Schedule p. 2 Frivolous Ton Kooijman p. 3 France vs Russia (O) Ron Tacchi. p. 4 Norway vs Russia (O) David Bird. p. 7 France vs Poland (S)

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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 TUESDAY, JUNE ISSUE No 7 CONTENTS Schedule p. 2 Frivolous Ton Kooijman p. 3 France vs Russia (O) Ron Tacchi p. 4 Norway vs Russia (O) David Bird p. 7 France vs Poland (S) John Carruthers p. 10 Norway vs Monaco (O) Jos Jacobs p. 13 Netherlands vs England (O) Ron Tacchi p. 16 Denmark vs Norway (W) Brian Senior p. 20 France vs Iceland (O) David Bird p. 25 Poland vs Hungary (S) John Carruthers p. 28 The Belgian Page Herman De Wael p. 30 Results p. 31 TODAY'S SCHEDULE 10.00: Open (R19) Women (R8) Seniors (R7) 13.20: Open (R20) Women (R9) Seniors (R8) 16.10: Open (R21) Women (R10) Seniors (R8) There were major changes in the Open series, the most significant being the disappearance of the overnight leaders, Israel from the top eight. The teams currently holding sway are Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Iceland, Monaco, Russia, Norway & Greece. Poland, Norway and Sweden retained their positions in the Women's event, but then it's all change, with Denmark, Iceland, Serbia, France & Estonia all surging up the table. In the Seniors' France, Sweden and the Netherlands made a move and now the top of the table reads: Norway, France, Ireland, Sweden, Israel, Romania, Scotland & Netherlands. 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 19 ROM vs IRE RUS vs SPA AUT vs EST ISR vs FIN NOR vs CRO BBO 2 BUL vs BEL ENG vs LAT POR vs GER WAL vs NED SWE vs UKR MON vs CZE SCO vs FRA BBO 1 ICE vs ITA DEN vs HUN TUR vs LIT POL vs SWI GRE Bye ROUND 20 ROUND 21 DEN vs LIT BBO 2 ICE vs HUN SCO vs POL CZE vs FRA UKR vs MON WAL vs SWE NED vs POR GER vs LAT BBO 1 BEL vs ENG CRO vs BUL NOR vs FIN BBO 3 AUT vs ISR EST vs SPA RUS vs IRE ROM vs GRE SWI vs ITA TUR Bye SPA vs FIN IRE vs CRO BEL vs GRE ROM vs LAT RUS vs POR EST vs WAL ISR vs UKR CZE vs NOR SCO vs BUL BBO 4 GER vs ICE BBO 1 DEN vs NED SWE vs TUR LIT vs MON BBO 3 HUN vs FRA BBO 2 ITA vs POL ENG vs SWI AUT Bye WOMEN TEAMS BBO 3 ROUND 8 ROUND 9 ROUND 10 SCO vs BEL NOR vs SPA ISR vs IRE DEN vs GRE FIN vs TUR ITA vs SER HUN vs SWE RUS vs EST FRA vs POR ICE vs NED ENG vs POL GER Bye FIN vs HUN GRE vs EST IRE vs POR SPA vs ICE ENG vs BEL GER vs POL NED vs SCO NOR vs FRA ISR vs RUS SWE vs DEN ITA vs TUR SER Bye EST vs ICE HUN vs ENG SER vs POL FIN vs NED FRA vs GRE IRE vs RUS SWE vs SPA BEL vs ITA GER vs TUR DEN vs SCO ISR vs NOR POR vs Bye SENIOR TEAMS BBO 4 ROUND 7 ROUND 8 ROUND 9 ROM vs ENG ITA vs HUN AUT vs BUL TUR vs NOR IRE vs SCO BEL vs NED GER vs FIN DEN vs ICE SPA vs ISR POL vs POR FRA vs SWE BBO 4 ROM vs FIN NED vs ICE SPA vs SCO POR vs TUR AUT vs FRA HUN vs SWE ENG vs POL ITA vs ISR DEN vs BUL NOR vs GER BEL vs IRE ROM vs ICE FIN vs SPA POR vs NED FRA vs SCO TUR vs SWE AUT vs POL HUN vs ISR ENG vs DEN GER vs ITA BUL vs BEL IRE vs NOR BBO commentators: OPEN, ROUND 19 Marc Smith, David Bird (BBO1, voice) Mark Horton, Peter Lund OPEN, ROUND 20 Roland Wald, Marc Smith (BBO1, voice) OPEN, ROUND 21 David Bird, Mark Horton (BBO1, voice) Roland Wald, Marc Smith 2 GO TO PAGE:

3 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Ton Kooijman FRIVOLOUS We received an appeal in a not so spectacular hesitation case. It shows that some captains are still struggling with the review procedure. We think that 100 EUR can better be spent in a nice restaurant in Ostend. The TD established the facts at the table and got the agreement from the player involved that he hesitated, taking about thirty seconds for his bid. Then it doesn t make sense to reduce it to twenty seconds in the captain s statement. The TD asked eight peers, seven of which did not continue bidding. The captain writes: Experts will agree with me. No sir, seven experts did not agree with you. The only moment of laughter was caused by the captain s comment, when the latter denied that the bidding tray came out slowly. He writes: wrong, the tray was pushed forward with normal speed. That one is for you sir, but it is not enough of a reason to return the money. Ton Kooijman reviewer VIDEO CORNER ALWAYS WIN! POSTCARD - TURKEY POSTCARD - ICELAND DUPLIMATE AND CARDS The Duplimates used for the Duplication during the championships are being sold for Contact Jannerstens at the bridge stall in the Bridge Plaza or drop a line to: per@jannersten.com The *new* Ostend cards that you will find in the boards will be sold after usage for 180 per 240 decks. GO TO PAGE: 3

