenty of experience playing with unpredictable partners against equally unpredictable opposition. They had little trouble with this deal: North South >—A KJ 7 3 >—Q 10 5 4 H—A K 4 H—Q 7 D—AKJ O-Q972 C—K 8 2—A Q 5 Erdos Mrs Farell 2C 2D 2S 3D 3NT 4NT 5S SNT 6C 7NT After her partner’s strong opening. Mrs Farell made a couple of waiting bids before embarking on Blackwood. Five spades showed three s< es and six clubs no kings or all four, obviously in this <oe the latter. With this information she could count 1 . treks with a couple to spare Believe it or not at one table the hand was thrown in. Here North was an American expert noted as much for his irascibility as his skill, and his partner had succeeded in rousing his deepest ire. On the previous deal he had thrown in a solid 15 points and even a 25-point monster like the hand above was not going to persuade h>m to break his self imposed vow of silence. | NISI Al SPECTACLE It is a pity that South die not consider her holdinf worth a third-in-hand open ing of one club or one diamond, for then we migh> have been treated to the unusual spectacle of a passec hand jumping straight t< seven no trumps

i Soon afterwards, this deal t appeared: 1 N. ' S—K 97 5 1 H—A JlO9 6 2 11 clt < S—AC2 S-J8 _ E H—| II 7 53 t^3 J 109532 Eh 94 | dL ,04S D-QB4 | C—AlO 8 6 2 . s w N. E. 1 1C IL> IH No I IS 30 3S No : 4S All Pass For convenience the hands ’ have been transposed to. make Erdos, the declarer.) : South. Before going on to , the play, look first at the: . aggressive style of the win- : ners. starting with the light opening bid and the final I decision to call the borderline game r Against four spades West; , led the singleton heart to the; two. three and king. A spade , to dummy’s king won the; ’ next trick and a spade was. i returned to the jack, queen; . and ace. . ■ With the idea of cutting down dummy’s ruffing power . West persisted with a thirdj round of spades, but this ’ gave the declarer no pain He 5 simply won on the table. 1 cashed the ace of hearts, dis- • carding a club from hand, r and led the jack of hearts. When East covered with i the queen, South ruffed and ’ gave up a diamond trick. He 5 was then able to trump the ? diamond continuation in ; dummy and cash three heart; winners. The ace of clubs subsequently provided the tenth trick. While it is true the defenders can beat the contract by . leading diamonds it is far from an easy defence to find, but Erdos was well satisfied to have made game with three tricks in spades in his own hand, five tricks in hearts, a diamond ruff in dummy and the club ace. g What happened to our a irascible expert on this deal? e He was sitting South and the I female opponent on his left e got the bit between her

teeth. After some vigorous bidding she finished in three no-trumps which South, recovering slightly, doubled. When West misguessed the diamond situation she was down four for a penalty of 700.

No doubt South felt a little better after striking this blow in the battle of the sexes, but he would probably have felt better still had he been able to double his own partner.