Easy Chinese win

Press, 30 December 1976, Page 8

Easy Chinese win

Contract bridge j.RWi Bna ii

Of the 14 member countries of the Far East Bridge Federation, 12 were represented at the 20th annual championship held this year in Auckland. The open team from 1 Taiwan gave an early indication of its strength when its leading pair. P. Huang and; C. H. Kuo. won the opening! event, the Far East pairs, to! collect a new cup donated by ■ the Nev, Zealand Insurance Co. When the double round robin began, the Taiwanese | suffered a slight set-back when they were on the losing end of a drawn match against j Australia, but they quickly' moved into top gear Their performance over the next 19 matches was almost; flawless, and while they certainly had luck at times, as in one game against New Zea-' \ land when they bid and made: a grand slam depending on two finesses, there is no doubt that they earned and deserved it. With two rounds still to go they had the championship in the bag. leaving me only interest in the minor piacings. The second place was taken bv Australia, who overcame i most indifferent start to, recover strongly at the end; India finished third. The New Zealand team, aided by a favourable draw, started well and were leading tne field in the early stages. Then tour hard matches in! two days put them into a slide from which it proved difficult to recover. Their performance steadied after the half-way mark, but seventh out of 12 leaves room for a lot of improvement. Since this is a constantly recurring theme it may be time to make a critical exam- i (nation of the composition ’ and aims of national teams. Part of the trouble is the immaturity in a bridge sense ;of some of the partnerships, -elected in the past, and part in their apparent inability to learn from experience. The main problem however. is the unwillingness of local plavcrs to work hard at their game. Contrast the Taiwanese.' I hrv w ere chosen with their j non-playing captain fivel

months ago, and have played together and against each other for over 15 hours a week since. Until our players adopt a similar approach, no permanent improvement in results is likely. Of the many fascinating hands at the championship, I this deal had an unusual

Though the contract was a trifle optimistic it proved to be unbeatable as the cards I lay. West began with the I king of hearts, taken by South's ace. A coupie of rounds of diamonds followed, then the declarer led a small spade to dummy’s jack. When this held the trick he was home. Five tricks in diamonds, one in 1 hearts and the ace. king and jack of spades added up to nine, and three no trumps. Essentially the contract depended on the position of the queen of spades, but even if this card had been with West, New Zealand would still have made a j game on the hand. In the other room, where the home side held the EastWest cards, they reached the very optimistic contract'of four spades played by East after a competitive auction. Though this was certainly a hair-raising spot, 10 tricks would have been made after the opening lead of the king of diamonds had East ■ held the queen of spades instead of the three. The j declarer trumps two din--1 monds in the West hand, and

discards one on a top heart. When he leads towards his ! own spades twice, he is fortunate to find the jack : appears on the first round to be covered with the queen. He thus confines his losers : to one in hearts and two in i trumps. I So if the queen of spades j had been wrong for the New j Zealand South playing in j three no-trumps it would have enabled his team-mate Ito make four spades at the I other table. The Taiwanese found a ! good sacrifice when New | Zealand bid boldly to an i excellent slam on only 22

6 V Dbie All Pass After East’s attenuated opening bid, South’s two heart overcall showed a strong hand with spades and •a minor suit. When he later lumped to five clubs North decided he had just the hand ; to call six. He was quite right, for South would in fact have I made the slam without diffiIculty; but West, respecting j his opponents’ bidding sacrii ficed in six hearts. This was ; doubled for a penalty of 1100 i when compared with the (seven tricks, still a saving j when compared with the ■ 1370 they would have scored ■ for their slam contract. But New Zealand gained on (the hand when the Taiwanese at the oiher table stopped in ! five clubs on the Northi South cards to score 640.