BUDAPEST MP CHAMPIONSHIP - WEEK 7
The penultimate round of the Budapest MP championships didn’t cause many changes on the leaderboard. In the I/A division still Miklós Dumbovich – Winkler Gábor, Dienes Ödön – László Harangozó and János Gellér – Dániel Tubak are the top three units.
In the I/B division the pairs are competing for the first six qualifying places: they will play in the I/A division next year. There was only one change here, István Balásy and Katalin Tihanyi reached a place amongst the bests, pushing Zsuzsanna Kerekes and Sándor Varga to the seventh place.
In board 16 of the I/A division North-South can make 7♦ but the small slam is makeable in spades and no trump as well. Two pairs in the field settled for 3N. The contract was 6♦ at seven tables, however three times out of these seven North tried to stop in 3N. Their partners saw that they are meant to play more but didn't try for the grand after the sign off. On the remaining six tables the pairs succeeded to reach 7♦, although at three tables North tried to sign off in 3N as well. But how were they supposed to bid?
We liked the solution from Miklós Dumbovich and Róbert Zoller the most. Zoller bid Stayman over Dumbovich’s strong no trump and when North denied a four-card major, he introduced his diamond suit. His partner bid 3♠ showing fit in diamonds and strength in spades. Zoller’s 4♦was Optional Roman Keycard Blackwood and with 4♠ Dumbovich accepted the slam try promising 3 aces (4♥ would have denied extras). Finally, South asked about the queen of trumps and North showed it along with the king of clubs. At this point South could count 13 tricks, so he bid 7♦ immediately.
