Bridge at the World Sports Mind Games – Canada versus Italy … you have to see this (Part 1)

October 4th, 2008  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

I wasn’t planning to write this match up until tomorrow morning and this may be a bit perfunctory because my fingers are too tired to type properly but this was a game I couldn’t leave and I just had to write it up.  So you can guess that it was exciting and that the Canadians did pretty well.

This was a very well played match by and large and not many imps changed hands.

Let’s start back at board 17, the first board.  North-South have 27 HCP and a 5-3 heart fit but 4♥ needs a fair bit of luck.  3NT is the better contract.  The Italians in the Open Room ignored their heart fit and played in 3NT but the Canadians got to 4♥.  They needed the ♥Q doubleton missing 5 but they had the luck and made it.

The teams played the next seven boards with no imps changing hands except for a 1 or 2 every now and again.  Not that there weren’t interesting deals.

For example on this deal Italy found the perfect defence to beat 2◊ two tricks for +200.  It may not seem that hard but it was not found at least at some other tables.

Board 20 Both vulnerable Dealer West

Noone vulnerable

Fantoni started the ♠A and continued a spade to the king.  Spades are the only lead that beats it.  Now Nunes has to shift to a heart .  He shifted to the ♥J and the defence took three round of hearts and lead a fourth round allowing Nunes to ruff in.  Only now did Nunes play a spade giving Fantoni a ruff for down 2.  Not complicated.  Just perfect.

Both pairs got to a power slam in diamonds which was missed by some in the field.

With the score 5-1 for Italy along came Board 24 the eighth board.

Board 24 Nobody vulnerable Dealer West

Fergami opend 1♠ with a minimum hand and L’Ecuyer bid Jacoby 2NT.  Fergami’s 3NT likely showed a balanced minimum.  When L’Ecuyer bid 4◊ Fergami knew he had the needed club control but that was about it.  With no heart to cuebid, he had to bid passed game to show clubs and who can fault him for just bidding 4♠.  It was hard for L’Ecuyer to bid now.  The problem was that they could be off 3 clubs and even the five level might be too high.  Perhaps that is a bit pessimistic.

The problem lies in the system.  The partnership never found out about the the three little hearts opposite the void that made the hand fit so well.  Ray and I have a slightly different system.  2NT is a slam try, 3♠ by opener shows a balanced hand.  4♣ is an asking bid in clubs and after East shows the top two clubs East is probably thinking of seven.   Some commentators suggested some kind of splinter.   I am not recommending any particular system but it is disappointing not to get to slam on this hand.  The Italians started with a weak notrump and found the spade fit of course.  After that I they used asking bids of some sort to get to the slam.

Canada was now down 16-1.

I have officially run out of steam… the rest of the story tomorrow morning.

The very first Open bridge match at the World Mind Sports Game – blogged live

October 4th, 2008  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

10:45 PM EST

The match is going to start in 15 minutes and I am getting set up.  I just updated a previous blog with videos from the opening ceremonies.  They looked so cool and exciting that for the first time I was a bit sorry that I decided not to go to China.  I see some friends logging in.  Hi Boris Baran, Michael Rosenberg, Fred Lerner. Harmon Edgar and Joey Silver.  It’s almost like people are logging in early to get a good seat.

11:00 PM EST

I have decided to watch Egypt play Norway. I am at the Open table and I am pleased to see that Helness is North and Helgemo is South.  They are such a great pair.  Sitting East-West for Egypt is another fine pair Ahmady and Sadek.

                 Tor Helness                            Geir Helgemo

I can see their convention cards at

http://www.ecatsbridge.com/documents/files/2008MindSportGamesBeijing%5CSystems%5COpen%5CEgypt/El%20Ahmady-Sadek.pdf

Sadek and Ahmady play a standard system with strong notrump and five card majors.

http://www.ecatsbridge.com/documents/files/2008MindSportGamesBeijing%5CSystems%5COpen%5CNorway/Helgemo_Helness.pdf

Helgemo and Helness play 2/1 with a strong notrump.  1H can be 4 but 1S is 5.  (That’s the same as the Lee card).  1C is 3 but 1D is 4.  Playing this way you don’t need to mess up your minors as much.  They lead 3rd and 5th even against notrump.