4 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 FRANCE vs RUSSIA Ron Tacchi OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 8 After seven rounds both teams were languishing in the mid table with France just outpointing Russia by eight VP. France had had a very bad end to the day before, losing their last two matches whereas Russia had a better day winning, not by too much, two matches, and also recording 12 VP against bye. Thus Russia was on the up and France was on a down. Would a new day restore France s fortunes or would Russia continue its rise? The French play five-card majors with a strong notrump and a game-forcing Two Clubs. Khyuppenen and Kholomeev also employ five-card majors whilst Matushko and Khokhlov use a Polish Club. On the first hand France gained an IMP despite giving away two doubled overtricks. 4 Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul. [ A Q 6 4 ] A Q 7 { } [ [ K 9 8 ] J 10 ] { { J 4 3 } } A K Q [ J 2 ] K { A K Q 7 } J 8 7 Khyuppenen Rombaut Kholomeev Lorenzini 1} Dble* 1{* Pass 1]* Pass 2{* Pass 2[ Pass 3NT I must confess that I would not have ventured a double on the East cards but then I am not of international standard so what do I know? The alerts given by the vugraph operator suggest the bid of One Diamond showed hearts but the convention card gives no indication of transfers being played after a One Club opening. Whatever the bids meant the final contract of 3NT was reached; the Walrus would be very happy with a combined 26 count. With the kind diamond split and even kinder heart situation, nine tricks were for the taking without even needing to resort to the doomed spade finesse. GO TO PAGE: Volcker Matushko Bessis Khokhlov 1NT* Dble 1NT non-vul in first or second position Again a double on a rather gruesome 13 count. West had nowhere to go and so passed. Declarer made the same nine tricks for a score or 380 and so lost an IMP. Board 18 was a push. If I tell you that in one room the score was -100 for Three Spades down two would you have guessed that in the other room it was Four Spades doubled down one? The play was undistinguished so we will move on. Board 20. Dealer West. Both Vul. [ ] J 8 5 { A 10 9 } Q 9 3 [ A 8 4 [ 7 5 ] Q 2 ] K { { Q J 6 5 } J } A 4 [ K Q J 3 ] A 4 3 { K 4 } K Khyuppenen Rombaut Kholomeev Lorenzini Pass Pass 1] Dble Pass 1[ Pass 2[ Pass 3[ Pass 4[ Call me old-fashioned (you re old-fashioned. Ed) but a ten+ loser 4333 hand does not seem worthy of a game invitation, especially as it seems that all invitations are taken as a game force. Yes I know he is maximum in terms of point-count for his bid and South has made a forward move but there are maxima and maxima. The contract met its just reward by failing by one trick. Volcker Matushko Bessis Khokhlov Pass Pass 1] Dble Pass 1[ Pass 2[

5 54 th European Team Championships Here the Russian North was less enamoured with his flat hand and allowed partner to play in a peaceful contract for an overtrick and six IMPs. Russia added another seven IMPs in dribs and drabs over the next four boards to lead by Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 when Three Hearts appeared. Especially as it took him forever to make each bid maybe he was just preparing his excuses. North led the ace of diamonds and continued the suit so declarer was two down, so a simple part-score deal cost seven IMPs. Board 25. Dealer North. E/W Vul. [ A Q 6 ] { A 5 } [ K [ J ] J 6 ] Q 10 9 { K Q 8 6 { J 10 2 } A Q } J 8 3 [ 5 ] A K { } K 9 3 Board 27. Dealer South. None Vul. [ 9 7 ] A J 8 6 { K 4 3 } K [ A 8 5 [ K Q J 4 2 ] K 4 ] Q { A { J 9 } A Q J 4 } [ ] 10 { Q } } K Khyuppenen Rombaut Kholomeev Lorenzini Pass Pass 1] 1[ 2NT Pass 4] The French convention card says that 2NT by a passed hand shows four-card support and a singleton, by an unpassed hand just that it is an invitation. Maybe methods are different after intervention no mention of that is made. South valued his third-in-hand ten-count worthy of a stab at game but he had shot himself in the foot, as after the king of diamonds lead the defence took their obvious four tricks. Volcker Matushko Bessis Khokhlov 1NT* Pass 2{ Dble 2] Pass Pass 2[ Pass 2NT Pass 3{ Pass 3] Pass 3[ 1NT in first or second position non-vul I am so pleased I do not play at this level. Did I have to spend ten minutes in the tank wondering what to do with a eleven loser 4333 five count? Imagine if I had seven points and only nine losers how much more effort would be required? I have no idea what East had in mind when bidding 2NT and even less Khyuppenen Rombaut Kholomeev Lorenzini Pass 2{* Pass 3}* Pass 3NT Pass 4] Pass 4[ Pass 6[ 2{ balanced 3} game-forcing 5+] The Russian convention card is sparse, bordering on non-existent. So the meaning of the bid of Four Hearts can be guessed at to show a spade suit. A reasonable slam failed because of the 4-1 split in hearts. Volcker Matushko Bessis Khokhlov Pass 1{ Pass 1] Pass 2NT Pass 3{ Pass 3] Pass 3[ Pass 3NT Pass 4} Pass 4[ Pass 4NT Pass 5} Pass 5[ Pass 6] In standard SEF (Système d Enseignement Francais) 2NT shows and Three Diamonds elongates the major suit. Again a poor slam was reached and suffered the same problem with the heart suit and a similar fate. And now some fireworks. GO TO PAGE: 5

