Dubious Logic

The Schapiro Spring Fours

The Schapiro Spring Fours at Stratford is a double elimination knock-out that is held over the May-Day bank holiday. The 'double elimination' part means you have two lives – lose twice and you're out. If that sounds a little daunting I will quickly add that it is regarded as the best competition in the calendar. Routinely attracting teams from Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands there were Bulgarians, Poles and Germans there too. This is your chance to test your mettle against some of the best players in the world and a lot of people can see the attraction in that; entries this year continued to rise and at 57 teams, were the highest for more than fifteen years.

Entering into the international spirit, I was in a team with a Scot, an Australian and a Norwegian. Underwriting the attraction of the Spring Fours, the Australian booked a flight from Sydney when we were still a team of three. Our eventual team of six, comprising three relatively recent partnerships, was formed to provide some respite if cracks started to appear in the heat of competition. And here there were sure to be a lot of pressure situations – consider your decision here as North, they are vulnerable, you are not and last to speak with possibly the best hand at the table:

• AKQ1097
• AQ86
• 9
• 65

1. 1NT = 15-17
2. Pre-emptive

Any chance of a sensible route to the best contract has gone, now it looks more like poker. It is fairly clear to bid: it's unlikely that they are so far from making game and even if you are sacrificing a level too high, the marginal cost will be a small insurance against the risk they can actually make six clubs. The full deal:

Yes, that East hand isn't quite as advertised but I did say the opponents were out to make life difficult for you. You can't quibble with West though: he bid what he could make. Six hearts was smartly doubled and down two for -300.

In the other room the auction was less direct and when South deliberated over six clubs, he caused problems for his partner after West's conversion to six diamonds. North who also hadn't managed to bid his spades, was happy to be on lead but less sanguine about defeating a contract played by East. The director ruled that the tempo break might have assisted North and we won 8.4 IMPs – enough to win the match but not enough to stop them winning our group of three and taking one of our precious two lives.

Published Saturday 10.May.2008