Schedule p. 2 Hungary vs Italy (O) Daniel Gulyás. p. 4 Iceland vs Italy (O) David Bird. p. 7 Three Colors Red (W) Mark Horton

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1 Commercial Editor : Mark Horton Co-Editors: Jos Jacobs, Brian Senior Journalists: David Bird, John Carruthers, Barry Rigal, Ron Tacchi Photographers: Lay-out Editor: Francesca Canali THURSDAY, JUNE ISSUE No 9 CONTENTS Schedule p. 2 Hungary vs Italy (O) Daniel Gulyás p. 4 Iceland vs Italy (O) David Bird p. 7 Three Colors Red (W) Mark Horton p. 10 France vs Sweden (S) John Carruthers p. 12 Iceland vs Hungary (O) Daniel Gulyás p. 15 Poland vs Italy (O) Brian Senior p. 18 Denmark vs Netherlands (O) Ron Tacchi p. 24 Monaco vs Iceland (O) David Bird p. 28 Norway vs Sweden (W) Jos Jacobs p. 31 The Belgian Page Herman De Wael p. 34 Results p. 35 TODAY'S SCHEDULE 10.00: O (R25) W (R14) S (R13) 12.40: O (R26) W (R15) S (R14) 16.00: O (R27) W (R16) S (R15) 18.40: W (R17) The EBL's tremendous team of Scorers: Anton Osipov, Marcin Wasłowicz, Peter Eidt, Denis Dobrin, Fotis Skoularikis and Sotiris Skoularikis. In the Open series Greece and Israel have replaced Sweden & Italy and the new order is: Russia, Netherlands, Hungary, Norway, Israel, Iceland, Greece & Monaco. In the Women's series the top three have continued their game of musical chairs with the order being Sweden, Poland, Norway. Netherlands had a bad day so the poursuivants are now France, Denmark, England, Scotland & Estonia. In the Seniors' the top six are more or less unchanged: France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Israel, but England & Turkey have displaced Italy and Netherlands. EBL PRESIDENT S PRESS CONFERENCE The EBL will hold a Press Conference on Friday 15th June 2018 at a.m. in the EBL Press Room at the Kursaal (3rd floor, next to the Vu-graph room). Present will be the President of the EBL Yves Aubry, the President of the Royal Belgian Bridge Federation Marc De Pauw, the Chairman of the Organising Committee Bart Magerman, the President of the IBPA Barry Rigal, EBL Treasurer Josef Harsanyi and EBL Championships Committee Chairman Jan Kamras. There is no Press Conference on Saturday. The conference is open to the public. Jan Swaan, Press Room Manager Oostende & Jabbeke Vehicles garage-phlips.be

2 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 DRAW & BBO SCHEDULE TODAY OPEN TEAMS ROUND 25 BBO 1 ITA vs FRA BBO 3 HUN vs MON SWE vs LIT TUR vs NED BBO 4 DEN vs GER BBO 2 ICE vs ENG NOR vs SCO ISR vs CZE UKR vs EST WAL vs RUS ROM vs POR LAT vs GRE IRE vs BEL SPA vs CRO AUT vs FIN BUL vs SWI POL Bye ROUND 26 ROUND 27 BBO 3 HUN vs POL LIT vs FRA MON vs TUR BBO 2 DEN vs SWE BBO 1 ICE vs NED SCO vs ENG BUL vs CZE NOR vs UKR WAL vs ISR POR vs EST RUS vs LAT BEL vs ROM GRE vs CRO IRE vs FIN SPA vs AUT SWI vs GER ITA Bye BBO 2 BBO 1 BBO 3 TUR vs HUN DEN vs ITA POL vs ICE SCO vs MON CZE vs SWE UKR vs NED GER vs WAL ENG vs POR LAT vs BUL BEL vs NOR ISR vs CRO FIN vs EST RUS vs AUT ROM vs SPA GRE vs IRE FRA vs SWI LIT Bye WOMEN TEAMS ROUND 14 ROUND 15 ROUND 16 RUS vs ITA FRA vs TUR NED vs DEN POL vs ISR NOR vs ENG ICE vs SCO GER vs POR EST vs BEL HUN vs SPA IRE vs SER GRE vs FIN SWE Bye ROUND 17 BBO 4 ICE POL POR NED BBO 1 EST FRA HUN RUS BBO 3 SWE SER FIN ITA TUR GRE IRE DEN SPA ISR BBO 2 NOR BEL SCO GER ENG Bye FRA vs SWE NED vs ITA POL vs TUR ENG vs DEN ISR vs ICE POR vs NOR SCO vs EST HUN vs GER SER vs BEL SPA vs FIN IRE vs GRE RUS Bye POL vs FRA ENG vs RUS ICE vs SWE POR vs ITA TUR vs EST HUN vs DEN ISR vs SER FIN vs NOR GRE vs SCO GER vs IRE BEL vs SPA NED Bye 2 GO TO PAGE:

3 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 SENIOR TEAMS ROUND 13 ROUND 14 ROUND 15 ROM vs POR SPA vs FRA SWE vs ICE POL vs FIN NED vs ISR SCO vs DEN TUR vs GER AUT vs BEL IRE vs HUN ENG vs NOR BUL vs ITA BBO 4 ROM vs HUN ENG vs AUT TUR vs ITA SCO vs BUL NOR vs NED IRE vs FIN BEL vs ICE GER vs SPA POR vs DEN ISR vs FRA SWE vs POL BBO 4 ROM vs DEN ISR vs GER BEL vs POL IRE vs SWE FRA vs NOR POR vs BUL SPA vs ITA ICE vs ENG HUN vs FIN NED vs AUT TUR vs SCO BBO commentators: OPEN, ROUND 25 OPEN, ROUND 26 OPEN, ROUND 27 WOMEN, ROUND 17 Roland Wald, David Bird (BBO1, voice) Roland Wald, Peter Lund (BBO1, voice) David Bird, Marc Smith (BBO1, voice) Roland Wald, Peter Lund (BBO1, voice) Mark Horton, Marc Smith Roland Wald, Mark Horton VIDEO CORNER NORTH vs SOUTH POSTCARD - BULGARIA POSTCARD - DENMARK HALL OF FAME POSTCARD - AUSTRIA GO TO PAGE: 3

4 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Daniel Gulyás HUNGARY vs ITALY OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 14 Hungary had a bad day on Saturday. But then they won the first match on Sunday, and they were expected to put up a fight against always very strong Italy, who are back to their strongest possible lineup when the Lavazza team decided to put their best players on the national team. No matter what, these teams always play an exciting and close game, which can go either way and it was no different this time, either. Hungary was sixth, while Italy was second before the match. It all started with a huge swing Hungary s way. Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul. [ K Q 4 ] K J 7 5 { A K } 8 [ A J [ ] 8 4 ] { 4 { 8 7 } K } Q J 9 2 [ 5 ] A Q 6 { Q J } A Donati Hegedüs Duboin Szegedi 1{ Pass 2{ 2[ 2NT Pass 3NT Pass 4] Pass 5{ Pass 6{ Even though Hegedüs had already shown his strong no-trumpish hand, he liked his hand so much, that he simply bid RKCB and found there were enough aces, so he bid slam; there was nothing to the play, an easy Dumbovich Bocchi Winkler Sementa 1{ Pass 1NT 2[ 3] Pass 4{ Pass 4NT Pass 5[ Pass 6NT This was a blunder on the Italian side, as they said it this contract pretty much had no play, and went down quietly, -50, and 14 huge points for the cheering Hungarian fans. Norberto BOCCHI ITALY Gabor WINKLER HUNGARY Antonio SEMENTA ITALY Miklos DUMBOVICH HUNGARY 4 GO TO PAGE:

5 54 th European Team Championships After a couple of quiet boards, Italy struck back. Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul. [ A ] K Q { 9 } 9 8 [ J 4 3 [ Q 5 ] A 3 ] J { A Q 10 5 { } Q J 5 2 } A K 7 3 [ K 8 7 ] 7 6 { K J } Donati Hegedüs Duboin Szegedi 1} 2} Dble 2[ Dble Pass 3} Pass 3] Pass 3[ Pass 3NT Italy quickly found this borderline game, which, after the normal spade lead rolled home with the double diamond finesse working as expected. Dumbovich Bocchi Winkler Sementa 1{ 2{ Pass 2[ Winkler decided they would not have enough for game unless partner can move if he is balanced, he is at most 14, so not enough with his 10. Almost right, but not this time. Another -140 meant 12 IMPs to Italy, now behind only Board 21, Winkler had to make a decision. (1NT)- Pass-(2])-Dble-(3{)-? He had [ ]10942 {J1043 }A9865, green vs red. It looked like they are about to bid 4[ (true), so he thought he would try to save eventually in 5], so why not now? Well, the operation was successful (he got doubled), but the patient died (4[ would have gone down, and did so at the other table). 5 out, Italy, On Board 25, the Italian defensive bidding misfired. According to some system notes, (1NT)-Pass-(Pass)- 2NT shows 4 hearts and a longer minor. Well, Donati had 4 spades and 6 clubs so how did they end up in 3{ in the 3-2 fit? No idea. This went down 3, vulnerable, and since 1NT was also down at the other table, Hungary gained a somewhat lucky 9 points, to Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 regain the lead, The very next board displayed the nicest declarer play of the match, by Balázs Szegedi. Board 26. Dealer East. All Vul. [ 10 9 ] Q J 6 5 { 6 4 } [ A J 4 3 [ Q ] ] K { K { Q } 10 2 } K 4 [ K 7 2 ] A 8 4 { A J 2 } A Q J 7 Donati Hegedüs Duboin Szegedi Pass 1} 3{ Pass Pass 3NT Szegedi did not have any other choice in the bidding, and it looked like he had an uphill battle. Donati led the diamond ten, to the queen and ace. Next, declarer tried to enter dummy with a heart, upon which Donati discarded the diamond eight, suit preference for spades. If Duboin plays any spade here, the contract is down (the queen, as we see brings it two down), but he decided after a long thought that a heart exit is safe. Well, it wasn t: Balázs won in dummy, took the club finesse, and cashed all the winners, needing only to look out for Donati s discards. When he kept 2 spades and 2 diamonds after he returned to hand with the heart ace, Szegedi endplayed him in diamonds to give him the spade king, for a marvelous Dumbovich Bocchi Winkler Sementa 1] Dble 2{ Pass Pass 2NT The closed room bidding was somewhat quieter, Winkler opening the junky 10 count, liking his 6-4 in the majors. Sementa also bid the next no-trump eventually, and played there. Here, the 7-1 diamond split was not so obvious, so he ducked the queen. Then Winker erred with his spade holding, if this is the suit to play, you should play the queen, not small. GO TO PAGE: 5

