In this section I would be putting together all the information regarding bridge facilites in the various cities in India.The information may be sketchy at present but would be made comprehensive in future.
Lucknow Allahabad Varanasi Meerut Dehradun Ghaziabad Kanpur Moradabad Delhi Chandigarh Jaipur Mumbai Pune Asansol Durgapur
Bangalore
Chennai
Ranchi
In this section I would cover tournaments happening in India and more so the tournaments happening in Northern part of India and in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
K.N. Modi bridge tournament is taking place at Boat House Club, Nainital from Oct 2-Oct 5, 1999.
Rajendra Golcha Memorial bridge tournament is taking place at Jai Club, Jaipur from Oct 9-Oct 11,1999.
In this section I would cover one good deal which appeared in the Weekly Bridge Tournaments at Lucknow or in a recent tournament with explanations.
This week's deal shows a deal by a UP team at the nationals.
| Dealer:West Vul: Both Lead:  5 | NORTH A Q J 9 3 K 9 3 2Q 9 8 4 | |
| WESTK 2A 7 6 4 2A Q J 7 55 | EASTJ 10 9 7 6K Q 88A J 10 7 | |
| SOUTH8 5 4 310 510 6 4K 6 3 2 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 | X | XX | Pass |
| Pass | 1 NT | X | 2 |
| Pass | Pass | X | Pass |
| Pass | Pass |
It is not easy to reach Semi Finals of the duplicate event for Ruia Trophy at the winter nationals especially if you are a team from UP. At 1998 winter nationals a team from Allahabad did so.Indresh Agarwal, A.K. Gupta, Vijay Agarwal, Sushil Agarwal, Rajesh Bagga & Ghatak made to last four playing as Kanpur Colts at the Delhi Nationals.
They played against Sunil Machhar's team from Mumbai. Some of the deals that they played are reported in the Indian Bridge World of July 1999. The deal shown this week shows how they blew their chance to reach the finals.Ghatak (North) , Bagga (South) were playing against Suhas & Ashok Vaidya in this deal
Ashok Vaidya opened 1 Heart which was doubled by Ghatak! Suhas Vaidya gleefully redoubled and after the auction was over Bagga was playing in 2 Spade doubled.
The contract went 5 down!! In other room EW made 4 Hearts but still the UP team conceded 13 IMP on this deal and no wonder went out of the Semi Finals.
The Indian Bridge World calls Ghatak's double "reckless" and Bagga's 2 Spade "thoughtless" bids.
The team which reaches Semi Finals doesn't need a lesson in bidding but in UP I've seen this tendency to make take out doubles to show high card points. Badly shaped 12-14 HCPs are not passed by anybody. However, bad position they put you into.
Ghatak's double was one such double and he was more at fault for giving such a big penalty.
Internationally take out doubles are taking different shape. Here is what Bridge World , the famous magazine, has to say on take out doubles.
"There have been many trends in defensive bidding over the years, but none so important as in the choice between the double and the overcall. In the early days, a double was used to show a good hand, with distributional requirements a secondary consideration (at times even ignored). An overcall showed playing tricks, and usually denied the values for a double. As time went on, distributional requirements for a double increased, and so did strength requirements for an overcall. The minimum for most overcalls now stands at near opening-bid values, and the maximum allowable strength for an overcall has increased correspondingly. double followed by a new-suit bid now shows more than the "16 HCP and a good suit" requirement, which held sway for decades."
Ghatak should have been short in Hearts to make the take out double or should have had more than 16 HCP and a good suit. Else he should have allowed Bagga to balance and then bid his cards. This method has less risk of conceding a penalty.