COUNTDOWN TO VICTORY
Jonathan Davis logs the progress of the two sides as the Buffett Cup enters its final stages.
1650
So it is all over. The impressive crystal trophy is heading across the Atlantic. The teams are playing the final six boards in order to keep the spectators happy. Outside the playing area the champagne glasses have been lined up for the final ceremony. The play is going to be quick now and the first hand, a 2D contract by Helgemo, is over in seconds, with nine tricks claimed. The spectators speculate that there is a prize for the match that finishes first and the player who reaches the refreshments first. On VuGraph the match on show is Helgemo-McGann against Hampson and Levin. David Jackson, the stand-in captain of the European team, who was also the captain of the Irish team at the European championships in Warsaw, is congratulated on having guided his team to a second second place in the space of a month! The countdown to victory ends here, with the Americans taking the prize. All that remains, in truth, is to calculate the margin of victory.
1640
The Europeans, in the shape of the Hackett twins, Helgemo and Bocchi, have at least won one of the three matches in this round, but it is not going to be enough. Unless the scores are corrected yet again, the Americans will take an unbeatable + 15 lead. If they have taken the first Buffett Cup, as I am sure they will, it is because they have comprehensively outplayed their opponents in the individual section. This will have the effect of making most of the individual American scores look better. I would say that only the Italians and the Irish, the two form teams coming into the match, have really excelled for the Europeans.
1635
On my reckoning the Americans have now won the match, unless there is another retrospective change in the score (which cannot be ruled out). The Europeans can no longer win this match without divine intervention. The Americans have played the individual section considerably better than the Europeans, given that they started behind. The inquest will be interesting. On the final board, the Europeans in the Auken-Duboin/Hampson- Berkowitz match come out of 3NT but stop in 4D, when a big penalty might have been available against the Americans’ competitive 2S.
1630
Hampson finds a 4S bid with no points in his hand after his partner doubles 1NT and follows with a jump to 3S. It is a fine bid that pays off when his partner makes five on a heart finesse. A crucial overtrick by Paul Soloway in one of the other matches takes the Americans to an unbeatable lead in their match against Paul Hackett and van Arnim. On my reckoning that means the Europeans have to win all five of the remaining matches. Surely they cannot do that.That kind of comeback is too big an ask. The fifth board of the round sees Berkowitz and Hampson heading for yet another slam, this time in hearts. Auken leads a diamond, when a club is the only lead to give them a chance, but in any event the contract is certain to make as the spade finesse is right. The Europeans are well ahead in one other match, but the Americans only need a draw in this match to win the trophy outright. We are watching history of a sort in the making.
1615
We are onto the third board now, watching Auken and Duboin in play against Hampson and Berkowitz. The Americans arrive in 4S, doubled by Auken. Berkowitz is the declarer and the defence is strong and effective, producing a 500 penalty for the Europeans. Although the players don’t know it yet, the Americans in this match have won both the first two hands, to take a 2-0 lead, so the Europeans really have to win the board to have any chance of getting back. The Americans are ahead in another match as well, so the contest is almost over now.
1610
Yet another retrospective change to the score means that the Americans have moved even further ahead, taking their lead to 15 championship points, or nearly four matches ahead. . It means the Europeans have to win nearly all the final six matches to have any chance of winning now. How will the Europeans play; will they take risks to catch up, or wait for mistakes by the opponents? On VuGraph we are watching Berkowitz and Hampson in play against Auken and Duboin. The answer soon becomes clear, with the Europeans in one team bidding a slam on the first board that looks very aggressive, although one of the American pairs also bids the slam and goes down. The Americans are up in two matches already after two boards and drawing the other, so their momentum continues. Another European slam goes down on the second board, putting Europe behind in that match. Playing catch up in matchplay is a high risk venture at any sport and only rarely produces the right result.
1540
A pre-emptive 3D opening by Hanlon is passed out and makes exactly. The risk of an American whitewash in this round looks increasingly likely At another table the Europeans play in 5D when 3NT is made at the other table, so that is another match gone. The Americans have definitely got the momentum now. Bocchi and Justin Hackett have to win the last board, but can do nothing. So a whitewash it is and the Americans have gone to +11, with only six matches to go. The Europeans have their work cut out now.
1530
Helgemo plays 4S after overcalling Bobby Levin’s strong 1NT opening. This rates to be a bad result, as other tables are playing and making spade part-scores. The contract goes two off. Play quickly continues and Helgemo gets to play in a grisly looking 3C contract on a 4-3 fit after another competitive low level auction, in which Zia overcalls with a four card spade suit. It goes three down for minus 300. The Americans, with Hamman in the lead, have won one of the other three matches already, so the best Europe can do is get back to a one point lead after this round, and more likely is that they will go further behind. If so, it will vindicate the Americans’ belief that they were likely to do better in the individual contest. Three losses by the Europeans in this round might well cook the Europeans’ goose.
