It was not to be but in going down to Spain, the Kiwis can hold their heads high, not just for their performance in the quarter final but in the 8 days which preceded it.

New Zealand started the second half of the quarter final 44 imps down. The first of the three segments barely troubled the scorers as Spain came out on top 13-9. The first board of the day demonstrated that you need more than aces and kings to make any slam, let alone a grand slam. Sure they help but…

 

 

Michael Ware (South) used the Jacoby Game Forcing 2NT to set up a cue-bidding auction after his partner showed a heart shortage (3). The response to 4NT Key Card confirmed that they held all the aces and high trumps. Michael tried for grand-slam and GeO took up the offer immediately. The poor shape of the South hand did not help but for once, it was simply a lack of high card points that contributed to the defeat of the contract.

In a way, GeO would have been relieved to go two down and had his wishes answered when the Spanish pair failed one level lower. The loss was just 2 imps. It could have been much worse.

The second set of the day saw some big scoring but at the end not much change to the match score. New Zealand won it 44-35 meaning that after 32 boards, they had only reduced the overnight deficit by 5 imps to 39.

Brown – Whibley had sat out the first set of the day, their first rest since the round-robin stage. They came back for Set 2 and stayed out of 2 slams which failed in the other room, one to a wrong trump guess and the other to a 4-1 trump break. They also had two wonderful penalty pick-ups. The Spanish South was in dreamland when he came in to the auction on this board. Nevertheless, Matthew and Michael had to earn their imps:

 

 

At all other tables, this board was all about whether East could make 2 (Michael Cornell did) but here South decided he wanted to compete in what was still a live auction. The double of 2NT by Michael Whibley confirmed to his partner that he had a real and not a “third in hand” opener, after which the Spaniards took a tour around the suits before resting in the best of their 4-3 fits. The Kiwis had their red cards out, not always with great trump suits to back them up. That was certainly true of Matt Brown’s double of 3. After a trump lead, the news was all good for the defence who got three club tricks early and later on got into the spades. South could not ruff the third round of spades without giving Matt a trump trick. The end result was 3 down for +500 and 9 almost bonus imps to New Zealand.

Lightening does sometimes strike twice. What do you think of the same player’s (South) take-out double a few boards later?

 

 

Matt Brown’s (West) pass of 1 denied more than 2 cards in spades. Hence, double of 2 was for penalties. I am sure North would not have been overjoyed with the sight of dummy and even less at Michael Whibley’s trump lead. In fact, declarer was lucky with the trump break enabling him to score two spades and a solitary trump for down 5 and -1400, a 14 imp gain for New Zealand when 3NT made with an overtrick at the other table.

Unfortunately, Brown – Whibley wrong-sided a 3NT getting a killer heart lead which was not found when the contract was played from the other hand in the other room. That was 13 imps out and a couple of 7 imps in the out column spoiled what could have been a huge set for New Zealand.

So, 16 boards to go with New Zealand trailing by 39 imps. Even a pessimist would say “gettable”. The first 6 boards produced just 5 valuable over/under-tricks to Spain. However, it became a lot tougher when a lightweight take-out 1 level double got caught for 1100. (Partner had neither a good suit nor any points.) Board 25 then sealed the victory:

 

Cornell- Bach reached 6 by North (Bach), who received the 10 lead. Ashley needed the finesse to work but needed something good to happen afterwards as well. A second heart looking to ruff one in dummy  would spell immediate disaster but so would drawing trumps relying on a better diamond break. Only guessing the location of J and discarding two hearts on the top diamonds works. Unfortunately, Ashley failed by a trick.

Meanwhile, Spain declared 6 NT by North on a safe 10 lead. It seems to come down to where that J was…..and the end result was 990 and 14 imps to Spain. New Zealand staged a late, too late, a recovery picking up 23 imps in the last 4 boards but it was too little too late. Spain had won 152-113 and advance to the semi-finals.

 It had been a great journey.

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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