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We Jacobs try to be a cheery bunch where and when we can. A couple of us (me especially) occasionally tend toward half-empty, if you know what I mean, so several years ago we decided that whenever we dine with the children everyone must tell their “best thing.” Accentuate the positive.
My best thing this week was Roland inviting me to serve as a VuGraph commentator in the Germany v. Netherlands (Women) match which aired the other night. It didn’t work out because commentary isn’t yet implemented in the BBO Flash client I use on my Mac and George was covering an Open match on the PC, but that was just as well: he’d assigned me to the Open Room, which featured Sabine Auken and Daniela Von Arnim against Jet Pasman and Anneke Simons.
Why just as well? Take a look at this:
North was the dealer, nobody was vulnerable. Sitting South, Daniela opened 1C (strong, artificial and forcing), West bid 1D showing the minors, Sabine passed. East bid 2S, which in-the-know VuGraph commentators explained was the highest bid she could afford under the suit in which she was accepting (so 2S says “I’m willing to play 3C”). Daniela passed, West bid 3C and it passed back around to Daniela, who bid 3D. “Some sort of Michaels,” commentators guessed. West passed and after a bit of a delay, Sabine bid 4H and made it. At the other table, NS played 1S, just made.
It was just as well I couldn’t participate in the commentary because the bridge was way over my head. The room was packed with good and great players, many of whom had clever and insightful things to say about the canape blah blah trump coup nifty whoozie-whatzit squeeze whatever. I was sitting there with my mouth open, shaking my head, going “How’d she know to bid 4H?”
My best thing today was when Roland, bless his heart, gave me a second-try shift in the morning (my time) match France v. Canada (Open). I stayed as far away from discussing the actual hands as I could; for the most part I’m grossly underqualified to be talking about cardplay. Try as I might, I couldn’t help but venture into the fray on Board 29, since it was a bidding problem and you know how I love those. North was the dealer, everybody was vulnerable.
Pierre Zimmerman, sitting East, opened 1C and Canada’s Kamel Fergani bid 2D (weak). After a bit of time during which I enquired about the liklihood of a 3D cuebid, Franck Multon doubled. My VuGraph colleagues assured me cuebidding wasn’t best, as it gobbles up too much room. North passed and Zimmerman bid 2S. West had another bit of a think during which I said something cheeky like “bet he wishes he’d bid 3D now,” and the auction ended a moment later when Multon chose 3NT.
It was interesting to watch this set of boards knowing my regular partner was playing them, too. Thanks again to Fred and Bill Gates and all the smart people who make it possible for me to go online and talk with Judi about how we would handle some of these (she liked 3D cuebid and agreed that if it had gone pass instead of 2D, I’d have done best to make an inverted raise on Board 29).
After four days of play the Over-28 Americans are still in it. The Under-28 crowd has some catching up to do (Yenny, Yustin, Yoe, Yason and Ari, let’s go!) U-26 and U-21 are both in contention for coveted qualifying spots. Catch George on VuGraph for the day’s first matches, if you see him online during the second match do me a favor and tell him to go to bed.
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