All the convention cards at this table are pretty straightforward.

Board 1 Nobody vulnerable Dealer North

Noone vulnerable

It’s not my style to open 1NT on a this hand.  The spades are too good and there is too much shape.  Let’s see how it works out.  With a lot of playing strength Sadek buts 3♥ . I suppose just bidding hearts at the two level is a little wimpy.  Would you bid 4♥ on the Ahmady hand?  Not me.  If this was enough for partner he would have bid 4♥  by himself.  This is not going to be a success.  Norway beats 4♥ two tricks for plus 100.  This should be a small win for them.    At the other table the auction was the same but West passed 3♥ so Norway starts off with +2 imps.

11:24 PM

There is a certainty symmetry between Board 1 and Board 2.  This time it was Norway’s turn to go down 1 in 4♥ in a pretty hopeless game.  In the other table Egypt North-South has stopped in 3♥ which makes.  So Egypt gets 6 imps to take the lead.

Board 3 is a part-score

East-West vulnerable Dealer South

After the 1♥ bid playing four-card heart suits (like Ray and I) I am not sure I love any of the other calls.  Okay you are red on white but unless 2♠ is intermediate that is a pretty heavy preempt.  I don’t love 3♥ either.  Helness has only 3♥ and really soft values.  I know he is stuck but he can pass.

Norway made four in an amusing way when Ahmady didn’t cashed one spade and Sadek had none to return when he got in on his ◊A.

I think the Norway North in the closed room took a big push with 3♥ and he ended in a silly contact.  Well 50 a trick I suppose.   Down 2.  Not bad.

Norway gets 7 imps for that nonsense by Egypt.  The score after 3 boards is Egypt 6 and Norway 9.

11:42 PM

Board 4 is the first really exciting deal.  All vulnerable

Both Vulnerable Dealer East

Open Room

I might have opened Helness’ hand but sometimes waiting can work out well.  After Helgemo overcalled with 1♠ nothing was stopping the Noth hand.  East-West may have had more of the high cards but North-South had the shape.  After Sadek doubled 3◊ Ahmady might have bid 5◊ over 4♠  knowing that his partner had lots of diamonds

Closed Room

2♥ is 5 hearts and any other 5 card suit.  I suppose that over the natural 3◊ overcall DBL is probably pass or correct.  Should Kordy bid over 5◊ knowing his partner has hearts and spade and likely no more than 1♠.  It’s easy when you see all the hands.  But he does have a 5-5 spade fit and the stiff ♥ Q.  It does seem right to go.  But it is tough call.  5◊ is one down for 200  wIth heart, heart ruff and the ♣A.

A big 13 imps to Norway who lead 22 – 6.

Board 5 was a push when both East-West arrived in 3NT.  What do you lead after the auction 1NT-3NT with

♠7542 ♥K97 ◊983  ♣Q97

If you picked a heart you are a winner.  Both our South’s did but Azzam had slightly more information since the Norwegian East bid 3◊.  Our first push and some time for me to actually drink some coffee.  This has been moving fast.

Both North played 1NTon board 6 but Egypt picked up 2 imps when they beat it an extra trick.  The score is now Norway 22 Egypt 8.

Board 7

Norway picked up 5 more imps when they found a better defence to 1NT and beat it two tricks while Helness made 1NT.  The lead is now 27-8.  I have to admit this match is not really as exciting as I had hoped.  So far.

12:10

Board 8

Nobody vulnerable Dealer West

Open Room

Closed Room

Ahmad starts off with 1NT and I guess Helness’ double shows a good hand.  Sadek transfers to 2♥ .  It isn’t completely clear what 2♠ by Helgemo is.  Obviously, he doesn’t want to sit for any doubles.  In our system this would not show any cards (since we are forced to 2S anyway).   Helness has so much that he bids 4S anyway.  I love those prime cards.  This hand will take a while but everything works and he is going to make it.  It’s lucky in a way because East has the club ten doubleton.  He will get a club ruff but  dummy’s diamond can go on the ♣8.

