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BBO InterCity League Autumn 2011: quarter finals. Are still alive eight team of eight different countries (three are Britons). Highlighted in the round of 16 results: England, Poland, Bulgaria, Italia, Montenegro, Scotland, Denmark, Wales. Manchester – Ljubljana +71; Wroclaw – Kočevje +56; Haskovo – GlasVegas +44; Ascoli Piceno – Connacht +41; Niksic – Cardiff +23; Edinburgh – Niš +12; Egedal – Konstanz +10; Wales – United Parnu +9. The quarter finals will be played on Wednesday 7th with this roster:
Ascoli Piceno (Turbin) – Egedal (Nielsfoged)
Nikšić (Ogivoki) – Edinburgh (Paulg)
Manchester (Yo_yo) – Wales United (Pjs_ch)
Haskovo (Jantien) – Wroclaw (Rawol)
Will Wales United stop the run of Manchester? Note that Yo_Yo (Kath Nelson), captain of Manchester, until last year played with Wales United; this match, of course, is the one to watch!
Despite the large result, Connacth didn’t yield so easily against Ascoli Piceno. But they started with an handicap, as in the very first board a misunderstanding stopped them to 4♠+3, whereas the Italian pair didn’t miss to bid the Grand Slam. It’s a very difficult match the one where after the first deal the score is already -14. The hand deserves to be shown because the auction of the Italian pair is a good example of Neapolitan Club’s way to slam.
North
♠A8
♥AQJ42
♦Q983
♣72
South
♠KQJ10632
♥K10
♦A6
♣A3
Explanation of the auction:
The opening 1♥ is by 4CM and less than 17 HPC.
2♠ is the old natural game forcing jump response with a very strong or solid suit; it normally imposes the trump. It must be noted that South, by this jump, takes the captainship of the auction.
3♦ by North is natural, just it’s still unknown which suit is longer: both could be by four cards.
3♠ invites North to give further information, then South is still holding the captainship. The response 4♠ is a sign off; with 0-1 spade card, North should have repeated his five card suit, or bid 3NT having club stopper.
4NT is the Declarative-Interrogative convention devised by Eugenio Chiaradia: a special cue bid that asks and shows controls. The Official Encyclopedia correctly quotes the convention as part of the Neapolitan Club, but for the historic truth it must be recognized that the idea were inspired to the Four-Five Notrump Convention by Ely Culbertson (1932). The difference is that Culbertson showed and asked “…Aces and sometimes kings…”, whereas Chiaradia dealt with all the controls: aces, kings, voids and singletons. The exact meaning of Chiaradia’s 4NT D.I. depends on all the preceding auction, and sometimes it’s not immediately clear: in this hand, for example, North interpreter the bid as club control, the unnamed suit, and exhibits his control by 5♥. But South had others plans. Let’s read from the very first edition of the Encyclopedia of Bridge, the one published in 1935 by the same Culbertson’s Bridge World Inc.:
“A bid of five notrump preceded by a bid of four notrump by the same bidder shows all four aces”. The sentence is highlighted by Italic characters.
Back to Neapolitan Club: the immediate rebid of 5NT after 4NT, as done in this hand by South, shows the control in all suits and states the greatest strength in what already shown. As it can be seen, the Culbertson’s and Chiaradia’s conventions have different meanings but the same logic.
North now realizes to hold what South was searching: the low honours which makes one of his suit, hearts, the necessary trick source to reach the Grand Slam.
Last: note that South took the captainship of the auction starting with 2♠ and released it by 5NT; the choice to bid the Grand Slam or to do not is entirely by North. But on this matter – the captainship, when to hold, when to release it – we’ll talk again in a next article.
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Paolo Enrico Garrisi (December 7, 2011)