First World Mixed Team C'ship
JAKARTA (JP): Players who fail to qualify in the World Mixed Team Olympiad in Rhodes, Greece in 1996 won't have to pack their bags and go home.
The World Bridge Federation has added a new event, the World Transnational Mixed Team Championship. It will get underway at the same time as the start of the Open Team Olympiad quarterfinals.
It will be a multinational event and team members do not have to come from the same country. All players who fail to qualify for the quarterfinals will be eligible.
The Swiss scoring system will be played over 10 board matches, 15 matches to qualify for the semifinal and three matches to determine the other overall positions.
In the field of 86 teams, including many of the world's best players, this makeshift team has not lost a match.
In the final against the United States team captained by Mark Feldman, Elizabeth McGowan teams from Great Britain and Iceland achieved this brilliancy, which swung the title.
Dealer : West Vulnerable: Both
NORTH
4
A K 6 5 2
K 3
9 7 6 4 3
WEST EAST
9 7 6 10 8 5
Q 9 7 J 10 8 4 3
Q 10 9 8 4 2 J
J Q 10 5 2
SOUTH
A K Q J 3 2
----
A 7 6 5
A K 8
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
Jorgensen McGowan Pass 1H Pass 1S Pass 2C Pass 2D Pass 3C Pass 4NT Pass 5C Pass 7NT All pass
Against the rules of the grand slam, West led with the 10 of Diamonds, but McGowan could count only 12 tricks and the squeeze chances looked non-existent because of the lack of Heart cards.
McGowan then saw the best prospect was a swindle. She won in hand and leaving the A K uncashed Heart in dummy, she ran her six Spades, throwing three Clubs and two Hearts from dummy.
East had to make three discards, a Club and two Hearts. But when McGowan crossed to dummy with the King of Diamond, she took a guess. Placing partner with only two Hearts, she chose to keep the Hearts and therefore threw another Club. That was it. The grand slam was home.
At the other table the contract was six Spades making the game.
The final score was 65-55 IMP for the Elizabeth McGowan team (Great Britain and Iceland), comprising Elizabeth McGowan, Heather Dhondy and Alli Jorgensen (Great Britain) and Jon Baldursson, Bjorn Eysteinsson and Raggi Hermansson (Iceland).