6 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Now Dumbovich could do nothing but return a small spade, and declarer could play clubs from the top, eventually gaining entry to dummy to take the heart finesse. +120, but 10 IMPs to Hungary, now leading The big lead did not last long. Board 27. Dealer South. None Vul. [ K ] 2 { 9 } K [ [ 10 ] K Q J ] A 8 6 { { A K } J 10 2 } A 6 [ A Q J 6 ] { Q J } Q Donati Hegedüs Duboin Szegedi 1{ 3] Pass 4] Hegedüs, somewhat pessimistically, passed over 3], and the good 4[ was not found. I can understand him, if partner bids some number of diamonds over a negative double, he will not be happy. Donati played neatly. He ruffed the diamond lead with the nine, and played the ]5 to the six! Szegedi won and played the queen of clubs, but it did not matter. Donati ruffed a diamond high, overtook a trump honor to ruff another diamond high, and played the trump seven to the eight, drawing the last trump and claiming the high diamonds, conceding the last two tricks, Dumbovich Bocchi Winkler Sementa 1{ 2] Dble 4] 4[ Pass Pass 5] Pass Pass Dble Dumbovich, unusually for him, took a while to consider his declarer play. He figured that if diamonds are 4-2, he is home no matter what. If they are 5-1, trumps are likely to be 2-2, so he tried crossing in trumps to set up the diamond suit, but when those were 3-1, too, he was down. I am not sure which is the best play, but his line fails only if Bocchi had this exact distribution, and bid that way (where did he find his double, anyway?) meant 11 back to Italy, closing the gap, Board 31 gave Hungary 5 more points when playing 2[ as opposed to Italy s 3[, and eight tricks was the limit. Hungary won the match 38-29, or VP. Italy was third, Hungary was seventh after the round. Giovanni DONATI ITALY Gal HEGEDUS HUNGARY Giorgio DUBOIN ITALY Balazs SZEGEDI HUNGARY 6 GO TO PAGE:

7 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 David Bird ICELAND vs ITALY OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 19 Iceland, with a population of just 350,000, had already proved themselves to be currently one of Europe s strongest bridge teams. Could they maintain their run against mighty Italy? Marc Smith and I put on our headsets, ready for commentating, and took our seats in the. Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul. [ ] A Q { Q J } 8 [ A Q [ J ] 5 3 ] J 9 4 { 2 { } A Q } [ K ] K { A K } K J 9 3 Jorgensen Bianchedi Thorvaldsson Madala 1] 2] 3} Pass 3] Pass 4] Jorgensen showed his two-suiter and 3} was a transfer to diamonds. The heart game was reached and it seemed that there would be some interest in the play. A trump lead, or the [A followed by a trump switch, would have sunk the contract. Not surprisingly, West led what was surely a singleton {2 to declarer s {A. Madala then found the only winning continuation, the {K. West chose to ruff and then spent some time deciding what to do next. Eventually, he cashed the [A and the }A, followed by the [Q. Declarer ruffed, crossed to the ]Q and played the {Q, throwing a club loser, and then the {J. When East ruffed, declarer could overruff, cross to the ]A and throw his remaining club loser for What would happen if West does not ruff the second top diamond? Declarer can succeed in various ways. He can draw two rounds of trumps and discard the [K on the {Q. He then leads the {J, ruffed and ovrruffed, and concedes three club tricks to set up a tenth trick in that suit. Sementa Baldursson Bocchi Haraldsson 1} 2} 3} Pass 3] Pass 4] all Pass The bidding was similar, after a Precision 1} start by South. Haraldsson won the diamond lead and also played his second top diamond. Sementa ruffed and switched to a trump. Declarer won with dummy s ace and discarded the [K on the {Q. The {J was ruffed and overruffed. Declarer then crossed to a trump and discarded three of his club losers on the remaining diamonds. It was +450 to Iceland and a gain of 1 IMP. Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul. [ 6 4 ] A K { 6 5 } A J 5 4 [ J 3 [ A ] Q ] { K J 7 { } K Q 6 3 } 9 8 [ K Q ] J { A Q 9 8 } Jorgensen Bianchedi Thorvaldsson Madala 3[ Pass Pass Dble Pass 4] all Pass North/South had reasonable play for 4]. To get there, North would have to display some bravery when 3[ ran to him. Bianchedi was over the first hurdle when he found a take-out double, his partner responding 4]. Other hurdles awaited Madala in the play. East won the [J lead and returned a spade to declarer s king. The difficulty of the play was then reflected by a long pause from Madala. Eventually he played a trump to the ace, East throwing a spade, followed by a losing finesse of the {Q. West returned the ]8 to the ]9, Madala then leading the }7. GO TO PAGE: 7

8 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 When West inserted the }K, declarer won with }A and played a club to the }10 and queen. At this stage, if the BBO account is correct to this point, the contract could easily be made. By unblocking the }7, declarer had opened the way for a finesse of the }5. If he didn t fancy that, he could play the }J, ruff the }5 and finesse against West s ] Q. Disappointingly for me and you, the BBO record stops at this point and declarer is shown as going one down. Sementa Baldursson Bocchi Haraldsson 3[ Pass Pass 4] Thorvaldsson led the [A and switched to the }9, drawing the queen and ace. Bianchedi played the ]A, East showing out, and crossed to dummy with a spade. The ]J was covered by the queen and king. The contract was then made for the loss of one club, one diamond and one spade. 10 IMPs to Iceland. Board 7. Dealer South. Both Vul. [ ] 6 { } Q [ A K Q 10 7 [ 9 ] ] A K Q { 9 8 { A K } } 10 [ J 5 ] J 10 3 { Q J 4 } A K J 7 2 Jorgensen Bianchedi Thorvaldsson Madala 1} 1[ Pass 2] Pass 3] Pass 4NT Pass 5{ Pass 6] It was a good time to be playing a change-of-suit forcing opposite an overcall. Thorvaldsson fired the RKCB cannon when he found a heart fit and 6] was reached. Madala led the }A and switched to the [5 - a good switch, which reduced declarer s options. Thorvaldsson won and drew two rounds of trumps, continuing with the {AK and a diamond ruff. With diamonds breaking 3-3, all was well and it was If trumps had been 2-2, of course, declarer could have ruffed a diamond and discarded any remaining diamond losers on the [KQ. Sementa Baldursson Bocchi Haraldsson 1{ 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 2[ Pass 4] all Pass Presumably, 2] would not have been forcing for Bocchi. He began with a cue-bid of 2{, after which 3] would surely have been forcing. Still, after the opening bid of 1{ at this table, he was no doubt worried about his three little diamonds. That was +680 and 13 more IMPs to Iceland. Spectators were drifting in from other tables and we had 2100 watching when this deal arrived. Board 13. Dealer North. Both Vul. [ A J 9 2 ] 8 { K Q } [ [ K ] ] K Q J 7 { { } A J } Q [ Q ] A 10 3 { A J } K Jorgensen Bianchedi Thorvaldsson Madala Pass 1[ Dble 2[ 3NT all Pass Even if you employ Lebensohl on this auction, North is a bit good for a 3{ response. He preferred to bid 3NT and East spent some time before finding the ]K lead. He was no doubt expecting Madala to hold four hearts for his double. Bianchedi won the ]A on the third round, East playing his three honours, and ran the [Q to the king. When East tabled the ]7, West had the option of allowing this to win, seeking three down if East held (and then led) the }Q. Jorgensen did not take any risk, overtaking with the ]9 for a safe two down. 8 GO TO PAGE:

9 54 th European Team Championships Sementa Baldursson Bocchi Haraldsson Pass 1[ 2{ 2[ 3[ Pass 4{ Pass 5{ all Pass West showed a weakish raise to 2[ (2] would have shown a full-value raise). Declarer won the spade lead with dummy s ace, ruffed a spade and cashed his red aces. He then ruffed a heart and led a club to the king and ace. The defenders took two more club tricks immediately and that closed the proceedings. One down and 3 IMPs to Iceland. Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul. [ K Q ] Q 9 { Q 5 } Q 10 6 [ 6 4 [ A ] 6 2 ] A { A J 10 7 { K } A K J 8 2 } [ J ] K J { } 4 Jorgensen Bianchedi Thorvaldsson Madala 1{ 1[ Dble 4[ Pass Pass Dble Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 East led the [A, switching to a low diamond, and the defenders duly collected their This would be a good sacrifice for Italy if game could be made at the other table. Sementa Baldursson Bocchi Haraldsson 1} 1[ Dble 3[ Pass Pass Dble Pass 4NT Pass 5} all Pass Bocchi s double promised 4 or 5 hearts and Sementa arrived in 5}. He won the spade lead, crossed to the }A and played a heart to the 10 and jack. If there was a trump loser, all would depend on the diamond guess, and declarer was beginning his search for a count on the deal. Haraldsson returned a heart to the queen and dummy s ace. A trump to the king then revealed that declarer did have a trump loser. He ruffed a spade and then a heart, North showing out. North had probably started with shape, making South favourite to hold the critical {Q. North followed with a blithe {5 when the {J was presented, Madala rising with dummy s {K and finessing on the way back. He was one down and Iceland collected another 9 IMPs. (But see the Editor's article in this Issue, page 10). When the masses studied the results from this round, what would they think of the scoreline: Iceland 53 IMPs Italy 1? Truly amazing, and our congratulations go to the Iceland team. It was in VPs. Matthias G. THORVALDSSON ICELAND Agustin MADALA ITALY Adalsteinn JORGENSEN ICELAND Alejandro BIANCHEDI ITALY GO TO PAGE: 9

10 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Mark Horton THREE COLORS RED WOMEN TEAMS, ROUND 8 Polish readers will be familiar with my title, which refers to a romantic mystery film made in When England met Poland in Round 8 of the Women's series their opponents were sitting proudly at the top of the leaderboard. Having made a disappointing start, England were beginning to move in the right direction and a win here would be more than just a morale booster. In a round which saw massive swings in both directions in all the remaining matches this one was a low scoring affair (generally a sign of good play) and turned on three deals on which one pair was always red. Board 3. Dealer South. EW Vul. [ ] A Q { Q J } 8 [ A Q [ J ] 5 3 ] J 9 4 { 2 { } A Q } [ K ] K { A K } K J 9 3 Sarniak Senior Kazmucha Dhondy 1] 1[ 2{ Pass 3} Pass 3{ Pass 3] Pass 4] All Pass s West led the ]3 and declarer won with dummy's ace and played the eight of clubs, putting up the king when East followed with the four. West won and played a second heart and declarer could take no more than nine tricks. Do you think declarer should have assumed that East would have taken the ace of clubs if she held it and played a second trump? As it happens, East had made a mistake, but we'll come to that in a moment. Brock Dufrat Brown Zmuda 1] 2]* Pass 2[ Dble Pass 3[* Pass 4] 2] Michaels Having shown a two-suiter West led the {2. Declarer won with the ace, crossed to dummy with the ]Q and played the }8 to West's queen. She won the heart return perforce with dummy's ace, returned to hand with a diamond, drew the outstanding trump and played the }K. When subsequently the }10 fell under the jack she was home, 10 IMPs to Poland. To defeat 4] East must play the }10 on the first round of the suit (which is the play East missed at the other table). West will take the jack with the queen and switch to a trump and declarer will never be able to take more than nine tricks. 10 GO OTO OPA PAGE: 1 SCHE HEDU DULE RESU LTS

