Simply Brilliant!
In Atlanta GA USA. The Spingold final Team Bridge24 (Jacek Kalita, Michal Nowosadzki, Rafal Jagniewski, Wojciech Gawel) tied Team Grue (Joe, Leslie Amoils, Brad Moss, Thomas Bessis, Peter Bertheau and Jacob Morgan) 112 IMPs at the end of regulation (64 Boards) .
The 8 board playoff decided the event in favor of Bridge24. 134 to 113 IMPs.
This deal declared by Kalita contributed to his teams’ victory.
Jacek Kalita
Segment 1 of 4.
Board 15. Dealer South. North-South vulnerable.
The lead was the nine of clubs, queen, two, three. First he looked for tricks from the heart suit with the ten of hearts from dummy, covered by the king, ace and two. Belived that the king was a true card. He next went after the spade suit with the four of spades, nine, jack and three.
He gave the nine of spades a look. Backing his judgement of the singleton nine, took the spades finesse to the eight when Grue followed with the five. Next he run three spades winners, Moss discarded all low diamonds.
At trick 8, cashed the ace of clubs, Moss discarded another diamond.
This was the five card ending.
Trick 9. Reading the position perfectly, Kalita exited with the four of hearts to end-play Moss into giving up the game going trick with either a diamond or a heart.
Made nine tricks for +400.
At the other table. South opened with one diamond, soon was in three diamonds. Made 9 tricks for +110.
+400 and +110 was worth 11 IMPs to Team Bridge24.
Congratulations to both teams for a well played match.
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Hi Mike,
I, too, appreciated the brilliance of the subject hand which you selected. When I was watching, I was awestruck with the ease and relative speed the declarer chose his way to making 3NT.
Truly spectacular and in the best interest of the highest level bridge. These new, relatively unknown players have convinced me that the upper crust in bridge, especially in the advances in bidding, but also the unbelievably intuitive and numerate play and defense has taken off like jets used to many years ago, with all the amazement which went with.
Thanks, Mike for chonicling what I so thoroughly also enjoyed.
Bobby
Poland has a strong bridge federation and a very good training program. Just this past June, another team of Poles won the European Open Teams Championship in Oostende. They will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
This was a thrilling match to watch on BBO, especially when you realize it was between two highly talented teams of 30 year olds. Congrats to both sides for a great show, and thanks, Mike for highlighting the expert play on this hand.