The auction in the closed room started out differently when Kordy passed in the direct chair but they ended up in the same place.  I am predicting no swing.  Wrong Egypt wins 1 imp for an uptrick but Norway gets it back with an extra uptrick in a routine 3NT on board 9.

It’s 12:20 AM in Toronto and the open room is starting to play 3NT on board 10.   Helgemo has found an interesting lead.

Here is the deal.

Both vulnerable Dealer East

All vulnerable

Helgemo lead the ♥ K!  Here is how the play went.  Sadek won the ♥ A per force and then played a spade from dummy.  Helness, not in on the unusual lead hoped with the ♠A expecting the heart suit to run.  When partner didn’t have the ♥Q the hand now made a lot of tricks and East-West ended up making 6 for +690

What is going to happen to East-West on this board in the closed room?

Closed Room

Norway got to the better contract and made it after the normal club, so only a loss of 2 imps to Norway.  Just a missed opportunity.  Norway leads 28 – 11.

I am in the closed room now with the open room far ahead.  It is 12:41 am.  Norway in the open room played Board 11 in 5◊ down 1.  I suppose it is basically on the spade finesse.  4♠ seems like the best contract in that it is one trick lower.

Nobody vulnerable Dealer South

Let’s see if they get thee.  Yep!.  Once Kordy chose to over call his shorter suit (spades) with the 6-5 spades is where they ended.

Closed Room

Now he has to make it.

The defence started off with the ♥2 which Groetheim won with the HA as Kordy unblocked the ♥ K.  Groetheim caahed the ◊A which probably was the best  and continued diamonds.  Kordy ran the ♠Q losing to the ♠K and a heart came back – the moment of truth.  He has to finesse against the ♠10.  What clues does he have.  The ♥2 suggested five hearts .  So he knows that Groetheim had four hearts  and two diamonds.  Could he be 3-4-2-5?  I need to check their card.  He got it right! woohoo.  The match which looked like a runaway is now close.  Norway leads 28-21.

They just never got their spade suit in.  This needs the spade hook which fails.

Board 12 is a push in a part-score down 1.  Board 13 is a routine 4♠.  So with two boards to go it is still only 7 imps.

Board 14 is going to be a swing.

Dealer East Nobody vulnerable.

Open Room

Closed Room

7 imps to Egypt.  It is a dead tie going into the last 2 boards. 28-28

Board 15 looks good for Norway.

Board 15 North-South vulnerable Dealer South

Open Room

Closed Room

Norway made 5 and won back 6 imps.  To lead by 6.  But there is a swing possibility on the last board too.

The result in the open room is 5♠ down 2 for 300 to Egypt. Not a good result  at all.  Here is their auction.  Let’s see if the closed room can get to the cold slam.

Board 16 East-West vulnerable Dealer West

Open Room

The auction starts out the same but Tundal decides to Blackwood once his partner bids hearts really.  He doesn’t have all that much more information except that North has some cards and likely some values in spades.  His hand does have a lot of playing strength and who can argue with success.  6♥ is good for 15 imps.

Closed Room

So Norway wins what turned out to be a rather exciting match 49-28.

It’s only 1:30 AM and the match is over.  This was match that was mostly about bidding.   Interesting, in the Israel Netherlands match.  Both pairs reached 6♥ but Israel saved in 7◊ which went 4 down.  Even with the modern scoring that was only 800 and a great save.  This was their auction

The Dutch East took the same view of his hand as the Norwegian East.  He wanted to be in slam over a 1♥ opening if partner had enough aces.  When South bid 5◊ the pass must have showed an 1 or 3 key cards (DEPO I guess).  When partner signed off in 5NT must have showed 3 keycards.  I am not sure what the North double showed but it might have been I have one trick and that’s all.  Save if you don’t have a likely trick.   The Israeli’s won the match by 20 38-18 with 12 of them coming on that board.

I think it was a big miss by Egypt to sell out to 5♠ doubled.

It’s now 2:15 and I can’t wait for the next match.  I noticed Fred Lerner just logged in so I am not the only one.

