Mental Fatigue Biggest Winner
Newcastle Herald
Friday November 19, 1999
TWO Newcastle teams represented the Hunter in the recent finals of the GNOT in Sydney.
They were the Robinson team (Pam Robinson, Hazel Bowen, Jenny Atkinson and Eileen Pickles) and the Dibley team (Chris Dibley, Mike Parfait, Roy Hardy, Mike Seldon and Paul McGrath).
The eventual winners were the second seeded Sydney team of Val Cummings, Matt Mullamphy, Ron Klinger, Kieran Dyke, Matthew Thompson and Peter Newman.
With the modified format of the GNOT many teams played 160 boards over two days. Eighty boards a day is mentally draining.
By day two fatigue is setting in and more and more errors appear.
A case in point is taken from the deal shown below. If you would like to test your defence look only at the North and East cards.
WESTNORTHEASTSOUTH ------1S pass2Spass3C* pass4Spasspass * long suit trial bid
West leads the heart five. Declarer takes your jack with the ace, lays down the trump ace and leads a club towards dummy's king. You win with the ace. What card do you return?
The easy (mentally fatigued) option is a top heart.
However, if you do that declarer will make the contract. The thoughtful option is a diamond. Why? Because there are two pieces of evidence to suggest it. Firstly, declarer has announced two black suits in the bidding and is therefore short in the reds.
Secondly, partner's lead is probably second highest from four small, otherwise partner has a very long diamond suit headed by two or three of the top honours.
So, the diamond switch is not a certainty but it provides the best chance.
NORTH ; J9765 k T82 l J52 ' K7 WEST ; KT k 6543 l AQ987 ' 43 EAST ; Q k KQJ97 l T43 ' AT82 SOUTH ; A8432 k A l K6 ' QJ965
© 1999 Newcastle Herald