Final Day of Qualifying
THE END OF THE SIXTH DAY
Match 1
Australia vs Botswana 55 26 which converts to 16.88 3.12
Current position 10th
North – South Andrew Spooner (N) Tomer Libman (S)
East – West Jamie Thompson (E) Matt Smith (W)
Botswana had been beaten very badly in basically all their matches, so Australia had to get as many imps as possible against our African opponents.
On boards 1 and 4, Botswana bid 6♠ on each for two big swings when The Australian pair stopped in 4♠ on each.
Board 1
In my estimation, it comes to about a 35% slam.
If the ♠K is onside, you need either the diamond finesse or West to hold both the ♥Q and ♥J. If the ♠K is offside, you need both the diamond finesse and West to hold both the ♥Q and ♥J.
Board 4
On a heart lead, you need spades to break 3 2, diamonds to break 3 3 and the ♣A to be with East. This makes the slam about 12% [because if spades are 4 1 or worse, you are off whoever has the ♣A.
Board 7
Botswana gave Australia a gift when 3NT went off [spades were singleton opposite 3 small] with 6♦ cold.
Match 2
Australia vs France 32 43 which converts to 6.77 13.23
Current position 10th
North – South Renee Cooper (N) Francesca McGrath (S)
East – West Matt Smith (W) Jamie Thompson (E)
This was a critical match for us as France had been travelling well but now they were one of the teams fighting Australia for the last qualifying spot.
Board 3
The French pair bid 7♦ on the following hand [Australia stopped in 6NT]
Basically, you pull trumps and cash the spades and then play the rest of the diamonds and you need either opponent to hold both 4+ hearts and 3+ clubs. ‘Voila’, they are squeezed.
Board 10
Matt and Jamie had an accident and bid a very bad 6♠.
Late in the match, we had two big pickups to make the score closer.
Board 17 was payback for their 7♦ bid earlier.
Tomer and Andrew bid to 6♠ played by North on the following
A club lead or a heart lead [and even then you need the club finesse] is the only chance else it is no play.
Match 3
Australia vs Chinese Taipei 53 11 which converts to 15.66 4.34
Current position 10th
North – South Renee Cooper (N) Francesca McGrath (S)
East – West Tomer Libman (W) Andrew Spooner (E)
This was a good win and a great way to finishing the qualifying.
Unfortunately, we had to catch China to grab 8th place and they were playing Botswana in the final round and this was almost certainly going to be a big win for them [as it turned out]. Even France, who finished 9th with a comfortable win in their last match was going to miss as well.
Both pairs played solidly and extracted 4 large swings to amass the imp differential.
End of Qualifying Summary
Qualifying eluded Australia although they were thereabouts for the whole tournament
The Quarterfinals start tomorrow.
The draw is as follows
|
USA1 |
Qualified 1st |
vs |
Qualified 5th |
Singapore |
|
USA2 |
Qualified 3rd |
vs |
Qualified 7th |
Poland |
|
Israel |
Qualified 4th |
vs |
Qualified 6th |
Netherlands |
|
Sweden |
Qualified 2nd |
vs |
Qualified 8th |
China |
Two of the Quarterfinal matches played against each other in the last round of qualifying.
Singapore beat USA1 and Israel beat the Netherlands.
Posted by Mike and Chris on Tuesday, 14 August 2018 at 22:49