Felixstowe is ... Bracing
Autumn is seriously upon us and that can only mean one thing – the Felixstowe Congress is not far away. This year it is being held over the weekend of the 11th and 12th of October in its traditional venue, Felixstowe Leisure Centre. The mixture of bridge and seaside provides a certain something; you emerge from a playing hall, head buzzing with cards to experience the blast of sea-air, wind and – if you're really lucky – spray to boot.
The format is the same as in recent years, pairs on the Saturday (qualifier then finals) and a Swiss teams on the Sunday. This year there is added spice as the pairs is Green-Pointed which is sure to heighten the competition by attracting players in search of those elusive credits.
Last year I was invited to make a up team with a partner with whom I had never played. There are bound to be a few mysteries in such an arrangement but on this hand I was safely positioned in dummy as my partner, Jyl Marsh, wrapped up game:
| Love All Dealer North | ♠ 2 | ||
| ♥ J1083 | |||
| ♦ AJ965 | |||
| ♣ J64 | |||
| ♠ J985 | ♠ Q743 | ||
| ♥ 7654 | ♥ 92 | ||
| ♦ Q10843 | ♦ K | ||
| ♣ --- | ♣ AKQ732 | ||
| ♠ AK106 | |||
| ♥ AKQ | |||
| ♦ 72 | |||
| ♣ 10985 | |||
East opened a club and south overcalled one no-trump, I used Stayman and when no heat fit came to light, settled in three no-trump. West surprised me by leading a diamond and partner hopped up with the ace, dropping east's king. Three hearts were now cashed followed by a diamond towards dummy, west rising with the queen. This was the situation:
| ♠ 2 | |||
| ♥ J | |||
| ♦ J96 | |||
| ♣ J64 | |||
| ♠ J985 | ♠ Q7 | ||
| ♥ 7 | ♥ --- | ||
| ♦ 1083 | ♦ --- | ||
| ♣ --- | ♣ AKQ732 | ||
| ♠ AK106 | |||
| ♥ --- | |||
| ♦ --- | |||
| ♣ 10985 | |||
East had been desperately encouraging a club but west would still not lead one. Unwilling to give dummy an entry with a heart or a diamond, the only thing left was a spade. The five was chosen, sealing the fate of the defence. Two top spades and a third put east on lead again. This time to fatally give a diamond trick (either then or later) to dummy.
I confess to having re-created this as tricks swapped sides in bewildering fashion. But I do recall that east made one and south emerged with nine. East needed to avoid the lead at the death and could have done so by playing the eight or nine of spades in the second diagram – far sighted indeed.
Entries for the Felixstowe Congress to Jeff Orton (01206 861 729), more details on the Suffolk website.
Published Saturday 4.Oct.2008