Swatting the MOSCITOs, Boards 1:6

Luis was nice enough to provide a writeup regarding the match.
I hope that people find it interesting

Board 1:
Nobody Vul, Dealer North.

KJT874
A
T6
A854
A632 Q5
Q754 T862
J3 K82
T72 QJ93
9
KJ93
AQ9754
K6

Board 1 was a dull NT or spade game, the naturalists
reached the spade game wich is slightly better than
3nt it could have been a 2 imp swing had their
teammates hold 3nt to 9 tricks but that didn't happen
and we begun with a push.

Open Room:

Luis Fred Ana Inquiry
-------------------------------
1s p 2d
p 2s p 3h
p 3s p 4s
p p p
-------------------------------
Op lead: cJ (rusinov)

In the open room the 2/1 auction lead to a 4 spades contract,
Gitelman didn't bid 3nt over 3h because he wasn't sure about
A854 of clubs as good stoppers and his spade suit was very
good.

Declarer took the lead in hand with the A, unblocked the hA
and played cA and ruffed a club, he discarded his last club
in the hK then he ruffed a heart in hand with the s4 and played
a diamond to the Q, he cashed the dA and his hand was down to
KJT87 of spades only so he could claim 11 tricks. Neat declarer
play by Fred Gitelman.

Closed Room

Malucy Marston Skystne Sartaj
--------------------------------
1h p 2d
p 2s p 3n
p p p
--------------------------------
Opening lead: s2

1h showed 4+ spades, 8-14 HCP. 2d was natural and non-forcing, after
Marston was able to rebid his spades Sartaj jumped all the way to 3nt
maybe to protect his rounded suit stoppers from being crossed.

After the auction a club or a heart lead would have made declarer play
safe for 9 tricks and 2 imps for the naturalists. Malucy lead a doubtful
spade 2 which let declarer quickly stablish dummy's spades, east won the
sQ and switched to hearts, west then took the sA and played a heart back
stablishing an 11th trick for declarer. +460 for no swing.

Board 2:
NS vulnerable.
East dealer.
JT9765
Q9865
-
85

K832 4
KT4 32
A8 KQ97
T732 AQJ964
AQ
AJ7
JT65432
K

Board 2 was very interesting, NS can make game in hearts
or spades and EW have a very good save in 5c down 2, events
produced two really unexpected results. The naturalists got
to 4h in the open room and EW not only didn't find the club
sacrifice but doubled 4h while in the closed room a very
curious bidding sequence made the naturalists stole the board
at 3c. But don't place your bets yet because this was
actually a 3 imp swing for the scientists in a hand where
they were fixed for a big lose.

Open Room:

Luis Fred Ana Inquiry
-------------------------------
1d p
1n 2d 3c 4h
x p p p
-------------------------------
Opening lead: c3

1d showed 10-14 and no 4 card major. 1nt was natural
and 2d by fred showed both majors a very good bid with
not many honors but extreme distribution. Inquiry read
that very well and bid 4h and luis doubled ending the
auction.

West lead the c3 and the cA brought an unexpected cK
from declarer. East switched to spades and declarer
correctly took the sA. Now declarer plan is simple, ruff
the losing club in hand avoiding a spade ruff by east so
he should have just ruffed a diamond, ruffed a club and
played hA and hJ. Maybe declarer was afraid of hearts
being 4-1 and losing control of the hand or something like
that due to west's double because he played the hJ (good
play) which west had to duck (can pd have the singleton hA?)
then he played hA and knowing hearts were 3-2 he had a blind
spot and played a third heart. West took the hK, cashed a club
and the sK to defeat the contract. A very lucky -200 for the
scientists.

Closed Room:

Malucy Marston Skystne Sartaj
--------------------------------
1c 1d
1s p 2c x
3c p p p
--------------------------------
Opening lead d2.

