March 25 2019
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The WHJI 2019 was about to begin, and hope was a common emotion in every young person who had just sat at the table.
1st BBO match Norway Vs Belgium
Norway
Thea Hauge, Sofie Sjødal, Jakob Nordvoll Johannessen, Marcus Scheie & NPC Lars Eide
Belgium
Dennis Dewit, Emiel Vandewiele, Clovis Dehaye, Jens van Overmeire, Sam Bahbout & NPC Wouter van den Hove.
First hand …first IMPs difference
Board 1
Dehaye opened 2
, his partner made a forcing bid and the couple didn´t end till they arrived to the heart game.
Declarer ruffed the 
A lead and continued playing a spade to the queen, North won the trick with his king and left his hand playing a small diamond.
After winning with dummy’s king declarer let run the 10 when North played small, and Johannessen A won the trick, to continue with another trump. After winning in his hand with the 9, Dehaye played the trump king and a spade to the ace and ruffed another spade to claim 11 tricks.
At the other table E/W only played 2and lost 6 IMPs…
Hand three generated another 7 IMPs for Belgium, but next hand was a double digit IMPs difference.
Board 4:
Hauge passed and after North 1openning bid and a 1
response, N/S decided to stop in a 2contract. They had no problems to score +140.
At the other table…things were different.
Vandewiele opened his hand with a 1bid and North entered the bidding showing his heart suit with 1, Dehaye jumped to 3, and Scheie with 4
made his partner chose a suit. They landed in a heart game. Two down was a 12 IMPs huge punishment.
Norway needed IMps and Board 5 was their first victory:
Board 5
Dehaye decided to show his weak and long diamonds with a 2opening bid. South doubled and Vandewiele bet 3. North passed and Dehaye continued the same line with 4, South doubled again, and West closed the diamond game…E/W were sure N/S had some kind of game…and wanted to stop it at any price. Two down doubled in green seemed a good result.
At the other table N/S were let to arrive to the heart game, but they were two down …these were the very first IMPs for Norway…11 IMPs…
Next board continued to be a Norway victory of 5 IMPs, but board 7 helped them to add another 10 IMPs to narrow the difference.
Board 7
After South pass, West opened his hand with a 1bid, North said 2and East overbid 2NT. South continued with 3and after E/W arrived to the spade game, North competed in hearts and East closed the bidding with a double. One down doubled:-200.
At the other, table E/W were let to play 4made with two overtricks = +680 …and 10 IMPs for Norway.
The match ended Norway 27 – Belgium 25 .
After a very nice start from Belgium, Norway showed its superiority & strength and turned up side down the match.