Let the games begin — updated

October 3rd, 2008  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremonies are over and the games are about to begin.  If you would like to get a flavour for the opening ceremonies,

 You can check out this clip on Utube where they are raising the Chinese flag at the close of the opening ceremony:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV7

 And the march of the flagbearers

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3z_IjXdPEc

 The Chinese news features the Opening Ceremonies today.

 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/04/content_10146505.htm

 An athlete pours water into a conch representing wisdom during the opening ceremony of the 1st World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 3, 2008. The games comprise Bridge, Chess, Go and Draughts with more than 3000 competitors competing for 35 gold medals

Chinese go chess player vows during the opening ceremony of the 1st World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 3, 2008.(Xinhua Photo)

Round 1 of the World Sports Mind Games, the prospect for the North American teams

October 3rd, 2008  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

I am planning to focus on the Open and Senior in the world sports mind games tonight.  I plan to live blog the first match.  So I will likely pick one that is being broadcast on Swan Games or on BBO.  How will things go for the North American Open teams.

Canada

You would expect Canada to do well in its first round match against Albania.  But they are in tough in their second round match against Italy.  The third round match against Ireland should be interesting but they need to win matches like that one to make the round of 16.  With 75 victory points and 45 (15 each round) average  I would like to see If they can hold their own against Italy they should finish above average today.  I would like to see 50 VP on the board for Day 1.

USA

USA should have a huge day today.  They are playing three teams which they should beat easily, Jordan, Philippines and Botswana.  I would expect them to get 70 VP or so and be first or second in their group at the end of the day.  Olympiads are all about beating up the weaker teams and this USA team should be good at

The Women’s teams are Ray’s bailiwick but I will do a forecast for today.

USA

USA is playing India, Italy and Palestine.  None of these teams should poise a big challenge.  With at least two of them being tail enders I would expect the ladies to rack up 65 VP or more and be at or near the top of the group.  The American women are very experienced and they know how to wring out those all important VP’s from the weaker opponents.

Canada

Canada has a very tough start.  They are playing China who are on home turf and will be solid.  Denmark who are quite good and France.  France is a bit of an unknown quantity to me since this is not their usual team.  If the French ladies are nearly as good as the normal French team the Canadian women may not finish the day above average.  But even if that happens don’t worry there is a lot of bridge to play and I expect the Canadian ladies to qualify.

Once I see the senior play some matches I will try to do some forecasting.

Bridge with Colin – always fun, always aggressive but not always perfect

October 3rd, 2008  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

Colin and I had a lot of fun last night.  No surprise.  Here is a hand to bid.   We are playing standard with weak notrump. 

Linda.

I opened 1♠ and Colin bid 2◊ which here shows 10+.  I am now pretty well forced to bid 2♠ because 2NT would show 15-19 HCP.  Colin bid 3♣.  This usually shows four clubs but it might be less sometimes if he needs to create a game force.

Colin’s clubs will be real unless he has extra values or he has a problem in hearts but wants to play notrump.   Colin has also denied three spades in this auction.  Here are the choices that I was considering.  Try to pick the best bid and the one I made!

1. 3♥

2. 3NT

3. 4♣

……………………………………………………………………………..

3♥ has the advantage that it still keeps but clubs and 3NT in play.  Does it show something in hearts?  I think so.  It could be a weak stopper or an advanced cue bid. I could still support clubs later. If Colin wants to play 3NT now from my side he could bid 3♠ I suppose. 

3NT is the natural bid on my hand.  I have a heart stopper and a more or less balanced hand.  I am on the strong side of my bidding to date and this doesn’t show either the club fit or the full strength of my hand

4♣ shows the club support and suggests a maximum for the bidding.  However it takes us passed 3NT.

I don’t really know what the right bid is.  I think each of the bids has some pluses and minuses.  Anyway if you guessed that I bid 4♣ you are right.

Now Colin cuebid 4♥.  This makes me feel better about playing in clubs from his side but I still think he is the captain on this hand and I cue bid 4♠.  Colin asks keycards and we end in 6♣

Linda.