11 54 th European Team Championships However, West's bidding and the opening lead should have given declarer a blueprint as to how to play the hand. At trick two declarer unblocks the diamonds. West ruffs and exits with a trump, but now declarer can play diamonds and East is helpless. If she ruffs at any point declarer overruffs and returns to dummy with a trump. Board 12. Dealer West. NS Vul. [ ] { A K 9 } [ 10 2 [ A Q ] A K Q 7 5 ] J 3 { { 2 } 9 4 } A K Q J 3 [ K J 7 ] { Q J } 10 2 Sarniak Senior Kazmucha Dhondy 2]* Pass 2NT* Pass 3{ Pass 3NT 2] Hearts and a minor 2NT Asking, invitational plus South led the {Q and the defenders took the first five tricks, +50. Brock Dufrat Brown Zmuda 2] Pass 4] Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 The weak two varies with vulnerability and position. Declarer easily took eleven tricks and the same number of IMPs. With only one deal remaining England led Board 16. Dealer West. EW Vul. [ K Q ] Q 9 { Q 5 } Q 10 6 [ 6 4 [ A ] 6 2 ] A { A J 10 7 { K } A K J 8 2 } [ J ] K J { } 4 Sarniak Senior Kazmucha Dhondy 1{ 1[ Dble* 3[ Pass 4[ 5{ North led the [K and declarer won with dummy's ace, cashed the {K and played a diamond to the jack. North won with the queen and exited with the [Q. There was no way to avoid the loss of a heart and a club, Brock Dufrat Brown Zmuda 1} 1[ Dble* 3[ Pass Pass Dble Pass 4} Pass 5} 1} 2+}, unbalanced with clubs or 11-14/18/19 balanced without a 5 card major North led the [K to dummy's ace and declarer took the }AK and ducked a heart. When a heart was returned she won with dummy's ace and ruffed a heart. The BBO connection was lost at the point where declarer ducked a heart, but I had already forecast that the contract would be made, declarer reasoning that North's failure to overcall 2[ suggested the ownership of the {Q. When she cashed the {A and continued with the jack she was rewarded by the appearance of the queen, and 12 IMPs, giving England an important win. GO TO PAGE: 11

12 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 John Carruthers FRANCE vs SWEDEN EN SENIOR TEAMS, ROUND 7 France was in second place and Sweden in fourth when they met in Round 7. Both teams have had very strong showings in previous European and World Championships. The match started with a bang when the North players, Abecassis and Nilsland, held: Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul. [ 9 ] 6 4 { A } A J and saw: Axdorph Abecassis Efraimsson Levy Lebel Nilsland Soulet Fallenius Pass Pass 1[ 2] 3} 4] Pass Pass? What would you bid? Both Norths doubled and led the nine of spades. South held [KQ742 ]J3 {8765 }Q3 and four hearts was cold; a push at minus 590. On the next board, the North players held: Board 2. Dealer East. NS Vul. [ 2 ] A 4 3 { } A Q 9 4 After a pass by East, Nilsland s partner, Fallenius, opened with two spades, HCP and a six-card suit. Would you bid? Abecassis partner, Levy, opened one spade, Abecassis bid one notrump and Levy bid two spades. What now? Nilsland passed. Abecassis, facing a higher upper limit for two spades, bid two no-trump and was raised to three. Their partners held [KQJ653 ]Q8 {Q7 }K76. The king of hearts was on lead against three no-trump and spades split 3-3, resulting in a very fortunate 10 IMPs to France when, on a bad day, they might have been three off. On Board 4, Sweden got to three no-trump on a finesse and needing the suit led to be 4-4. The finesse was onside, but the suit led was 5-3, so they went one off while France was scoring 130 in clubs. That made the match score 16-0 for France. Board six was a rather difficult-to-play game in hearts. Board 6 Dealer East. EW Vul. [ 6 4 ] A K { 6 5 } A J 5 4 [ J 3 [ A ] Q ] { K J 7 { } K Q 6 3 } 9 8 [ K Q ] J { A Q 9 8 } Axdorph Abecassis Efraimsson Levy 3[ Pass Pass Dble Pass 4] Axdorph led the jack of spades to Efraimsson s ace, declarer dropping the king. East shifted to the three of diamonds, queen, king, five. A second spade went to declarer s queen. Declarer needed to bring in the trumps and hold the club losers to one. He started with a heart to the ace, East discarding a spade, and followed with a diamond to the ace, East following with the two, revealing an even number. The jack of hearts was covered by the queen and won by dummy s king. Declarer drew trumps, ending in hand and led a club to the jack successfully. The ace of clubs left him with only nine winners for minus 50. Declarer had been in good shape until the jack of hearts was covered and won. At that point, to succeed, he needed to start on clubs, keeping a trump in dummy to ruff the fourth club if necessary. 12 GO TO PAGE:

13 54 th European Team Championships Lebel Nilsland Soulet Fallenius 2]* Pass 2[* 3] Pass 4] 2] Weak or strong in spades 2[ Pass if weak or bid on if strong At this table, Soulet led the three of diamonds to the queen and king. Lebel shifted to the king of clubs, ace, eight, two. Nilsland cashed the king of hearts, went to the ace of diamonds and led the jack of hearts, holding the trick when Lebel declined to cover. Declarer drew trumps and led a club to the ten and king. The seven of clubs now effectively blocked the suit when West forced out declarer s last trump with the jack of diamonds. Whenever declarer led a spade, East would win with the ace and cash the ten of diamonds for the setting trick. At this table as well, declarer needed to halt trumps after two rounds and play on clubs. An interesting variation occurs if declarer unblocks the seven of clubs under the ace, eventually creating a tenace position over East s six-three with his jack-five. In that case, after drawing trumps, if declarer plays on clubs, West taps out his last trump with the jack of diamonds and East scores the ten of diamonds when he wins the ace of spades. So, declarer plays a spade first. If East wins with his ace and plays a diamond to force out declarer s last trump, it also removes West s last diamond. Then a spade to the king and the ten of clubs leaves West skewered. He can win and lead into North s tenace, or duck and let declarer lead toward the jack. If East instead returns a spade when he wins with his ace of spades, declarer himself removes West s jack of diamonds and leads a club to the ten, again leaving West pickled. Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Both sides got to and made a good, but fairly routine, slam on Board 7. Over the next three deals, France won 3 IMPs for an extra vulnerable undertrick to lead Board 11 was another difficult game to play and defend Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul. [ K Q ] A Q 9 4 { J 4 } 8 2 [ A 9 [ J ] K 7 2 ] J 10 3 { Q { } Q } K 6 4 [ 6 4 ] { A K 7 6 } A J 7 6 Axdorph Abecassis Efraimsson Levy 1{ Pass 1[ Pass 1NT Pass 2}* Pass 2{* Pass 3]* Pass 3NT 2} Puppet to 2{ 2{ Forced 3] FG, 5[/4] Axdorph led the three of clubs to the king and ace. Levy tried a spade to the ten, losing to the jack. Efraimsson led back the six of clubs, five, ten, eight. Axdorph was put to the test and passed with flying colours, shifting to a heart. That ensured a fifth trick for the defence and, when Levy put in the queen and led the king of spades from the dummy, that held him to seven tricks on offence. (in a parallel position Sementa shifted to DQ which worked equally well - Ed.) Two off was minus 100 to Sweden. MICHEL ABECASSIS FRANCE Lebel Nilsland Soulet Fallenius 1{ Pass 1[ Pass 1NT Pass 2}* Pass 2{* Pass 2]* Pass 2[ 2} Puppet to 2{ 2{ Forced 2] Invitational, 5[/4] GO TO PAGE: 13

14 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 ALAIN LEVY FRANCE The Swedes chose the second-worst of the four possible games, with three no-trump needing 4-4 diamonds or no diamond lead (good luck on that!) and four hearts and five clubs pretty solid. Was Efraimsson s four-spade bid precipitate? Levy naturally led the queen of diamonds. Abecassis overtook that with the king and continued with the ace. Efraimsson exchanged losing spade finesses with the continued tap, losing trump control. He made three spade tricks, two hearts, and two clubs for three down. Declarer can make four spades double dummy by playing on the side suits and not playing any more trumps than the ace. Note the difference in rebid by North. It s a reflection of how confident the North players were in the solidity of South s opening bid. Events proved that Nilsland s and Fallenius evaluation was on the mark. Soulet led a club. Nilsland ducked that to the ten, then ducked the heart switch to the ten. Declarer won the club continuation with dummy s ace and led a spade, ducked to the king. A diamond to the ace and another trump, won by the ace, followed. West led a club, forcing declarer to ruff. Nilsland cashed the heart ace, led a diamond to the ace and ruffed a diamond with the ten of spades, his seventh trick. The queen of spades was his eighth, for plus 110 and 5 IMPs to Sweden, breaking their cherry, now Board 12. Dealer West. NS Vul. [ ] { A K 9 } [ 10 2 [ A Q ] A K Q 7 5 ] J 3 { { 2 } 9 4 } A K Q J 3 [ K J 7 ] { Q J } 10 2 Lebel Nilsland Soulet Fallenius Pass Pass 1} Pass 1{* Pass 1[ Pass 1NT Pass 2[ Pass 3} The French auction never really came to grips with the deal. Declarer was forced with a diamond at trick two, so simply drew trumps, ran the hearts and took the ace of spades for 11 tricks and plus 150. That was another lucky 7 IMPs to France, now leading On the four remaining deals, France won 7 IMPs in dribs and drabs, running out easy, if a little fortunate, winners, 33-5, VP. Axdorph Abecassis Efraimsson Levy Pass Pass 1}* Pass 1]* Pass 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass 2[ Pass 4[ 1} 16+ HCP 1] 5+ hearts, 8+ HCP, FG BENGT-ERIK EFRAIMSSON SWEDEN 14 GO TO PAGE:

