Hi, this is Luc Bellicaud! I’m a French junior, representing my country at the World Youth Bridge Teams Championships, which just started in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. In these daily articles, I will drive you through the U31 championship, with some insights and some interesting boards.
For the running score in the U31 series, click HERE.
For all results in the World Youth Teams Championship, click HERE.

Day 8 – The FINAL!

It’s time for the much-awaited final of the championship! Our opponents are Belgium, a team that we are well acquainted with. We have played against them several times during the Channel Trophy, an annual competition involving teams from France, the Netherlands, England, and Belgium. While we have emerged victorious more often than not, we have also suffered a few defeats at their hands.

First segment

Our opponents started with an inspired play in 5♥X, where they had to guess whether the ♦10 lead came from a singleton or a doubleton.

The bidding sequence was the same in both rooms, except that the double at the end was made by East in the other room. 4♦ is not showing fit, but the players seating East knew that the bidding was not going to end in 4♦ and wanted to help partner to take the right action over 5♥ or to lead.

After a diamond was led at both tables, my teammate at the other table rose with the ♦A, while our opponent, at our table, van Overmeire chose to duck the trick and break our communication to cash 2 diamond tricks: 13 IMPs to them.

What happened afterwards was a bit surrealistic, as our opponents had some big misunderstandings and went down three slams between boards 5 and 8. My teammates bid those boards correctly and it was 38 IMPs back to us in a blink of an eye!

On the penultimate board, I faced a difficult decision. The bidding started, all vulnerable:

I held:
♠ K Q J 6 3
♥ A 9 7
♦ Q J 7 4
♣ K 

The situation is very dangerous, especially at these vulnerabilities, as it’s unlikely that 3NT is a psych/semi-psych. 4♠ seems like a total all-in and could end up with a minus 1400. But it seems right to double: 

• When the double game is possible (both you and the opponents are making a game), it’s often a good idea to bid.
• Even if the opponents are making 3NT, they might get scared: they didn’t see your cards and the king of clubs could be offside for down 2!

So I finally opted for a double, Romaric bid 4♣ as a choice of games and I concluded the auction with 4♠.

	♠ 8 ♥ T 4 ♦ T 5 ♣ A J 7 6 5 4 3 2
♠ K Q J 6 3 ♥ A 9 7 ♦ Q J 7 4 ♣ K			♠ T 9 7 5 4 ♥ K Q 6 5 3 ♦ K 6 ♣ Q
		♠ A 2 ♥ J 8 2 ♦ A 9 8 3 2 ♣ T 9 8

4♠ made with an overtrick, while 3NT was making on the natural spade lead. In the other room, Colin sacrificed in 5♣X for down one – 10 IMPs to us!

We finished the first segment with a very nice lead of 33 IMPs. As usual, we didn’t play the second segment with Romaric and let Raphaël and Mélic in.

Second segment

It started very badly for Raphaël and Mélic, as Clovis Dehaye found a successful reopening double with

♠ 7
♥ K Q T 8 5
♦ A Q 5 2
♣ 9 8 6 

after this auction:

It was quite speculative, and it could help the opponents to find back a spade partscore or even a game. But this time, he hit the jackpot:

	♠ 7 ♥ K Q T 8 5 ♦ A Q 5 2 ♣ 9 8 6
♠ J 9 8 4 ♥ 6 4 3 2 ♦ K T 8 6 ♣ 2			♠ K 6 2 ♥ A 9 7 ♦ 9 7 ♣ A Q T 5 3
		♠ A Q T 5 3 ♥ J ♦ J 4 3 ♣ K J 7 4

Raphaël and Mélic “escaped” in 2♠ for 1100 and lost 15 IMPs when at the other room, our teammates went down in 3NT.

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On board 4, Mélic had a very optimistic view when bidding an exclusion in 5♣ with three small hearts, expecting fewer points in clubs in partner’s hand after the vulnerable club overcall.

