The Southlands International Bridge Week

3 July 2000

by Brian Senior

At the end of June I visited Norway for the first time, to play in a six-day bridge tournament in Kristiansand, on the southern tip of the country. Norway is a beautiful country with dramatic scenery everywhere you look. There is water everywhere, with the coastal fjords and inland lakes all having their own individual characters and all being set off against the heavily wooded hillsides. Everything looks and feels clean and healthy and if this is the sort of scenery that is to your taste then I doubt that you can beat it anywhere in the world. If you are looking for a decent standard bridge tournament to combine with a holiday, Kristiansand comes with my hearty recommendations. The venue for the bridge was an old coastal fortification that dates back to the 17th century. Apparently it only saw action once, during the Napoleonic wars, when a squadron of British ships was fired upon and successfully repulsed.

The first two days of the tournament were taken up by the Open Pairs Championship. This was split into three levels, so that the field for the top level contained no weak pairings. There were 52 plays and we played 51 two-board rounds split over the two days. The scoring was Barometer, which means that everyone plays the same deals at the same time so that you get your scores for the previous round while playing the next one. This is a very exciting way to run a Pairs event and if the finish is close it can be very tense, being as much a test of nerve as of technique for the pairs in contention.

The Anglo-Norwegian pairing of Espen Erichsen and David Bakshi, fresh from winning the main Pairs event at the Easter Festival in London, came out top again. Second were Helge and Roald Maesel of Kristiansand and third Paul Haga and Geir Tislevoll from Oslo. The B1 flight was won by Ole Magnar Nordvik and Ove Gasdal, and the B2 flight by Nils Kvangraven and Espen Johansen. The middle two days of the tournament were a 12-round Swiss Teams competition of eight-board rounds. The Norwegian team of Terje Lie, Bjorn Ekren, Ole Berset and Asbjorn Kindsbekken totally dominated and finished 30 VPs ahead of second.

Finally, we played a two-day Mixed Pairs competition, but this was a Mixed Pairs with a difference. Firstly, like the Open Pairs, it was scored by the Barometer method, but it was also run as a Swiss Pairs. There were 30 three-board rounds with round-behind assignments. The only exception was the final round, when first met second, third met fourth, and so on, whether or not they had already faced each other in an earlier round. During each round every pair received a slip of paper on which were their matchpoints for the previous round, their position overall, and how far they were behind the leaders or the last prize placing, plus instructions where to sit for the next round. This produced an exciting finish with Anna Malinowski and Odin Svendson pipping Vigdis Moen and Atle Grefstad by four matchpoints for first place.

If you believe that a mixed pairs event is usually a bit of lottery, consider that the winning score was less than 55 % in Kristiansand because the pairs in contention spent most of their time playing against other successful pairs and not just seeing who could bash the weak pairs best. The Swiss Teams was nothing special - let's face it, if you live in Britain you spend your life playing Swiss Teams events - but the two pairs competitions were very good events and I really enjoyed them. If only we had a bit more variety and imagination from tournament organisers back home.

Each day's play ran straight through without a proper session break, just a series of 15-20 minute breaks at regular intervals instead. That meant that we played as many boards as in a normal day in England but, coupled with the morning start on most days, had the evenings free to eat, drink and socialise. And to add to the sociality of the week, there was a bar attached to one of the hotels, in which many players stayed, which was given over exclusively to the bridge players each evening until late. There was a daily bulletin every day, and the first copies of this were available early the same evening. Included were copies of the hands, with not only the frequencies but the actual contracts and results at every table. Also, of course, the bulletins gave all the results plus some of the best played hands, details of appeals, and so on. The prize fund came to around US$20,000, with the top six or seven finishers getting cash prizes and the next several places winning various kinds of household ware.

There were several fascinating hands but the most spectacular was surely this deal from the Open Pairs. After all, how often have you picked up a solid ten-card suit?

Dealer North. All Vul.

			A J
			-
			J
			A K Q 10 9 8 7 6 4 2
	10 6 5 3	N   W E   S			K 8 4 2
	A K 9 7 4 3 2				Q 8 6
	10				A 9 8 7 5
	3				J
			Q 9 7
			J 10 5
			K Q 6 4 3 2
			5

West	North	East	South
Maesel	Bakshi	Maesel	Erichsen
-	2	Pass	3
Pass	4	Pass	4
Pass	5	Pass	5NT
Pass	6	All Pass

This was the auction when the two pairs who were to eventually finish first and second met. Two Clubs was the system strong bid and 3 a natural positive. The jump to 5 was Exclusion Roman Key Card Blackwood, asking for key cards excluding the ace of hearts, with diamonds as trumps.

The response showed one key card and David Bakshi settled for the small slam in his own suit. The auction had been very revealing. North had shown a heart void an, presumably, not a diamond void. East therefore led the ace of diamonds against 6. On discovering the diamond position, he simply exited with his trump and waited to make the king of spades at the end. An unlucky one down for the eventual winners. See what happens if East does not cash the ace of diamonds at trick one, perhaps preferring to lead a heart - at most tables West will have bid hearts. Declarer ruffs the opening lead and cashes all the rest of his trumps. If East keeps the ace of diamonds and king and another spade for his last three cards, declarer plays his diamond and North is endplayed to lead away from the king of spades to allow the slam to make. If declarer reads the end position, East is powerless. His best chance is to bare the king of spades and hope that declarer tries for the endplay, when he will turn up with a surprise heart winner to defeat the contract. Such a defence is not impossible to find once you know that declarer holds ten clubs and no hearts, but it is not easy. I heard of a number of declarers who found the endplay, but not of any defender who defeated the slam in this fashion.

Did I find the endplay myself? Alas, no. As my contract was 7 (!), an endplay was of little use to me.