November 2017 - 20

Katz made short work of the club
slam. He won the opening diamond
lead in hand, cashed the ♣A and got
out of his hand with a low club. South
won with the jack, and when North
followed, Katz claimed the rest of the
tricks for plus 920 and 14 IMPs. It was
looking good for USA1 to get to the
semifinal round.
The score was 200-181 for the
Americans going into the final set.
After six boards, USA1 was ahead
219-199 following a 13-IMP gain on a
vulnerable slam swing. Over the next
10 boards, Bulgaria outscored the
Americans 40-7 to come away with a
239-226 victory.
This was one of the swings engineered by the Bulgarians.
Dlr: South ♠ K 8
Vul: Both ♥ K 6
♦ A K 10 9 5 4 3
♣64
♠A7642
♠QJ3
♥AQJ54
♥72
♦7
♦J6
♣ 10 2
♣AQJ953
♠ 10 9 5
♥ 10 9 8 3
♦Q82
♣K87
West North
East
South
Rodwell Stefanov M'stroth Nanev
Pass
1♠
2♦
2NT(1) Pass
3♣(2) 3♦
4♠
All Pass
(1) Limit raise or better.
(2) Artificial game acceptance.
Stefanov led the ♦K, switching
to the ♥6 at trick two. Rodwell won
and played a low spade from his hand.
Stefanov won the ♠K and played the
♦A. Rodwell ruffed, played a spade to
dummy's queen, pulled the last trump
with the ♠J, then took what looked
like a marked heart finesse. When the
finesse lost to Stefanov's singleton
king, Rodwell had to rely on the club
finesse. When that was off, he was one
down for minus 100.

20 Bridge Bulletin November 2017

At the other table:
West North
Mihov Levin
1♠
3♥

2♦
4♦

East
South
Kar'lev Weinstein
Pass
3♣
3♦
4♠
All Pass

West North
Mihov Moss
2♣
3♥
4NT

2♥
Pass
Dbl

East
Kar'lev
1♥
Pass
4♥
All Pass

South
Grue
Pass
2♠
Dbl

Moss led the ♦A, switching to the
Levin started with the
♠9 at trick two. Mihov won
♦K, continuing with
the ♠A and played a club to
the ♦9 when Weinstein
his king. Moss won the ♣A
played an encouraging
and played another spade,
♦2. Weinstein covered
taken in hand by Mihov.
the ♦J with the queen
The ♣Q and ♣J were
and Mihov ruffed. He
followed by the ♦K and a
exited his hand with a low
spade to dummy's queen.
spade, and when Levin
When Mihov cashed the
won the trump king, he
♠K, Grue - holding three
switched to the ♥K, solvhearts to the K-10 and the
ing declarer's problem in
♣10 7 - was squeezed. If he
that suit. The result was
discarded a heart, declarer
plus 620 and 12 IMPs to
would get three heart tricks
Brad Moss
Bulgaria, who had played
via the finesse. If Grue
their way into the semifinal round.
pitched one of his clubs, declarer
Semifinal: USA2 versus Bulgaria
When the two teams met in the
fourth round of the qualifying roundrobin, Bulgaria came away with a
57-27 victory. The team was hoping
for two in a row against their American
foes. USA2 was looking for revenge.
The Bulgarians won the first set 42-
18 and started well in the second. They
were ahead 12-5 after five boards,
then added a major swing on the sixth
deal of the set. In the Closed Room, it
was Moss and Grue against Vladimir
Mihov and Georgi Karakolev. This was
the action on Board 22:
Dlr: East ♠ 9 8 7 4 3
Vul: E-W ♥ -
♦ A Q 10 9 5
♣A94
♠ J 10 5
♠AKQ6
♥AQ4
♥J9762
♦KJ6
♦842
♣KQJ3
♣5
♠2
♥ K 10 8 5 3
♦73
♣ 10 8 7 6 2

would play a heart to his queen and
throw Grue in with his last club, forcing him to lead into the split tenace.
That was plus 810 for Bulgaria. At the
other table:
West North
East
Martel Stefanov Fleisher
Pass
3♦
1NT
2♠
4♥
All Pass

South
Nanev
Pass
Pass

Stefanov started with a spade, taken
in dummy wth the ace. Martel played
the ♥J: king, ace, ♠7. The ♣Q was
taken by Stefanov with the ace and
he played a spade, ruffed by Nanev. A
diamond went to the jack and North's
queen, and another spade was ruffed
by South. Stefanov took the diamond
return with the 10 and cashed the ace,
Martel claiming six tricks at that point
for minus 400 and a 15-IMP swing for
Bulgaria.
Despite that setback, USA2 went
on to win the set, outscoring Bulgaria
37-0 over the final six boards. This was
the final deal of the set.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2017
