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Final Day of Qualifying
DAY 8 Sunday 22nd September
Wuhan is 2 hours behind AEST. The BBO match times are shown in AEST as a 24-hour clock.
Match 22 12:00 to 14:30
The Senior team were on BBO.
In the open room - for Sweden Bengt-Erik Efraimsson was North and Mats Axdorph was South and for Australia Bruce Neill was West and Avi Kanetkar was East.
In the closed room - for Australia Andrew Braithwaite was North and Arjuna de Livera was South and for Sweden Christer Bjaring was West and Johnny Ostberg was East.
Going into this match (with this the penultimate round), 8th place in the seniors was 236.34. Sweden were on 228.55 and needed a very solid result to give them a chance in the last round and Australia were on 206.71 and need a very big result. The bridge more or less reflected this situation.
Boards of interest in this match:
Board 24
In the open room, the bidding went as follows
EW (Neill and Kanetkar) were content to play in 4♠ at one stage. South bid 5♥ and, when the auction came back to him, it was now 6♠. He passed but partner bid 6NT which forced him to bid 7♥. NS must ask themselves why they are saving against 6♠ when the opponents were content with 4♠?
In the closed room, the bidding went as follows
This auction was better judged by NS (Braithwaite and de Livera) and 6♠ was one off.
Board 28
In the closed room, the bidding went as follows
For Sweden, EW had a somewhat agricultural auction to 6NT. West might have bid 3♥ over 2NT to bid out his shape but that was not done.
6NT made with an overtrick needing either ♦s or ♣s to break 3 3.
In the open room, the bidding went as follows
The auction seems more normal here up to a point. West bids out his shape and 4♠ is RKCB in ♥s and West shows 2 with the ♥Q. 5NT from Kanetkar seems to show an interest in 7♥ which West rejects but then bids it anyway (perhaps state of the tournament – and hoping the ♦s produce 5 tricks and a black finesse if required works). All was well and it made.
Board 31
At the favourable vulnerability, both Wests made a weak jump overcall in ♠s (maybe not textbook with having 4 cards in the other major and rather a weak hand) but this is the aggressive style these days.
In the open room, the bidding went as follows
NS decided not to compete over 3♣ with good defence for ♣s and not so good for ♠s. This was well judged by Sweden.
In the closed room, the bidding went as follows
This duly went one off (neither hand could bid 3NT in this auction which might have made).
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The Open Team
|
AUSTRALIA |
29 |
5.40 |
NORWAY |
47 |
14.60 |
|
Current Position |
|
11th |
Current Total |
|
233.38 |
|
|
|
|
Total of 8th Place |
|
257.82 |
This mathematically eliminates Australia from the top 8 chase but the last round should be interesting with New Zealand, Israel and Italy seem to be chasing the last qualifying spot.
Board 24
Norway picked up a few imps where 6♥ doubled went off 2 and 5♠ made in the other room for a well-judged auction.
Board 28
Australia bid 3NT and Norway bid 6♥ both making 13 tricks.
Board 31
This was basically flat 2NT by NS making and 3♠ 2 off the other way.
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The Women’s Team
|
AUSTRALIA |
48 |
13.04 |
NEW ZEALAND |
37 |
6.96 |
|
Current Position |
|
19th |
Current Total |
|
184.50 |
|
|
|
|
Total of 8th Place |
|
261.82 |
In the Women’s draw, the top 8 spots look to be set barring a big upset in the last round
Board 24
Australia bid 6♠ and went off 1 and 5♠ made in the other room.
Board 28
Australia bid 6NT and New Zealand 3NT both making 13 tricks.
Board 31
Australia bid 3NT by NS making and New Zealand went 1 off in 3♥.
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The Mixed Team
|
AUSTRALIA |
22 |
3.12 |
DENMARK |
53 |
16.88 |
|
Current Position |
|
16th |
Current Total |
|
211.63 |
|
|
|
|
Total of 8th Place |
|
252.71 |
Board 24
Flat in a ♠ game.
Board 28
Flat in 6NT.
Board 31
Australia (Rankin and Fischer) made 3NT NS and Denmark played in 2♥ making.
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The Senior Team
|
AUSTRALIA |
49 |
13.04 |
SWEDEN |
38 |
13.04 |
|
Current Position |
|
13th |
Current Total |
|
219.75 |
|
|
|
|
Total of 8th Place |
|
149.62 |
This defeat knocks Sweden out of any chance of qualifying.
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Match 23 15:30 to 18:00
The open section was the tightest for the last eighth position.
The three teams in contention were Italy vs Argentina (currently ranked 20th), Israel vs Egypt (currently ranked 21st) and New Zealand [who were actually 8th going into the last round] vs the Netherlands (who were 5th and assured of qualifying but fighting for a high place).
As it turned out the New Zealand vs Netherlands match was of a high quality but the match was tight and finished that way. Egypt beat Israel. Italy had a big win over Argentina to leap frog both teams into eighth place.
Boards of interest in this match:
Board 16
The last board of qualification raises an interesting theme.
The English EW pair bid as follows.
East’s RDBL showed ♣s.
Over South’s 2♥ does West have a 4♠ bid? Several West’s bid an invitational 3♠ and played there. The common approach, once South has made a free 2♥ bid is to take advantage of the fact that they are vulnerable and the opponents are not, is just bid 4♠ and force North to look at saving (4♠ might well make on the layout on a ♥ lead).
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The Open Team
|
AUSTRALIA |
22 |
4.26 |
SINGAPORE |
46 |
15.74 |
|
Current Position |
|
12th |
Current Total |
|
237.64 |
|
|
|
|
Total of 8th Place |
|
274.14 |
To qualify, you needed a match average of 11.92, Australia’s match average was 10.31
Although, they will be disappointed, they did finish in the top half of the field and above 10.
Board 16
Flat in 4♠ one down.
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The Women’s Team
|
AUSTRALIA |
29 |
3.91 |
USA1 |
55 |
16.09 |
|
Current Position |
|
19th |
Current Total |
|
188.41 |
|
|
|
|
Total of 8th Place |
|
275.63 |
To qualify, you needed a match average of 11.98, Australia’s match average was 8.19
Board 16
Both in 4♠ one down and two down.
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The Mixed Team
|
AUSTRALIA |
30 |
12.03 |
RUSSIA |
23 |
7.97 |
|
Current Position |
|
16th |
Current Total |
|
223.66 |
|
|
|
|
Total of 8th Place |
|
267.59 |
To qualify, you needed a match average of 11.63, Australia’s match average was 9.72
Board 16
Both in 4♠ one down and two down.
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The Senior Team
|
AUSTRALIA |
38 |
15.92 |
INDONESIA |
13 |
4.08 |
|
Current Position |
|
13th |
Current Total |
|
235.67 |
|
|
|
|
Total of 8th Place |
|
262.21 |
To qualify, you needed a match average of 11.10, Australia’s match average was 10.24
This section had the lowest qualifying score possibly indicating that the bulk of the field were relatively evenly matched.
Board 16
Flat in 4♠ one down.
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Posted by Chris on Sunday, 22 September 2019 at 18:46