As is the norm with bridge in my life, certain bridge events get fired at great speeds around the LHC (Large Hadron Calendar) to form collisions that involve several important, or interesting events all happening at around the same time. The main focus in my mind this week was the Phoenix Rising match at home to Ellon. This was despite another round of the Phoenix Cup the day before, and two other sessions of bridge during the week. That is not to mention the keen interest I have in the SBU European Open Trials, as Jim and Jun are competing and, naturally, I am rooting for them. Writing late on Saturday night, they have won their Semi-Final match, with the final to come tomorrow. I am so glad of that and I hope that they, Douglas Piper and Alex Wilkinson manage to qualify after the Final tomorrow. (Thanks be to Paul Gipson and his blog for his coverage of the event).
Round 5 of the Phoenix Cup did not go too well. Lessurl and I did not play badly, but we did not get the rub of the green required to come out on top. This was despite getting 1700 on one board. This was not even the highest aggregate score of the round, as a stone cold 7NT was going around, which our opponents bid against us on the very last board. Unfortunately, less than half of their counterparts did.
Phoenix Rising v Ellon
This was not necessarily a "must-win" match for us, but it was certainly a "must not lose heavily." After 3-17 and 0-20 in the first two matches, to fail to take something from this match would spell relegation well and truly.
By "us" I mean Phoenix Rising. Naturally, I have a vested interest in the welfare of both teams. But my first loyalty has to be to the Phoenix Rising project and my team-mates would expect no less than 100% commitment. So, I was to give it my all against my other club, Ellon. If we won, would I feel maybe just a little bit guilty at dragging another of my clubs into the relegation dogfight? Well, no. Ellon's destiny is well and truly within their own hands and I don't need to worry about them.
Furthermore, being Captain, if anyone is going to come up with a master plan to save us from relegation, it is me. I have therefore invoked "Operation Lazarus". To be fair, it would have happened regardless of our league position (perhaps without the cheesy name), but it will be a vital part of the battle to stay up.
One would think part of this operation would involve drafting in better players. Yes and no. We really need to get our best (junior) team playing. But unfortunately, that was not possible for last Friday's match against Ellon. In fact, we were to field what was on paper our weakest side of the season. Given that last time out, we were swept aside by Torphins, who in turn had been beaten by Ellon, we could have had little hope. This match was Ellon's to throw away before it even started, but we were not going to lie down.
The team was up for it. We had trained hard, and only one was a complete newcomer to the Division 2 league scene. I also made a tactical change. Our least experienced pair, who had shown they were capable of producing a nice surprise with the boards against them, sat the opposite way from Me and my partner this time. The plan was we would maximise the plusses our way, (lessurl doing the same with our new player), and the other two pairs would hold firm and not lose too much. This was a gamble, because it would back-fire hugely if the boards were against us. But I felt it was the most sensible choice and that, if we were going to win this match, we would need a great deal of luck.
We weren't without it. Things did not start well for partner and I. She passed what was intended as a forcing bid (although this might have saved her from playing an unclear 3NT), and a Game got through that might not have done. But then, partner found a 4 Spades Opening bid, which went two down but stopped our opponents finding their 5 Clubs Game. Still, we'd have hoped for better and we were down 750 after Round One.
Round 2 was a lot better, but it could have been better still had I taken the right view here:
Partner West Me East
1D 1S 2H P
3H 3S 4H All Pass
x x
K x x
A K Q 10 x x
x x
K x x
A J x x x x
x x
x x
4 Hearts by the bottom hand, AS led.
After LHO cleared the spades, I played a small heart and noted the ten on my left. The King won, and I played a small heart. East followed, and I play...?
My gut feeling was that it is right to play for the drop. Two guess theories are in my favour: Available Spaces and Restricted Choice. But what swings it for me, in addition to these facts, is that even if the drop is wrong, I will still make the contract when diamonds behave. Any 3-3 break or Jack doubleton will do. Unfortunately, when I played to the Ace, RHO ruffed and cashed AK of clubs.