6 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 28. Dealer West. N/S Vul. [ A Q J 2 ] A 4 { A Q J } A [ 6 [ 10 5 ] ] K { K { 3 } } K Q J [ K ] Q J 10 7 { J 4 } 10 Khyuppenen Rombaut Kholomeev Lorenzini Pass 1{ 2} Dble 5} 6} Pass 6[ West attempted to throw a spanner in the works with a leap to Five Clubs. North committed to slam with his control-rich hand by cue-bidding the club suit, whereupon partner bid the slam in spades. There was a considerable pause before North passed. I am just wondering what North would have bid if South had essayed Six Hearts. The contract was in no doubt even after West tried a sneaky small diamond lead and declarer played the ace. Volcker Matushko Bessis Khokhlov Pass 1}* 2} 2[ 5} 6} 7} Pass Pass 7[ 1} bal, or , or 17+ The Russian North started with a Polish Club and this time South bid his suit. West applied the same pressure and North came up with the same solution. But this time East went all-in, or tapis, as we say in France. South passed the decision to partner who called the bet. It was now up to South to gather all the chips that had been pushed into the centre of the table. After a club lead won perforce in dummy the queen and jack of trumps were played, overtaken by the king in hand. The jack of diamonds was now played and covered by the king and taken by the ace. Declarer was now at the crossroads: should he play for the ten of diamonds to be onside or should he play for a 3-2 split. 30 IMPs depend on this decision. Which would you do? Not too difficult seeing all four hands. Declarer elected to go for the 3-2 split No cigar. Should he have played the other way? I cannot say for sure but further East s bid of Seven Clubs does suggest some additional shape. He overcalled, he did not make a WJO so he rates to hold the king of hearts does a 2326 shape look as good as a 2416 pattern from the point of view for a sacrifice? As I said, it is awfully easy to be wise after the event. But 17 IMPs went into the French column. Board 30. Dealer East. None Vul. [ A Q 6 5 ] K { Q 8 6 } J [ 7 2 [ J ] A J ] { A J { } A } K 5 3 [ K ] Q 6 2 { K } Q Khyuppenen Rombaut Kholomeev Lorenzini Pass Pass 1] Dble 4] Dble Would you double an opening of One Heart with the North hand? We have seen worse take-out doubles than that but no one in my club would double on that hand. East raised the ante and bid Four Hearts and South believing his side were being talked out of something produced the red card and so Four Hearts doubled became the final contract. With the fortuitous layout of the spade suit and when North led a club West won, ruffed a diamond in dummy and cashed the king of clubs discarding a spade. Now his contract was assured Volcker Matushko Bessis Khokhlov 2[ In bridge clubs all over France they will be tut-tutting the opening weak two bid of East He had another four-card major what is the rascal thinking of. In France you would never dream of bidding a weak two with four cards in the other major. Now this is not a universally held belief but from time to time the old saw proves true, and this was one of them. The contract succeeded with an overtrick but gave up ten IMPs. At the end of the match France had lost or VPs putting them within half a Victory Point of each other but both of them in the bottom half of the rankings. 6 GO TO PAGE:

7 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 David Bird NORWAY vs RUSSIA OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 13 It was first place v tenth as Norway tackled Russia, early on Sunday morning. Marc Smith and I were all set to commentate as the players took their seats. Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul. [ Q J 9 ] 9 4 { K } [ K [ 10 7 ] K Q 3 ] 6 5 { A 5 4 { Q J } } Q 8 7 [ A ] A J { } A K J Khiuppenen Lindqvist Kholomeev Brogeland 3{ Dble Pass Pass Pass Lindqvist left in the take-out double, mainly because he had no attractive response to make. Brogeland led the }A and switched to a low spade. Declarer won with dummy s king and led another spade to Lindqvist s jack, giving him a chance to take the contact three down. He needs to return a club, South scoring two clubs and returning a low spade. Provided North holds up his {K appropriately, declarer will lose trump control and not be able to score a heart trick. Lindqvist returned the ]9 at trick 4 and declarer was then only 300 down. Tundal Matushko Kvangraven Khokhlov 2{ Dble 3{ Pass Pass 4] Khokhlov bid the heart game, which was easily made after a lead of the {A. That was an early 8 IMPs to the Russian account. Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul. [ 9 6 ] Q { A } [ K 5 [ Q J ] ] A K 8 4 { 4 { K J 2 } A Q J } [ A 3 2 ] J { Q } K Khiuppenen Lindqvist Kholomeev Brogeland Pass 1[ Pass 1NT Pass 2] Pass 4] A diamond to the ace and a diamond return left the defence in charge. Kholomeev finessed the jack to South s queen, ruffed in the dummy. A trump to the ace, South s jack falling, was followed by a spade to the king and another trump. Lindqvist split his Q-9, won with the king, and declarer tried his luck with the [10. No, Brogeland was there with the ace and led the {8 to Kholomeev s king. He had to play good spades to preserve control and lost two trump tricks for one down. Tundal Matushko Kvangraven Khokhlov 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 4[ Tundal s 2{ showed an invitational hand with precisely two spades. Would the alternative contract of 4[ fare any better? Khokhlov began with the singleton ]J, won with the king, and it seemed that the contract was due to go one down. Kvangraven led an adventurous {K to North s ace. North returned the {5 and the BBO record says, rather mysteriously, that South allowed East s {J to win. Whether or not this is indeed what happened in the diamond suit, declarer took the chance he had been given. He ruffed his last diamond and discarded GO TO PAGE: 7

