3-2 on big swings USA 2 women defeat France

I happened to get up very early this morning. Well actually this is not that unusual. I get up pretty early all the time. It is a habit I developed in Florida and as a runner it still persists when I am in Toronto.

So naturally I looked at the 3rd round Vugraph of the World Championships which was in progress.

In the Match between USA 2 and France there were 5 swings of 10 imps or more and one 6 imp one.

The swings went both ways. Board 13 and 14 contained back to back slam swings. Both were bid by the USA and not by France. One made and one didn’t. This was the action in the Open Room

Board 13

Looking at both hands is this a slam you want to be in?  I don’t think so.

You pretty much need the spade king onside three times or less and no diamond ruff.

A lot of pairs even aggressive ones would avoid this slam since you are off two key cards although one of them is the “finesseable” king of trump.

 

I can give the auction and try to interpret it but I don’t have the explanations for some of the bids. Zur-Campanile in first chair opened 1♠ . Meyers bid 2♠  game forcing and Zur-Campanile rebid 2♠ . The auction proceeded:

As you can see good fortune didn’t smile on the Americans. Cronier and Willard in the Closed Room didn’t get above 4♠ . 13 impes to France.

 

 

 On the next deal it was up to the French in the Closed Room to make a slam decision.

 

You open 1D and partner bids 2D (I believe this is game forcing). You jump to 3H and partner bids 3S. Over your 3NT bid partner bids 4D. Should you make another move? Have you shown it all with your splinter?

Let’s look at the West hand

 

You really want to hear a club cuebid. Your heart values are not helpful but you have such a big hand over a 1♦  opener that you still are thinking diamond slam. Would a 4♥ cuebid have been better? That would have pinpointed your concern about hearts. I don’t know enough about the nuances of the French system to figure out what the problem was but when I have a good 17 count with this many controls and a five card fit with partner’s real diamond suit (partner did splinter) there just must be a way to get to the slam.

 

 

On the other hand just how good a slam is this? You pretty much need the ♣ A onside although there are other less likely approaches to the hand if you are sure it is wrong.

At the other table Wolpert, East passed – a bid that surprises me. I suspect that most of the field (maybe everyone else) opened the East hand. But the result was that she was than more aggressive, catching up, and they eventually reached the slam.

Win some, lose some. 11 imps back to the USA. The final score USA2 42 France 30.  A good victory for the Americans against a tough French team.