On the road to more success

The last Saturday, April 1, I played in a pairs tournament which is part of the Czech Bridge Tour – 5 Major pairs tournaments.

These tournaments are not big in participation, but not easy to win. The field is often very mixed – from beginners to national players so you have to try hard to get a top score.

There were 27 pairs in České Budějovice with only one foreign pair from Austria. our ambitions were very high, less than a medal would be a disappointment.

We had a great start and for the first quarter of the tournament (52 boards), we had more than 65%. One pair had over 70%, but we faced them the last round before lunch.

I was declaring 4♠ after a ♥5 from the South. How would you declare?

There are a couple of finesses to play and a heart to ruff. ♥J hold the first trick and I decided to lose the trick which I had to lose so I played the club toward the queen. South won with an ace and returned another club. I put the ♣J and ruffed North’s ace. I can ruff the losing heart now and try the diamond finesse, but that has time. I played the ♠J and it holds the trick. North dropped the ♠9.

There is a good chance that the ♠10 drops so you should play ♠Q. South didn’t cover because he wants to prevent you from the ruff, but the ♠10 drops from North. Now you can draw the last trump and play the diamond finesse. If the ♦Q wins the trick, don’t forget to cash the ♣10 and discard the losing diamond in your hand. You have still a chance that the ♥Q can drop, but the diamond will not score a trick. In reality, South wins the ♦K, but that is the last trick for the defense. 11 tricks and an absolute top score.

We won the first round with 62.5%.

The second round was quite normal, but we had several boards where we couldn’t do anything against opponents’ good bidding and card play. A silver medal was fair and I would like to congratulate the winners Petr and Onda Bahník.

I would also like to congratulate Petr Karlík and Franta Kubát who collected their first National masterpoints in such an event for 10th place.

Complete scores and board results