8 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 a heart on the }A. He was then able to draw trumps, losing just one trump and one heart for Since this score is confirmed by the official website, we will have to assume that the BBO record is right. Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul. [ A 9 ] A J 8 2 { } Q 5 2 [ K J [ 10 2 ] K ] { K 6 { A Q } } K J [ Q ] Q 6 3 { J } A Khiuppenen Lindqvist Kholomeev Brogeland 1[ Dble 2} Pass 2{ Pass 3{ At this stage of the match we had over 2000 BBO kibitzers watching at our table. Marvellous! Sadly, Marc Smith and I were unable to explain this auction to the assembled masses because the operator had omitted North s take-out double! When we heard about this a while later (from someone watching the accompanying video), all became clear. East s 2} was a transfer to diamonds. The }2 was led to dummy s 10, South holding up the ace. After a club ruff and a heart ruff, declarer led the }K, ruffing with the {K, and eventually emerged with ten tricks for At the other table East made 3NT. The BBO record is in a sorry state, I m afraid. This is the reported bidding: Tundal Matushko Kvangraven Khokhlov 1] pass 1NT pass 3NT all pass 1NT was forcing and presumably West rebid 2]. East must have then described his hand with some wondrous continuation, West closing the exchanges with 3NT. Will the floundering writer at least be able to tell you how the play went? Let s see. South led the }9 to the queen and king. The record then shows declarer playing a spade to the king and ace, eventually claiming +400 at a time when he was off in top tricks. We can assume that declarer must have played a spade to the jack and ace, but that would still not give him the contract. It will have to be your homework for tonight to work out how the contract was made. Sorry about that. Norway gained 7 IMPs, anyway. Next we will see a bidding triumph for Russia. Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul. [ K J 3 ] 6 { K } J [ [ ] Q ] J 2 { J 3 { } Q 2 } K [ A Q 6 5 ] A K 9 7 { A Q 2 } A 3 Khiuppenen Lindqvist Kholomeev Brogeland 2] Pass Pass Dble Pass 2[ Pass 3] Pass 4} Pass 4[ Brogeland indicated a strong raise to 4[ but Lindqvist was understandably deterred from heading slamwards by his 3-card spade holding. As you can see, eleven tricks are the limit if you play in no-trumps. Lindqvist won the ]J lead, took one heart ruff and drew trumps, scoring +680 when the diamond suit produced four tricks. Tundal Matushko Kvangraven Khokhlov Pass Pass Pass 1} 2] Dble 3] 4} Pass 4[ Pass 6[ Khokhlov opened a Polish Club (usually a weak 1NT or 17+ points) and his partner showed some values with his double over the 2] intervention. When Matushko bid 4[, nothing could prevent Khokhlov from raising to the truly excellent small slam. Only the N-S pairs of Netherlands and Croatia emulated this feat. 8 GO TO PAGE:

9 54 th European Team Championships Matushko won the ]J lead in dummy and took two spade ruffs. When the trumps broke 3-3 and the diamonds came in, he could enter a proud on his scorecard. I rarely describe partscore play-hands, but my final deal will be an exception. Both declarers played 2] on effectively the same lead and there was a two-trick discrepancy in the results. Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul. [ K 6 ] Q 7 5 { } Q J 4 [ [ A ] ] A J 10 4 { A 9 7 { K 2 } K 9 3 } [ Q J 9 7 ] K 2 { Q J 5 } A Khiuppenen Lindqvist Kholomeev Brogeland Pass 1} Pass 1{ Pass 1] Dble Pass 2{ 2] Khiuppenen s 1{ showed 4+ hearts. When N-S contested the auction, Kholomeev was happy to go to 2] on the 4-4 fit. Brogeland led the [Q and the double-dummy analysing programs initially suggested Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 one down. We will see. Declarer won with the ace and led a second spade to the ten and king. A diamond switch to the jack and ace was followed by a losing finesse in trumps. Brogeland continued with the [J and when North discarded a diamond instead of a club, GIB and Deep Finesse shook their heads disapprovingly and predicted that the contract would now be made. Declarer discarded from dummy on the [9, North pitching another diamond. He won the low club switch with the king, picked up the trumps and claimed his Tundal Matushko Kvangraven Khokhlov Pass 1{ Pass 1[ Pass 2] West s 1[ response showed 4+ hearts (they switch 1] and 1[). Declarer won the [J lead, played a diamond to the ace and took a losing trump finesse. Now South needed to find a difficult continuation of the [7 to beat 2]. Not surprisingly, he reached for the {Q instead. Declarer won with the king and had to play a club now, to assure a club trick. He preferred a second spade and the defenders were back in the game. Declarer ruffed North s diamond return, cashed the ]A and played a club. Had he risen with the }K it would have been one down. He tried the }9 and that was two down. Such a lot of play to describe on these part-score deals! I may write up another one in six months or so. Russia won by 32 IMPs to 29, which is in VP. Vadim KHOLOMEEV RUSSIA Boye BROGELAND NORWAY Espen LINDQVIST NORWAY Yury KHIUPPENEN RUSSIA GO TO PAGE: 9

