Sunday, January 25th 2015
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 weekend from 23 to 25 January 2015, at the headquarters of the French Bridge Federation was played the final stages of the french DN1, where the Zimmermann team: Pierre Zimmermann, Franck Multon, Fulvio Fantoni, Claudio Nunes, Tor Helness, Geir Helgemo defeated in the final the Philippe Soulet team (Bernard Payen, Michel Lebel, Thierry de Sainte Marie, Erick Mauberquez, Christophe Oursel) by 252 to 116.
In the first set of the final, that was broadcasted on BBO, one of Soulet’s players committed a cardinal sin and payed dearly his mistake …
Board 26
In one of the tables Fantoni-Nunes arrived to 4
.
Nunes opened 1
, alerted as forcing. Fantoni answered 1 and Soulet said 1NT, to show a two colored hand with clubs and hearts. Nunes’s 2
were a cuebid, to show a strong hand with spade support.
Oursel in West, with 2
, showed heart support for a possible sacrifice and Fantoni double showed some strength after his obliged answer. As Fantunes were in a forcing game sequence, Nunes made a slam try with his 3, but his partner’s 4 showed a minimum hand and therefore it closed the bidding.
Lead: 6
Soulet led his singleton diamond, expecting the A in his partner’s hand. Fantoni won the trick with his partner ace, to continue with three trump rounds ending in his hand.
He continued with a diamond to the K, reconfirming that the suit was 4-1, he continued playing the Q and ruffed the 2 in dummy. Now he played the K and East won with his A, to play the Q, K and A. West played his J and declarer claimed 10 tricks losing two hearts and a club.
At the other table, after the bidding end, North had become the declarer of 4, receiving the same lead.
The A won the first trick, and declarer also continued with three trump rounds, this time ending in dummy.
But here North, before playing diamonds, played a club to the K. East won with his A to play the Q. North chose not to play the king. East continued with another heart and West covered the king with his heart to play the J.
This cost declarer dummy’s last trump and so when th declarer played the diamonds he never could re-enter dummy to play the last diamond. One down…
The mistake produced 12 IMPs for the champions…