15 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Daniel Gulyás ICELAND vs HUNGARY OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 20 Iceland, never to be ruled out in such tournaments, especially after their famous Bermuda Bowl win, are doing very well. They have small wins, but hardly any losses, and have been in the top four for over ten rounds now. Hungary, on the other hand, were not expected to do this well. But so far, we have won most of our important matches, and are currently second, close behind the Dutch. These days are pretty hard for them, facing one tough opponent after another, but they have won their first match of the day against Denmark by 30 IMPs. The match started out slowly, extra undertricks and overtricks (sometimes both in the same hand: 2[+2 vs 3[-2, while 8 tricks is the normal result) gave the Icemen a 9-3 lead when board 22 came up. Board 22. Dealer East. E/W Vul. [ J 10 2 ] { A } [ A [ K 8 4 ] A Q ] K 6 5 { J 10 { Q } 7 4 } K J 2 [ Q 9 5 ] J { K } A Q 6 Dumbovich Thorvaldsson Winkler Jorgensen 1{ Pass 1] Pass 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 2NT Olgeirsson Hegedüs Magnusson Szegedi 1{ Pass 1] Pass 1NT Pass 2{ Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Both tables started out identically, checking back after the 1NT rebid, and finding partner with a minimum. While Dumbovich just invited, showing his 5 hearts, Olgeirsson bid game, so neither table played in their 5-3 major fit, which is doomed already on the 3-level. Winkler simply went after his diamond trick after the passive heart lead, and got home with eight tricks, The stakes were much higher at the other table. Szegedi was not scared by the nebulous diamond, and led his long suit. Hegedüs won, and pushed a club through, and the diamond suit was cleared, and it looked like the contract was going down. Omar OLGEIRSSON ICELAND Gal HEGEDUS HUNGARY Balazs SZEGEDI HUNGARY Ragnar MAGNUSSON ICELAND GO TO PAGE: 15

16 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 South, Szegedi realized that he needed to discard on the long hearts, so he was not going to be the one who could keep spades if declarer had them, he was squeezed anyway. Sadly for the Hungarian fans, the low diamond, the spade nine and the club six did not get this message through, as Hegedüs thought (erroneously, I think) that he needed to hold on to his club pips, and he let go of one spade. That meant nine tricks (one spade was discarded earlier from dummy), so +600, and 10 IMPs to Iceland, After a few quiet boards, that included one table going down in 6}, the other in 5}, for a push, at 19-5, came a contract that was a question of rightsiding the contract. Board 26. Dealer East. All Vul. [ ] { Q J 10 4 } A 4 3 [ 10 7 [ A Q 8 ] K J ] A Q { { A 5 2 } K J 10 } Q 2 [ K J ] { K 8 7 } Dumbovich Thorvaldsson Winkler Jorgensen 1] 2] 3] Pass 4] Jorgensen had no clue a diamond lead was needed, and led a club, which went to the king, ace and queen Winkler likes to keep opponents in the dark. After the lead, there was nothing to the play, Olgeirsson Hegedüs Magnusson Szegedi 1} 1[ 2] Pass 3] Pass 4] The strong club and the natural response placed the contract in the West hand, and Hegedüs knew what to lead, the {Q, of course. Declarer won the first, hoping for a block, but it was not to be. (In the Open Series, every time West played, they went down; only one defender found the diamond lead from South, Helmut Häusler from Germany.) Down one meant +100, and 12 IMPs to Hungary, behind. 5 more points went Iceland s way, when Hungary found the possibly making 4[ in the 4-3, but Hegedüs failed to find the winning line, and was down, the other table being in a partscore. Board 30. Dealer East. None Vul. [ 6 ] K Q 7 5 { J } A 8 5 [ K J 10 3 [ A Q 8 2 ] 2 ] { Q { A 2 } J } K Q 9 2 [ ] A J { K 4 } 10 6 Dumbovich Thorvaldsson Winkler Jorgensen 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2[ Pass 3[ Pass 4[ Winkler received the difficult trump lead; he could possibly have made if he tried to ruff hearts, but he relied on 3-2 trumps by trying to set up the diamond suit. Eventually he ran into a club ruff when the 4-1 split made drawing trumps impossible; -50. Olgeirsson Hegedüs Magnusson Szegedi 1} 1] Dble 4] 4[ The weak no-trump system enabled Szegedi to intervene, and 4], barring some trump leads, is not a bad contract. In the end, Hegedüs sold out to 4[, and Szegedi, not knowing about the heart situation, led the ace. After a defensive error, Magnusson soon scored up his game, +420 and 10 more points to Iceland, now ahead 34-17, with 2 boards to go. On board 31, Hungary bid a low point count game, which needed Ax vs KT98xxx to run, but it did. So they gained 6, to close the gap to Then the very last board flashed, and we were in for a treat yet again. 16 GO TO PAGE:

17 54 th European Team Championships Board 32. Dealer West. E-W Vul. [ K 10 2 ] Q { J } K [ A Q [ J 6 3 ] ] { 4 { A K Q } J 5 3 } A Q 10 6 [ 8 ] A K J { 9 } 7 2 Olgeirsson Hegedüs Magnusson Szegedi Pass 2{ Pass 4] Pass Pass Dble Pass 4[ Pass Pass 5] Pass Pass 5[ In Iceland, you must have very specific rules to open a weak two. Hungarians don t feel this way, and open anything that moves this is especially true when green vs red. After Hegedüs opened 2{, Magnusson could not find a bid, but when 4] came back to him, he doubled. Olgeirsson tried to show a good hand, first by 4[, then by passing over 5], but they could not do more. Declarer played safely and did not even take the club finesse when it was Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 not necessary; +650, but he had to fear what would happen at the other table. Dumbovich Thorvaldsson Winkler Jorgensen 2[ Pass 2NT 5] Pass Pass 6[ Jorgensen did well to apply maximum pressure by bidding at the five-level immediately. Winkler had to guess, but he thought partner would not have any red-suit honours, so he rated to have good spades, and maybe even the club king, which may or may not be needed in slam anyway. Dumbovich, as usual, displayed why he is considered one of the top declarers of this tournament, and tried to avoid the club finesse. He ruffed the heart lead and led the spade jack, which Thorvaldsson let win. Now he cashed two diamonds, discarding a heart, then ruffed a diamond, and played a heart towards dummy. If he could ruff this, he could ruff another diamond, play two rounds of trumps and just discard his clubs on the high diamonds. But when Thorvaldsson ruffed in with the ten and played a club, he had to take the club finesse anyway; and 13 IMPs to Hungary, turning the match around at the very last moment, 36-34, or VP. After the match, Hungary stayed second, and Iceland also remained in fourth place. Still a long way to go, but a very well fought match from both sides! Matthias G. THORVALDSSON ICELAND Miklos DUMBOVICH HUNGARY Adalsteinn JORGENSEN ICELAND Gabor WINKLER HUNGARY GO TO PAGE: 17

18 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 POLAND vs ITALY Brian Senior OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 21 Going into this match Poland lay tenth and Italy eleventh, with just 0.03 VP between the two teams. With so many teams still in contention for a top eight place, this was one of the more important of each team's remaining matches, as the winners would not only improve their own standing but also damage the chances of a direct rival. Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul. [ K ] { A } A K 5 2 [ 6 4 [ A J 3 2 ] A J 3 2 ] { { Q } J 10 6 } Q [ Q 10 9 ] K Q { K J 3 } 9 Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala 1{ Pass 1] Pass 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 3} Pass 3NT Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel 1{ Pass 1] Pass 1[ Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass 3NT Both N/S pairs bid to 3NT but from different sides of the table. Neither convention card gives sufficient detail to explain their auction, but clearly Madala's 2{ was forcing, suggesting that had he instead bid 2} that would have been a relay to 2{, while the Poles were using similar methods. Playing from the South hand, Agustin Madala received the lead of the jack of clubs, which he won with dummy's ace. Madala led a spade to his queen and, when that held the trick, switched his attention to hearts, playing the king. Grzegorz Narkiewicz won the ace and continued the club attack, Madala ducked, won the next round and led a low diamond. When the queen appeared he had nine tricks for Playing from the North hand, Rafal Jagniewski also received a club lead, which he won. He played a diamond to the queen and king followed by a spade to the king and ace. Jagniewski ducked the club return but won the next round and led a diamond to the king followed by the king of hearts, risking that the ace would be with two club winners but judging this less likely than that the spade finesse might fail. Of course, we can see that either line is successful, but it was a tough decision for Jagniewski at the time. Giovanni Donati won the heart and got out with a diamond. Not risking his contract for an overtrick, Jagniewski cashed the diamonds then played a spade to the queen and settled for nine tricks and +400; no swing. Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul. [ 5 ] K Q { } J 9 4 [ A K [ J 8 3 ] 7 ] A { K J 10 4 { Q 9 6 } K 5 2 } [ Q ] J 2 { A 5 2 } A Q 10 7 Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala 1} 1[ Dble 2[ Pass 3} 3] Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel 1} 1[ Dble 2[ Pass 3{ 3] 4[ Both Wests overcalled and both Easts made a simple raise. Now Narkiewicz bid the lower of the suits in which he had an interest as his game try, and 18 GO TO PAGE:

19 54 th European Team Championships Krzysztof Buras, looking at three low clubs, didn't like his hand at all. When he did not even compete to 3[, Narkiewicz left his opponents to play in 3]. Buras led the eight of spades, middle from three in Polish style, and that held the trick. He continued with the jack of spades, ruffed by Alejandro Bianchedi, who played a trump to the jack and a second round to the king and ace. To defeat the contract Buras needed to play a diamond now, but in practice he took the easy option of leading a third spade. Bianchedi could ruff, draw the missing trump, and take the club finesse. That lost, but one of the diamond losers went away on the fourth club, so the contract was just made for Donati chose 3{ as his game try and that suited Giorgio Duboin much better so he jumped to 4[. Donati won the heart lead and ran the eight of spades then led low to his nine. He continued with the top spades then led the ten of diamonds to the queen and ace. Wojciech Gawel cashed the jack of hearts then led a diamond through, but Donati could win that with the nine and lead towards his king of clubs; 10 tricks for +620 and 13 IMPs to Italy. Board 4. Dealer. Vul. [ J ] Q J { Q J 8 5 } [ A 9 5 [ K Q 3 ] K ] A 10 { A 4 2 { } Q 10 5 } A K [ ] 5 2 { K } J 6 Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala 1NT 2} 2NT Pass 3} Pass 5{ Pass 5[ Pass 7} Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel 1} Pass 2[ Pass 2NT Pass 5{ Pass 5[ Pass 7} Narkiewicz opened 1NT, described as 14(13)-16 on their card. If this hand with only one minor honour combination is worth an upgrade then a partnership is presumably upgrading virtually Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 all 13-counts, so why not say 13-16? Anyway, Bianchedi overcalled 2}, both majors, and Buras asked Narkiewicz to bid 3} then jumped to 5{, Exclusion Key-card. Narkiewicz showed one key-card outside diamonds and, knowing that he was facing the ace of spades, Buras was willing to gamble out the thirteenth trick, so jumped to 7}. Donati opened 1}, natural or a no trump, and Duboin responded 2[, invitational or better with at least six clubs. Having set trumps, he too used Exclusion at his next turn and followed up with 7} on finding partner with a useful key-card. There was nothing to the play and the deal was flat at Fifteen pairs bid 7} in the Open, 13 bid 7NT, and four missed the grand, stopping in 6}. Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul. [ K Q 10 6 ] Q 7 { K } K 3 [ 8 3 [ A ] J 9 2 ] A K 10 { Q J 2 { 4 } } A J 9 2 [ J 5 ] { A } Q 7 Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala 1{ 1[ Dble Pass 1NT Dble 2{ Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel 1{ 1[ Dble Pass 1NT Dble 3{ Both 1{ openings showed unbalanced hands. Madala made a negative double then bid a quiet 2{ at his next turn and that bought the contract. Buras cashed two hearts then switched to ace and another club and there was a spade and a diamond to come; +90. Gawel jumped to 3{, at his second turn, with the intention of shutting out his opponents. He was right in a sense, in that E/W can make 4}, but there were the same five losers in 3{ so Jagniewski was down one for 50 and 4 IMPs to Italy. GO TO PAGE: 19