10 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 John Carruthers FRANCE vs POLAND SENIOR TEAMS, ROUND 1 Forget about the Edgar Kaplan gold standard of holding your opponents to one-and-a-half IMPs per board. With today s competitive measures, if you can hold them to two IMPs per board, you ll have a chance to win most matches. Such was the case when two perennial favourites, France and Poland, met in Round 1 of the Senior Teams. Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul. [ Q J 9 ] 9 4 { K } [ K [ 10 7 ] K Q 3 ] 6 5 { A 5 4 { Q J } } Q 8 7 [ A ] A J { } A K J Szymanowski Abecassis Bizon Levy 3{ Dble One has to feel some sympathy for Abecassis. When Szymanowski passed Levy s double, what was the poor chap to do? I know, I know, one of Edgar s fondest sayings was, I like my partners to take out my takeout doubles. To make matters worse for France, the defence did not prevent declarer from getting a club away on dummy s hearts, so Bizon went for only minus 100. To get another trick for the defence, Levy, after a high club lead, would have had to lead a low spade so that North would have an entry, on another spade lead, to lead a club through. That was a little too tough. South simply led three rounds of clubs after the first trick had gone ace, three, five, eight. Lebel Starkowski Soulet Kwiecien 3{ Dble 4{ Pass Pass 4] The auction timed out very well for Kwiecien. Lebel led the ace of diamonds. The Poles were soon inscribing plus 420 in their scorecards. Even on a different lead (what, pray tell?), declarer was always going to make the contract with the queen of clubs onside. 11 IMPs to Poland. Szymanowski could hardly have imagined that his failure to raise diamonds would produce that result. Board 5. Dealer North. NS Vul. [ 9 6 ] Q { A } [ K 5 [ Q J ] ] A K 8 4 { 4 { K J 2 } A Q J } [ A 3 2 ] J { Q } K Szymanowski Abecassis Bizon Levy Pass 1[ Pass 2} Pass 2] Pass 4] Levy made what he thought was a routine fifthhighest diamond lead. Abecassis won with his ace and returned the five, aiming to weaken declarer s combined trumps. Bizon won with the king of diamonds, cashed a high heart and led a spade to the king. When that held the trick, declarer tried another spade, playing the queen from hand, as South won with his ace. At that point, either the queen of diamonds or a third spade would have fatally destroyed declarer s chances. The queen of diamonds would have forced dummy, allowing North to split his hearts, win the third round and force out a trump from declarer s hand. Should South instead lead a spade, declarer ruffs with dummy s ten, but North must discard, later coming to two trump tricks for one off. Levy shifted to a club when in with the ace of spades. Now it was over to Bizon. He passed the test, putting in the queen, as he needed to, to make, discarding a 10 GO TO PAGE:

11 54 th European Team Championships diamond from hand. Declarer led a low heart from the dummy; East had to play the nine to prevent declarer from putting in the eight. Declarer allowed North to hold the trick with the nine of hearts. When South showed out, Bizon claimed, stating that he would play the ten of hearts if North led a diamond or a low heart; on the queen-of-hearts-shift, he would unblock dummy s ten to remain in hand. That was a masterful plus 420 for Bizon. Lebel Starkowski Soulet Kwiecien Pass 1[ Pass 1NT Pass 2] Pass 4] The French standards for a two-over-one are higher in high-card content than the Poles; thus Lebel s 1NT response. With clubs unbid at this table, Kwiecien put declarer to the test at trick one by leading the four of that suit. Leery of being tapped in his hand before the spades were set up, and not knowing of the 4-1 trump split, Soulet won with dummy s ace, discarding a diamond, and led the king of spades. Kwiecien could see the way clearly now: he won with his ace, led a diamond to Starkowski s ace and got a club back. Soulet had to ruff it, fatally eroding his trump strength, just what he d feared at trick one. With a sense of impending doom, declarer led a high heart and received the ominous jack on his left. He had to hope for queen-jack doubleton now, since the contract could no longer be made against 4-1 hearts. So declarer cashed the other high heart and played spades. North ruffed the third, drew declarer s last trump and led a club to South s king for two down, minus 100 and an 11-IMP gain for Poland. That made it 22-2 for the Poles. Not to worry, the French stormed back almost immediately. What would you bid with the following hand in first chair, with both sides vulnerable? You are South. Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul. [ 9 6 ] 6 3 { K 3 } A Q Levy passed, as any self-respecting, disciplined French player would do. Kwiecien opened with three clubs, as any self-respecting, junior-at-heart would do. After Levy s pass, it went one club-double-pass to him. I kid you not, He surreptitiously inspected the Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 backs of West s cards to make sure they were the same colour as his own. They were. He passed. His side took seven tricks for one off, plus 200. After Kwieicien s three-club bid, Lebel forgave Soulet for not reopening with a double, even though he had the perfect shape to do so: Soulet had 3=4=5=1 distribution with the jack of spades his only high-card point. Kwiecien took six tricks for minus 300 and 11 IMPs back to France. Here is the full deal: Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul. [ K Q 7 2 ] Q J 10 2 { A Q } [ A [ J 10 3 ] A K 8 ] { J { } K J } 9 [ 9 8 ] 6 3 { K 3 } A Q Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul. [ A 9 ] A J 8 2 { } Q 5 2 [ K J [ 10 2 ] K ] { K 6 { A Q } } K J [ Q ] Q 6 3 { J } A Szymanowski Abecassis Bizon Levy 1] Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass 3} Pass 3{ Pass 5{ Should someone have bid three spades at their third turn to explore for game in notrump? Neither three no-trump nor five diamonds is a thing of beauty. Levy made another unbid-suit lead, the four of spades. Abecassis won with his ace when declarer played low from the dummy. North shifted to a diamond. Declarer won with dummy s king, ruffed a heart (no ace from North), ruffed a club, ruffed a heart and ran GO TO PAGE: 11