1525
Helgemo and Hanlon bid to 5H, doubled by Zia. The Americans are currently down in two matches, up in one, so the close contest continues. The contract goes down two when 4S is making the other way, with overtricks in practice, so should be a good result. Europe are leading this match by one board. But no; 4H is doubled and makes at the other table, so the Americans win the board - a complete reversal of fortune, just as you sometimes get in golf matchplay. You can never be certain of what is going to happen in matchplay.
1515
Zia is again competing aggressively, bidding diamonds twice with the worst hand at the table. Helgemo doubles his 3D contract and it looks like the Europeans have to beat it in order to have a chance of winning the board, as 2S, the contract Zia refused to allow Helgemo and Hanlon to play, should be making for plus 140. But he goes down two and concedes 300, so that is a point away, as the same contract is played undoubled at the other room. A lot of scores are being adjusted after they have finished. It now appears that the Americans won all three matches in the previous round, so they are now leading by +3: -3, or by one match, rather than trailing, as previously reported. Such are the perils of live commentary!
1500
Now it is the start of the third from last round, with three matches per round. The Americans are now just one match behind. On VuGraph, Board 49 starts with Zia doubling after the opponents Helgemo and Hanlon bid to 2H, landing his partner Bobby Levin in a ropy looking 2S. Competing for the part-score can be good tactics in matchplay and Zia has never been known as a blushing violent of a bidder. As the opponents can make 2H this could still be a good result if he goes 1 or 2 down. Minus 50 is the final score and potentially a good result for Europe.
1445
The fate of this round now depends on the last hand in this match..Paul Hackett, the European captain, who is standing for one of his players, who has had to leave for personal reasons, is playing 3NT. He makes ten tricks, which looks to be a standard result. Bob Hamman is playing the same contract at the other table, and has to make the same ten tricks to tie the board, but the play goes differently, making it harder for him.A slip in the defence allows him to make ten tricks. That could be crucial as the Americans win the other two matches, one on the last board, so the score goes back to +1 to Europe. It could not be closer once more. This is how challenge matches are meant to be.
1440
Berkowitz is in 2NT after a weak two opening by Jan Jansma. The commentators remind us that Jill Levin won an important legal victory when she won the right to compete in events that had previously been restricted to men only. The contract goes one off agsinst two down at the other table, a win for the Americans. As it stands, the difference between the teams comes down to the result in the teams section of the contest, ,as the opening pairs and individual event (to date) is dead level.
1430
Jill Levin ends in 4 Hearts which goes down one in the other room. The key moment comes at trick eight in the club suit. The play will determine whether she finishes one or two down. She gets it right so that leaves the match tied at 1 board each after four boards.
1420
In the match we are watching, which features Berkowitz and Jill Levin against Jansma and Paul Hackett, the third hand is again a slam hand. The Americans land in 6NT: described by watching expert POSundelin as “bad bidding, bad contract, good result”, as the slam should make on the lie of the cards. .It duly does cone home, and should win the board for the American team, as it does when the bidding stops at 4NT in the other round. Europe is behind in one of the three matches currently being played, and level in the other two.
1410
The first match after lunch starts in the usual explosive style with a grand slam on the first board. Watching the match on VuGraph, the European take an early lead in all three matches, in each case bidding 7NT against the Americans 7S. The extra ten points for playing in No Trumps wins the board for Europe in every case.
Lunchtime (Irish time)
This last-day diary commences at the lunchtime break with the Europeans holding onto a lead of nine in the overall standings. Every round from now on consists of three matches with four championship points at stake in each one. So Europe are effectively two and a bit matches in front at this point. (To work out what the lead is in terms of matches, you simply divide the latest score by four).
There are four rounds and twelve matches still to go, which means that the Americans on my reckoning have to win at least eight of the twelve remaining matches to take the cup. The European team, in turn, has to win five of the twelve to be sure of winning overall. The way the scoring system works, there is no chance of a tie, as there is in the golfing Ryder Cup, which is scheduled to start tomorrow a few miles away from where we are.
At this point it is impossible to say how the match will go. Either side can still win. One of the interesting features of the individual rounds in the Buffett Cup is that all the players are using a very simple common bidding system. Without their usual sophisticated bidding systems to fall back on, and playing without their regular partners, the emphasis is very much on bidding judgement.
What this means is that some players will be using a bidding system that they may not have played before, or at least not for many years. In addition, the way the scoring system works (match-a-board), every overtrick or undertrick can make the difference between winning and losing a board. Just as in the Ryder Cup, where temperament is just as important as technique on the last day, as nerves start to jangle, this will be the case here as well.