This last* weekend saw my second visit to the Central District Congress in Montrose. I enjoyed the Congress last year, and was very much looking forward to another go. Last year, I was playing with lessurl in the pairs and teams, with McLeod Senior as a team-mate. After a reshuffle for this year, necessitated by retaining only 3 of our four players from last year, McLeod Senior was my partner for this Congress. We hoped to emulate last year's performance with qualification for the Finals of both events, although not the final placing of last year's Teams Final.
The campaign started on Friday night with pairs qualification. Three sections of ten tables, operating a Mitchell movement. The top two pairs in each direction would make the Final - a tough ask.
We started proceedings with a 4 Spade Contract that should come down 3. As Declarer, I managed to scrounge two tricks more, going one off. The next two boards were played by our opponents, who did not make their contracts but according to Deep Finesse should have. I'm not complaining. The second round was all right score-wise but I don't want to draw attention to it, so I'll quickly move on to Board 1, which we got in the third round. 5 Diamonds Doubled off two is a good save against a 6 Spade Contract that the opponents are unlikely to find. It was still a good save against Game. We followed this up by allowing 12 tricks to make on Board 2 for one more overtrick than the opponents were entitled to. I then got my first contract that I actually had a chance of making - a 1 Spade Contract, making with an overtrick.
We had a good round 4, with two good scores already in the bag before I got this, my favourite play of the evening:
954
1076
AK95
KJ4
AQ1062
3
J104
A983
I am playing this in 3 Spades, after an auction where RHO opened the bidding with 1 Diamond.
The 8 of diamonds is led. The finesse is marked for failure, so I rise with the Ace and run the 9 of spades. This loses to the King, and LHO switches to a club, allowing me to play for a tenth trick that isn't there. I play the Jack, but the queen covers, so I win in hand and lay down the Ace of trumps to see if the marked spade finesse is necessary. It isn't, so I draw the last trump and play the Jack of Diamonds, overtaking with the King. I then play a small diamond off table. Holding Q6, RHO does not rise with the queen, placing the 10 with partner. She therefore believes that playing the queen will promote my 9. A reasonable assumption (assuming you don't have agreements detailing what cards in partners suit you show), which is why I played for it.
That was about it for a dull but disappointing set. There were far too many silly mistakes from our side to even contemplate qualifying; in fact we took the top qualifying spot for the Second Consolation Pairs Final.
On to Saturday then. The afternoon session was the qualifying session for the Teams. We were in a section of eleven teams; 3 would qualify for the Main Final. That was our target. We wouldn't play everyone; eight 3 board matches was all we had to prove our worth.
Things started well enough. Our opponents missed a Game on the first board (all right, so partner opened, and they only had 18 points between them, but they also have a 7-2 fit. Game relies solely on the King of trumps lying onside, which it did - singleton. It was a benefit of playing with team-mates who can be trusted to bid their Games. Of course, they don't always make their contracts, but they bid them often enough. On the very next board our opponents have 12 tricks in spades - provided the hand that will open 1 Spade in the majority of systems plays it. However, missing an Ace as well as the King of trumps, it is unlikely to be bid. We were still happy to write -480 on the score card. On the third board, partner made 11 tricks in 3NT which would in the fullness of time gain 2 IMPs as part of a 14-6 win.
On board 1 (the first of the next set), Deep Finesse can make 3 Clubs with an overtrick, but our opponents came 4 off. I can't remember how this happened and the hand record doesn't suggest anything. Board 2 should be flat but wasn't, so we were already 24-0 up on IMPs before the board that our team-mates thought would lose the match. Our opponents had missed Slam, but our team mates had missed Game (a bid intended as GF with slam interest not being interpreted as such and passed), so we had to settle for 17 VPs.
Onwards to Board 5.
Q432
Q8
J105
K854
J5
A10753
K64
Q63
Can you see how I can make 2 Hearts here on a club lead? No? Well, that's because I can't. I was however happy to settle for -1 when the opponents could:
a) Take us 4 off (vulnerable) if they find the following defence: RHO wins Trick 1 with the ace, returns a diamond to the AQ with his partner, who takes these two tricks and returns a diamond for a ruff. My RHO can then give my LHO a club ruff, before getting played back in with the Ace of Spades for another club ruff. The defence must still get two more: The King of Spades and King of Hearts, which started on my left with J42 for company.
b) Make 4 Spades.
Let's skip to the next interesting board - board 10. Second in, partner opens 1 Spade and I hold:
10
AQ93
1098743
82
RHO overcalls 2 Hearts and I smoothly pass until they get to 4, at which point I produce a double. Am I sure that we'll beat it? What I am sure of is that our team mates will be in 4 Hearts too, so I am not taking any chances. If this makes, and our team mates make it undoubled, it will be a loss of 5 IMPs. I stand to lose more than that if there is a big score in the offering. I lead the ten of spades. Dummy is:
87
754
J5
AQ9754
Partner plays the King, which is beaten by the Ace. At this point, Declarer looks at her own hand that includes the A2 doubleton of diamonds and singleton 3 of clubs, and decides to "try and make the contract". She takes the club finesse, which fails, leading to one more off than she should be and +1100 for us. Our team-mates did considerably better in the same contract and we scored 14 IMPs. The next board (with an unknown 14-0 lead for us to be) is a Declarer problem:
8
A10732
A754
1086
Q765
J5
KQJ10
AK4
Your LHO (me) leads Ace of Spades and switches to a low club. Assuming you will play the 8 and RHO the 9, how do you make this contract of 5 Diamonds?