	♠ – ♥ A 3 ♦ Q J 2 ♣ J T 9 8 7 6 5 4
♠ 4 2 ♥ K Q T 6 5 ♦ 8 4 ♣ A K Q 2			♠ A J 9 8 5 ♥ 7 4 2 ♦ A K 9 5 3 ♣ –
		♠ K Q T 7 6 3 ♥ J 9 8 ♦ T 7 6 ♣ 3

The slam is atrocious but happened to make on a miracle when Dehaye missed the club lead and didn’t put declarer in test by ducking the heart.

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On board 22, Colin and Pierre found an excellent slam with not too many points between them, with a great fit facing a two-suiter, aces and ruffs are the key.

	♠ 5 ♥ A 9 8 5 ♦ A J 8 5 ♣ A 9 8 2
♠ A 9 8 6 4 ♥ T 7 2 ♦ Q 3 ♣ 6 4 3			♠ Q 7 ♥ K Q J 6 4 3 ♦ 9 ♣ K Q 7 5
		♠ K J T 3 2 ♥ – ♦ K T 7 6 4 2 ♣ J T

*3♣ = Ghestem: a very french convention showing 5+♦ and 5+♠

**4♣ = Diamond fit, game try +

11 deserved IMPs on this one! At the end of the segment, we added another 12 IMPs to our total and we were now leading by 45!

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Third segment

On the very first board, Romaric held:

♠ J
♥ A Q 7
♦ Q J 8 7 5 4 2
♣ K T 

Should you bid 4♥ or 4♣ with this hand? Romaric picked 4♣ and I very much agree with his decision: he could have something like ♠xx ♥K98 ♦KQJ985 ♣J5 and his actual hand is much stronger. I continued the bidding with Blackwood and we ended up in a good 6♥ contract:

♠ A K Q 9 6 ♥ K J 5 4 2 ♦ 6 ♣ A 4

♠ J ♥ A Q 7 ♦ Q J 8 7 5 4 2 ♣ K T

My left-hand opponent led the ♦10, for the Ace and a low diamond return. I was very scared of an overruff, so I played the ♥K and was quite disappointed to see the ♦K on my left (sneaky lead!). Fortunately, hearts were 3-2 and I still made my contract. 11 IMPs to us when they elected 4♥ instead of 4♣ in the other room!

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On board 5, Raphaël found the right way to limit the damages in 4♥ doubled:

	♠ K 7 5 ♥ A 7 6 4 3 ♦ K J ♣ J T 8
♠ 6 4 ♥ K J T 8 2 ♦ Q 2 ♣ A 9 4 2			♠ Q J T 8 2 ♥ – ♦ T 9 4 3 ♣ K 6 5 3
		♠ A 9 3 ♥ Q 9 5 ♦ A 8 7 6 5 ♣ Q 7

East led the ♠Q, and Raphaël immediately cashed his ♠AK and ♦AK, before exiting with the ♣Q. In the other (my) room, the declarer took the lead with the ♠A and played the ♣Q. I won with the Ace and played returned a second spade, taken by declarer, who then tried the ♣10 –  Romaric was awake and played the King, followed by the high spade on which I discarded my diamond loser. Now declarer had to lose 6 tricks and 800 to us, whereas Raphaël went down 2 for -500. 7 IMPs to us.

Belgium won twice 10 IMPs in 3NT, when we didn’t find difficult killing leads each time. The segment finished with two disasters on each side: Belgium had a Blackwood misunderstanding and stopped in 5♥ with 12 top tricks, while Raphaël and Mélic doubled 3NT with 11 spades in the line. The contract was supposed to be 3 down, but they ended up with only 4 defensive tricks after a misdefense… 15 IMPs to Belgium as 4♠ was cold.

We lost the segment by two IMPs, and still had a 43-IMP lead before the last 14 boards. Of course, we were confident but still wary, as they already came back from big deficits in their previous matches.

Fortunately, the boards were too flat for them to even hope for a comeback in the last segment. Romantic and I blew 20 IMPs away when I made a speculative lead in 5♥ which happened not to be successful and he then went down in a 3NT he could have made. Not enough for them, and we won the match by 23 IMPs!