Colin

You are pretty well going to need to pickup the ♣Q to make it but Colin had no problem with that.  Clubs are 3-2 and spades were 4-2 so the slam came home.  It is a bit aggressive but less so if you have a good record with trump queens.  Not surprisingly we were the only ones to bid the slam.

A couple of interesting things occurred to me about bidding this hand in standard or in 2/1.  In our version of standard my 2♠ bid limited my hand.  This gave me the freedom to be aggressive later in the auction.  It also does mean that there are more hands where Colin will bid 3♣ without real clubs (although he will always have extra values in those cases).  So sometimes playing standard this way has some advantages whatever you think about my bidding on this hand.

Here is another interesting hand.  It shows the plus of having some ambiguity in bidding over a strong notrump.  West opened 1NT and I held

I bid 2◊ which showed a major.  As it turned out the opponents had 25 high card points and ended up bidding 3NT without a spade stopper.  If I had overcalled 2♠ as happened at any other tables they would not end there and we would not get a plus.  Of course I could have kept my mouth shut and they would have ended in 3NT too.

World Mind Sports Games – Getting to know Beijing

October 2nd, 2008  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

Since all those bridge players are in Beijing, I thought it might be fun to talk about some interesting things in Beijing.

Beijing is the bicycle capital of the world.  There is a lot of bike theft.  Many of the bikes are old or beaten up but even they have locks. 

Another one of Beijing’s interesting is the use of bicycle locks as a security device.  The picture shows a glass door with some extra security, a bicycle lock.

Tea is the drink of choice in Beijing and it needs to be drunk as often as possible.  That sounds like my kind of place.  I drink at least 8 cups of tea a day.  So many people in Beijing use a tea jar (which I first noticed last year in Shanghai)

It is  a jar filled with tea and tea leaves.  It is made of transparent glass or plastic so you can show off exactly what kind of wicked tea you’re brewing.  The ones I saw in China had what looked like a little forest growing in them.

Another common site is the use of inflatable arches as marketing signs, most of them in red or occasionally yellow.

Of course there are the many people that will stop Westerners on the street to sell them just about anything.  Among them are the gallery girls (occasionally boys). 

These girls tell you that they are studying art or English at university and that their school has an exhibition nearby and urge you to come see it.  They are actually trying to hustle you to a store where they sell you art or souvenirs often at somewhat inflated prices.

 Apparently Beijing is extremely noisy and often the same background music is played over and over again.  Another sight are the street vendors selling their wares.  Below are baked sweet potatoes.  My own rather crazy digestive system won’t allow me to eat such items but I have heard from friends that they can be quite good.

Sweet baked potatoes 

and of course the traditional lanterns

World Mind Sports Games on the Blogosphere

October 2nd, 2008  ~  linda  ~  1 Comment 

One blogger asked this question: “How bid a loser do you have to be to need performance enhancing drugs to beat somebody at checkers?” 

Well, fellow, as someone who has played bridge in events like these it starts with caffeine!  These events are tough.

One thing I saw was that the checkers guys are taking this mighty seriously

 aa

I also saw that Paul at http://thebeercard.blogspot.com/2008/09/world-mind-sports-games-competition.html

is expecting to win Becky’s contest for picking the top teams.  I can’t wait to see who he picked.  I am getting a little worried about my entry because I picked South Africa to do well and now I am thinking that maybe there showing last year was a bit of a fluke.

If you are interested in chess you might like Marcus Yeoh’s blog

http://marcusyeoh.blogspot.com/

I thought this was interesting

Want to see something really cool.  Here is a commercial for the games on youtube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2bAOrLydhU

“Civilization has different origins. Wisdom has no boundaries”… the World Mind Sports Games Begin Soon

October 1st, 2008  ~  linda  ~  2 Comments 

If you are looking forward to the WMG here is the schedule for the first day Friday October 3rd.  I am sure this is posted in local time.  Beijing is exactly 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard time.

For a time check use this link:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=33

The opening ceremonies which I believe are fairly elaborate will start at  8AM EST on Friday.