12 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 diamonds, drawing all of the trumps. South hung on to three spades and two clubs, so declarer came to ten tricks by endplaying South with the fourth spade. The king of clubs was his tenth trick, minus 50. Lebel Starkowski Soulet Kwiecien 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass 3} Pass 3] Pass 3NT Against 3NT, Kwiecien s fourth-highest club lead went to the queen and king, a good start for declarer, but still a long way to go. Soulet ran the ten of spades, not covered, to the ace. The five-of-clubs return went to the ten, South ducking. Soulet ran diamonds and took the spade finesse for an exhilarating plus 430 (when South discarded a spade) and 10 IMPs to France to take the lead There was one more double-digit swing to come. This board was going to swing double digits in one direction or the other depending on what happened in the play. Board 12. Dealer West. NS Vul. [ K J 3 ] 6 { K } J [ [ ] Q ] J 2 { J 3 { } Q 2 } K [ A Q 6 5 ] A K 9 7 { A Q 2 } A 3 Szymanowski Abecassis Bizon Levy 2] Pass Pass Dble Pass 3}* Pass 3NT 3} Lebensohl, shows values With a great hand, but poor support for clubs in context, Levy settled for 3NT. On the jack-of-diamonds lead he claimed 11 tricks immediately, for plus 660, no doubt pleased that North s clubs were so poor. Lebel Starkowski Soulet Kwiecien Pass Pass Pass 1}* Pass 1{* Pass 2NT* Pass 3[* Pass 3NT* Pass 4}* Pass 4{* Pass 4]* Pass 5NT* Pass 6} Pass 6{ 1} Polish Club: (a) HCP balanced (b) 15+ HCP unbalanced with clubs (c) any 18+ HCP 1{ Usually 0-7 HCP 2NT HCP balanced 3[ Minor-suit slam try, 5/4 either way 3NT No 4-card minor 4} 5 clubs/4 diamonds 4{ Diamond preference 4] Heart control 5NT Pick a slam, hoping for 6NT Six diamonds is no better than decent with the duplication in hearts and non-solid diamonds. Soulet got off to a good start for declarer, leading a trump, resolving that issue. Lebel s jack forced declarer s king when the two was played from dummy. Declarer played the ace and another club, losing to West s queen, and a second trump was led. Declarer won in dummy, came to a spade and ruffed a club. Starkowski then played off the ace of hearts and ruffed a heart back to hand, setting up a long trump in Soulet s hand. Had he instead led another spade, it would have seen the contract home. When Soulet ruffed in on the thirteenth spade, he had the king of clubs to cash for two off. That minus 200, coupled with 660 at the other table meant 13 IMPs to France. The match result was France 47 IMPS Poland 30 ( VP). France had held Poland to 1.9 IMPs per board. 12 GO TO PAGE:

13 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Jos Jacobs NORWAY vs MONACO OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 15 As the Open Team Championships are approaching the halfway mark, I was beginning to wonder when we would see the start of the Monaco rally. In recent events, more than once Monaco has had a very slow start only to emerge among the qualifiers (or even better) when the end of the event came nearer. With just under 147 VP from 14 matches, the team certainly did not live up to their own standards so far. Would the match against the current runners-up, Norway, be the start of their rally? Would the first board be an indication of things to come? Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul. [ 10 5 ] A K J 7 3 { J } A 4 [ K J 8 3 [ Q ] 9 5 ] Q { Q { 6 3 } J 6 3 } K 8 5 [ A 4 2 ] 6 4 { A K 10 } Q Multon Lindqvist Zimmermann Brogeland 1] Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 2[ Pass 3] Pass 4] A fair enough auction but no luck whatsoever. The bad trump break after East s obvious spade lead led to a quick one down. Monaco +50. Tundal Helness Kvangraven Helgemo 1] Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 2[ Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Not that 3NT is such a wonderful contract but with the spades 4-4 and the clubs 3-3 with the }K onside, making nine tricks was not a problem, not even after a spade lead. The correct way of tackling the clubs, of course, is the ace followed by a small club to the queen, thus catering for a possible }Jx. Here, though, low to the queen initially keeps more options open. Monaco +400 and 10 IMPs to open their account (and their rally?) On the next board, the lead from either KQx combination in the East hand made a significant difference. Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul. [ A ] J 3 { -- } A J [ K J 8 3 [ 7 ] ] K Q 7 { A 7 5 { } 3 2 } K Q 5 [ Q 9 6 ] A { K Q J 3 } 9 8 Multon Lindqvist Zimmermann Brogeland Pass 1{ Pass 1[ Pass 2[ Pass 3{ Pass 3[ Pass 4[ Zimmermann as East elected the }K as his opening lead, giving declarer an easy route to escape for one down. }A, spade to the nine and West s jack, heart to the jack, queen and dummy s ace followed by the [Q, covered by king and ace. East discarded the {10. Upon getting the bad trump news, declarer conceded a club to East s queen. East cashed the ]K and declarer still could not avoid the loss of one more trump trick. Monaco Tundal Helness Kvangraven Helgemo 1{ Dble Rdbl 4[ Kvangraven for Norway chose the ]K as his opening lead (was the redouble showing hearts?), GO TO PAGE: 13

