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White House Junior Internationals 9-16 March 2008, the ‘Witte Huis’ in Amsterdam
Written by Rosaline   
Wednesday, 03 February 2010

A bridge story

 

Thursday-evening 13 march: the last board of match 23, the final session of the round robin at the end of the four days strenuous bridge in the White House Junior Internationals 2008. Dutch declarer Meike Wortel gets in big trouble when she and partner Marion Michielsen reach an overoptimistic 5♦. The double by an English U-20 player with youthful enthusiasm means the qualification for the semi-final of the Netherlands Red is in danger. Kibitzers at the BBO vugraph (every session of the round robin is watched by several thousand viewers) see that a spade lead will sink the contract even three vulnerable doubled tricks. The contract at the other table is 3NT down one and the Dutch seem to lose a lot of imps which would result in a big loss. Fortunately for the Dutch declarer she gets a heart lead which blows away one trick for the defence. But even with -500 the qualification for the semi is very doubtful. The members of the French team, who won their last match,  look happy because these events mean they will overcome the Dutch juniors. In the endgame Meike succeeds in stealing another trick and escapes for down one after which the Dutch players and supporters sigh a deep breath of relief and cheer the birth in the knock-out.

 

 

Impressions from the round robin

 

Four days, 23 matches, produce many stories(at www.jeugdbridge.nl webmaster Rosaline Barendregt collected the results, photographs  and may interesting hands) . There were many fascinating adventures and also a lot of good bridge. Israeli juniors Alon Birman and Eliran Argelazi had a smooth run to a very fine grand slam

 

South/all                     NORTH
                                   ♠ Q 4

                                   ♥ 9 5 4 3

                                   ♦ Q 10 7 6 5

                                   ♣ Q 3

WEST                                                EAST

♠ J 10                                                 ♠ 8 6 5 3 2

♥ K J 10 8 7 6                                    ♥ A Q 2

♦ J 9 3                                                ♦ --

♣ 6 2                                                  ♣ J 10 8 7 6

                                   SOUTH
                                   ♠ A K 9 7

                                   ♥ --

                                   ♦ A K 8 4 2

                                   ♣ A K 9 4

 

 

                        Argelazi                                  Birman

WEST             NORTH          EAST              SOUTH

                                                                       1 ♦

pass                 1 ♥                  pass                 2 ♠

pass                 3 ♦                   pass                 4 ♣

pass                 4 ♦                   pass                 5 NT

pass                 6 ♦(1 toph)      pass                 7 ♦

all pass

 

Marion Michielsen and Meike Wortel bid the grand the hard way

 

                    Wortel                               Michielsen

WEST             NORTH          EAST              SOUTH

                                                               1 ♦

2 ♥                  pass               4 ♥               dbl

pass                 5 ♦                pass              5 ♥

pass                 5 NT              pass              7 ♦

all pass

 

After the severe intervention the Dutch girls really did very well to bid 7♦. Certainly a nominee for the best bid hand of 2008.

 

Meike Wortel earlier impressed the kibitzers with a nice  line of play:

 

 

South/east-west          NORTH

                                   ♠ H B 9 7 6

                                   ♥ A

                                   ♦ 7 4

                                   ♣ J 10 9 6 5

WEST                                                EAST

♠ 5                                                      ♠ 10 8 4 3

♥ 9 2                                                   ♥ Q J 7 2

♦ A K Q 10 8 6 3 2                                 ♦ 9                                                                 

  4 2                                                 ♣ K Q 7 3

 

                                   SOUTH

                                   ♠ A Q 2

                                   ♥ K 10 8 6 4 3

                                   ♦ J 5

                                   ♣ A 8 

 

                     Michielsen                         Wortel

WEST             NORTH          EAST              SOUTH

                                                               1 ♥

4 ♦                   dbl                  pass            4 ♥

all pass           

 

It is interesting what 4♠ would mean after the 4♥ bid. North thought it was too dangerous and passed 4♥ hoping for the best.

