Particularly, the teams from the Asian region took pride for reemergence of an Asian team to occupy a place of prominence on the world bridge scene.
A deal played by the national team in the open team competition in the quarterfinals against the Italian team has already been reported in the last bridge column, which reflected a high degree of bidding skill.
The team of senior Pakistan bridge players also gave a good account of themselves in the side bridge event at the Olympiad. The senior team comprising experienced players also showed their mettle in bidding skills in the competition to finish 10th, a position among 29 teams representing countries from all over the world.
This, however, not a big achievement but it fairly speaks of good performance considering the tough competition at the Olympiad level. More so they did not develop partnership understanding nor held serious practice sessions at home to adequately prepare themselves for this big event. Despite that shortcoming the team stayed at 5th and 6th position in the latter part of the segment of 120 boards deals.
The team, which was within a striking position to finish among top four, unfortunately, faltered on a couple of deals to drop down to the 10th position.
However, the team of six promising players, namely Rashidul Ghazi, Pervez Mirza, Yousuf Talpur, Tariq Rasheed, M.A. Ansari and Major Akhtar Zaidi, played well to finish at the upper ladder of the competition under the captaincy of Tariq Rasheed. Nevertheless, it was a consoling thought and position for the team.
A hand played at small slam in diamonds through modern conventional bidding by Rashidul Ghazi and Pervez Mirza, against the Spanish pair is reproduced here, which not only stupefied the opponents but also led to a big swing over them as their pair in the close room complacently stopped at game in diamond suit as trumps.
(1) Multi colour 2D, weak in majors or strong balanced hand.
(2) Relay bid.
(3) Balanced hand with 22+ points.
(4) Stayman for minor suit.
(5) Four card diamond suit.
(6) RKC Stayman.
(7) Strong hand with 2 or 5 key cards with trump queen.
East led diamond 2:
When the dummy was laid down Rashidul Ghazi, coolly took stock of the prospects of success of the contract and at the same time, in his own heart, complimented the partnership understanding in bidding sequences to have reached a possible slam. He foresaw the success, which depended on the disposal of a heart loser either from his hand or from the dummy to score the contract. It was possible both ways by playing for spade suit or the club suit.
He proceeded to play a small spade from the dummy, and West played the king, which he won with the ace. Next he played three rounds of trumps, which broke evenly, and he moved a small spade from the dummy and allowed the East to win his ten with the queen. The East having won the trick played back a small heart, which the declarer won the queen of hearts from the West with the ace of heart in hand. Having scored the trick the declarer played the ten of spades and discarded the losing heart on it and ruffed a small heart in the dummy and claimed the contract, as he lost only one spade trick to the opponent.
In the adjacent room the Spanish pair could not visualize making a slam in diamonds having gaps in spade and heart suits and thus they stopped at the game conceding a big swing to senior team on the deal.
Dealer North:
North-South vulnerable
North West East South
S AJ107 S K94 S Q832 S 65
H A96 H Q873 H J42 H K105
D AKQ5 D 743 D 82 D J1096
C A9 C J86 C 7532 C KQ104
The bidding:
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North East South West
Rashidul Spaniard Pervez Spaniard
Ghazi Mirza
2 D (1) Pass 2 H (2) Pass
2 NT (3) Pass 3 S (4) Pass
4 D (5) Pass 4 NT(6) Pass
5 S (7) Pass 6 D Pass
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Golden tips:
The conventional bids, though a bit complex, yet they are essential tools to reach the right spot.