After two days of the qualifying competitions, Venezuela have moved into the lead in the National Open Teams competition, ahead of Guadeloupe. Then comes almost a match gap to Trinidad and Colombia. All seven teams are well in touch, however, for a semi-final place. In the National Ladies Teams it is Colombia from Trinidad. Only Martinique look to have a tough time to make the knock-outs. Although they are only just passed the half-way stage, the Open Teams looks to be down to five teams in the battle for the four semi-final places. Greene (USA) lead from Hackett (UK), followed by teams from Guadeloupe, Colombia and Jamaica. There is a big gap of 30 VPs to sixth place.

The Trinidad team had an excellent 20-10 win over the leaders, Colombia, in Round 5 of the National Open Teams. This deal, which was the highlight of the match, spotlights one of the Colombian pairs, who I think can fairly be said to have done rather better than their teammates on the board.

The 1§ opening was forcing but not necessarily strong and 1¨ was a negative. What the Colombian South (whose name is withheld so as to protect the guilty) thought he was doing when he doubled 4© I cannot imagine – even if he believed that it was systemically for take-out, it seems an odd choice with five-card diamond support.

Mohan Seepersand had no difficulty in making 4© doubled, of course, but not surprisingly he lost to the stiff king of hearts so missed the overtrick; +790 to Trinidad.

The auction was quite different at the other table:

Chris Galt opened a natural 1¨ and Fernando Villaba made a thin take-out double because of his ideal distribution. The auction got lively from there but the music eventually stopped in the absolute par contract of 5ª doubled.

It is very easy to see 5ª doubled being let through, declarer having four spade tricks and seven diamonds, but the Colombian defense was spot on. Javier Restrepo led the ace of hearts, on which Villaba deposited the jack! It must have seemed pretty improbable to Restrepo but he trusted his partner’s suit preference signal and switched to a diamond as requested. Villaba ruffed and cashed a club for one down; +200 to Colombia but, because of the dreadful result at the other table, 11 IMPs to Trinidad.

Paul Hackett found a nice ending on a deal from the sixth round of the Open Teams. Paul’s team, headed by Brigitte Mavromichalis, was playing against a Trinidad/USA combination captained by Naiomi Millett. This deal helped the Mavromichalis team to a maximum 25 VPs, maintaining their strong challenge for a semi-final place.

West opened a Precision 2§ , Paul overcalled 2© , and Brigitte raised him to 4© . The opening lead was the jack of clubs and Paul played low from dummy and won his ace. He next led the © J, which was covered – an error, but not important on the actual layout. Paul drew three rounds of trumps ending in hand and led a low diamond to the ten and queen. West had to exit with a diamond but now Paul took the ¨ A, crossed to the ¨ K, and led a low club towards his nine. West went in with the § 10 but was now endplayed, forced to either lead up to the ª K or § Q to establish declarer’s tenth trick; +620.

At first glance, it seems that a poor choice of opening lead gave declarer the chance to set up the endplay, but see what happens on a spade lead. After taking two spade tricks, West is endplayed. Leading a club or a spade gives up at once, so she must lead a diamond, and that diamond must be a low one as leading the queen creates a finesse position against partner’s jack. The diamond goes to the jack and king and declarer crosses to the ¨ A to pick up the hearts. After drawing trumps he exits with a diamond and West is endplayed for a second time, this time fatally.

So despite the fact that it gives declarer an easy time if he reads the position, the only defense which might defeat the contract is for West to switch to the ¨ Q at trick three. In practice, declarer is likely to misread the position and, after drawing trumps, attempt to endplay West with the third round of diamonds – one down as East gets in to push a club through the queen.

In the other room, Haig Tchamitch opened 1§ , North overcalled 1© and Brian Senior bid 1ª . When South raised to 4© , Tchamitch bid 4ª , ending the auction.

Once Tchamitch/Senior bid to 4ª the board was already won, irrespective of the fate of that contract. The precise details of the defense are not appropriate for a publication which may be seen by those of a sensitive disposition, but suffice it to say that 4ª also came home for a further +420 and 14 IMPs to the Mavromichalis team.