What a championship this was! We were not favorites at all, but with some good luck against Poland and decent play in the semifinal and the final matches, we ended up with this great victory after being negative at the beginning of the second round-robin match…

Merci a tous for following our journey!

Day 7 – The Semifinal

In the semifinal round of the U31 World Teams Championship, we faced the skilled team of India, which had won their quarterfinal match by only 2 IMPs against Bulgaria. One of their pairs had come to the top position in the Butler of the qualifying rounds, and they were also the first reserve pair for their national open team.

Our team had devised a strategic ploy. We decided to pit Romaric and myself against their top pair, relying on our more straightforward playing style, while keeping the other table open for creative masterstrokes.

Our strategy paid off. We secured a brilliant start by winning the first segment with a 34-IMP lead. The Indians managed to win the next 3 sets, however, our initial advantage proved decisive, and we won the match by 25 IMPs overall! We qualified for THE FINAL of the World Championship!

Here is a board where I found myself in a less-than-ideal contract and had to mitigate the potential loss:

North led the ♥A and dummy (East) came down:

♠ A 9 5 4 3 ♥ 6 ♦ K 9 ♣ K Q T 4 2

♠ Q T 2 ♥ 9 4 3 ♦ A Q 6 3 ♣ 9 6 3

Both me and Romaric had a slightly optimistic view it seemed, especially after the penalty double. This is not the worst contract I’ve ever played but it can go down a lot quite quickly if things go wrong…

After winning the opening lead, North continued with another heart, which I ruffed.

Now, I wanted to develop the clubs without losing control, so I went to dummy by playing a diamond to Queen. (North signaled even number of cards, and East – odd). I then called for the ♣9 and when South followed in tempo with the ♣8, I played the ♣K, which North won with the ♣A. I ruffed the following heart returned and I was only left with 3 trumps in my hand. According to the bidding and the signals, I figured out South should have a 4333 shape, with likely ♠KJxx to justify his double. If those assumptions were correct, I had one more to make – who has the ♣J? I felt that with ♣J8x, South could’ve covered, or thought about it, or just play small. The 8 was a really weird card. So I cashed my ♣Q and voilà! ♣J dropped from behind me! Now I played a spade to ♠10, South won with the ♠J and was in a position to win only one more trick until the end. The whole board:

	♠ 8 ♥ A Q T 8 7 2 ♦ T 5 4 2 ♣ A J
♠ A 9 5 4 3 ♥ 6 ♦ K 9 ♣ K Q T 4 2		♠ Q T 2 ♥ 9 4 3 ♦ A Q 6 3 ♣ 9 6 3
	♠ K J 7 6 ♥ K J 5 ♦ J 8 7 ♣ 8 7 5

Down 1 in 4♠X, compared to down 1 in 4♥X against our teammates at the other table, resulted in only a 7-IMP loss, which felt good compared to how much worse things could’ve gone. 

Tomorrow is the big day, the final, where we are facing our neighbors from Belgium. 

Allez les bleus!

Day 6 – The Quarterfinal

In our quarterfinal match, we faced off against the formidable team of Poland, and although we won our match against them in the qualifications by several IMPs, playing against the Poles is never easy. The match consisted of four segments of 14 boards, and it was a closely contested battle. After the first set, we managed to take a lead of 6 IMPs. However, in the second set, we suffered a heavy loss, losing by 32 IMPs. We got 11 IMPs back in the second set but we were still 15 behind before the last segment! In the end, we emerged victorious by 7 IMPs, with our teammate Colin Deheeger making a brilliant play in the last set, earning us 11 IMPs, and getting us to the semifinals!

*2NT = Invitational or better with 4-card support in spades

**3♦ = Long suit game try

North led a diamond and dummy (East) came down:

♠ 5 ♥ A Q 8 5 3 ♦ T 7 5 4 ♣ T 3 2

♠ A 3 ♥ J 9 7 2 ♦ J 3 ♣ A K J 9 7

South won with the ♦K and returned the ♠K. How would you play?

