Crime and Punishment in the 2014 Lebanon Invitational

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Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky was first published in 1866. In the novel, Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. As Raskólnikov there are players who justify their bridge crimes, many of them receive an immediate punishment …

During the 7 and June 8, 2014 in the Faqra Resort Lebanon, Lebanon was played the International Invitational Teams Tournament in which participated among others : Zia Mahmood, Giorgio Duboin, Paul Chemla, Jean Christophe Quantin, Marc Bompis. Finally the team of: Zia Mahmood, Giorgio Duboin, Mirille Fayad; Nagib Gabriel Harfouche Baroudi and kept the title

The opening lead is the first card played in the playing phase of a contract bridge deal. The defender sitting to the left (LHO) of the declarer is the one who makes the opening lead. Since it is the only card played while dummy’s cards are still concealed, it can be critical for the outcome of the deal. Making the best opening lead is a combination of selecting the best suit and then the best card within that suit. With a choice of suits to lead, we tend to pick the stronger suit. The more strength we hold in the suit, the less help we need from partner to develop tricks…

In the final which was broadcasted by BBO, were playing the champion vs a Greek Team. In the last set of 12 boards, one of the greek players committed a cardinal sin and payed dearly his mistake …Lebanon 2014 Tab 18 a

 Board 18

 After South 1NT opening bid, North continued with a spade. later he showed his second suit, diamonds at the three level, forcing his partner to choose a game. With only two spades South decided to play 3NT.

 Baroudi, one of the players of the 2014 Champion, had to choose between: hearts and  clubs … as spades and diamonds were the long suit of his left opponent.  As his longest and strongest suit was hearts and as it had a broken top sequence, he led the king.

Lead: K

Declarer hold up twice and won East J with his A…but finally he had to lose: three heart tricks plus: A and A for one down.

At the other table the auction was exactly the same, so West had the same information but in this table, ignoring all traditional wisdom gathered in more than a century … he chose to led the 6.

Zia sitting in South … won in his hand, and played a spade to the K. After winning the trick he returned with a club to the the K…again he won the trick. Next came another spade to the Q, East won with his A and left his hand with a heart.

Zia played his A and run his tricks, at this stage he had 10: 4 spades, 1 heart, 4 diamonds and a club.

Zia scored +630  = 12 IMPs, only 6 boards later,  his team was consacrated the 2014 Champion of the Lebanon Teams Invitational.