14 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 which proved much more effective for the defence. Declarer ducked this but he won the ]Q continuation with dummy s ace and ran the }J. This lost to East s king and another heart shortened declarer s trumps. When declarer s next moves were [A and another, West could cash his two top trumps and play the last heart, so no matter what declarer did, he had to go down four. Norway +400 and 7 IMPs back to them. Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul. [ J ] A K Q 7 { } 8 [ A 5 [ K Q 9 2 ] ] J 10 3 { A K Q 10 8 { J } J 3 2 } A [ ] { } K Q 6 5 Multon Lindqvist Zimmermann Brogeland Pass 1NT 2}* 3NT 2} Majors When Zimmermann settled for 3NT rather than a (juicy?) non-vulnerable penalty, Monaco registered a quiet +600 when the defence had no more than four hearts to cash. Tundal Helness Kvangraven Helgemo Pass 1NT 2} Dble Rdbl Pass 2{ Pass Pass Dble In the other room, Kvangraven did show interest in a penalty and he was duly rewarded when the opponents chose his partner s solid enough hidden five-card suit. Down four, Norway +800 and another 5 IMPs to them to take over the lead Monaco immediately regained the lead when the Norwegians overbid to 3NT on the next board but we reached the halfway stage with just one more IMP each way, Monaco leading at that point. From then on, the scorers had plenty of work to do. Board 9. Dealer North. EW [ A Q ] 8 5 { Q 7 2 } Q 8 6 [ [ K J 10 ] Q ] K { { K J 4 3 } J 9 5 } A K [ 6 4 ] A J 7 { A 8 5 } Multon Lindqvist Zimmermann Brogeland Pass 1{ Pass Pass 1[ 1NT Zimmermann showed his balanced 18-count by rebidding 1NT but there it rested. On a club lead to declarer s ace (North correctly withholding his queen), Zimmermann went on to play the ]K which held and a low heart to South s ace. Clubs were continued to declarer s king and after crossing to dummy s ]Q, declarer led a spade to his ten which also held. A heart to dummy s 10, a spade to North s ace and a diamond to South then gave the defence six tricks after all. Monaco +90. In the other room, the very weak NT struck: Tundal Helness Kvangraven Helgemo 1NT Dble Pass Pass 2[ 3NT Dble Helgemo could not believe that 3NT was on for his opponents. His partner had opened the bidding and he was looking at two aces. Still, 3NT could easily (?) have been made with the help of a few correct guesses. Win the club lead and try the effect of the ]K, as Zimmermann also did. If you next play South for the ]J and use your two entries to dummy to attack diamonds, South s entry is gone while the clubs are still blocked. Kvangraven started well by leading the ]K at trick two but here, South immediately won his ace to return a club. When declarer next led a heart up and, after some huddle, called for dummy s queen, he could take a successful diamond finesse to remove South s direct entry but after that, it turned out that he did not have enough tricks available himself with only one entry to dummy left. So he 14 GO TO PAGE:

15 54 th European Team Championships lost to the ]J and one of North s queens in the end for down two, +500 and 11 IMPs to Monaco. Two boards later, there was a slam in the air. Board 11. Dealer South. None [ Q 2 ] Q J { 8 } Q [ A K [ J ] A K ] { 6 5 { A K Q } J 2 } A 7 4 [ ] 7 2 { J } K Multon Lindqvist Zimmermann Brogeland Pass 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 2[ Pass 3{ Pass 3] Pass 3NT Pass 4] Pass 4[ Pass 5[ Pass 6{ As the cards lie, 6[ is much easier than 6{ though with the diamonds 3-2 you might well want to be in seven. On any lead but a club, 6{ can easily be made (win the lead, check the trumps, establish the spades and concede a trump trick to South) if you are not too pessimistic (both pointed suits might break 4-1 in which case you would run into trouble anyway). However, it is far from clear whether this is the best line. On a heart lead, you might as well try to ruff one club in dummy; this plan would work as long as the trumps are not 4-1 (or even 4-1, but with singleton jack) and thus, at first sight, this looks a better line. There is one outside question to be answered: why did the defence not lead trumps? Could this be a warning sign for them to be 4-1? On the actual club lead Zimmermann got, he had to play well. He won the ace, drew two top trumps getting the bad news and then established the spades. Now he could cash the {Q and make good use of his two heart entries to dummy to get rid of his last club loser and the heart loser in time. Monaco a fine Tundal Helness Kvangraven Helgemo Pass 1} 3] 4{ Pass 4[ Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 The Norwegian Strong Club made it difficult for E/W to exchange all the useful information once Helness overcalled 3], thus eating up a lot of E/W bidding space. Norway a modest +480 and 10 more IMPs for Monaco. On the next board, the Norwegian N/S pair ran into trouble. Board 12. Dealer West. N/S vul. [ A K J 7 6 ] K 7 3 { A Q 7 5 } 7 [ Q 8 [ 10 ] A 8 6 ] J { K 6 3 { J } } A 2 [ ] Q 9 4 { -- } K Q J 8 5 Multon Lindqvist Zimmermann Brogeland Pass 1[ 3{ 4{ 5{ 6{ Pass 6[ It must have been a serious disappointment for North to find his partner with not even one ace after his strong bidding Monaco Tundal Helness Kvangraven Helgemo Pass 1[ 3{ 4{ 5{ Dble In the other room, Helness contented himself with a double of 5{. Probably (and correctly), he thought that his diamond holding was an asset in defence but not so much in attack. Down four, Monaco another +800 and 14 more IMPs to them. After all these fireworks, the boards quietened down a bit again but Monaco certainly had made the perfect start if they were to rally at all, winning the match or VP. They had managed to bring down their gap with the no. 8 spot from 21 VP to about 12 whereas Norway dropped from second to fifth in the standings. We should not forget, however, that the halfway point of the event had not yet been reached GO TO PAGE: 15

16 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 NETHERLANDS ERLANDS vs ENGLAND Ron Tacchi OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 15 With Netherlands coming off a near maximum against Sweden and securing a place in the top 5, England had a small victory against the Czech Republic leaving them just 4 VP off a top 8 berth. With the halfway point approaching now is the time to consolidate a qualifying place. It was with some trepidation that when I realised your illustrious editor had allotted the Netherlands England match to your humble scribe I discovered that Muller and Robson were playing at the same table. Having spent the previous day providing a dinner for 80 persons single-handedly, I was extremely tired and any prolonged period of inactivity was likely to find me dozing off. However the match was played in good time in fact the open room finished marginally before the closed room. Robson and Forrester play five-card majors with a strong NT whilst Malinowski and Bakhshi play Polish Club. Nab and Drijver play five-card majors with a variable NT. De Wijs and Muller play their own homegrown system with a strong club and many relays, their system is called Tarzan it is a little known fact that both of them were successful Olympic swimmers before turning to bridge. We start at the beginning some say it is a very good place to start. Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul. [ 10 5 ] A K J 7 3 { J } A 4 [ K J 8 3 [ Q ] 9 5 ] Q { Q { 6 3 } J 6 3 } K 8 5 [ A 4 2 ] 6 4 { A K 10 } Q Robson De Wijs Forrester Muller 1] Pass 1[* Pass 2{* Pass 2]* Pass 3[* Pass 3NT 1] ] 1[ Relay FG 3} 2542 South revealed nothing about his hand as he only posed questions of North and then placed the final contract. The result of the auction was that West did not have a picture of the South hand and chose to lead the nine of hearts. Declarer rose with the ace and played ace and another club and when East played small, he successfully tried the queen. A third round of the suit established two further winners. East switched to a diamond. But it was too late and declarer finished up with an overtrick. Nab Malinowski Drijver Bakhshi 1] Pass 1NT* Pass 2{ Pass 3} Pass 3NT 1NT forcing 16 BART NAB GO TO PAGE: NETHERLANDS At this table the auction was more revealing and West tabled a small spade. Declarer held up until the third round and then staked all on the hearts being 3-3 with