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Colin thought that If South had ♠KQ and ♦AK plus the ♥K, he could bid directly to 4♠ and also North would not have enough to bid 2NT. So he won the spade return in dummy and played a heart to the Ace, dropping the singleton King of Hearts, making the contract!

	♠ J T 9 8 4 ♥ K ♦ Q 6 2 ♣ Q 8 5 4
♠ 5 ♥ A Q 8 5 3 ♦ T 7 5 4 ♣ T 3 2		♠ A 3 ♥ J 9 7 2 ♦ J 3 ♣ A K J 9 7
	♠ K Q 7 6 2 ♥ T 6 4 ♦ A K 9 8 ♣ 6

Semifinals, here we come!

Day 5

Today was the last day of the Round Robin (all-play-all), with only three matches left to play. We had a good lead before it, but we could still throw it away as we were facing some direct opponents for the qualification. We started against Bulgaria, just next to us in the ranking. After an even fight, we won 14 IMPs on the last board when my teammate Colin Dehegeer preempted spades with 6♣, facing a 3NT gambling with ♠J ♥AKQT2 ♦QJ876 ♣76. He was happily surprised to make the contract when his partner actually held a diamond void! As his teammates brought 5♠X-1, it was almost a 4VPs decision (we won 13.72 VPs from the match). We continued with a match against our neighbors, Belgium. Their best pair was on the bench, and we had a convincing 17.5 VPs win. At this point, we had almost secured the 5th place, and we could not reach the 4^th position, which was more than 20 VPs ahead. Our last match against Croatia was for peanuts, but we still scored 14 Vps. At the same time, Scotland entered for the first time in the top 8 and squeezed Taiwan and the Netherlands on the gong! 

At least, we were very detached from 6^th place and nobody actually wanted to pick us for the quarterfinal, so we ended up against the 4^th, Poland. We’re both not happy to play each other at this stage, but here it is!

Here is a board against Belgium where we had some cautious and stopped before the game in 3♥. I had a pretty nice 16 count and overcalled 1♥ NV against NV over the opponent’s 1♣ opening.
♠ K 3 2
♥ A Q T 7 4 3
♦ K 9
♣ A T 

*X = 4+♠
**2♣ = 6+♦
***2NT = a weak 3♣ bid or some strong spade fit 

My hand is quite embarrassing, as I’m a bit too strong for a 3♦ or a 3♥ bid. In this kind of case, you have to start with a double and bid your suit afterwards.

	♠ K 3 2 ♥ A Q T 7 4 3 ♦ K 9 ♣ A T
♠ A 8 ♥ 8 5 ♦ Q J ♣ K Q J 7 6 5 4			♠ Q T 9 6 5 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ 5 4 3 ♣ 3 2
		♠ J 7 4 ♥ J 6 ♦ A T 8 7 6 2 ♣ 9 8

The game has around 25% chance to make (both the K♥ and the Q♠ need to be onside), so it was quite a good to stop in 3♥: 5 IMPs to us!

See you tomorrow for the quarterfinals!

Day 4

Today was our easiest day on paper: we played some average and some low-ranked teams. Sadly, our opponents played quite decently and it didn’t go very well. We started with a small loss against Turkey (8.5 VPs), where both teams didn’t play well. Then we played two very inspired teams: first Hong Kong, against which we scored 6 VPs and then Singapore, who took all the right decisions to let us only get 6 Imps and 3.5 VPs. Fortunately, we finished with a huge victory against Slovenia (18.5 VPs), with some solid play. An average of 9 VPs for the day, which was not very satisfying. With three matches to go, we still have a 15VPs lead to the team placing 9^th: it would now be very disappointing if we don’t make it to the quarter-final.