West lead was the ♦A and after ♦K there would have been no story. Bur west switched to the singleton ♠. Declarer took ♠A played a heart to the ace and a small club from dummy, east splitted the honours so ♣A won the trick. Than ♥K and not seeing a 3-3 division in ♥ declarer red the position perfect and played ♠Q and spade to ♠K. East had to follow suit also on ♠J so ten tricks were assured for a good 420 whilst the Netherlands in the other room were left to play  in 4♦ for down one.

 

Top four to semi-final

 

Back to the struggle for the four spots in the semi-final. The other Netherlands junior team ‘Blue’ concluded an impressive performance by winning the round robin.  The Polish U-20 team like last year was performing very strong and qualified easy. Still one spot to win:

 France had already finished and waited for Israel that needed a big win. The session finished and from the Israeli corner a big ‘Shriek’. Every bridgeplayer knows this means the shout of victory. It all resulted in six very disappointed French juniors and  npc Christophe Oursel who comforted his team but also told them that in this way boys grow to become men.

 

 

Final ranking Round Robin

1

Netherlands Blue

401

17,43

2

Poland U20

400

17,39

3

Israel

398

17,30

4

Netherlands Red

396

17,22

5

France

394

17,13

6

Spain

388

16,87

7

Poland U25

386

16,78

8

Denmark

367

15,96

9

Czech Republic Red

363

15,78

10

Italy

358

15,57

11

Sweden

356

15,48

12

Germany

354

15,39

13

Russia

342

14,87

14

Croatia

330

14,35

15

England U25

327

14,22

16

Iceland

325

14,13

17

Netherlands U20

324

14,09

18

Norway

322

14,00

19

Austria

322

14,00

20

England U20

315

13,70

21

Czech Republic White

293

12,74

22

Netherlands Girls & Boys

270

11,74

23

Hungary

232

10,09

24

Romania

226

9,83

 

Semi-final

 

So it became the brother fight of Netherlands Blue and Red with Israel and the Polish U-20 team battling it out in the other semi-final. At halftime (the match consisted of two halves of twelve boards) the Israelian junors had a comfortable lead whilst the difference between the Dutch teams was a mere 4 imps. Every imp counted. Bob Drijver from Red did very well in a touchy 4♥ to win one valuable imp.

 

North/-                        NORTH

                                   ♠ A K 10 5

                                   ♥ A 10 4 2

                                   ♦ Q

                                   ♣ A Q J 5

WEST                                                EAST 

♠ 9 4 2                                                ♠ 8 7

♥ J 9 6 5                                             ♥ K

♦ A 10 5                                             ♦ K J 9 3 2

♣ K 6 3                                              ♣ 10 9 7 4 2   

                                   SOUTH

                                   ♠ Q J 6 3

                                   ♥ Q 8 7 3

                                   ♦ 8 7 6 4

                                   ♣ 8

 

                    Groenenboom                        Drijver

WEST             NORTH          EAST              SOUTH

                        1 ♣                   pass            1 ♥

pas                   4 ♦                   pass             4 ♥

all pass

 

At the other table north opened 2NT and ended in 4♠ which made in comfort.

A bog hand for north after the 1♥-response. It will not have been easy to do only one slemtry and the pass after 4♥ was very disciplined. Commmentators at BBO joked en even predicted that 4♥ would become very difficult. Declarer Bob Drijver proved them to be wrong. He took the lead of ♠4 (second/fourth) with ♠A and immediately played ♦Q. East took ♦K and played back a second diamond ruffed in dummy. Declarer crossed to ♠Q and took a successful finesse for ♣K. ♣A (spade from south) and a club ruffed, ♣K in west. A second diamond ruff followed. With a perfect insight for the whole distribution and guided by the lead declarer decided spades to be 3-2 divided  with three in west, who also seemed to have three diamonds and three clubs. That gave west a forurcard in hearts. So declarer took one round of trumps with ♥A, cashed ♠K, ruffed a spade with ♥Q and played a diamond to score ♥10 en passant for +450.

 

Tim Verbeek did a fine job bringing home a touch-and-go 4♥.

