40 English Bridge December 2016 www.ebu.co.uk

T

he seeding committee for the Gold Cup did

a great job, with all eight top teams reaching

the quarter-finals. Allfrey beat Senior; Brock

beat Cope; de Botton beat Price and Gillis beat

Mould.

The semi-finals were both close. Brock defeated

Allfrey, the number one seeds, by 22 IMPs. They

took an early lead and maintained it throughout.

This was a fine achievement for a team of only four

players. Gillis beat de Botton by 19 IMPs. So, Sally

Brock's squad, seeded 6th, were in the final for the

second year running. How would they fare? This

was an early board:

This was the bidding at the other table:

West North East South

Brogeland Jones Lindqvist Rosen

2´ 3´ Pass

6® All Pass

East's 3´ asked partner to bid 3NT with a spade

stopper. Boye Brogeland diagnosed the solid clubs

and leapt splendidly to 6®. Martin Jones did

wonderfully well to find the killing defence of ace

and another spade, putting the slam one down for a

loss of just 5 IMPs.

You may think that the opening lead did not

matter, since declarer has only 11 tricks. Not so.

Suppose South had led the ™K at the first table.

Declarer could win, draw trumps and play the

tA-K-Q, throwing two spades (rather than his

heart loser). He ruffs dummy's last diamond and

plays a spade to the jack, king and ace. North is then

end-played!

This deal from the 5th set had interest in both the

bidding and the play:

Digging for gold By David Bird

Gold CupGold Cup

click

link

Love All. Dealer North.

´ A Q 9 6 5

™ 2

t J 9 8 6 5 4

® 7

´ K 10 8 7 ´ 4 3 2

™ 10 4 ™ A J

t A K Q 2 t 10

® 6 5 3 ® A K Q J 10 8 4

´ J

™ K Q 9 8 7 6 5 3

t 7 3

® 9 2

N

W E

S

Love All. Dealer North.

´ 10 6

™ Q 5

t K Q J 10 7 6 4

® 8 7

´ Q 9 ´ A J 3 2

™ J 8 6 3 2 ™ K 10 7 4

t 9 3 2 t A 5

® A 6 2 ® J 10 3

´ K 8 7 5 4

™ A 9

t 8

® K Q 9 5 4

N

W E

S

West North East South

Brock Erichsen Myers Gillis

Pass 1® 4™

Dble Pass 6® Pass

Pass Dble All Pass

Sally Brock's negative double suggested length in

spades. Espen Erichsen made a Lightner double of

6®, inviting a lead of dummy's suit (spades). Simon

Gillis duly led the ´J, Erichsen overtaking with the

´Q. A continuation of ace and another spade,

ruffed by South, took the slam two down for +300.

West North East South

Zia Myers Hanlon Brock

3t Dble Pass

4™ All Pass