	♠ A 9 7 5 ♥ J 7 ♦ A 4 3 ♣ A T 8 7
♠ J 6 4 3 ♥ 6 3 ♦ T 8 ♣ Q J 9 5 3			♠ Q 8 ♥ A 4 2 ♦ K J 7 6 2 ♣ K 6 4
		♠ K T 2 ♥ K Q T 9 8 5 ♦ Q 9 5 ♣ 2

Let me show you a classic squeeze made by our opponent Jazlene Ong on the last board of the match against Singapore. She received the lead of the ♦T, won it with the ♦A in dummy and played a low heart. Romaric very correctly raised with the ace and gave me a diamond ruff, after cashing the ♦K. I exited with a club (a spade would immediately give the contract away). Now Jazlene went up with the ace, ruffed a club, went back in dummy through the precious ♥J, ruffed another club and cashed all the trumps. I was squeezed in the black suits, and I had no other hope than to find the ♠K in Romaric’s hand. I discarded a second spade and the declarer could just make three spade tricks.

	♠ A 9 7 5 ♥ J 7 ♦ A 4 3 ♣ A T 8 7
♠ J 6 4 ♥ 6 3 2 ♦ T 8 ♣ Q J 9 5 3			♠ Q 8 3 ♥ A 4 ♦ K J 7 6 2 ♣ K 6 4
		♠ K T 2 ♥ K Q T 9 8 5 ♦ Q 9 5 ♣ 2

But here is a small variation of the defensive cards. Do you notice how to make the contract? You have to ruff a club first to create the club threat! If you start with a heart, East can raise with the ace, give a ruff and West can kill the squeeze by playing a second round of hearts. Would you have thought about this whole stuff and started by a club ruff? Not easy…

If, like me, you are too bad of a declarer, you can play some good conventions to put the overcaller on lead, as our teammates did:

Still one imp to us!

Day 3

We are now starting to have our routine: three victories and one huge defeat. Today, we beat Germany (17VPs), Latvia (19 VPs) and the Netherlands (18 VPs) and collapsed against the leader Israel, in a match that we really sabotaged. We are still in 6^th place, now with a nice 26 VPs lead of the 9^th place. It starts looking good!

Today, you’ll defend with Romaric’s hand. Here is the bidding:

	♠ K 8 4 ♥ K Q ♦ K Q T 7 6 2 ♣ 8 6
♠ T 6 ♥ A T 9 8 4 2 ♦ 9 5 4 ♣ K 5

You lead the ♣K in your partner’s suit which holds the trick, partner follows with the ♣3 and declarer ♣2. What do you do now?

Let’s analyze the first trick. Since your ♣K could be a singleton, your partner just played a suit preference signal and encouraged in ♦ with his lowest spot in ♣. Seems like declarer has 4 diamonds, as the bidding sequence suggests. So now that you want to give him a diamond ruff, which card to play? Do you think that you will always take 2♣ a ruff and the A♥ and that it doesn’t matter?

Now watch your partner’s point of view if you play a lazy ♦4, here is the full board:

	♠ K 8 4 ♥ K Q ♦ K Q T 7 6 2 ♣ 8 6
♠ T 6 ♥ A T 9 8 4 2 ♦ 9 5 4 ♣ K 5			♠ J 5 2 ♥ 7 5 3 ♦ – ♣ A Q T 9 7 4 3
		♠ A Q 9 7 3 ♥ J 6 ♦ A J 8 3 ♣ J 2

What if the actual diagram was actually this one instead:

	♠ K 8 4 ♥ K Q ♦ K Q T 7 6 2 ♣ 8 6
♠ T 6 ♥ J T 9 8 4 2 ♦ 9 5 4 ♣ K J			♠ J 5 2 ♥ 7 5 3 ♦ – ♣ A Q T 9 7 4 3
		♠ A Q 9 7 3 ♥ A 6 ♦ A J 8 3 ♣ J 2

Now the only card beating the contract after the diamond ruff is to play back a small club to partner ♣J. Will he be brave enough to try it? You don’t know, but don’t give him a chance to get it wrong, and play the ♦9 as Romaric did. Now you can be sure partner is not going to blame you!

Minus 2 was worth 11 IMPs when they didn’t find the diamond ruff at all in the other room!