880 in our plus column helped the team swing 150 in Round 2, leaving us 600 behind at Half Time.
Round 3 saw partner and I facing McLeod Senior; clash of the Captains. It was difficult to say who came out better from this, but this (for me) was the pick of the play contracts:
x x
K J 10 x
x
A Q x x x x
A Q J
Q x x
A Q J 10 x
J x
Contract: 3NT by the bottom hand; small spade led.
I have two spade stops and they are going to disappear soon. The first thing that springs to mind is to play on hearts. This sets up three tricks, and safe-guards the contract when LHO holds the ace. Even when RHO has it, things look hopeful since the club finesse will be into the safe hand (RHO will have no spades by the time I take it). The problem is this only guarantees 8 tricks. Nine are most likely, as only a bad club break will defeat it. With hindsight I believe this was the best play, but I played the Jack of Clubs at trick 2. This lost to the King with RHO, who fired through a spade, and I held up my ace until the third round, RHO showing out. Clubs broke for me, so I cashed them out. This required careful discards; after the clubs were gone I left myself this position:
-
K J 10
x
-
-
Q x
A Q
This was the right position to play for in the circumstance, as LHO had discarded two spades on the clubs, confirming that I was about to make this. I played the ten of hearts off table, and the ace appeared on my right. I promptly dropped the queen and won the diamond return with the ace, laying down a heart to claim ten. Had the ace been with LHO, she would have been endplayed in diamonds. Then again, had the ace of hearts been with LHO, I should have put her into an unforced triple suit end play at trick 2.
Things did not go well for us overall however, and we lost 310 to go into the last round 910 behind. This was not disastrous news. A 13-7 loss would still leave us in a position where we had a chance of recovering in the last two matches. But there was no margin for error. We couldn't allow the aggregate minus to go into quadruple figures. The team were tired; they had come from nowhere to keep us in the match after 18 boards. (By this point a supposedly stronger team had been wiped out by Torphins).
Partner and I scored quite well on the last set; +540 which I thought was round about par. One pair sitting the opposite way reported -30 - we had made up more than half the difference. However, our least experienced pair had some bad news: they had doubled a making part score into Game, subsequently losing 980 overall. That really did look like a killer. However, there was one more score to come in, and lessurl and our newcomer had something in store: +1100.
That made for a 12-8 win for Ellon. It was a great match. The progress of the juniors is clear to see. In a matter of WEEKS they have gone from Cannon Fodder to having a tangible chance of staying in Division 2. It is still unlikely, but improvement on that scale might just be enough. 8 VPs was by no means a win, but it was enough to keep our destiny in our own hands. However, winning will not be enough. We need to win big - winning our remaining matches 11-9 would relegate us. It is no lie to say that we could have won last night. If one pair had been clearer on the meaning of doubles and when to use them, we might well have won. But am I disappointed? No. A 12-8 win would not have left us in a much greater stead than the 12-8 loss. That means that I can look at the team's performance objectively and appreciate just how well they did. Our newcomer played out of his skin; it is one thing to say he was carried by Lessurl; in truth that doesn't ever happen unless the second player carries some of the weight.
The Ellon team I am sure will have mixed feelings. A win is a win, first of all. They have risen to third in the league table and play against Banchory for 2nd Place on the 16th March. This can only be a good thing. Furthermore, I note that their impressive Away record continues. But, they are also prudent and smart enough to know that they are not mathematically safe from relegation - something they had a chance to see to last night and didn't. Phoenix Rising are going to give it their best shot and we don't care who goes down instead of us.
Personally, I am satisfied that two of my teams managed to play each other where both sides were the winners. Ellon got the victory and a good league position. You can't say fairer than that. Phoenix Rising's gain is one of progress and potential. They were never going to keep themselves up with this match - the best they could do was stop themselves going down. In other words, both sides got what they wanted out of the match, and of that I am glad.
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