December 2014 - 22

Log	On	for	Bridge
Robot play has a human side

Shark Bridge took the title at the
18th	World	Computer	Bridge	Championship,	which	was	held	in	conjunction	
with	the	14th	World	Bridge	Series	in	
Sanya,	China.	
This	year's	competitors	were	Shark	
Bridge	(Denmark),	three-time	world	
champion	WBridge5	(France),	Micro	
Bridge	(Japan),	RoboBridge	(Netherlands)	and	Bridge	Baron	(USA).	
In	the	48-board	round-robin,	Shark	
Bridge	had	a	big	win	against	WBridge5	
to	advance	to	the	final	KO,	in	part	due	
the	following	deal.		
Dlr: South ♠ 8
Vul: None ♥ 6
♦	J	10	7	5	4	3	2
♣A653
♠A9
♠	K	5	3	2
♥	K	9	7	4	3	2	
♥	J	10	8	5
♦8
♦-
♣	K	J	9	4	 	
♣ Q 10 8 7 2
♠	Q	J	10	7	6	4
♥AQ
♦	A	K	Q	9	6
♣-

West
North East
South
WBridge5 Shark WBridge5 Shark
1♠
2♥	
Pass	 2NT (1)
3♦
4♥
6♦	
Pass	
Pass
	 Dbl	
All	Pass
(1)	Limit	raise.	Yves	Costel,	developer	
of	WBridge5,	calls	2NT	a	clear	mistake	
and 4♥ correct.

Norris,	developer	of	Shark	Bridge,	
could	see	that	the	last	two	boards	
would	be	flat,	so	the	only	hope	for	
victory	lay	in	bidding	and	making	
a	slam	on	board	62.	Tomio	Uchida,	
developer	of	Micro	Bridge,	was	hoping	
for	Shark	Bridge	to	stay	below	slam,	as	
Micro	Bridge	had	bid	to	5♥	and	made	
450	on	a	club	lead	at	the	other	table.
Dlr: East ♠	K	10
Vul: None ♥	K	9	8	6	2
♦	K	Q	3
♣Q95
♠	Q	J	5	 	
♠A842
♥	J	7	3	
	
♥ 10
♦986
♦742
♣	J	6	3	2	 	
♣	K	10	8	7	4
♠9763
♥AQ54
♦	A	J	10	5
♣A

East's	2NT	gave	South	room	to	bid	
3♦,	and	North,	with	more	than	adequate	trump	support,	made	the	leap	to	
6♦. West led the ♣4 and Shark scored
plus 1090.
At	the	other	table,	East	Shark	Bridge	
was	more	aggressive.
West North
East South
Shark WBridge5 Shark WBridge5
1♠
2♥	
Pass	
4♥
4♠
	 Pass	 Pass	
5♥	
Dbl
	 All	Pass

The	jump	to	4♥ put pressure on
South,	which	bid	4♠	and	then	doubled	
5♥. Shark Bridge
made	this	doubled	
contract	as	well,	
for	plus	650	and	17	
IMPs.
The	top	two	finishers	of	the	roundrobin,	Micro	Bridge	
(56.5	VPs)	and	Shark	
Bridge	(53),	faced	off	
in	a	64-board	final	
match.
With	three	boards	
to	play	in	the	final	
KO,	Micro	Bridge	
led	by	5	IMPs.	John	
(Front) John Norris (Shark Bridge) and Tomio Uchida (Micro
Bridge); (Back) Job Scheffers (RoboBridge), Stephen Smith
(Bridge Baron) and Yves Costel (WBridge5).
Photo by: Al Levy

22 Bridge Bulletin December 2014

BY AL LEVY

	
	
	
	
	
	

West North
Micro Shark
	
	
Pass	 1♥	
Pass	 4♦	
Pass	 4NT	
Pass	 5♥	
All	Pass

East
Micro
Pass	
1NT (1)
Pass	
Pass	
Pass	

South
Shark
1♦
4♣(2)
4♥
5♦
6♥

(1)	Spades	and	clubs.
(2)	Club	shortness,	four-card	heart	
support.
The	slam	is	quite	good,	defeated	only	
on	a	diamond	lead.	On	the	lead	of	a	club	
or	a	trump,	declarer	must	play	the	♥A
and,	noting	the	drop	of	the	♥10,	ruff	
one	club	with	the	♥Q	and	finesse	the	
jack	to	pull	trumps	-	a	good	prospect	
given	the	auction.	In	reality,	East	led	
the ♠A.	Slam	made	and	the	title	went	
to Shark Bridge.
◾
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2014
