Our campaign in Chennai has ended with the winning of a bronze medal (maybe one each if we are lucky)!
The roller coaster ride continued all the way to the end of the event. Starting the day 32.3 IMPs ahead, the lead was reduced to a mere 7.3 IMPs after the morning set. In this stanza, we had bid an excellent game and an excellent slam, both failing on the rocks of bad distribution in the trump suit. If these had made, the lead would have been close to 60 and we would have been able to relax but it was not to be.
The atmosphere was to become even more tense as the Dutch continued their revival. Indeed, as we began board 70 (out of 80), the Dutch led by 10! Then came this remarkable hand:
East opened 3H, south overcalled 3S and it was difficult to know how to proceed on the north cards. A practical shot of leaping to 6C was chosen (as it was at many tables). The Dutch declarer was unable to garner 12 winners but ours, having lost the ace of hearts at trick 1, tried the effect of cashing her clubs whilst East, naturally enough, pitched a diamond. Declarer continued to cash the entire suit and, also, the king of hearts whilst discarding all the diamonds from dummy, thereby magnifying the threat of the spade suit. West, unable to discern declarer's void, held on to her spades and jettisoned the KJ10 of diamonds!
To everyone's surprise, Sally Brock was able to cash the 6 and 5 of diamonds to land her slam! From that point, further favourable swings allowed us to re-establish our lead and push on to win by 25.3 IMPs.
Congratulations to all the players; Sally Brock, Fiona Brown, Heather Dhondy, Catherine Draper, Nevena Senior and Nicola Smith and also to the hard-working coach, David Burn.
It was far from easy but, in the end, we had won the Bronze!
The roller coaster ride continued all the way to the end of the event. Starting the day 32.3 IMPs ahead, the lead was reduced to a mere 7.3 IMPs after the morning set. In this stanza, we had bid an excellent game and an excellent slam, both failing on the rocks of bad distribution in the trump suit. If these had made, the lead would have been close to 60 and we would have been able to relax but it was not to be.
The atmosphere was to become even more tense as the Dutch continued their revival. Indeed, as we began board 70 (out of 80), the Dutch led by 10! Then came this remarkable hand:
| Board 70. Dealer East. E-W Vulnerable. | ||
| ♠
-
♥ K 7 ♦ A 6 5 ♣ A K Q J T 9 6 4 | ||
| ♠ T 9 5 4
♥ A 4 2 ♦ K J T ♣ 5 3 2 |
 |
♠ K J 8
♥ Q J T 9 8 6 3 ♦ 8 7 ♣ 8 |
| ♠ A Q 7 6 3 2
♥ 5 ♦ Q 9 4 3 2 ♣ 7 | ||
East opened 3H, south overcalled 3S and it was difficult to know how to proceed on the north cards. A practical shot of leaping to 6C was chosen (as it was at many tables). The Dutch declarer was unable to garner 12 winners but ours, having lost the ace of hearts at trick 1, tried the effect of cashing her clubs whilst East, naturally enough, pitched a diamond. Declarer continued to cash the entire suit and, also, the king of hearts whilst discarding all the diamonds from dummy, thereby magnifying the threat of the spade suit. West, unable to discern declarer's void, held on to her spades and jettisoned the KJ10 of diamonds!
To everyone's surprise, Sally Brock was able to cash the 6 and 5 of diamonds to land her slam! From that point, further favourable swings allowed us to re-establish our lead and push on to win by 25.3 IMPs.
Congratulations to all the players; Sally Brock, Fiona Brown, Heather Dhondy, Catherine Draper, Nevena Senior and Nicola Smith and also to the hard-working coach, David Burn.
It was far from easy but, in the end, we had won the Bronze!
 |
ENGLAND | 0 | 19 | 19 | 45 | 64 | 44 | 108 | 13 | 121 | 44 | 165 |
 |
NETHERLANDS | 5.67 | 20 | 25.7 | 16 | 41.7 | 34 | 75.7 | 38 | 113.7 | 26 | 139.7 |
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