Day 4: Coutts into the final

NZ National Congress – New Zealand Open Teams, semi-final

Team Coutts (Sam, Brad, Jessica, Jack, George and Hugh) beat Fraser-Hoskin (Jeremy Fraser-Hoskin, Geo Tislevoll, Fraser Rew and Joe Haffer) by 101.8 IMPs to 76 over 48 boards, and will play Joel in the final.

The semi-final, set by set

It was a match of two halves. A good first set was wiped out by a bad second one, and at the halfway point we trailed by 11.2 IMPs. We won the second half 66 to 29.

Fraser-Hoskin are a four-person team, so they played every board; the six of us shared the load. In the third set Jack James and Jessica Brake bid and made two slams that weren't bid at the other table, 7♣ and 6NT, worth 27 IMPs between them.

Hand of the day: a partscore battle

Set 4, board 24. Dealer West, nobody vulnerable.

              ♠ J 7 6 4
              ♥ Q 9 4
              ♦ J 4
              ♣ Q 9 8 6
♠ K 10 5                  ♠ 9 3 2
♥ 8 7 5 3                 ♥ J 10 2
♦ A 10 8 5 3               ♦ K Q
♣ 7                       ♣ A 10 5 4 3
              ♠ A Q 8
              ♥ A K 6
              ♦ 9 7 6 2
              ♣ K J 2

West     North    East     South
Joe      Hugh     Fraser   George
Pass     Pass     1♣*      1NT
Dbl      Pass     2♣       Pass
2♦       Dbl      All pass

*2+ clubs

Fraser's 1♣ opening in third seat was light, and Joe made an aggressive penalty double of George's 1NT overcall. Fraser, knowing that we held the majority of the points, ran to his five-card club suit. Joe tried 2♦, and my double was for takeout. George had no sensible bid, so he passed.

Joe played for the trumps to be 4-2 and set about a trump coup against George's presumed ♦J x x x. But the jack was in my hand: my ♦J 4 scored the setting trick. +100.

At the other table South played in 1NT and went one down, so the board was worth 4 IMPs to us.

The lesson: partscores can make all the difference! Both sides were fighting over a handful of IMPs here, and in a close match those IMPs add up.

Pam and Barbara in the Restricted Swiss Pairs

Pam Murphy and Barbara Giizel finished the NZ Restricted Swiss Pairs 55th of 86 pairs, with six wins and six losses, after a flying start of five wins from the first six matches. Well played!

Tomorrow

The other semi-final was a thriller. Joel (Geeske Joel, Liam Milne, James Coutts, Shane Harrison and Andy Hung) beat Ware (Michael Ware, Jamie Thompson, Hugh McGann and Matthew Thomson) by just 2.9 IMPs, 75.9 to 73.

The final: Coutts v Joel. They were the second seeds, finished second in the qualifying, and Geeske Joel and Liam Milne were the third-best pair on the qualifying datums. We met them in qualifying match 7 and won by just 7 IMPs, so we expect a close match. Fingers crossed!

Hugh