20 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul. [ J ] A J 7 2 { J } [ A 8 6 [ Q ] K ] Q { A 5 2 { Q } 5 3 } A J 10 4 [ K ] { K } K Q 8 2 Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel Pass 1{ 1] Dble Rdbl 2} Identical auctions saw both Norths double the overcall as a transfer, then leave their partner to play the four-three club fit. Donati led a club, Duboin winning the ace and returning the four of clubs. Gawel won the }K and played a low diamond, Donati going up with the ace and returning a flamboyant king of hearts. This was not the time for a perfectly legitimate play as Gawel won the ace and the queen appeared from Duboin. Gawel led a spade to the king and ace and the ten of hearts was returned to the jack and ruff. Duboin got out with his last trump but Gawel could win and play king then ten of hearts, and had eight tricks for +90. Narkiewicz too led a trump but Buras put in the ten. Madala won the queen of clubs and led a diamond and again the ace went up. This time, however, West had a second club to lead and did so. Buras won the ace of clubs and returned the four and Madala played the eight from hand so won with dummy's nine. He led a spade to the king and this was ducked, so he continued with a heart to the jack and queen. Back came a spade, so Madala discarded a heart and Narkiewicz won the ace. He returned the king of hearts to the ace and ruff and Buras played the queen of spades. Madala ruffed and played on diamonds, losing to the queen for the setting trick; down one for 50 and 4 IMPs to Poland. Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul. [ 5 4 ] J { Q 9 8 } 7 4 [ A Q J 6 [ ] ] A { A 10 { J } } K Q J 3 [ K ] K Q 9 { K 7 6 } A 10 9 Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala 1NT Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass Pass Dble Rdbl 3] Pass 3[ Pass 4[ Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel 1NT Pass 2{ Pass 2] Both Souths opened 1NT and both Norths transferred to 2]. When that came round to Duboin he went quietly as he was vulnerable and, though short in hearts, held only three spades. Donati led a club to the jack and ace. Gawel led the king of hearts and Duboin won the ace and returned a diamond. Donati won the ace and continued with the ten and Gawel could win, draw trumps, and cash out eight tricks for Buras balanced when 2] came round to him but Narkiewicz was unwilling to settle for merely competing the partscore, which would have won the board, and instead drove to game, perhaps assuming that Buras would always have a fourth spade? Madala led the king of hearts against 4[. Buras won the ace and played the king of clubs, Madala winning the ace and returning the ten of clubs. Buras won the queen and led the nine of spades and ran it, followed by a second spade to dummy's jack. He ruffed a heart with his last trump then led a diamond to the ace, cashed the ace of spades and played on clubs. The contract was down one for 100 and no swing. 20 GO TO PAGE:

21 54 th European Team Championships Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul. [ A ] A K 5 3 { A Q } 10 6 [ K Q 8 2 [ J 3 ] Q 9 4 ] { J 9 { } A J 5 2 } [ 9 7 ] J 8 2 { K } K Q 4 Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala 1[ Pass 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 2NT Pass 3} Pass 3[ Pass 3NT Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel 1[ Pass 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 3} Pass 3{ Pass 3] Pass 3NT Different versions of the Gazzilli 2} rebid, natural or 16+, saw both Souths become declarer in the notrump game. Donati led the two of clubs, Gawel putting up dummy's ten and cashing the ace and queen of diamonds then playing ace of hearts and a low heart to the eight and nine. Donati returned the two of spades, ducked to Duboin's jack, and Duboin switched to a club for the queen and ace. Donati knew the club situation and could see that the point of the hand was to keep declarer out of his hand, so he switched back to spades, leading the king to dummy's ace. Gawel cashed the hearts, but had to lead a spade next, and lost two of those, so was down one for 50. Narkiewicz too led a low club to dummy's ten and Madala cashed the top diamonds then led a club to the king and ace. Narkiewicz was awkwardly placed now but found the best return of a spade, choosing the king. Madala won the ace and returned a low spade, Buras winning the jack and returning the seven of hearts to the jack, queen and ace. Madala continued with ace and a third heart to the nine and Narkiewcz was endplayed. He could cash the queen of spades but had then to give the lead to Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 either declarer or dummy, either of whom had only winning cards remaining. That was nicely played for +400 and 10 IMPs to Italy. Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul. [ K 4 ] Q J { } A K 3 [ Q [ A 9 ] 7 3 ] K { K Q 6 { J 10 7 } } [ J ] A 9 { A } Q J 7 Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala Pass 1} Pass 1{ Pass 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 3NT Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel Pass 1} Pass 1{ Pass 1] Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass 3NT Madala's 1} could have been as short as a doubleton in a weak no-trump, and the 1{ response was a transfer. One No Trump showed the weak no trump type and Bianchedi's 2} puppet to 2{ then 3NT combination showed five hearts in a balanced hand and offered a choice of games. Narkiewicz led a low spade, as who would not, and Madala played low from dummy. Buras put in the nine so Madala won the jack and played ace and another heart, overtaking in dummy. Buras won the ]K and cashed the ace of spades, but Madala had nine tricks for Gawel also opened a potentially short club but he showed the weak no-trump type by completing the transfer at his next turn. Jagniewski too offered the choice of games but here it was he, the North player, who became declarer in 3NT. And, of course, there was no spade lead to give the crucial ninth trick. Duboin led a club. Jagniewski won dummy's queen and led a spade to the king and ace. Back came a second club. Jagniewski won the king and played ace and another heart to Duboin's king, and this time Duboin returned the jack of diamonds. Jagniewski GO TO PAGE: 21

22 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 ducked that, won the diamond continuation and cashed his winners; down one for 100 and 12 IMPs to Italy. Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul. [ 9 5 ] 6 { J 7 } Q J [ A [ J 4 3 ] 10 9 ] K Q { A 9 5 { Q 10 3 } } K [ K Q 7 ] A J 5 2 { K } A Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala 1{ 1[ 4} 4[ Dble Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel 1{ 1[ Pass 2} Pass 2[ 4} How would you handle the North cards in your methods? Jagniewski could do nothing at his first turn presumably a jump in clubs would have shown diamond support so passed. Duboin's 2} was a transfer cuebid and Donati, of course, signed off in 2[. Now Jagniewski could introduce his clubs and showed his exceptional length by leaping to 4}, where he was allowed to play. After the lead of the king of hearts, Jagniewski cashed the ace of clubs, getting the good news, came to hand and drew trumps but had to lose one spade and two diamonds; just made for At the other table, Bianchedi could pre-empt immediately with 4}, putting the pressure on his opponents. When that bullied Buras into an overbid of 4[, Madala was quick to double to complete the auction. Bianchedi led his singleton heart to the king and ace and, after some thought, Madala returned the two of hearts for his partner to ruff. A club to the ace and a third heart now left declarer with no way to avoid two trump losers. He ruffed with the ten then played ace and another spade and was down two for -300 and 5 IMPs to Italy. Board 12. Dealer West.N/S Vul. [ A J ] A Q { J } Q [ [ Q 8 ] K 6 ] J 10 7 { Q { A 8 4 } } A K [ K 7 4 ] 8 4 { K } J 5 2 Narkiewicz Bianchedi Buras Madala Pass 1] 2} Pass 3} 3[ Pass 4] Donati Jagniewski Duboin Gawel Pass 1] Pass 1NT Pass 2[ Pass 3] Would you overcall with the East cards? It is of course a matter of personal style whether to do so when holding what is essentially a good weak notrump with a five-card suit, but my guess would be that the majority would take action. Duboin passed and his opponents had a free run to 3], against which he led ace then king of clubs. Jagniewski ruffed, cashed the ace of hearts and crossed to the king of spades to discard his diamond loser on the jack of clubs before leading a heart up. Donati won the ]K but that was it for the defence as declarer, with no more entries to the dummy, was obliged to get the spades right by cashing the ace; 11 tricks for Buras made the 2} overcall and Narkiewicz raised to 3}. That forced Bianchedi to bid 3[ if he wanted to bid with his extremely distributional hand and Madala gave preference to 4]. Buras cashed the ace of clubs and Narkiewicz showed an even number. With declarer marked with a very distributional hand, that even number was surely four rather than two, so Buras switched to the jack of hearts. Bianchedi won the queen of hearts and led his diamond, Buras grabbing the ace and playing a second heart, the seven, to the king and ace. Bianchedi played a heart back to the ten and Buras returned a diamond. Bianchedi played low from dummy, ruffing Narkiewicz's queen, and led a spade to the king, cashed the king of diamonds, then led a spade to his jack. That lost to the doubleton queen and the contract 22 GO TO PAGE:

