Georgi Matushko together with Mikhael Krasnosselski from Russia won the Invitational pairs tournament in Jurmala, Latvia.
24 pairs played 7 rounds (4 boards in the round) and Russians with 72 IMPs were the best, second place went to Swedish-Danish combination of Peter Fredin and Henning Ostergaard with 47 IMPs and the 3rd place went to Latvian-German pair Janis Ilzins and Thomas Gotard with 37 IMPs.
Before the last round Russians were just 4 IMPs ahead of Jelena Alfejeva and Karlis Rubins from Latvia. Huge victory in last round was won in two boards: at first Latvians reached 6♥ which was down one on 4-1 trump distribution, two boards later Matushko found the defense of the year:
Bidding was easy: Rubins, sitting West, opened 1NT in the second seat, Alfejeva bid 4♣, showing both majors and Karlis ended playing 4♠. Matushko found the lead of A♦, took the trick and played a heart. Krasnosselski took heart queen and ace and gave a heart ruff – that was the setting trick and 10 IMPs for the Russian pair.
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