The Polish are coming!

It is no surprise that a few Polish names are starting to appear in the local bridge results. But aside from recent changes in Europe, East Anglia has a longer history of connection dating back to the Polish Air Force in World War Two. I remember two schoolmates of Polish extraction in the sixties whose names were a challenge to all new teachers.

On the European bridge scene Poland has been a force for several decades and, perhaps more importantly, has dominated Junior events for the last three championships. Those players are still at school and university but will eventually snap at the heels of those in the national team. That team did qualify for the world championships in Shanghai and here is an example from one of the established masters, Piotr Gawrys, North, in the match against Italy:

Love All,
Dealer North
  • 10
  • A
  • J975
  • AKQJ1042
  • AK8
  • K10954
  • K1086
  • 5
N
W
E
S
  • J763
  • QJ3
  • AQ42
  • 63
  • Q9542
  • 8762
  • 3
  • 987
West
North
East
South
Nunes
Gawrys
Fantoni
Chmurski
—
1*
Pass
1*
1
5
End

One club was part of the Polish Club system; either a weak no-trump, some club hands or any strong hand with 17+ HCP. East naturally led the heart queen and North won - how would you play?

Before the answer, let's take a look at what happened in the other room:

West
North
East
South
Jassem
Bocchi
Martens
Duboin
—
1
Pass
1*
X*
3NT
4
Pass
Pass
X
Pass
5
X
End

(A downside to writing about top events is need for comment on what seem to be simple auctions; here, South's one heart showed spades and West's first double showed hearts.) East led a trump, South won and played a diamond but East won the queen and had another trump to lead, down two, -300.

It looks very natural to play a diamond to score some ruffs in dummy but you cannot make five clubs that way. On winning the heart ace, Gawrys ran the spade ten. The defence could play a club and another when in with a diamond but declarer had three entries to dummy, the first two with trumps to ruff a spade each time and the last, with all defensive trumps gone, to enjoy two discards on the established spades.

Careful? Yes - special? Well, what can I say; a world champion or two playing the same hand in another match didn't make it. And note the contribution of Krzysztof Martens in defence: on a trump lead no-one – not even a Pole – can make five clubs.

Published Saturday 5.Jan.2008