The Second day of Qualifying
At the conclusion of the group stage of 11 matches, the top 6 proceed to intermediate Final A with full carry over of results from the other teams that also qualify for the Intermediate final
(ie. 5 match results).
Round 6
Australia vs Ireland 12 45 which converts to 1.70 18.30
In a very wild set where there were a lot of imps turned over in many matches, Australia got on the wrong end of too many decisions and had a loss.
These are two of the more interesting boards.
On BBO were the two leaders from Australia’s group, Belgium and Singapore. In the end, Belgium won to maximum as the Singaporean NS pair had a few bad boards.
This was the first board in the match.
East probably has a 1NT opening in the modern style but selected 1♣. South found a 2♠ weak jump overcall (oh to be young again). It certainly was weak and ♠s the longest suit. West doubled and, over North’s 3♠, East could penalty double but selected 3NT.
South led the ♠5 and it went to the ♠Q and the ♠A. The ♦Q was ducked all around and then the ♥K and the ♦J won by the ♦A. Now North led the ♠8 and East’s ♠T was allowed to win the trick.
East then found the good play of exiting with the ♠J and South cashed his ♠s to leave a five card ending.
South was on lead and needs to exit with the ♣K to break up the squeeze on North (after two ♦ tricks, North must come down to a singleton ♣ to protect his ♥ holding).
Instead, South exited with the ♥T. North would be squeezed if declarer played the ♥A but declarer put in the ♥J to go one down and square the board.
Australia had a big loss on this board when 3NT made doubled against a diamond part score at the other table.
Board 9 was flat in the Australia vs Ireland match in a strange way. In the Belgium vs Singapore match, it was a big pickup for Belgium. Funnily enough the contracts were identical in each match.
The Australian NS pair bid 7♥ and went 1 down when there was a ♥ loser. In the BBO match, the Singaporean NS reached 7♥ as well and suffered the same fate (after there was some confusion on showing a ♠ void over South’s Blackwood request).
The Irish NS pair and the Belgium NS pair both reached 6♥ but the contract had different outcomes. The Belgium declarer had no problem on a singleton ♣ lead by playing ♥A and another ♥. The Irish declarer decided to safety up the trumps and finesse the first time and ran into a ♣ ruff for 1 down. The Irish declarer can be considered unlucky (a 7 1 break in ♣s is ostensibly a 2.9% chance where as East having all three ♥s is about 11%).
Round 7
Australia vs Norway 9 30 which converts to 3.82 16.18
There were a couple of very costly boards costing double digit swings.
In a game, a ruff was missed, and the contract was made.
Then this hand came up.
West opened 4♦ and the contract ended up in 6NT by East.
North holding ♦A and ♦K did not double for the lead mercifully. However, this contract went 6 off when it could have been 8 off.
Round 8
Australia vs Belgium 9 37 which converts to 2.49 17.51
Australia had an unlucky board as shown here.
Board 22
6♥ is a good slam with several chances.
Unfortunately, J9862 ♥s offside down 1 in slam.
Then poor judgement resulted in a deserved loss board.
Board 26
The opponents bid 6♦ and the Australian pair bid 3NT (lucky no ♣ lead but still a big loss)
Round 9
Australia vs Finland 13 12 which converts to 10.39 9.61
A close fought match with few swings.
Round 10
Australia vs Hungary 41 17 which converts to 16.78 3.22
This match against a weaker team brought a good result.
Round 11
Australia vs Latvia 50 11 which converts to 19.10 0.90
This match against a weaker team brought a good result.
Summary
Australia finished 7th in the group.
The final standings were
|
Belgium |
168.12 |
|
Netherlands Youth |
141.94 |
|
England |
120.46 |
|
Finland |
112.38 |
|
Singapore |
112.36 |
|
Norway |
112.10 |
|
Australia |
109.31 |
|
Ireland |
108.38 |
|
Netherlands Schools |
103.35 |
|
Hungary |
102.43 |
|
Latvia |
72.09 |
|
Germany |
57.10 |
Of the matches that I saw, Belgium were the best team on current form in this group and deserved their victory. In the other group, Netherlands looked impressive and scored over 180 from Israel and Poland.
Australia did not play anywhere near their best but there is still a chance of progressing.
The teams that finish 7-12 of their group progresses to the intermediate final B. Results of the matches against teams of their own group are carried forward. You play six matches of ten boards against the teams from the other group. The winner earns the 8th spot in the Quarter Finals.
Wednesday, March 27 Intermediate finals B
11.30 - 12.55 Round 1 13.05 - 14.30 Round 2 14.40 - 16.05 Round 3 16.15 - 17.40 Round 4 17.40 - 18.40 Dinner 18.40 - 20.05 Round 5 20.15 - 21.40 Round 6
Posted by Chris on Wednesday, 27 March 2019 at 11:13