Day 4 from the World Youth Teams Championships in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. Under 16 Coach Paul Barden has written the below update following the team's progress looking at Board 21:
The 19th and last match of the Round Robin was played this afternoon. We had the pleasure of winning a close match against USA1, the runaway leaders, but it was too late to get us close to the qualifying for the knock-outs. Nevertheless, the players have very much enjoyed competing at a World Championship: they've learnt more about this fascinating game and have made new friends from around the world. Thank you to all our supporters.
This hand [see diagram above] comes from our penultimate match, against Estonia. Will, North, opened 1H, East overcalled 2D, Aman, South, doubled, Will rebid 2NT and Aman raised him to game. East led diamonds, Will ducked one round, won the second, and cashed the ace and queen of hearts, pleased to see the jack drop. Now he crossed to the king of clubs and cashed his hearts. East could discard a spade and a club, but then what? A diamond lets declarer establish his ninth trick in spades, so he let another club go and the seven of clubs became a winner. It's remarkable how often cashing a suit causes problems for the defence!
Tomorrow we'll be playing in a Board-A-Match event, while cheering on our teams in the quarter-finals. Good luck to them!