23 54 th European Team Championships was down one for 100 and 7 IMPs to Poland. Buras's switch to a heart at trick two meant that declarer did not require an entry to dummy to take the heart finesse, thereby leaving him with an entry to finesse in spades, without which he could not have gone wrong. Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul. [ A J 4 2 ] A 8 7 { A 9 8 } A K 9 [ 9 [ Q ] Q 6 5 ] J { Q { K } J } [ K ] K 9 { J } Q 3 Both Norths became declarer in 4[ via a Puppet Stayman sequence after opening 2NT and both received the lead of the jack of hearts. It is easy to lose two spade tricks and two diamonds, but both Bianchedi and Jagniewski passed the test. They won the king of hearts, led a spade to the ace and a spade back towards dummy. Seeing that declarer intended to put in dummy's seven as a safety play, both Easts put in the ten to force the king. However, Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 declarer took the heart ruff and had four minor-suit winners plus another trump trick as the eight and jack were equals against the queen; flat at In the Open Series, 4[ made 15 times and went down 13 times; in the Women, seven made it while 12 went down; in the Seniors, the score was nine for making and seven for going down. There were also pairs making 3NT or going down in 5[ or 6[. So did the unsuccessful declarers misplay the hand? Jagniewski and Bianchedi would gain by playing trumps as they did whenever West had a singleton nine or ten, two of the ten possible four-one layouts. They would go down when East had a singleton other than the queen four of the ten layouts if West was short enough in hearts to be over-ruffing dummy. The alternative trump play of [K then spade to the jack would be successful in these layouts. A six-two or worse split missing eight cards is a roughly one in five chance, one in ten with a specific hand having the shortage, though the percentage no doubt goes up a little once spades are four-one. So it looks as though that is a significantly lesser danger than that East will have Q10xx or Q9xx. Thus I think that, yes, our match featured the correct declarer play and those who played spades in the more simple manner did probably misplay the hand. Italy won our featured match by IMPs or VPs That moved them up to eighth while Poland slipped to twelfth. GO TO PAGE: 23

24 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 DENMARK vs NETHERLANDS Ron Tacchi OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 21 As we approach the final third of the complete Round Robin, the Netherlands have the lead and therefore the best chance of qualifying for the Bermuda Bowl. Denmark are languishing in 16th place. Having won half their matches, one could equally say that they have lost half their matches. If they are to have any chance of qualifying for the Bermuda Bowl they need to accelerate and win many more of their remaining matches. At this stage to assess a team s chances of rising into the top eight it pays dividends to look at the cross table of scores, checking who has the difficult matches to come and who has played the top contenders. For the Netherlands De Wijs and Muller play their home-grown strong club with relays system known as Tarzan because both their wives are called Jane whereas Nab and Drijver play five-card majors with a variable no-trump. In the Danish camp Bilde and Blakset use five-card majors with a strong no-trump and Askgaard and Konow employ Precision. Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul. [ K ] { A } A K 5 2 [ 6 4 [ A J 3 2 ] A J 3 2 ] { { Q } J 10 6 } Q [ Q 10 9 ] K Q { K J 3 } 9 tried the queen of clubs on which West played the ten and declarer ducked. East then switched to a low heart, the king played by declarer and ducked by West. Declarer now had nine top tricks and so cashed out to make his contract. Askgaard De Wijs Konow Muller 1{* Pass 1] Pass 1[ Pass 2}* Pass 2{ Pass 3] Pass 3NT 1{ 2+{, South s Two Clubs was obviously artificial, forwardgoing and seeking clarification and North admitted to owning a diamond suit. Finally the correct game contract of 3NT was bid by North. East started with the four of clubs to the ten and ace. A small diamond from declarer brought the good news in that suit. As the cards lie, declarer erred by playing the king of hearts. West immediately went up with his ace and fired back the jack of clubs. Now declarer was without resource as the defence had the ace of spades and three clubs to cash to add to the trick they had already collected with the ace of hearts. I must confess to not being able to work out if there is a better line. Most plays succeed if the clubs are 4-4 and if you go for the spades first then there may well be entry problems in setting up a heart trick later on. I just think De Wijs was unlucky but nevertheless it was ten IMPs out. 24 Nab Bilde D Drijver Blakset 1{ Pass 1] Pass 1[ Pass 2}* Pass 3} Pass 3NT The bid of Two Clubs was a form of check-back and North bid out his shape whereupon South was happy to place the game in no-trumps. West tabled the jack of clubs taken in dummy by the king and a small diamond to the queen and king ensued. With five certain diamond tricks available declarer went about establishing a spade trick by leading the ten to the king and ace. East now GO TO PAGE: DENNIS BILDE DENMARK

25 54 th European Team Championships Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul. [ 5 ] K Q { } J 9 4 [ A K [ J 8 3 ] 7 ] A { K J 10 4 { Q 9 6 } K 5 2 } [ Q ] J 2 { A 5 2 } A Q 10 7 Nab Bilde D Drijver Blakset 1} 1[ 3] Pass Pass Dble Pass 4[ North s pre-emptive heart bid caused East to value his hand more highly and when partner took a second bid he chanced the spade game. Luck was on his side as when North led the king of hearts it was taken by the ace in dummy and the eight of spades was led and held the second trick. Dummy continued with the jack of spades covered by the queen, and declarer drew trumps. When declarer led a small diamond, dummy s precious asset of the nine now came into its own; it forced the ace from South who continued with a heart ruffed by declarer who now had to stake all on crossing to the queen of diamonds and leading towards the king of clubs. Had South had another heart, the contract would have failed miserably. Fine judgement by East to realize his diamond intermediate would hold the key to the hand. Askgaard De Wijs Konow Muller 1{* 1[ 3] Pass Pass Dble Pass 3[ A similar auction but this time East was not aware of the salient feature in the diamond suit maybe he has Scottish blood in his ancestry but it meant ten IMPs back so now the two teams were tied. A no-swing hand, but it just might have been. Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 4. Dealer West. Both Vul. [ J ] Q J { Q J 8 5 } [ A 9 5 [ K Q 3 ] K ] A 10 { A 4 2 { } Q 10 5 } A K [ ] 5 2 { K } J 6 Nab Bilde D Drijver Blakset 1}* 1] 2{* Dble Pass 3{ 5{ Pass 5[ Pass 7} Pass Pass 7{ Pass Pass 7NT 2{ } North and South with their power houses interfered and tried to make life difficult for their opponents. Five Diamonds was evidently Exclusion RKCB and when West s balanced hand admitted to an ace East could be confident of thirteen tricks in clubs. After a considerable pause North decided to take the sacrifice. West now knew that if declarer could take thirteen tricks in clubs then with his undisclosed ace of diamonds there would be the same number of tricks in no-trumps. I am sure Mr Bird has a name for a coup where you try to sacrifice but it only pushes the opposition into a better scoring contract. (Barry suggests the 'Quicksand Coup' - Editor) This time, had North passed he would have gained two IMPs, since as we shall see below the other table also got fairly simply to the no-trump grand slam. Askgaard De Wijs Konow Muller 1{* 1] 2} Pass 2NT Pas 4} Pass 4{ Pass 4] Pass 4[ Pass 4NT Pass 5[ Pass 7NT Two clubs was, unusually, natural, but also gameforcing and after a sequence of cue-bids East s RKCB enquiry unearthed two key-cards and the queen of GO TO PAGE: 25

26 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 clubs in the West hand East was not overtaxed to count to thirteen and bid the grand slam for a push. There followed a quiet period of four boards where both teams gained a six-imp swing to keep the scores level at sixteen apiece. Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul. [ A ] A K 5 3 { A Q } 10 6 [ K Q 8 2 [ J 3 ] Q 9 4 ] { J 9 { } A J 5 2 } [ 9 7 ] J 8 2 { K } K Q 4 Nab Bilde D Drijver Blakset 1[ Pass 1NT* Pass 2}* Pass 2{ Pass 2]* Pass 2[* Pass 2NT Pass 3NT 1NT 6-11 It is not mentioned in the convention card but Two Clubs is probably Gazzilli and when North showed and a heart suit they reached the no-trump game. On the lead of the two of clubs the ten was played from dummy. It held the trick and the ace and queen of diamonds were cashed, exposing the diamond situation. A small club from dummy went to the king and ace. West now tried the king of spades won by the ace in dummy and a small spade was taken by East s jack. A heart went to the eight, nine and king. Declarer now cashed the other heart honour and exited with a heart to West s queen. West now had the unenviable choice of cashing his queen of spades and surrendering the rest of the tricks to dummy or to lead a club into the South hand to cash all the good diamonds. Contract made. Askgaard De Wijs Konow Muller 1} Pass 2{* Pass 2]* Pass 3} Pass 3{* Pass 3[ Pass 4{* Pass 4]* Pass 4[ 2{ bal } 33(43) or 5m 3[ 5{ 4{ forces 4] then signoff For once the relay system did not arrive at the best contract. The double dummy analyser says that the contract always fails except on a heart lead so what did West lead? Correct, the nine of hearts, but declarer went up with the ace and played a small spade to the nine and queen. West persevered with a small heart and yet again declarer rose with a high heart and cashed the ace of trumps. His next step was to play a small trump, hoping for a 3-3 split, but it was not to be. The defence now took two more trump tricks, gallingly, the queen of hearts and the ace of clubs to defeat the contract by two tricks. 11 IMPs to Denmark. Board 10. Dealer East. Both Vul. [ K 4 ] Q J { } A K 3 [ Q [ A 9 ] 7 3 ] K { K Q 6 { J 10 7 } } [ J ] A 9 { A } Q J 7 Nab Bilde D Drijver Blakset Pass 1} Pass 1] Pass 1NT Pass 2}* Pass 2{* Pass 3NT* With Two Clubs being a form of check-back the notrump game was swiftly reached. A fourth-best seven of spades was led, ducked in dummy and taken by East s ace, who switched to the jack of diamonds. Declarer rose with the ace and played ace and another heart 26 GO TO PAGE:

27 54 th European Team Championships taken by East s king. They could cash two diamonds but that was the end of the defence and declarer had his nine tricks and his game. Askgaard De Wijs Konow Muller Pass 1{* Pass 1] Pass 1[ Pass 2}* Pass 2{* Pass 3NT 1{ 2+{ I assume Two Clubs is some form of game force and Two Diamonds a minimum. North plumped for the no-trump game against which East tabled the jack of diamonds. Just as declarer did, you or I would rise with the ace, confident that the opposition could only take two more diamonds tricks next time they won a trick. Declarer continued with the ace and another heart, ducked by East. Not having overtaken the nine of hearts declarer led a club to the king, and continued with a heart, this time taken by East s king and he exited with a club to dummy s jack. Declarer now staked all on the ace of spades being onside and much to his chagrin it was not. When East continued the suit declarer was three off. Another 14 IMPs to Denmark. Can you see how declarer could have made his contract? Completely double dummy, he must duck the first diamond and then he can establish establish the thirteenth diamond at some time. As the spade suit is frozen and the defence cannot profitably attack it. Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul. [ A K J 8 3 ] K 7 6 { Q 10 5 } 8 3 [ [ Q ] ] A 3 { 6 2 { K J } K } 5 4 [ 10 ] Q J 10 2 { A 9 8 } A Q J 7 6 Nab Bilde D Drijver Blakset 1NT* Dble* Pass* Pass 2{ Pass Pass Dble Pass 2] Pass 3NT 1NT non-vul 1st or 2nd position Dble penalty East s mini no-trump did not prevent North/South from reaching the no-trump game. East s lead of a small diamond did not paralyse declarer when dummy s nine won the first trick. Declarer led the queen of hearts, ducked by East, who perforce took the continuation. Another non-paralysing effort by East of a small spade was won by a small card in dummy. Declarer came to hand with a heart and cashed two top spades before taking a losing club finesse, but he still had ten tricks and so made his contract with an overtrick. BOB DRIJVER NETHERLANDS Askgaard De Wijs Konow Muller 1{ Pass Pass 1[ Pass 2} It appears to me that one or more wheels fell off the North/South bidding train. We shall intrude no further on private grief and just note that South made his contract but lost eight IMPs. On the final board the Danish North/South managed to get overexcited and bid a no-hope slam. Whilst in the other room they stopped in game, which was theoretically makeable if you had a long neck. So Denmark lost three IMPs but they had won or VP. GO TO PAGE: 27