It would have been more difficult if I had switched to a diamond. Either way, the trick is to establish the heart suit for one loser before you draw trumps when they break 4-1. The way to do that is play the Jack from hand and small from dummy whatever LHO plays. If LHO has played Queen or King, you finesse against the other one - a 25% chance. This preserves a heart to pitch a losing club.
However, there is a catch: my club switch was nearly disastrous as I held the 9. Fortunately, Declarer played the 10, and for some reason drew the diamonds (of which my partner had 4), coming 1 off. This was flat when our team mates came off in the usually-more-sensible spot of 3NT. I did have both heart honours so the correct line would have made.
That was about it for interesting boards (although I could argue that every board was interesting, but I don't want to write them all up). 112 VPs out of 160 was enough to qualify for the final.
I've lost my score card for the Pairs Final, and not through choice. We sailed through and won the Second Consolation Pairs after walking on water on a number of boards. But don't let the name of the event fool you - the field had its share of strong players that I would never have expected to see there. So, we'd won something; what could we do in the Final?
Having a fairly par scorecard was not good enough to win the first match we played. The first board of the next was one of the highlights of the event for me:
Q10
K98
AQJ92
853
Game All, and first in, I open 1 Diamond (shows 5 diamonds in our system). LHO and partner pass, but RHO says 1 Spade. I pass, and LHO bids 1NT. For reasons best known to himself, my RHO now bids 3NT holding this hand-to-be-dummy:
AKJ96
Q5
1074
QJ10
This is a great bid, when we consider the definition of a "good" bid to be "a bad bid made at the right time". He will find partner completely maximum for his 1NT bid. So, my partner leads the 8 of diamonds. I pause to plan the defence, and when that is done, I produce the 9 of diamonds. I know we have to lose a diamond trick, and I want to lose it early, while partner may still hold another. I need him to have an entry to play diamonds, since I don't have any (unless partner has the Ace of Hearts, but I can't rely on that). Declarer wins with the King on Trick 1. He holds AK64 of clubs (although he is the only one that knows this), so he just needs 4 tricks from spades - and me not to get in at any stage.
He cashes one round of spades with me smoothly dropping the Queen. He now returns to hand with a club and takes what he thinks is a marked finesse against the ten. This is my reward for the False Card as I calmly take the 10 and begin cashing diamonds. This defence is 100% correct - if I play the 10 on the first round, most Declarers will play for the drop on the second round. The fact I am a danger hand with an opening bid, and theory of restricted choice all point to this play. Therefore, my only hope is to drop the Queen and hope Declarer places 105432 with my partner.
After running diamonds, the fun wasn't over. I realise that the only hope for more tricks is in hearts, since Declarer discarded one on the diamonds and partner didn't. So I switch to a small one. Partner wins with the Ace and returns a heart to my King. I return my third heart and Declarer shows out. Excellent; the rest of the tricks are ours since partner can have nothing but hearts left. Partner overtakes with the Jack and plays the 4 - I was expecting the 10, but it really doesn't matter what order he plays them. However, the reason he hasn't played the 10 is that Declarer suddenly produces it. When the revoke is corrected, we get one more trick and my partner runs out of hearts on trick 13. Still, 5 off will do: +500 = 12 IMPs when our team mates make a part score. That board alone won the match as we shipped on the other two boards.
The third match went against us when we lost a part score battle on the third board. We'd hoped it would've been won by then: our opponents bid only one of the two slams available on the previous boards, and we expected our team-mates to get both of them (not because we have high standards, but because they like bidding slams). On board 19 I was furious when partner didn't spot the opportunity to take down a 4 Heart contract, but luckily we should never have had that opportunity in the first place so this board, like the other two in the match, were flat. Still, a 16-4 win would've been much better than a 10-10 draw.
Board 26 was a bidding problem:
A9
K
KQJ65
A6532
8
AQ752
A108743
Q
The top hand is the West hand, bottom East. East is Dealer at Game All. Suggested auction here? (By the way, sitting North I threw in a pre-emptive 3 Spades). The intention of the 3 Spades bid is to throw a spanner in the works for the auction. That's exactly what it does. Our opponents didn't only miss the Grand; they missed Slam and played in 5 Diamonds. Our team mates proved their slam credentials by finding 7 Diamonds for 17 IMPs. When the same team-mates then passed out the next board and our opponents bid all the way to 4 Hearts (not making), we won 20-0.
There was still time for our team-mates to prove they liked to bid; they found a slam that wasn't bid at our table and they also found a good sacrifice which gained 3 IMPs. 5 wins and a draw out of 8 matches was enough for 3rd place, which we were very pleased with.
The Central District Congress was as vibrant, enjoyable and as well-organised as ever, so it would be churlish of me not to say so here. Well done and huge thanks to all those who helped make it happen.
* It was "last weekend" when I started writing this. I have since been to Rhodes and back, so hopefully there will be another post to come soon. Another two in fact - there is another post about 12-14NT waiting to be finished in my drafts. One day I will get caught up!
