I haven’t updated the blog in the last days. Not that I haven’t been busy with bridge, but it was kind of boring: reviewing my system notes for the 2012-2013 season, and, of course, watching the Dutch team become world junior champions. That event has been described in detail elsewhere and if you have missed a hand, don’t worry, coach and NPC will write a book about the event.
Only a week after the juniors, the next world championship started. The “14th World Bridge Games”, formerly known as the Olympiad. It used to be a bridge only event but, since 2008, it is part of the World Mind Games (WMG) together with Chess, Checkers and Go.
This year’s event is played in northern French city known both as Lille and Rijsel. Let’s settle that first. The city has 2 names, in Dutch it it called Rijsel, in French Lille. That’s odd, 2 completely different names. As usual, there is a perfectly logical explanation for it. When the city was founded in 1055, it got a Latin name, “Ad Insulam”, which means “on an Island”. That made sense, as the first buildings were on an island in the middle of a local river. The name was translated (correctly) into “a l’isle” in early French, and “ter IJsel” in early Dutch. Over the years, this evolved into “Lille” and “Rijsel”.
Which name should be used? Well, you can argue this 2 ways. The city was founded in 1055, when the area was Flemish, though close to the French kingdom. The Flemish and French did fight the occasional war in the area, borders moved and the city moved back and forth between the French and the Dutch several times. Since 1713, it has been French though. If something has been French for 300 years, you can call it French. The counter argument is that if one looks back into history, of its 957 years of existance, it has been Flemish for 552 and French for only 405. That is more Flemish than French and the Flemish have their argument. At least for the next 147 years.
Play in the WMG started this morning and over the next weeks, BridgeBase.com will be broadcasting from 3 or 4 tables daily. This morning featured, amongst others, the match between current Bermuda Bowl champions the Netherlands and underdog Mexico. The Dutch are of course one of the favorites for this event, in particular now that Italy is missing Lorenzo Lauria and the US is sending a team including Zia and Hamman. Zia and Hamman, 2 of the world’s best players, how can that weaken a team? Well, even though they are strong players, the pair Zia-Hamman never performed as good as they had hoped and they have meanwhile decided to split up. Having a pair that has already decided to stop is not going to help matters.
In the Netherlands vs Mexico, the commentators started by saying that it is always hard for the underdog not to be impressed by their famous opponents and, as a result, start making serious errors they wouldn’t make against anybody else.
After 3.5 boards, I thought they were right. A game made by the Dutch and missed by the Mexicans, an overtrick and then 7♦ bid and made by de Wijs and Muller on this layout. East opened a strong 1♣, relayed a number of times with west showing precisely 5-3-4-1 shape and a top diamond honor. That was enough for Muller to bid 7♦. Somebody led a spade and declarer ruffed then claimed after testing the trumps.
On the next board, the Mexican north still believed the Dutch reputation. Holding this hand, he heard the auction and it was his turn to bid. 1♦ showed diamonds or 12-14 balanced, 3♣ minors and invitational.
Our friend from Mexico decided to pass, for down 3. I don’t quite understand this, even though your opponents have won a Bermuda Bowl, that doesn’t mean that they cannot overbid. With 2 tricks and a partner who put in a vulnerable overcall at the 3 level, you can be almost certain to pick up a nice penalty against 5♣ (or 5♦, if they decide to run). 5♣ down 3 meant only 300 to Mexico.
At the other table, the Mexican was less impressed by his famous opponent. The full hand is on the right. He opened a 14-16 1NT, heard his partner show minors and decided to double. Down 3, for 800 to Mexico, adding up to 15 imp’s and the scores were almost level again (18-15).
It did change momentum, even though the Dutch were the favorite, they struggled, eventually ending up with a losing draw 15-15 in VP, but 40-43 in IMP. Not exactly the start you hope for as a favorite for winning the event.
Note added 2 hours after writing this blog... The official score now lists the result of the match as a 49-35 imp (18-12 VP) win for the Dutch. It looks as if the score on board 13 was changed from 5♥ making by Mexico to down 1. Better, but still not good.