Sessions for the team events are

The schedule for Friday October 10th the final day of the round robin is different because there are four matches.  The teams will finish on Friday October 10 at about 7:30 PM local time which makes it 7:30 AM EST.

I shall be in Toronto for the entire round robin so watch here for news, analysis and commentary.  We will be posting results with a North American focus on our site and we also will have links to the key site.  Here are two key links to bookmark.  The results page and the bulletin

http://www.worldbridge.org/tourn/Beijing.08/Results.htm

http://www.worldbridge.org/tourn/Beijing.08/Bulletins.htm

We will be posting ongoing contest results from all who entered as events unfold.  We are also going to try to bring you feeds from blogs which are reporting on the events and more.

Some interesting facts:

The games will be broadcast on CCTV, the main Chinese news channel.

The opening ceremony will be held on Friday October 3 in the Beijing Olympic Sports Center Indoor Stadium.

My New Mentee

October 1st, 2008  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

I did my first session as a mentor as part of the BIL program on Bridge Base Online yesterday. 

Anyone interested in being a mentor or having a mentor should go to www.bilbridge.com

I am working with Kathy.  She is retired R.N. and who has played bridge for many years but didn’t have much change to compete since she lived in remote places like Moose Factory.  If you can’t tell from the picture it is on James Bay in Northern Ontario.

Kathy started to play bridge in 1998 on OK Bridge.  Kathy started to play on BBO and wants to improve her game.  Kathy has moved to the Bruce Peninsula (still in Northern Ontario) where she can play in bridge clubs.

We played yesterday on BBO and our West was Jahangir Ahmed from the Pakistan Open team was our West.  He was quite happy to help out.  Thanks Jahangir!  Both Kathy and I wish you the very best in Beijing.

I found something very cool on the Internet.  Here is an except

The kid is back

September 29th, 2008  ~  linda  ~  No Comments 

Colin and I had are first session in a while and we are going to be playing regularly now.  It is so different playing with Colin than with anyone else.  Interesting things happen, questions arise.

When the opponents stepped out we chopped their head off.  Here is an example.  Do you like Colin’s bids on this hand.  He held

S 7653 H K10 D QJ1052 C 65.  West opened 1D and I doubled.  East bid 1H and Colin bid 1S.  East bid 2C and I bid 2S.  East now bid 3H and West raised to four. 

Would you take the axe now on Colin’s hand.  He did and it was good for 500.  I thought it was good aggressive bidding.  Colin thought it was obvious.

Several undiscussed auctions happened.  What do you play over 2C (strong) double?  Colin thought that pass should show the negative, redouble for play and 2D should be natural.  I suppose so.   Do you have an agreement here?

In fourth chair everyone vulnerable what do you have for a weak two bid?  This was my hand and I thought it was pretty normal.

I held S J3 H KQ108532 D KJ C Q9

What do you think?  Colin bid 2S now.  What does that mean?  Is it forcing?  Does Colin promise a heart fit?  We agreed it does need discussion and we definitely were on different pages tonight although we did escape without much pain.  I think this might have been my first time ever opening a “weak 2 bid” in fourth chair.

Here’s a hand evaluation deal for you.  I held SQ104 H KJ82 D K754 C 53.  Colin opened 2C and over 2D he bid 2NT showing 22-24,  I bid 3C which asks for four card suits up the line.  Colin bid 3S which usually shows 4-3-3-3 but he could have a five card spade suit and be 5-3-3-2 although with good spades he might have bid 2S over 2D.  Do you like 6NT, 4NT or something else? 

I thought with two such flat hands I just didn’t want to force to slam so I bid 4NT.  Colin passed and eleven tricks is the limit of the hand on the usual club lead.  Colin had S AKJ6 H AQ3 D A109 C A92.  So this was a pretty good score.  But actually the right place on this hand was 6S.  Colin can trump a club in my hand for his twelfth trick.  This contract basically needs a 4-2 spade break or better. 

It is interesting because I am working on a bridge book based on Larry Cohen’s 52 favourite bridge hands and there is a whole section on playing on 4-3 fits.  Maybe I should have got this one right.  I actually thought about it.