Qualifiers of the World Pairs Championships
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This Sunday, four of my Girls are playing in the qualifiers of the World Pairs Championships. The French Girls team has just won the European team championships and went on to finish second in the Transnational World Team Championships. “My girls” are therefore in good shape, and I expect a lot from them in this tournament, even if they start to tire after nine days in Poland.
As I gradually discover the results of my two pairs, I see a 2330 appear for Lise who is playing with Garance(*). At the end of the session, I go to find out what happened.
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♦ | 3♣ | 3♥ | |
| Pass | 3♠ | Pass | 3NT |
| Pass | 4♦ | Pass | 4♥ |
| Pass | 4♠ | Pass | 5♣ |
| Pass | 6♦ | Pass | 6NT |
| Pass | Pass | Dble | Pass |
| Pass | 7♦ |
Lise: “Yes, I know, we messed things up at the auction and the contract was terrible. When I was doubled in 6NT, I panicked. I ran to 7♦ to limit the damage.”
Me: “Anyway, well done. Because then you had to make it, and you obviously played it very well.”
She: “Uh… Not really. I planned to finesse in Diamonds because I postulated that the Diamond Queen was more likely to be in the hand that was short in Clubs than in the one with the seven-card suit. So I won the King of Clubs lead with the Ace and cashed my Ace of Hearts to discard the second Club. Then I finessed in Diamonds and the 10 held the trick. I was super happy! I drew all my trumps and then West discarded his Spades! And I made.”
Me: : “But she threw her Spades to keep what? You had already discarded on the Ace of Hearts… You were very lucky. Everyone is tired after nine days.”
She: “But did I really have to play on Spades after only one round of Diamonds? Wasn’t that dangerous?”
Me: “No, it’s just a Guillemard maneuver. Once the Diamond finesse was successful, you are all but home if the Spades are 3-3. And if Spades are not 3-3, you need to ruff one. For this, you obviously need a trump! You play three rounds of Spades, and you know what happens. Well, on this deal, since East had two singletons, so you would know after the second round of Spades that this would work since she doesn’t ruff in.”
She: “But if East had two Diamonds and one or two Spades, I would not be able to make since I would be left with a Spade loser that I can’t ruff without suffering an adverse ruff first.”
Me: “Yes and needing Diamonds to be 3-1 in order to pull off your Guillemard maneuver, you had every reason to finesse at trick three.”
She: “And what if East’s singleton was the Queen?”
Me: “Then you go down! Don’t forget that you cannot cash one honor first and finesse later because you don’t have another entry to dummy. And if Diamonds are indeed 3-1 like you hope, the Queen is three times as likely to be in the hand with three cards than singleton.”
(*) In real life, this extraordinary deal was played by Elise Nugues-Blouvac and Constance Belloy, members of the brilliant Girls’ team whose achievements are highlighted by Wilfried.
