BRIDGE
Bid boldly
Andrew Robson
TO anyone who claims that women play bridge too timidly, I report the following deal from the final of the 1998 World Championship Women's Teams, between Austria and Germany.
Dealer East East-West vulnerable 4A Q J 3 2 V 10 8 5 3 2
• 5 2 4A 4 K 105 4 ♦ K J 9 6 • 3 4 7 3 2 N W E S
49 7 6 VA Q 7 4
• Q J 8 K 9 5
48 V —
• A K 10 9 7 6 4 J 108 6 4 South West North East 1NT 54 double pass pass pass At the first table, the German East opened 1NT and Austrian Sylvie Terraneo's leap to 54 was promptly doubled by West, who led 44. Declarer won 4A, cashed 4A, trumped a •, trumped a 4, trumped a ♦, trumped a 4 with dummy's last trump, trumped a 4, and cashed *AK. She con- ceded the fourth round of +5 and lost a trump trick, but had made her contract exactly: +550 to Austria. At the other table, the Austrian East-West were playing a strong notrump, so East opened 111. The German North-South pair were Daniele von Arnim (South) and Sabine Auken (North). Daniele overcalled 411, the Aus- trian West naturally bid 4V, but Auken closed the auction with a sharp double. South led *A and switched to 4J. The Austrian East covered with 40, as South was quite likely to have a holding such as Jx. North won 4A and switched to a trump. Winning with dummy's ♦6, declarer led 42, North discarding 42 , and won her 4K. She led ♦Q, covered by ♦K and trumped with V9. She led another 4 to South's 410 and South switched to her sin- gleton 48. North won 4J and led a second trump, won by dummy's •J. Declarer trumped 47, and had to make ♦A and •K separately by trumping her winning ♦J to escape with three down:+800 to Germany. Germany won 6 imps on this deal but the Austrians became world champions.
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