Skystone opened a natural 1c leting Sartaj overcall 1d, Malucy's
natural 1 spade bid silenced Marston who wasn't interested in
bidding anymore after pd diamond overcall on his void and spades
being bid by the opponents, how could he know that pd held more
points in spades than diamonds after such a start? The naturalists
stole the hand for 3c.

Sartaj lead his 7th diammond and Marston ruffed the Ace. He played
a heart to the ace and ruffed another diamond he played a spade
to pd's ace who insisted with a third round of diamonds, declarer
simply discarded a spade on the diamonds and when north couldn't
ruff that he claimed 9 tricks losing two aces and two ruffs. -110
was an unexpected 3 imp swing for the scientists.

Board 3:
All vulnerable.
Dealer: South

98
AQ94
KT43
542
K542 AJ6
J5 KT73
A86 QJ752
AQ96 7

QT73
862
9
KJT83

Board 3 was the first big swing of the night when the naturalist
declarer missplayed 3nt.

Open Room:

Luis Fred Ana Inquiry
-------------------------------
p
1n p 2c p
3c p 3n p
p p
-------------------------------

1nt showed a balanced hand with 10-14 hcp and 4 or 5 spades, 2c
was a relay and 3c showed exactly 4-2-3-4 distribution. That was
enough for east who bid 3nt ending the auction. Now declarer's
hand was known to the defenders but the hand is always cold.
Fred lead his 4th heart won in hand by declarer with the J,
declarer started diamonds playing the Ace and the 8 to the J
south showing out. He returned to hand with the sK to play a
thir diamond. North took the K and played a spade. The finesse
lost to south Q and south played the cJ. Declarer took the
safest line winning the cA and playing a heart to the K for his
9th trick.

Closed Room:

Malucy Marston Skystne Sartaj
--------------------------------
p
1c p 1d p
1s p 2n p
3n p p p
--------------------------------

The natural sequence lead to 3nt being played from the other
side, Sartaj lead the cJ and declarer had to win with the cQ,
now with all suits stopped and a good source of tricks in
diamonds he was a candidate for 10 tricks and 1 imp. Maybe
he was just too confident on his 3nt contract because he played
a spade to the J at trick 2 losing to the Q. Sartaj played the
cK declarer winning the A. Now declarer has to play diamonds for
4 tricks and hearts for 1 trick so he needs entries to play
diamonds twice and hearts once that's why he can't afford to
play the diamond Ace first and he would have had to play low
to the Q first. Nevertheless he played the dA and low to the
Q, he returned to hand with the sK to play a third diamond but
now Marson could win that trick and play his last diamond locking
declarer in his own hand, he had to concede two hearts for down
1. No what happens declarer must start diamonds before touching any
suit. 12 imps for the scientists. Ahead now 15-0

Board 4:
EW vulnerable.
Dealer: West

AK84
J4
AQ93
J63
763 T952
K98 AQT653
K8754 T
Q8 T9

QJ
72
J62
AK7542

Board 4 featured an unusual swing for the scientists
when Marston and Sartaj had a bidding accident that
made them play in a 4-3 fit with trumps 5-1 at the 5
level. In the other room the naturalists bid a classic
1n-3n in a hand that could have not been better for
sciencie since 3n was surely not a good contract.

Open Room:

Luis Fred Ana Inquiry
-------------------------------
p 1n p 3n
p p p
-------------------------------

Players of relay systems and artificial methods always use
hands like this one to show the advantage of a scientific
approach. Ana lead his 4th best heart and declarer was
inmediately down 2. The spotlight was now on the scientific
pair in the other room with the difficult task to avoid 3nt
and land in the good 5c game.

