November 2019 - 13

go of a club safely. True, Helness was
now no worse off than his counterpart
in the other room, but he compounded
his mistake by next cashing the ♦K.
Another round of hearts would have
confirmed the diamond count.
Helness finished down one.
Although a 37-IMP deficit is not
insurmountable (a 2-IMP score correction in BLASS's favor increased
their edge), it's not a position any team
wants to be in against players of this
caliber. BLASS stayed in control in the
last quarter, outscoring the defending
champions 36-16.
This deal shows how things were going BLASS's way:
Dlr: South ♠ K 6 3
Vul: E-W ♥ K 8
Bd: 19
♦AKJ872
♣96
♠ J 10 9 5 4
♠AQ72
♥J742
♥A9
♦ 10 6
♦943
♣43
♣QJ72
♠8
♥ Q 10 6 5 3
♦Q5
♣ A K 10 8 5
West North
Kluko. Nowo.
Pass
Pass
Pass

2♦
2♠
3NT

East
South
Gawrys Kalita
1♥
Pass
2♥
Pass
2NT
All Pass

Perhaps influenced by Nowosadzki's
choice of 2♠ for his rebid, Klukowski
did not lead the normal-looking ♠J
against 3NT - which would have
defeated the contract - and instead
opted for the lead of a club. This ran to
the jack and declarer's ace. With only
eight tricks on top, Kalita went about
establishing his ninth trick right away
by playing a low heart to the king and
ace. With no way to put West on lead,
dummy's ♠K was safe from attack.
Even better for declarer, East could
not avoid being endplayed, giving
Kalita an overtrick at the end. Making
four for plus 430.

In the other room:
West
Brink
Pass
Pass
Pass
All Pass

North
East
South
Helness Drijver Martens
1♥
2♦
Pass
2♥
3♦
Pass
4♦
4NT
Pass
5♦

Unlike 3NT, 5♦ is cold ... double
dummy, at least.
On the Rusinow ♣J (showing the
queen or shortness), declarer could
win, draw trumps, take the club finesse, cash the ♣K pitching a spade,
and ruff out East's ♣Q. When declarer
then plays the ♥K, East has no counter. Winning the ace allows declarer

an entry to the dummy to take another
spade discard on the last club, but if
East ducks the trick, a second heart
endplays him in spades.
Not seeing all four hands, Helness
decided to try for a spade ruff in dummy, so at trick two he played a spade: 8,
9, king, ace. On lead, Drijver accurately
shifted to a low trump. After winning
dummy's queen, Helness tried a a heart
to the king and ace, but again, Drijver
found the killing defense, a heart.
Declarer won dummy's queen, ruffed
a heart high, drew trumps and took
the club finesse, but even after taking
a pitch on the ♣K, he still had only 10
tricks. Down one.
◾

Spingold Knockout Teams - 98 teams
1. Jacek Pszczola, Chapel Hill NC; Jacek Kalita - Michal Nowosadzki, Poland; Sjoert Brink -
Bas Drijver, Switzerland
2. Pierre Zimmermann - Tor Helness - Franck Multon, Monaco; Piotr Gawrys - Michal
Klukowski - Krzysztof Martens, Poland
3-4. Eric Gautret - Michel Abecassis - Marc Mus - Pierre Franceschetti - Jerome Rombaut -
Catherine Mus, France
3-4. Warren Spector, Chilmark MA; Gavin Wolpert, Palm Beach Gardens FL; John Hurd, New
York NY; Joel Wooldridge, Astoria NY; Vincent Demuy, Palm Beach Gardens FL; John
Kranyak, Las Vegas NV
5-8. Andrew Rosenthal - Aaron Silverstein - Chris Willenken, New York NY; Jan Jansma,
Netherlands; Boye Brogeland - Espen Lindqvist, Norway
5-8. Rose Meltzer, Chapel Hill NC; Nikolay Demirev, Arlington Heights IL; Piotr Wiankowski -
Piotr Nawrocki, Poland; Artur Wasik - Andrzej Knap, Spain
5-8. Tim Verbeek - Danny Molenaar - Bob Drijver - Bart Nab, Netherlands; Patricia Cayne,
Boca Raton FL; Dano De Falco, Italy
5-8. Dennis Bilde, Denmark; Norberto Bocchi, Spain; Philippe Cronier, France; Giorgio Duboin -
Antonio Sementa, Italy; Agustin Madala, Argentina
9-16. Bart Bramley - Bob Hamman, Dallas TX; Kit Woolsey, Kensington CA; Nabil Edgtton -
Andy Hung, Australia; Roger Lee, Las Vegas NV
9-16. Andrew Gromov - Anna Gulevich - Aleksander Dubinin - Vadim Kholomeev - Jouri
Khokhlov, Russia
9-16. Joyce Hill, St. Augustine FL; Shan Huang - Kevin Dwyer, Melbourne FL; Justin Lall, Little
Elm TX; Kevin Bathurst, Palm Beach Gardens FL
9-16. Mike Levine, Pinckney MI; Eddie Wold, Houston TX; Marc Jacobus, Las Vegas NV; Mike
Passell, Plano TX; Simon De Wijs - Bauke Muller, Netherlands
9-16. Daniel Zagorin, Chicago IL; Peter Bertheau - Frederic Wrang - Ola Rimstedt - Mikael
Rimstedt, Sweden; Antonio Palma, Portugal
9-16. Nick Nickell, New York NY; Ralph Katz, Burr Ridge IL; Jeff Meckstroth, Clearwater Beach
FL; Eric Rodwell, Clearwater FL; Robert Levin, Henderson NV; Steve Weinstein, Montclair
NJ
9-16. Hemant Lall, Carrollton TX; Reese Milner, Sarasota FL; Sabine Auken, Denmark; Roy
Welland - Zia Mahmood, New York NY; David Gold, United Kingdom
9-16. Alison Wilson, New York NY; Magdalena Ticha - Richard Ritmeijer, Netherlands; Ida
Groenkvist - Mikael Groenkvist, Sweden; Kent Mignocchi, Bronx NY
November 2019 Bridge Bulletin

November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2019