Netherlands wins Channel Trophy

Transcription

1 THE JUNIOR CHANNEL TROPHY Young Chelsea Bridge Club, London 16th - 18th December 2016 Netherlands wins Channel Trophy French win U21s, Dutch win U26 Women Congratulations to the Netherlands team who won the Channel Trophy for the Under 26 competition. The team of Guy Mendes De León, Thibo Sprinkhuizen, Michel Schols, Ricardo Westerbeek, Leen Stougie, Marc Stougie and NPC Kees Tammens won four of their six matches to finish on VPs, just over 10 VPs ahead of England. The U21 competition was won by France, who finished around 13 VPs ahead of England. The Under 26 Women s competition was won emphatically by the Netherlands, with England again finishing in second. The trophy was presented by Baroness Henig, a key figure in the All Party Parliamentary Group for Bridge. Before making the presentations Baroness Henig spoke of her delight at seeing the enthusiasm for bridge amongst the young players, and praised the national bridge organisations of England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands for their work in encouraging junior bridge.

2 Match 6, Session 2 - Could the French make a comeback? By Mike Bell In the last match of the U26s, third-placed France played the leaders Netherlands. With the scores all quite close, a win by 21 IMPs would give the French a good chance of winning the event they would require England to do them a favour versus Belgium in the other match. At the half, the Dutch led by 19 IMPs, but the French weren t ready to give up just yet. Board 10 Dealer E, Game all 1 1 X pass pass X all pass I m sure Deheeger would normally pass in this position, but instead he made a speculative double. His queen of spades proved to be a trick and partner turned up with the ace of diamonds, so that was one off; 4 was undoubled next door so that was three IMPs to the French J 7 A J 9 5 K 4 3 K A Q Q 8 3 K Q 7 3 J 8 5 A Q K J A 4 The Dutch gained 10 IMPs on board 12. Board 13 Dealer N, Game all Neveu Mendes De León Bernard Sprinkhuiz 3 pass pass X pass 3NT all pass Declarer easily wrapped up eleven tricks. 3 pass 3 X 4 X 5 5 pass 6 all pass A 4 2 Q J J 9 8 K Q 8 7 A K Q 10 J A K 4 Q A K 5 3 J Next door, Deheeger wasn t prepared to lie down, and tried a 3 psyche. This worked spectacularly well, but probably not for the reason he d imagined. It s common to play the first double as takeout of preemptor s suit. West knew that South had psyched, but that in itself doesn t mean that they have a spade fit! Given that, and all the usual maxims about the fivelevel, I think double would be more prudent, and rather more successful 5 doubled would have been As 6 went down, the French had pulled 13 IMPs back. 2

3 Board 14 Dealer E, Love all pass pass 4 4 all pass The Dutch missed a -300 save here; East no doubt feared that 5 would be more than the value of their game. Neveu Mendes De León Bernard Sprinkhuiz pass pass 3NT pass pass X all pass A K Q K 9 6 K Q 9 5 J Q J A K J A A 7 Q 10 5 J Given that East bypassed 6, I assume West s 3NT opening showed a long solid minor. Regardless, 6 was pretty aggressive. 6 would have gone off on ace of clubs and a ruff, but knowing that 7 would be cheap, West bid on. A club lead at trick one used up declarer s only convenient entry to the dummy. The N/S bidding, especially North s pass over 7, marks him with a void trump, so declarer should finesse the trumps at trick two. Perhaps annoyed by the final contract, he took his eye off the ball and played a diamond to the ace; -800 and an 8 IMP loss. The next three boards were flat; A 5 IMP swing to the Netherlands on the last gave them a 26 IMP win. A gentle introduction to the competition? Everyone likes to start a session with a few easier boards to get them going. So how about starting with a deal where you have to bid 7 to get a flat board?! That was what faced the English and French pairs, as 7 was bid and made by both E/W pairs in all three matches. Board 1 Dealer N, Love all West East Q J 7 5 A K A J 7 2 J A 4 4 A K J 7 3 West East NT : 4-card limit raise 2: natural 3: cuebid 4: RKCB 5: one keycard 6: checking for third round club control 7: got it! Kibitzing, Mike Bell, of the England Open team, particularly enjoyed the auction from the French pair in the U21 match, and that is given above. 3

4 Under 21 Winners: France Arthur Boulin, Théo Guillemin, Raphaell Basler, Maxence Fragola Jarjaille, Mélic Dufrene, Victor Le Lez Coach: Wilfried Libbrecht Belgium th England France Netherlands Under 26 Women Winners: Netherlands Merel Bruijnsteen, Janneke Wackwitz, Sandra Kolen, Esther Visser NPC: Anneke Simons nd st rd Belgium th England nd France rd Netherlands st 4

5 Under 26 Winners: Netherlands Guy Mendes De León, Thibo Sprinkhuizen, Michel Schols, Ricardo Westerbeek, Leen Stougie, Marc Stougie NPC Kees Tammens Belgium rd England nd France th Netherlands st Full results are available at The English Bridge Union would like to thank all those who made the competition possible, in particular the Young Chelsea Bridge Club for hosting the event. 5