Closed Room:

Malucy Marston Skystne Sartaj
--------------------------------
p 1c 1d x
p 2h p 3c
p 3d p 3h
p 3s p 4d
p 4s p 5d
p p p
--------------------------------

Strange things happened in the bidding, Marston started with a 15+
club and Skystone 1d bid showed hearts, this wasn't understood by
North and South and they begun an accidental sequence that ended
in 5d to be played by North. Had they understood the 1d bid by
skystone they would probably have played 5 clubs.
East lead the cT won in dummy with the K, Marston cashed the SJ
and SQ and then played a diamond to the Q noticing the fall of the
ten in east. He promptly discarded both hearts in the AK of spades
west ruffing the 4th spade.
West exited with a trump to dummy's J, Marston cashed the cA and then
played a diamond to the 9 and the dA dropping the K for 12 tricks.
Neat play by Marston in a contract that wasn't the best for his side but
was surely better than 3nt.
This was 13 imps for the scientists leading now by an impressive 28-0
after just 4 boards.

Board 5.
NS vulnerable.
Dealer: North

A865
743
7542
32
KQ74 JT
QT9 AKJ65
QT6 A
K94 AQT87
932
82
KJ983
J65

Board 5 brought more impts to the scientists when
a relay auction put them in an ice-cold 6h contract
that was missed at the other table. Missing a slam
is not an option for the Moscito players.

Open Room:

Luis Fred Ana Inquiry
-------------------------------
p 1c p
1h p 1s p
2d p 2h p
3d p 3h p
3s p 4c p
4h p 6h p
p p
-------------------------------

1c was 15+, now west showed 4 spades, denied
another 4 card suit and 4-3-3-3 distribution with 12+ hcp.
with his next 3 bids. 3h asked for controls
and 3s showed 2 (they bid 1d negative with
0-1 controls). 4 clubs started a denial cuebidding
sequence asking for location of honors. 4h showed
the sK and something in hearts. That was enought to
east who bid 6h without further questions. Fred lead
a diamond and declarer claimed at trick 1.

Closed Room:

Malucy Marston Skystne Sartaj
--------------------------------
p 1h p
1s p 3c p
3h p 4h p
p p
--------------------------------

Skystone opened 1h and jumped to 3c to show his
powerful two suiter. Malucy supported hearts and it seems
like 3h shows a hand interested in slam or he would have
bid 4h. Skystone bid 4h and Malucy passed. It is not clear
who was responsible for the missed slam, Malucy has a lot
of good cards opposite a strong two suiter in the round
clubs and Skystone has certainly a very good hand after
pd bids 3h. Maybe Malucy took the 4h bid as denying a
diamond control, the missing suit. Declarer took the same
12 trick claiming at trick 4 maybe still thinking about
the missed slam.
11 imps for the scientists now ahead 39-0.

Board 6:
EW Vulnerable.
Dealer: East.

K63
92
AKT874
J5
J9 AQ8752
Q876 AT4
Q93 J5
7432 Q6

T4
KJ53
62
AKT98

In board 6 the naturalists tried a thin 3nt game
on 22 combined HCP that needed some luck, in the
other room the scientists took a different view
and bid a partscore.

Open Room:

Luis Fred Ana Inquiry
-------------------------------
1s 2c
p 2d 2s p
p 3n p p
p
-------------------------------

Inquiry showed clubs, Fred showed diamonds and then
decided that 3nt was a good shot from his side. Ana
lead his 4th spade covered by the ten, jack and king.
Now the clukcy club position let declarer run 5 club
tricks, west discarded an easy heart and east discarded
two hearts and a spade. There's nothing to do for
declarer so he claimed down 1 after cashing both diamonds
and playing a heart to the K from hand, east hand was
good.

Closed Room:

Malucy Marston Skystne Sartaj
--------------------------------
1s x
p 3d p p
p
--------------------------------

Sartaj elected to use an italian-style double over 1s and
Marston jumped to 3d to describe his hand. Without help in
diamonds or spades Sartaj was happy to pass that.
Skystone lead the spade Ace giving away a trick but 3d was
always cold with the hA well placed. +130 for the scientists
adding 5 imps to their account. 44-0

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