 

                    Heeres                                Verbeek

WEST             NORTH          EAST              SOUTH

                        2 ♦ (weak!)      pass              2 ♠

pass                 3 ♦                   pass             3 ♥

pass                 4 ♥                  all pass

 

The both Tim’s form no regular partnership but performed strong all week long: but unavoidable they were not always on the same wavelength which resulted – nobody in this sequence knew what was forcing – in an awkward 4♥.

 The lead was ♣A and another club for ♣K in dummy. Declarer started on spades and east took ♠A to play anther club, ruffed by south. ♠K and  a spade ruffed developed that suit. Now a small diamond ruffed in south followed by a small heart left defenders helpless for a juicy 620 whilst at the other table north also opened a weak two in diamonds (the juniors of today open solid!) but was left there for one down.

 

 

 

 The semi’s ended with Israel beating Poland. And how did things proceed with the both Dutch teams, Blue versus Red? After 24 boards nothing was still decided: it was 55-55.  This draw which required two extra boards (the rules stated if needed two times a tiebreaker of two boards and then – nobody likes it – the throw of the dice).

 

 

 

The tiebreaker

 

The first board was flat. Than the decision:

 

East/--                         NORTH

                                   ♠ A 10 5

                                   ♥ A 7 4

                                   ♦ J 9 6 5 4

                                   ♣ Q 2

WEST                                                EAST

♠ K 8 5 3                                            ♠ Q J 7 6

♥ 6 5                                                  ♥ K 10 9 8 3

♦ A Q 8 7                                           ♦ 2

♣ 10 7 6                                             ♣ 9 5 3

                                   SOUTH
                                   ♠ 9 2

                                   ♥ Q J 2

                                   ♦ K 10 2

                                   ♣ A K J 8 4

                                              

 

Drijver                            Groenenboom

WEST             NORTH          EAST              SOUTH

                                       2 ♥ (♥+♠)         pass

3 ♠                  all pass

 

When south did not overcall east-west were on their way to win the bidding. After the lead of ♣Q declarer lost in total six tricks for -100. But this was absolutely no guarantee for a win (and a place in the final). North south would after a pass by east certainly bid 3NT which fate depended on the lead.

 

                    de Pagter                             Hop

WEST             NORTH          EAST              SOUTH

                                         pass                 1 NT

pass                 3 NT           all pass

 

 

So it was west who had to lead. Spade (Blue in the final) or diamond(Red to the final)?  It became a final Israel versus the Netherlands Red.

 

The final, a second tie!!

 

 In this match the Dutch juniors took a substantial lead (45-17) with some five boards to play. The unimaginable happed. Israel came back and after 24 boards is was 52-52. A second tiebreaker was necessary! In a really thrilling atmosphere the players returned to the table for another two boards. It was Israel that prevailed and could lift the Carrousel Cup.

 Poland and the Netherlands Blue were tired but played each other in the play-off for third place; the Polish U-20 won.

 

 Consolation Teams

Friday when the semi finalists battled out their fight for victory all the other teams played a Swiss teams tournament. That is to say : many transnational teams were formed, a good tradition in this (and other) events, juniors meet, get to know each other en mingle during this week. This win went to the Austrian junior team. The White House Junior Internationals was closed on Saturday with a (pro-am like) pairs tournament where all participants(of course a bunch of them did not show but took the opportunity to visit Amsterdam, an ok idea) , coaches, sponsors and guests had a very nice time.

 

Thanks to the sponsors

 

 So everybody involved hopes that 2009 will produce another White House Junior Internationals with big thanks to Stichting Topbridge of the NBB, UMW, Modalfa, van Lanschot Bankiers, Neat, Transfer Solutions, bridgefriends Jos Jansen, Hans Grauw, Ruud van Rosmalen, Wouter Dormits and of course Peter Sisselaar who astonished everybody with the speech at the opening of the tournament in a surprising mixture of English, German, French and even in Dutch. Without all these guys and also with the gigantic effort of Roos (who daily took care of over 150 juniors) and Paul (who cooked every day a by everyone praised dinner for 150) in the Witte Huis this wonderful event would not have been possible.

 

 

 
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