28 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 David Bird MONACO vs ICELAND OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 22 Peter Lund and I were happy to be commentating for BBO on this great clash. After a poor start, Monaco had performed a triple-jump up the table with several big wins and were back where they belong : in the top 8. Iceland, who were also riding high, were likely to provide stern opposition. Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul. [ ] { Q 6 2 } A Q 9 [ A J [ Q ] Q J 6 ] A 10 { A K J 8 { } J } K 2 [ K 10 ] K { 5 3 } Jorgensen Multon Thorvaldsson Martens 2] Dble 2[ Dble Pass 3NT The trio Multon-Martens-Zimmermann have a shared convention card but there was a disagreement here on the meaning of 2]. As I understand it, in this partnership Martens should have had a two-suiter in the majors for his 2] bid. This explains Multon s correction to 2[, which East doubled for penalties. Jorgensen jumped to 3NT, hoping to make it clear to partner that he was not attracted towards a spade game. Still under the impression that South held both majors, Multon led the [7 to the 10 and jack. Jorgensen played his two top diamonds, cashed the [A and then chose to play the {J rather than the {8. North won and switched to the }Q, dummy s king winning. With a club trick in the bag, declarer would now make the game if he could score four spades, the ]A, three diamonds and one club. He played queen and another spade to North, who cashed the }A. When he switched to a heart, declarer won with the ace and cashed the ]A and {10, squeezing South in hearts and clubs for an overtrick. Helgemo Baldursson Helness Haraldsson Pass 1NT Pass 2] Dble Pass Pass 3NT Helgemo s pass on the second round denied three spades and 3NT was reached. North led the ]3 and South ducked dummy s ]10 (a text-book play to preserve North/South communications). Declarer finessed the [J successfully. The contract can now be made at double-dummy by taking advantage of the favourable club position. Not blessed with second sight, despite what it often seems, Helgemo continued with the [A and dropped South s king. He cashed the {A and led a club, North rising with the }A to remove dummy s ]A. When a diamond finesse lost, North could cross to partner s hand in hearts and the game was one down. It was 12 IMPs for Iceland. Board 21. Dealer North. N/S Vul. [ A K 5 3 ] Q { J 5 3 } 7 3 [ Q [ ] A ] { { A K Q 4 2 } A K 4 2 } 8 5 [ J 6 ] K J { 7 } Q J Jorgensen Multon Thorvaldsson Martens Pass 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 3NT Thorvaldsson opened a NT and arrived in 3NT. He was spared a heart lead, Martens reaching for the }Q, but the situation was not rosy. Eagle-eyed kibitzers had spotted that the diamond suit would be blocked if the suit broke 3-1. Even if that were not the case, declarer would have only eight apparent tricks. 28 GO TO PAGE:

29 54 th European Team Championships Thorvaldsson won with dummy s }A, led the {10 to the ace and ran the [7. This drew the [K from North but now came a heart switch to dummy s ace. On the second round of diamonds, when North follows small, should you play for the drop or finesse against the jack to avoid a blockage? You can ignore the possibility that North began with a singleton, of course, or that South began with single {J. The odds are very close. Declarer rose with the {K and was two down instead of one down when the suit proved to be blocked. Helgemo Baldursson Helness Haraldsson Pass Pass 1] Dble 2NT 3{ 3] 4{ Pass 5{ A lead of the spade doubleton would have defeated 5{ but the Great Dealer had very helpfully given South a fine club sequence. Declarer won the club lead, drew trumps and ran the [7 to the ace. He was able to ruff one heart and discard the other on the spades. That was 11 tricks and 11 IMPs to Monaco. Board 23. Dealer South. Both Vul. [ J ] K Q 6 5 { 10 3 } K 9 [ K [ ] J ] 9 7 { Q J { A K } A 7 3 } [ A Q 5 4 ] A 4 3 { 9 } Q J Jorgensen Multon Thorvaldsson Martens 1} 1{ 1] 2} 3[ Pass 4[ 5{ Dble North s 1] response showed spades. Thorvaldsson s decision to sacrifice with distribution in the side suits was a close one. Five-card support is not worth very much with that shape. North led a trump and the defenders duly took their 800. Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Helgemo Baldursson Helness Haraldsson 2{ Pass 4[ South s 2{ was Precision-style, showing points and short diamonds. North knew that his honor cards were pulling full weight and leapt to 4[. When a trump was led, Baldursson rose with the ace, dropping West s singleton king, and made an easy +650 for 4 IMPs away. Board 25. Dealer South. Both Vul. [ ] { K } A [ Q [ A K 9 3 ] K J 4 ] A 9 6 { Q J { } K Q 5 4 } 10 2 [ J 6 ] Q 2 { A } J 8 7 Jorgensen Multon Thorvaldsson Martens Pass 1{ Pass 1[ Pass 2[ Pass 4[ Jorgensen must have been super-confident of 4-card support, since he bid 4[ without any further investigation. Multon led the {K and switched to a heart, putting declarer s mind at rest in that suit. Jorgensen won South s queen with the king, crossed to the [A and led a club to the king and ace. After a heart to the ace, he had to make plans for his two losing clubs. Declarer crossed to the }Q and ruffed a club with the [3, South s }J appearing. He then played the [K, returned to the ]J and ruffed his last club with the [9. A diamond trick had to be lost but declarer s [Q10 were good for a total of 10 tricks. Well guessed! Helgemo Baldursson Helness Haraldsson Pass 1{ Pass 1[ 1NT 2[ Pass 3NT GO TO PAGE: 29

30 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 North s 1NT on a passed hand showed the two unbid suits. With his values packed in North s suits, Helgemo s 3NT looked like a good bid to me. The decision on which game to play rested with Helness and he chose to leave it in 3NT. Baldursson found the lead of his singleton {K. Wow! To declarer s relief he switched to a heart, drawing the queen and king. Although the }A lay in the safe hand, Helgemo had only eight tricks. He played three rounds of spades and led a club to the 10, hoping that North held the ace and jack of the suit. Haraldsson was happy to win with the }J and score his four remaining diamonds for three down. It was 14 IMPs to Iceland. Right, are you ready for a really big firework to end the show? I will light the blue touch-paper! Board 27. Dealer South. Neither Vul. [ ] { 4 3 } A Q [ 7 [ A K Q 6 ] Q J ] A { K Q 7 5 { A } K 8 6 } J 9 4 [ J ] K { J 9 } 3 2 Jorgensen Multon Thorvaldsson Martens Pass 1] Pass 2{ Pass 3[ Pass 4} Pass 5{ Pass 6{ Jorgensen was willing to make a splinter bid, despite the minimum nature of his hand. He signed off in 5{ on the next round but Thorvaldsson had some great cards and advanced to 6{. Martens led the }2, which could be low from a doubleton, and Multon won with the }Q, declarer producing the }4. After prolonged thought, and perhaps bearing in mind East s 4} bid, Multon switched to a spade. A relieved declarer won and played two more spades, disposing of dummy s clubs. There was still work to be done. Declarer ruffed a club, returned to the ]A, and led the }J. Martens ruffed with he {9 and declarer overruffed with the {Q. There was a prolonged pause and those who were also watching a video of the match told us that Multon had called the director. What had happened? One eye-witness explained that Thorvaldsson had pointed at the {Q but at the same time mistakenly said Queen of hearts, quickly corrected to Queen of diamonds. Some time passed and the VG operator removed the {Q from our screens. From the account that we had heard, it seemed that the director would allow the {Q to be played. Eventually, probably to great cheers from the 1900 kibitzers who were now watching our table, the {Q was reinstated. Declarer ruffed a heart, led his last spade and ruffed with dummy s {K. According to BBO he then guessed to play a diamond to the ace, dropping the jack, and recorded The video-watchers informed us that he had finessed the {10 and gone one down. The Bridgemate entry confirmed this. It was an exciting deal with a sad end for Iceland. Helgemo Baldursson Helness Haraldsson Pass 1] Pass 2{ Pass 3[ Pass 4} Pass 5{ Pass 6{ The bidding was identical and this time the }3 was led. Baldursson won with the queen, declarer again contributing the }4. As at the other table, North switched to a spade. Helness cashed the ]A, crossed to the {K and led the ]Q, ruffing in his hand. He cashed two spades to dispose of dummy s clubs, ruffed the }9 and returned to hand with another heart ruff. When he led the }J, the record shows that South ruffed with the {J (which seems very unlikely), overruffed with the {Q. Declarer could then score the last three trumps separately, ruffing his last spade with the {7. What we know is that declarer had made the slam. Monaco gained 14 IMPs on this truly adventurous board and Iceland eventually won the match by 46 IMPs to 30. That was VP. 30 GO TO PAGE:

