LONDON TROPHY FINALS – 2008by Michael Hill On 1st June, the Royal Automobile Club once again generously provided a venue for the finals of the London Trophy, the LMBA competition for sports and social clubs. Three matches were played simultaneously using the same boards - the final for the London Trophy itself, the play-off for third place between the losing semi-finalists and the final of the Della-Porta Plate, the competition for first round losers in the London Trophy.
The three matches were: -
London Trophy final: Old St. Georges Old Boys and Girls vs. Old Actonians
Third place play-off: Department of Children, Schools and Families vs. Dulwich College
Della-Porta Plate final: N.U.T. vs. IBM
The first big swing was not long in coming.
Board 2 Dealer E. NS game. S K962 H A76 D AQ4 C K96 S 1073 S Q84 H 10984 H 532 D J106 D 532 C A87 C Q1032 S AJ5 H KQJ D K987 C J54
Every South opened 1NT (strong) or 1D (if playing a weak NT), intending to rebid 1NT and, at three tables, North signed off in 3NT after a brief exploration for a suit fit. However, in the Trophy final, both Norths felt they were worth a try of 4NT. Old Actonians’ South considered his hand was an absolute minimum, so he had no hesitation in passing but Old St Georges’ South produced the Blackwood response of 5D and North signed off in 6NT. At the sixth table, the N.U.T. South chose to rebid 2NT instead of 1NT at her first opportunity, and North not unreasonably raised to 6NT. With the spade queen and club ace onside and both diamonds and spades breaking 3-3, the slam can be made by playing a club towards the king early on but, in practice, eleven tricks were made at every table, so Old Actonians and IBM both gained swings of 760 points.
Board 4 provided another big swing to both Old Actonians and IBM
Board 4 Dealer W. Game all. S K102 H 9873 D 75 C K765 S AQ9543 S 7 H 4 H KJ102 D KQ8 D AJ32 C J102 C A983 S J86 H AQ65 D 10964 C Q4
Generally, East-West found their way to 3NT via a simple 1S – 2C – 2S – 3NT sequence, although one table found their way to 4S after East bid only 2NT at her second turn and one to 5C after West chose to raise clubs rather than rebid spades at his second turn. Against 3NT, two Souths looked no further than fourth highest of their longest and strongest suit, hearts and this was declarer’s a ninth trick when the club suit behaved. The other two Souths both chose to lead a diamond (one the 10, one the 4) and this gave the defence a chance, albeit taken at only one of the two tables. On the D4 lead, Cecil Leighton for Old St Georges won in D8 in dummy and immediately ran the CJ to South’s queen. South exited with another diamond and the C10 was led from dummy and covered by the king (correctly, in case South’s doubleton club was Q8 or Q9). Declarer now took his best chance of making the contract by playing a spade to the queen but North won and led a heart to the jack and queen and South exited with a diamond. This effectively severed declarer’s communications. If he won in dummy to cash the SA before taking his minor suit winners, he would concede the last two trick to the HA and SJ; if he overtook the diamond to cash his minor suit winners (as he did), he was cut off from the SA and would concede two of the last three tricks in hearts. With the club and spade games having no play, this hand generated a game swing (700 or 800 points) in all three matches. Old Actonians and IBM moved further ahead, whilst D.C.S.F. gained their first real advantage.
Board 5 provided another game swing for no particular reason to each of the three leading teams and then came Board 6, showing huge differences in hand valuation, albeit helped a little by opposition bidding.
Board 6 Dealer E. EW game. S 84 H J5 D K10754 C 10763 S AQJ975 S 632 H KQ87 H A942 D J2 D 9 C A C Q9854 S K10 H 1063 D AQ863 C KJ2
At five of the tables, South opened 1NT and, at two tables, West simply overcalled 2S and that ended the auction. At the other three, West doubled and North rescued to 2D. Twice this was passed back to West who bid 2S, once ending the auction and once leading to game when East raised to 3S. At the third of these tables, East chose to bid 2H over North’s 2D and this led to the heart game. At the sixth table, where a strong no trump was in use, South opened 1D and North raised pre-emptively to 3D over West’s double. East bid 3H and, confident of diamond shortage opposite, West bid the slam. Twelve tricks were made at every table, leading to the bizarre results of a flat board in 4H/S+2 in the Trophy final, a flat board in 2S+4 in the Plate final but a massive swing of 1200 points to DCSF in the play off for 6H, making, against 2S+4! Not a good hand for the strong no trump.
Old St Georges got 500 points back on Board 7 when the Old Actonians’ South mislaid an ace in his hand and opened a 17-count with a weak 1NT, so missing a straightforward game. Then they got another 550 points back on the next board when Old Actonians over-stretched to a hopeless slam. Meanwhile, IBM also registered significant swings on these two boards to go even further ahead in the Plate.
There was another 450 points back for Old St Georges on Board 11. Their pair bid, perhaps slightly luckily, to the cold 6D when West opened a weak 1NT and East forced in diamonds on five to the queen, albeit in a strong hand. At the other five tables, the bidding was simply 1NT – 3NT.
Board 12 was a rather dull part-score so, at half time, Old Actonians led by 950 points in the Trophy final, D.C.S.F. by 2930 points in the play-off and IBM by 3170 points in the Plate. Everything to play for in the Trophy final, but something of a mountain to climb for Dulwich College and N.U.T. in the play-off and the Plate.
The second half started quietly with a solid game bid at every table, but the peace was to be rudely shattered on the next board.
