Waffles and doubles at the Channel Trophy

A fun Belgian weekend ahead

Here’s Margaux Kurek-Beaulieu from the U26 team! We’re off to the traditional Channel Trophy, a not-to-be-missed annual event bringing together young bridge players from Belgium, the Netherlands, England and France.

This even allowed us to do some sightseeing: a must-see visit to the Grand-Place, chips and waffles of course, a few improvised deals… and, to finish, a real treasure hunt to find the Christmas market. We were told it was the biggest in Europe, but we had a bit of trouble finding it 😉

A deal played by Léo Rombaut (U26 team)

Against the Belgians, when avoiding a finesse becomes the best line of play

On the lead, my opponent plays the 2 of diamonds (odd-even). His partner wins with the ace and plays the queen of diamonds. I ruff. At this point, my objective is clear: I would like to be in the dummy to take the finesse in spades. But I have a real problem managing my trumps: I have already ruffed once in my long suit, and I fear that the next time I lose the lead, the defence will return a diamond. If I ruff again and then draw three rounds of trumps, I risk ending up with no trumps in my hand or in the dummy.

So I decide to start with the club finesse… which fails: my RHO wins with the king. As expected, he plays a diamond, I ruff, and then I see the king of diamonds in my opponent’s hand. Given the way West followed with a diamond, I believe that the distribution is 3-6 among the defenders.

If I now manage to take all my spades—if the suit is 3-2 with the queen-doubleton—, I can win the contract with 5 tricks in spades, 3 in clubs, plus the ace-king of hearts. And if I lose the queen of spades, I can always fall back on a finesse in hearts.

I first cash the ace of spades and see the 10 in West. I know that this 10 can be played with 10-9, or even 10-x, to try to mislead the declarer. I could try the spade finesse… but I see a safer plan.

I play the king of spades:

• If the queen falls, the contract is won.
• If the queen is tripleton, I will have a good throw-in chance. Indeed, after cashing all my clubs, if a defender ruffs, they will be forced either to play a diamond (and give me a ruff and discard), or to give me another chance to take a finesse in hearts to get the 10^th trick.

I will then only go down if the queen is tripleton in spades and the queen-10 of hearts are moved, as I will have the chance of having the 10 on my left before trying the “normal” finesse. So I choose this plan… and bingo! I don’t even need the throw-in, the queen of spades was doubleton and fell. Phew, if I had tried the spade finesse, no more throw-in would have been possible.

The Girls team’s journey with Élise Nugues

Deal 1 vs Denmark: a nice 7-4!

Here’s a deal from the second half of our very first match against Denmark, a reference in the world of bridge, runners-up in the last European Team Championships, just behind us.

My usual partner Eulalie couldn’t arrive until Saturday afternoon, so I played this half with Zoey, a team-mate with whom I have already competed many times. I’m sitting North.

I decided to respond 1♠, looking for a possible double fit: my hand was clearly too good for a 5♣ pre-emptive bid, especially given the presence of two red singletons. Very quickly, we realised that a slam might be possible for the other side.

After the 2♠ response, I now know that there is a double fit, which seems particularly promising. We finally end up in 5♣ doubled, and, confident that I have a solid fit, I pass the double fairly calmly. But as East has already shown us quite a good hand, slam ambitions quickly fade away.

Unfortunately, with West leading the 3 of spades, Zoey can do nothing. East knows West has a singleton spade. The opponents then cash three aces and add two ruffs.

Result: 5♣X -3, or -800, while our partners score +420 playing in 4♥ =.
So we lose 9 IMPs on the deal… and, in the end, we also lose the match.

Deal 2 vs the Netherlands: this time it’s my turn to double!

Here’s a second deal, this time from the first half of our third match. We’re now playing against the Dutch. Maëva, my partner in the last championships—with whom I won the European Girls’ Pairs Championships among other things—, is sitting South, while I remain in North.

West overcalls with 1♠ on Maëva’s opening bid, whereas she only has five points and is vulnerable—no doubt because she has a two-suiter with diamonds.

When Maëva rebids hearts, which guarantees a six-card suit, I decide to show the fit by bidding 3♥, believing that my points are well placed. The opponent then bids up to 3♠. I double, confident in my aces, my king of diamonds, and my spade holding (four cards, including the jack and 10).

So I lead the ace of diamonds. Maëva follows with the 4, a preference card for hearts, as the dummy has a singleton diamond. I then play the jack of hearts, which Maëva wins with the ace, then she plays the king and queen of hearts. The declarer ruffs with the 6, but I over-ruff. We have already taken four tricks.

As Maëva has played the queen of hearts back to me, I return the 2 of diamonds, forcing the declarer to ruff with the queen of spades, which allows me to take an extra trick in spades.

The opponent then plays the ace and king of clubs, on which a diamond is discarded, then the jack of clubs: ruffed in South and over-ruffed with the 7. She then plays another diamond, ruffed, then a club from the dummy: the 4 of spades in South, the 8 in West, and the jack in my hand. All I have to do is cash the king of diamonds before the declarer does the rest.

Result: 3♠X -2, or +500. At the other table, the opponents score 3♥ =, or +140. We therefore score 8 IMPs on the deal and win the match 45 to 22 IMPs.

Saturday night’s Secret Santa

Every year, the Channel Trophy is also an opportunity to share a lighter moment thanks to a tradition that is very important to us: Secret Santa organised between the three teams. The principle is simple: we draw names at random and give a gift to that person during the weekend. It’s always a very convivial moment, allowing us to spend some time with everyone (dressed up!). This year special mention goes to Eulalie’s stewed fruits from Théo. He even went so far as to stick Eulalie’s heads on the original Pom’Potes characters represented on the packaging…

News from the U21 team with Grégoire and Théo

Hi, we’re Grégoire and Théo, aka the tourist duo! We’ve been playing together for just over a year and for the French youth team for several years. We’re 16 and 18 years old respectively, and our passion is obviously bridge, but also the hotel breakfast at every competition!

Context: we are currently top of the rankings and are starting our return match against England, that is the fifth of six matches at the Channel Trophy. It’s a decisive match: England is our direct competitor, just a few points behind us. We are in the second set, and after the first one (9 deals), we are 6 IMPs behind. In other words, we absolutely must score.

Deal 1 played by Grégoire in South: a pre-empt… that opens the door to the slam

To my left, the English player chooses to open 2♦, a bid which, in their system, corresponds to a weak pre-emptive bid with six diamonds. He does so with a very light hand, probably encouraged by favourable vulnerability.

It should be noted that if West had not opened 2♦, East would probably have been able to bid his clubs, and North would then have had to bid 6♠ from his hand to avoid being played through in clubs. Here, paradoxically, the pre-emptive opening made the defence more blind.

Deal 2 played by Théo in North: a tense contract won thanks to the theory of vacant spaces

We use the playable 1♦ convention, which shows at least four diamonds with two honours, with the exception of certain profiles (notably 4-4-4-1 singleton club).

So I play the ace of diamonds, then seeing West discard, I know that all I have to do is take the finesse against East’s queen tripleton and claim 11 tricks: contract successful, “just made”.

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