It’s three in a row

Press, 2 December 1981, Page 18

It’s three in a row

CONTRACT BRIDGE

J.R. Wignall

The J and B Whisky national teams of four attracts a bigger initial entry than any oiheb championship. Run on knockout lines on a regional basis, it concludes with four teams contesting a final in Wellington in late November.

This year the champions of Auckland, Canterbury, Wellington, and Waikato met in a final that was full of interest. The draw for the semifinal fitted the nucleus of the New Zealand team to compete in the Far East Bridge Federation Championship in Taiwan in December, S. J. Abrahams, A. J. Taylor, M. L. Cornell and M. Mayer of Auckland, against a strong Wellington quartet. The match was close throughout, but in the final quarter Auckland just managed to catch up a 20 point deficit to win by 6 international match points. In the meantime, Canterbury (S. J. Burgess, R. P. Kerr, J. R. Wignail and K. G. Wooles) had a more comfortable victory over W’aikato, who played well but without much luck.

On these East-West cards, the winners reached a better contract, but Waikato was still unfortunate:

Burgess and Kerr, hampered by some obstructive diamond bidding from their opponents, struggled into a final contract of six clubs. They had to lose a trick to the king of trumps, but had no other problems. Two of West’s diamonds were ruffed in the East hand, and two of his low spades went, away on the king and queen of hearts. Their Waikato counterparts reached the unlucky contract of six spades, conceding one down when the declarer had an unavoidable loser in both trumps and clubs. In the final the Auckland and Canterbury teams continued a rivalry that has been going on for most of the year. At the end of the first quarter, Canterbury had the very useful lead of 33 i.m.p.’s, helped in no small way by this hand:

With East ' the dealer, Auckland bid it as follows: w E 2* 3V When the trumps broke badly the declarer was held to 10 tricks. At the other table, again Burgess and Kerr had the inconvenience of 'interference, this time in spades, and alighted in a final spot of six spades. There were no problems in the play, however, for the second round of diamonds

could be ruffed in the East hand. Four tricks in trumps, five in clubs, and three in hearts brought the slam home in comfort. In the second quarter, Auckland pegged back a single point, but in the third set the Christchurch team added a further 34 to its lead. On this hand dealt by West with both sides vulnerable the aggressive tactics of the Northern side back-fired badly:

For Auckland, West opened proceedings with the equivalent of a weak two hearts, .and weak it certainly was. His partner raised to four, and with the opposing strength equally divided they were lucky to escape a penalty double. The defence made no mistakes. After cashing the ace of clubs, North switched to a low spade, and the declarer now had to lose two tricks in clubs, two in spades, a diamond and a heart, to concede a penalty of 300 points. At the other table, West passed and North, playing the latest in modern systems also passed, but in so doing showed the value for an opening bid. (If he had held less than 10 points he would have bid one heart, to deny the strength to open, believe it or not). Undeterred, East called one diamond, which in his system showed a heart suit, South doubled, presumably to show some values, and West had his two cents worth by bidding one spade.

After this start, it was not surprising when a wheel came , off, and the auction went out of control. It came to an uneasy halt in a final contract of four no-trumps played by South. West led a heart to his partner’s ace and when the suit was continued South won with the king. He crossed to dummy’s ace of clubs to run the jack of diamonds, in the hope that East had the king. But West won, and the defence cashed out the. heart suit plus the ace of spades to earn a penalty of 400. In the final twelve boards, Canterbury added a further 15 i.m.p.’s to run out comfortable winners by 166 to 85, and take the J and B championship for the third year in a row. It was a particular triumph for Kerr who has been a member of all three winning teams, but for the others too it provided a satisfactory end to the year. During 1981 they also defended Australia, won the interprovincial teams (in both these with Mrs K. Boardman and Mrs J. Evitt as team-mates) and finished second and third in the national pairs.