Board 14 Dealer E. Love all. S K H AK1097 D J952 C J108 S QJ5 S 843 H - H QJ863 D AQ8743 D K10 C 9754 C AQ6 S A109762 H 542 D 6 C K32
Only one East chose to open 1NT in modern style, the rest choosing 1H. The 1NT opening was by the Dulwich College East, in the play-off, and West chose to remove to 2D. This perhaps encouraged the D.C.S.F. North to compete with 2H, which South raised to 3H. There was no defence to this and, when the D.C.S.F. East-West at the other table made eight tricks in 1NT (after the simple auction 1H – 1NT), they had gained a swing of 260 points. In the Plate, the IBM West also played in 1NT after the same auction, albeit making nine tricks but, at the other table, there was rather more bidding. South found an overcall of 1S (why not?) and West decided he was worth 2D. East perforce rebid her hearts and West now pushed the boat out with 3C. East showed preference with 3D and West gave the boat a further shove with 4D, which ended the auction. He managed to salvage eight tricks but that still gave D.C.S.F. a swing of 240 points. The real excitement occurred in the Trophy final. When Old St Georges sat East-West, the final contract was 2H after a simple 1H – 2D – 2H auction, and it drifted quietly three-off after South led his singleton diamond. The auction was similar at the other table except that South put in a 1S overcall and this allowed (encouraged?) North to double the final 2H contract. South led the SA, crashing her partner’s king, and switched to her singleton diamond. Declarer won in hand and exited with a small heart. After a diamond ruff and a spade ruff, North switched to the CJ and declarer erred by covering with the queen. South won the CK and returned the suit, setting up a second defensive club trick. Declarer won with the ace and again exited with a heart, and North cashed the CJ and exited with a diamond. It didn’t matter whether declarer ruffed this or ran it to dummy, discarding his spade. He had a trump more, so could not avoid letting North make both his remaining trumps. This was four down, and a score of 800 for a net swing of 650 points. The match was getting close!
The zigzag in the Trophy final continued. Old St Georges missed a straightforward game on Board 15, then compensated by bidding a slam missed by their opponents on the next board. N.U.T. were the only other pair to bid that slam, so pulling back 500 points of IBM’s lead. Their fight-back continued on the next board when IBM missed a game bid at every other table, but Nemesis was lurking. This was Board 18.
Board 18 Dealer E. NS game. S K9763 H J63 D 952 C 104 S 852 S AQJ10 H 10975 H 4 D J1086 D AK C KQ C A98632 S 4 H AKQ82 D Q743 C J75
At every table, East opened 1C, South overcalled 1H and this was passed back to East. Old Actonians’ East re-opened with a jump to 2S, which brought a raise to 3S from West. East showed the extra length with 4C and West raised to game. Old St Georges East considered the hand worth only a 1S rebid, eliciting preference to 2C from his partner. He now made a try with 2H but, over the 2NT reply, bid 3C and played there. There was little to the play, declarer losing just a heart and a spade at both tables – but that was still a swing of 250 points to Old Actonians. In the play-off, the Dulwich College East re-opened with 3C and played there. When he collected eleven tricks, he may have envisaged losing on the board but, after the D.C.S.F. East re-opened with 1S, his team-mate with the South hand tried 2H. This again was passed back to East whose 3C ended the auction. However, in the play, he tried the greedy line of two spade finesses when in dummy with the top trumps, duly sustained a ruff and was held to ten tricks, for a surprising swing of 20 points to Dulwich College. North-South were even more aggressive in the Plate final. After the N.U.T. East re-opened with 1S, IBM’s South tried 2D and North gave preference to 2H, ending the auction. This drifted quietly two off but did nothing to prepare anyone for what happened at the other Plate table. There, East re-opened with 3C but South was still there with an adventurous 3H (well, her team were losing quite heavily and she needed something good to happen). North raised to 4H and, not entirely surprisingly, East found a double. When the smoke cleared, South had collected just six tricks and conceded a net swing of 1000 points to IBM. Nemesis indeed.
The next few boards were relatively flat, although D.C.S.F. continued to pick up a few swings and, after 22 boards, there was no way back for N.U.T. or Dulwich College, but the Trophy final was still too close to call. Old Actonians were in the lead by just 210 points. Board 23 was to settle the matter.
Board 23 Dealer S. Game all. S 1098543 H 104 D 8 C J972 S AK S J76 H AJ96 H K73 D Q10953 D AKJ42 C K3 C Q10 S Q2 H Q852 D 76 C A8654
At both tables, West opened 1D and was raised to 3NT. Old Actonians’ West, perhaps wary of his weak diamond suit, was content with that but Old St Georges’ West jumped to 6NT. Against the slam, South led the CA and continued the suit. Cecil Leighton, as declarer, made no mistake. He won the CK, cashed his diamond winners and the AK of spades before crossing to the HK and cashing the SJ. In the two-card ending, everyone held only hearts, so there was no alternative to the simple (and successful) finesse. That slam swing was enough to put Old St Georges into the lead for the first time in the match and, with the last board a routine game, they had won the Trophy for the second time in three years.
It was perhaps appropriate that Cecil Leighton should again be part of the team winning an event which he has run since its inception thirty years ago.
Results
Trophy: Old St Georges Old Boys and Girls beat Old Actonians by 540 points
Third place play-off: Department of Children, Schools and Families beat Dulwich College by 6000 points
Plate: IBM beat N.U.T. by 3940 points
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