Day 2

Today was our Asian day: after a match against Serbia, we played 3 Asian countries: India, Taiwan and China. We won by a small margin against India and Serbia, and scored almost 20 against Taiwan but also almost a 0 against China. Decent results overall, but we were a bit disappointed after the big defeat at the end. After 8th out of 19 qualifying rounds, we are currently running at 6^th place, with the top 8 teams progressing to the quarterfinals. Israel is still leading the tournament, with an impressive average of 15 VPs per match!

On the third board against Taiwan, I get this beautiful hand:

♠ J 9 2
♥ Q T 4
♦ Q 8 3
♣ Q 5 4 3 

*3NT = a 4M opening with an extra trick

*4♥ = Pass with hearts or correct with spades

The vulnerability is favorable, should I bid 5♥? Let’s try to construct an average partner’s hand: I can expect partner to have 7 hearts led by the ace and the king and some minor Ace or King. On average, I should be losing 300 points, but 100 and 500 are also possible. Are they making 4♠? Can’t be sure at all, my queens and the jack of spades could be annoying for declarer, but overall they are favorites to make. So what do I do? In case of doubt, just bid on in these high-level situations: a bad decision should not be super expensive (-1 against -1), but a good one could bring a lot of IMPs! Furthermore, if you pass, you’re guaranteed that the opponents won’t make any bidding mistake… They could forget the double or bid 5♠, who knows!

After a long thought, Guo passed his partner’s double. Dummy was very close to my expectations,  but the jack and 10 of clubs were not looking like a great help in 5♥ and could make 4♠ go down.

	♠ J 9 2 ♥ Q T 4 ♦ Q 8 3 ♣ Q 5 4 3
♠ T 8 7 3 ♥ J 5 ♦ T 9 5 ♣ K 9 7 2			♠ A K Q 5 4 ♥ 3 ♦ A K 7 4 2 ♣ 8 6
		♠ 6 ♥ A K 9 8 7 6 2 ♦ J 6 ♣ A J T

Fortunately, the ♣K was off side, and we lost only 300 against their vulnerable game: 8 IMPs in our column!

Day 1

I didn’t think the start could be that bad: after the first match, we had negative VPs! We had a 1 VP penalty for sending our convention cards late (just like our friends from Belgium) and scored almost 0 against Romania which played close to perfection. Fortunately, the day developed much better: we had ~10-IMP victories against Poland and the USA and a big win against Scotland!

Do you play Landy? This is a widely used convention to show both majors over the opponents’ 1NT opening by bidding 2♣. If so, do you know how to react if the baddies try to penalize you?

(1NT) – 2♣* – (X) – ?
*2♣ – Landy = at least 5-4 in both Majors

Here is what I play with my partner:

• Passing suggests playing 2♣X, with long clubs and no major fit
• 2♦ is natural and a suggestion to play, with long diamonds and no major fit
• XX asks partner to bid their longer major, just like you would have done with 2♦ if RHO had passed.

Now put yourself into my partner’s shoes: you hold ♠AQT8 ♥QJT53 ♦- ♣AQ94 and the bidding starts:

(1NT) – 2♣* – (X) – Pass
(Pass) – ?

So partner had suggested playing 2♣X and the 1NT opener seems happy to play this contract when you actually hold 4 of them! Do you trust your partner and pass?

The auction is quite hard to believe, but the actual layout makes perfect sense:

	♠ 9 5 2 ♥ 2 ♦ 7 6 4 3 ♣ T 8 7 3 2
♠ K J 4 3 ♥ K 7 6 4 ♦ Q J T 9 ♣ 5			♠ 7 6 ♥ A 9 8 ♦ A K 8 5 2 ♣ K J 6
		♠ A Q T 8 ♥ Q J T 5 3 ♦ – ♣ A Q 9 4

I have to say I was not proud when laying down the dummy, and was very surprised to score +280! Our teammates chose a pragmatic 3NT after the 2♣ overcall and made 9 tricks, 13 IMPs win!