The final day of Qualifying
Round 7
Australia v Thailand 44 35 which converts to 12.71 7.29
This was an important match to build a cushion against one of the weaker teams as the other four contenders were playing each other.
This result left Australia second. China have a small break in front but positions 2 to 5 are all extremely close and the leaders play one another in the next couple of rounds.
The BBO match was China Hong Kong vs China.
The Chinese EW pair had a well-judged board early.
This was the bidding when China were EW.
I believe that East’s age should be checked. He opened 1♦ with a balanced 16 and then raised 1♥ to 2♥ only. At the other table East opened 1NT and they landed in the hopeless 4♥ contract [in fairness, I think 1NT would be a very popular opening for a lot of players].
Then the ‘youth’ aspect came through when 3 ‘hopeless’ slams came up.
The China NS bid the following 3 slams and had a pick up of 6 imps over the 3 boards!!!!!!!
This slam was hopeless but, in fairness there were a lot of wasted points in ♦s. However, China Hong Kong bid it in the other room for a flat board. China 0 imps
Then came along another slam with a small flaw.
It didn’t take West long to find the killing lead and continuation.
One of the problems was that 4♦ took the auction too high and the lack of a ♣ control was not known. However, this was another flat board. China 0 imps
East on lead cashed his two aces and declarer claimed 1 off. The problem here was that 4NT was RKCB and the 5♠ reply put South in a hopeless position off 2 controls. This is why people use 4♠ as RKCB when ♥s are trumps. All was not lost because The China Hong Kong NS pair bid 3NT minus 6 [would have been 7 if West kept all his ♣s]. China 6 imps
The score finished as 13 to 5 for China. This would normally indicate a flat set turning over 18 imps in 14 boards.
Australia had no large swings but generally outbid their opponents
On board 25 above, Australia NS were allowed to play in 3♥ when the opponents can potentially make game in either black suit.
Australia had one large swing out
A poor slam was allowed to made.
All scores were as follows:
|
Round 7 |
Match 1 |
China Hong Kong 5 |
vs |
China 13 |
|
Match 2 |
Australia 44 |
vs |
Thailand 35 |
|
|
Match 3 |
Indonesia 15 |
vs |
Singapore 8 |
|
|
Match 4 |
Chinese Taipei 36 |
vs |
Japan 26 |
|
|
Bye |
Philippines |
Round 8
Australia v Singapore 12 43 which converts to 2.81 17.19
This was the BBO match.
The match started poorly for Australia.
This is the auction where Singapore were NS. 1♣ was a precision style and the rest of the auction was as shown. Jamie Thompson as East had no reason to lead a ♣ and led a small ♥ to the ♥8 and ♥J. Declarer led the ♦J and Jamie Thompson played the ♣5. Now Matt Smith had a tough decision, if he takes it then declarer makes 4 ♦ tricks and he does not know much about the rest of the hand so he ducked [West doubled 1 ♣ for takeout and has shown zero ♦s. If he was 5 5 in the majors. He probably would have used Michaels so there is a good chance that he is 4 5 0 4 and a ♣ switch is plausible]. Declarer now played the ♥K and Jamie took the ♥A and exited with the ♣Q. In the end game, declarer cashed his major suit winners and Matt was end played in the minors. It was well played but the defence was very difficult.
In the other room where Australia were NS, South opened 2♦ [a weak 2] and eventually became declarer at 3NT. West had an easy ♣ lead and that was 2 down.
Australia were unlucky on this board. For example, if NS were playing a standard system, then North would have opened 1♥ and South bid 1NT and the ♣ lead would be found.
Then board 6 came along.
The Singapore EW got to 3NT on a small ♥ lead from South. Declarer now needs ♦s to yield 4 tricks, the ♣A onside and hope they can’t cash four ♥s or ♠s 3 3. When ♦s did not break, declarer was forced to play for a 3 3 ♠ break. Luck was with them.
Australia’s EW allowed North to play in 3♣ undoubled.
Board 8 basically killed Australia’s final hopes.
Australia played in 3NT and Indonesia bid the excellent 7♦ contract.
To sum up the match, Singapore outplayed Australia but they had luck on their side as well.
All scores were as follows:
|
Round 8 |
Match 1 |
Indonesia 50 |
vs |
China Hong Kong 8 |
|
Match 2 |
Singapore 43 |
vs |
Australia 12 |
|
|
Match 3 |
Thailand 30 |
vs |
Chinese Taipei 36 |
|
|
Match 4 |
Japan 29 |
vs |
Philippines 47 |
|
|
Bye |
China |
Round 9
Australia v China Hong Kong 24 36 which converts to 7.56 12.44
Australia and China Hong Kong were basically both out of contention going into this last match as they both had heavy losses in the previous round.
Australia were holding a nice lead until board 28.
With Australia as EW the bidding was as follows:
With China Hong Kong as EW the bidding was as follows:
There seems to have been some confusion in the Australian auction.
The China Hong Kong auction started well setting ♥s as trumps and then cue bids followed by RKCB and then an ask for the ♥Q. This was answered in the positive and showing the ♣K. The final bid of 7♥ was a bit of a punt as East does not appear to have shown the ♠Q.
All this led to a big imp loss.
Then the very next board produced another big swing against Australia.
With Australia as EW the bidding was as follows:
With China Hong Kong as EW the bidding was as follows:
For Australia, East’s 5♣ bid excited West expecting it to be cue bidding the ♣K. The 4 1 ♠ break sinks 6♠ even with ♣s 3 3 and the ♣K onside.
The China Hong Kong pair limited their hands and played in a staid 4♠.
All scores were as follows:
|
Round 9 |
Match 1 |
China Hong Kong 36 |
vs |
Australia 24 |
|
Match 2 |
Indonesia 3 |
vs |
China 63 |
|
|
Match 3 |
Singapore 23 |
vs |
Chinese Taipei 31 |
|
|
Match 4 |
Philippines 56 |
vs |
Thailand 21 |
|
|
Bye |
Japan |
After the first round-robin this was the standings.
|
Indonesia |
103.52 |
|
China Hong Kong |
101.93 |
|
Australia |
94.60 |
|
Chinese Taipei |
84.35 |
|
Singapore |
82.41 |
|
China |
79.43 |
|
Philippines |
66.85 |
|
Thailand |
61.34 |
|
Japan |
59.57 |
With Indonesia losing heavily to China in the last match, Singapore finish second despite their loss.
China had an enormous second round-robin going from 6th place to a runaway 1st place. They amassed 154.43 victory points [the second best in the second round-robin was Singapore with 126.87 and Australia was third with 106.81].
Therefore, the teams with the best output in round-robin 2 playoff in the final tomorrow.
The final standings were:
|
China |
233.86 |
|
Singapore |
209.28 |
|
Indonesia |
206.11 |
|
China Hong Kong |
202.48 |
|
Australia |
201.41 |
|
Chinese Taipei |
188.50 |
|
Philippines |
144.95 |
|
Japan |
144.43 |
|
Thailand |
122.98 |
Posted by Chris on Tuesday, 9 April 2019 at 21:58