31 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Jos Jacobs NORWAY vs SWEDEN EN WOMEN TEAMS, ROUND 11 On Wednesday morning, the overnight leaders in the Women s Championship were scheduled to meet. What is more: it also would be one of the famous Nordic derbies: Norway v. Sweden. Though I was expecting (or hoping for) a lively and spectacular match with some good bridge in it, I had to wait patiently until the second half of the match before things really started to happen. Still, one hand in the first half of the match drew my attention. Board 19. Dealer South. E/W Vul. [ ] { Q 6 2 } A Q 9 [ A J [ Q ] Q J 6 ] A 10 { A K J 8 { } J } K 2 [ K 10 ] K { 5 3 } In our featured match, this board was a push in 3NT, down one. It seems, however, that the contract can always be made double-dummy, even on best defence i.e. a heart lead. If South leads a heart, it s automatic but if North leads a heart, South has to duck dummy s ]10 which happened at many tables in this European Championship. You win the ]10 and play a spade to the jack which wins the trick. Next comes a club which North has to win immediately to continue a heart. Dummy s ]A wins and the [A is cashed, followed by a heart to South s king. If South cashes both his long hearts, North will be squeezed in three suits. If South cashes only one long heart, declarer can throw a club but North has to discard the }9. On any minor suit return from South, declarer can establish a 9th trick. Of course, if South does not cash any long heart, declarer has ample time to concede a diamond to North who is already out of hearts. After eight boards, the score stood at 9-4 to Norway but from then on, things gradually began to heat up.. This was board 25: Board 25. Dealer North. E/W Vul. [ ] { K } A [ Q [ A K 9 3 ] K J 4 ] A 9 6 { Q J { } K Q 5 4 } 10 2 [ J 6 ] Q 2 { A } J 8 7 Larsson Fuglestad Bertheau Harding Pass 1} 2{ Dble Pass 2[ Pass 4[ South led the ]Q. Declarer won the ace in hand and led a club up. North won dummy s king with the ace and returned a heart. Now, declarer could win in dummy, play }Q, ruff a club and cash the [AK. When the jack appeared and looked like a true card, she could safely cross to dummy s ]J and ruff the last club with her [9. Dummy s [Q10 were still there to bring her tally to ten tricks for a fine +620 to Sweden. Well, the paragraph above tells you how declarer should have played to bring home her contract. At the table, she followed an entirely different line which should have led to her downfall. When a defender revoked, (not easy at a BBO table), she was suddenly presented with her contract. Heskje C Rimstedt Vist I Grönkvist Pass Pass 3{ With West looking at a rather unattractive hand with her {QJ bare, South s pre-emptive opening GO TO PAGE: 31

32 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 bid was left in peace. Declarer went only one down when the defenders did not take their club ruff but it did not matter as both -50 and -100 would bring Sweden 11 IMPs. Two boards later, there was a slam on the cards but only if played by West Board 27. Dealer South. None Vul. [ ] { 4 3 } A Q [ 7 [ A K Q 6 ] Q J ] A { K Q 7 5 { A } K 8 6 } J 9 4 [ J ] K { J 9 } 3 2 Larsson Fuglestad Bertheau Harding 2{ Pass 2] Dble Pass Pass 2[ Dble South s 2{ showed majors. N/S managed to end up in the right strain but this contract still went off the expected three tricks. Sweden Heskje C Rimstedt Vist I Grönkvist Pass 1] Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass 2[ Pass 3{ Pass 3] Pass 3NT Pass 4{ Pass 4[ Pass 4NT Pass 5} Pass 5{ Two boards later, once again the bidding died early on: Board 29. Dealer North. All Vul. [ K Q 7 ] Q J 9 4 { K 3 } K [ J [ A 10 5 ] 7 5 ] K 8 2 { J { A } 7 2 } A 4 3 [ 6 2 ] A { Q 9 7 } Q J 8 5 Larsson Fuglestad Bertheau Harding 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2] Pass 4] This looked like a routine auction to a routine game depending on the trump finesse. Norway In the other room, East could overcall 1NT as North had not taken away this possibility by opening 1NT herself: Heskje C Rimstedt Vist I Grönkvist 1} 1NT Dble 2{ West s 2{ showed diamonds and another but when East was happy to pass, South could not find another bid. The contract duly went two down for -200 but Norway had won 9 IMPs. On the penultimate board, both tables reached the same poor contract on a 4-3 fit and were both doubled in it, but with different outcomes. For a moment, E/W were in the only making game (3NT) but when they went on to explore a slam, they also entered the down zone. On a club lead, even 5{ went one off as South could ruff the third round of the suit. Sweden another +50 and 11 more IMPs to them. 32 GO TO PAGE:

33 54 th European Team Championships Board 31. Dealer South. N/S Vul. [ A Q J 10 7 ] K J 10 9 { 10 } [ 6 4 [ 5 2 ] Q ] A 7 4 { J { A Q 6 3 } A Q } K J 6 2 [ K ] 5 2 { K 5 2 } Larsson Fuglestad Bertheau Harding Pass Pass 1[ Dble 3[ 4] Dble On this auction, it s virtually impossible to reach a diamond contract. When North led the [AQ and switched to her diamond, declarer finessed, suffered a diamond ruff and had to lose two more trump tricks afterwards for a smooth three down. Norway Heskje C Rimstedt Vist I Grönkvist Pass Pass 1[ Dble 3] 4] Dble With 3] showing a spade raise, the Swedes also ended up in hearts and got doubled. At this table, however, North led a club which changed the pattern completely. Declarer cashed her }AQ and led a diamond, putting on the ace when North produced the ten. Two losing spades went on the }KJ, North ruffing the fourth round with the nine. Declarer ruffed the [A return and led a diamond, won by South s king. South persisted with spades, declarer once again ruffing in hand. As it would not help North to ruff the diamond continuation by declarer, she discarded a spade but this way, dummy could win Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 the trick and lead a trump to North s ten. Whatever North s return, declarer would always come to two more tricks, thus restricting her losses to just four tricks for only +100 to Sweden but 9 more IMPs to Norway. The last board was a slam: Board 32. Dealer West. E/W Vul. [ 9 6 ] Q { K Q } A 5 [ A Q [ ] J 5 ] 9 { J 9 { } K } Q J [ K J 4 ] A K { A 6 2 } 10 Larsson Fuglestad Bertheau Harding 1[ Pass 1NT 2] Pass 4] When North did not double 1[, it was virtually impossible for N/S to get to the slam. Norway Heskje C Rimstedt Vist I Grönkvist Pass 1{ Pass 1] 1[ 2] Pass 4} Pass 4{ Pass 4[ Pass 4NT Pass 5{ Pass 6] When West did not open the bidding, North was quick to enter the auction on her minimum values. Now when the two red-suit fits promptly came to light, getting to the slam was easy enough. Sweden +980 and 11 IMPs to them to win the match or VP, enough to take over the lead in the overall standings. GO TO PAGE: 33

34 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Herman De Wael THE BELGIAN PAGE The Belgian Women completed the hat-trick. After the Open and the Senior teams, they too defeated the Netherlands. Meanwhile, the Open team completed a hat-trick of their own: after losing to Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia also proved too strong for us. A Ruling that raised an eyebrow Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul. [ K ] { Q } Q J [ Q J 9 [ 4 ] Q 9 7 ] 10 3 { K { A } A 7 6 } [ A 2 ] A K J 8 4 { J 10 4 } K 4 3 Steven Pass Pass 4] Steve 1NT The bidding had already produced some raised eyebrows in the vu-graph theater, especially when Steven De Donder managed to make the contract he clearly did not expect to be playing in. But what had happened? Steve De Roos explained it to me: Steven had obviously intended his 4] call as a transfer, but systematically it was natural. While he was telling me, the Director arrived to tell them that the result had been changed to 4] down one. Steve described it with Steven explaining both the system and his mistake to East. In that case the ruling seemed wrong. But I asked Bertrand Gignoux, the Director who had given the ruling, and he explained that Steven had still been certain, after the play and with the Director at the table, that he had been correct and 4] was a transfer. Only then had they all examined the System card and found out that 4] was in fact natural. The DIrector subsequently found that if East had been informed that 4] showed hearts, he would have led a spade, and the contract would have gone down. There is an interesting lesson in this for all players. When your partner explains your bidding differently than how you intended it, there are always two possibilities: either you are right or he is (most players will believe the first, but the second does happen). If you are right and partner has misexplained, then you should correct that explanation. But if partner is right and you have misbid, there is no need to tell opponents that you don't actually hold the cards that have been explained to them. In order to know which one it is, you are allowed to consult your own system card. The same rule applies to play behind screens, although it is quite often not clear that partner has explained differently. But here, that fact was almost a certainty. If Steven had only consulted his system card before the opening lead, no ruling would have been needed, although probably East would then have led the spade that leads to the same final result. What have we learned today? If you know that the true meaning of some bid is on your system card, you are allowed (and thus recommended) to look it up between the final pass and the opening lead. If it turns out it was you yourself who made the bidding mistake, there is no need to inform your opponents of that fact. Only if it was partner who misexplained are you required to explain this before the opening lead. Bertrand Gignoux The Director was Right 34 GO TO PAGE:

35 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 RESULTS OPEN TEAMS ROUND 22 1 LITHUANIA ITALY TURKEY POLAND FRANCE DENMARK ICELAND MONACO SCOTLAND NETHERLANDS CZECH REPUBLIC GERMANY ENGLAND UKRAINE BULGARIA WALES PORTUGAL NORWAY LATVIA ISRAEL ESTONIA BELGIUM CROATIA RUSSIA ROMANIA FINLAND GREECE AUSTRIA IRELAND SPAIN SWITZERLAND SWEDEN HUNGARY Bye ROUND 23 1 UKRAINE ICELAND DENMARK WALES PORTUGAL TURKEY LATVIA LITHUANIA BELGIUM HUNGARY CROATIA ITALY POLAND FINLAND FRANCE AUSTRIA SPAIN MONACO IRELAND SWEDEN NETHERLANDS GREECE ROMANIA GERMANY ENGLAND RUSSIA BULGARIA ESTONIA NORWAY ISRAEL CZECH REPUBLIC SWITZERLAND SCOTLAND Bye ROUND 24 IMPs 1 AUSTRIA CROATIA SPAIN BELGIUM LATVIA IRELAND GREECE PORTUGAL ROMANIA WALES RUSSIA UKRAINE ESTONIA CZECH REPUBLIC SCOTLAND ISRAEL BULGARIA ICELAND ENGLAND DENMARK TURKEY GERMANY NETHERLANDS LITHUANIA HUNGARY SWEDEN ITALY MONACO POLAND FRANCE SWITZERLAND NORWAY FINLAND Bye VPs DUPLIMATE AND CARDS RANKING AFTER ROUND 24 1 RUSSIA NETHERLANDS HUNGARY NORWAY ISRAEL ICELAND GREECE MONACO SWEDEN ITALY FRANCE GERMANY ENGLAND DENMARK POLAND BULGARIA BELGIUM LATVIA SPAIN FINLAND AUSTRIA LITHUANIA TURKEY IRELAND ESTONIA PORTUGAL CROATIA SCOTLAND CZECH REPUBLIC WALES SWITZERLAND UKRAINE ROMANIA The Duplimates used for the Duplication during the championships are sold for Contact Jannerstens at the bridge stall in the Bridge Plaza or drop a line to: per@jannersten.com New (not played) Ostend cards (of the same type as in the boards) are sold for 200 per 200 decks. GO TO PAGE: 35