2020 will be a year without any championships
The American Contract Bridge League announced earlier this week the cancellation of its annual Fall North American tournament, which had been scheduled to be held in Tampa at the end of November.
This followed on the heels of the organization’s earlier cancellations of its spring championship set for Columbus, Ohio, and its summer championship, planned for Montreal because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Typically, each of the ACBL’s three major annual 10-day competitions draw between 6,000 and 8,000 bridge players from all over the globe. This will mark the first time in its history that the League has held no national tournaments in a given year, which will certainly prove to be costly to the organization’s financial status.
Today’s quiz: Here is another in the current series on overcalls and takeout doubles, and today we take up the first of several quizzes on responding to overcalls. In both of the following problems, neither side is vulnerable and your lefthand opponent opens with one diamond. Partner overcalls with one spade (indicating no more than 16 high-card points), and the next player passes. What action (if any) do you now take?
1.S 5 H KJ763 D 93 C A9874
2. S 63 H QJ32 D Q95 K864
Answers:
1.Pass. Since partner’s overcall guarantees a strong five-card or longer suit, his suit is likely to be stronger and perhaps longer than either of yours. He may have support for one of your suits, but which one?
If you guess wrong, you will be worse off than you are now since partner will either pass your bid or rebid his spades, leaving your side one trick higher than before. Remember too that opener may decide not to let you play in one spade, thereby taking you off the hook.
2. Pass. It is tempting to bid one notrump, but there is no reason to think notrump will play as well as or better than spades. Indeed, unless partner can add something substantial to your rather tenuous diamond stopper, you figure to a lot worse at notrump. In spades, partner will be able to make full use of his trumps to win tricks, while you have no guarantee of bringing in a significant number of tricks in that suit at notrump.