17 54 th European Team Championships the queen onside. Was this the right approach? The defensive carding suggested a 4-4 split in the spade suit. Had declarer tried the club suit he would have had a small extra chance of four tricks as not only a 3-3 split with the king onside would give him four tricks but also Jx in the West hand. Additionally there may also be the chance of trying the heart suit if the clubs do not behave. As I have said many times before it is always easy when you can see all four hands. The upshot was that on Board 1 Netherlands gained ten IMPs. Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul. [ A ] J 3 { } A J [ K J 8 4 [ 7 ] ] K Q 7 { A 7 5 { } 3 2 } K Q 5 [ Q 9 6 ] A { K Q J 3 } 9 8 Robson De Wijs Forrester Muller 1{ Pass 1] 2NT* Pass 4[ Rather than making a direct overcall North preferred to show a black two-suited hand: This allowed South to become the declarer. After East s natural opening bid The tall defender elected to lead the ace of diamonds unfortunately not the best start. Declarer ruffed in dummy and played a small trump to the queen and king. West now had a second chance to find the winning defence but chose to continue diamonds, again not the best choice. Declarer continued by ducking a club into East s hand. Belatedly the defence now switched to hearts taken by declarer with the ace in hand. Now he cashed another diamond, discarding a club, and then cashing the ace of clubs and ruffing with the nine, West refusing to overruff. Now a spade to the ten assured South of his contract. Neat and precise timing of the play throughout the hand by the Professor. Nab Malinowski Drijver Bakhshi 1{ Pass 1] 1[ Dble 2{* Pass 4[ Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 In this room North elected to start by showing his major and when South made encouraging noises bid game. With East on lead it was far easier for the defence to start off on the right foot and the lead was the king of hearts. Declarer ducked this and won the small heart(!) continuation with the ace. Declarer played a small club towards dummy which was taken by East s king who persevered with his third heart ruffed in dummy. Declarer now tried a small spade towards the queen which was headed by the king and now a fourth round of hearts forced declarer to ruff. When he cashed the ace of trumps the 4-1 split came to light and declarer was now three off and 14 IMPs had gone to the Netherlands. Board 4. Dealer West. Both Vul. [ K ] 8 4 { A Q J 5 } Q 3 2 [ A 10 3 [ J ] A Q 9 ] { K ] 6 3 } A K J } 9 6 [ Q 9 ] K J 10 { } 8 7 Robson De Wijs Forrester Muller 1}* Pass 1{* Pass 3{* Dble Pass Pass 3[ 1{ 4+] One of the BBO comments on this auction was impressive not good but impressive. I am making a guess here that the bid of three diamonds was not natural maybe my best guess of the championships, unfortunately the convention card is not forthcoming as to its meaning and none of the BBO commentators were able to elaborate. The bid of three spades is equally confusing as one might have thought that bidding a suit where at least a 4-3 fit was known might be the better alternative. However declarer played it beautifully to bring home the contract, after the opening trick went [2-[4-[9-[10. Clearly, South had made the mistake of reading the Editor's article in an earlier Bulletin. This time it was a case where "third hand high" was the winning play. Don't believe everything you read in the Bulletin. GO TO PAGE: 17

18 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Nab Malinowski Drijver Bakhshi 1}* Pass 1{* Pass 2NT* Pass 3}* Pass 3NT After South s strong opening a series of relays ensued and South knew they were missing an ace and a king and so went quietly into the night and allowed North to play the no-trump game. After a spade lead there was nothing to the game which succeeded with two overtricks. The opening bid of One Club could have a myriad of meanings but the response showed 0-7 points. 2NT is not clear from the convention card but may well have shown six clubs and from that I deduce the response showed weakness and a tolerance for clubs. Not one to be playing in a part-score with a 21 count West pushed on to the no-trump game. England supporters must have been hoping for a swing here. Indeed they got it but not in the sense in which they had been hoping. North led a spade to the nine and ten. Declarer cleared the clubs from the top and on the third round South discarded a discouraging diamond and so North switched to a heart. Woe, woe and thrice woe for the England supporters as now declarer had nine tricks and another ten IMPs loss. After four boards England were trailing Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul. [ Q 7 5 ] 10 5 { 5 4 } A Q J [ [ K J 6 4 ] Q J 7 6 ] A 4 3 { J { } 10 } [ A 9 ] K { A K Q 2 } K 7 2 Robson De Wijs Forrester Muller Pass 1}* Pass 2}* Pass 2{* Pass 3}* Pass 3{* Pass 3]* Pass 3[* Pass 3NT* Nab Malinowski Drijver Bakhshi Pass 1}* Pass 2]* Pass 2[* Pass 3} Pass 4} Pass 4]* Pass 4[ Pass 6} 2] inv. NT or 6+minor 2[ asking With well-founded suspicion I am treating Four Clubs as keycard asking. North showed one keycard and the queen of trumps, but no side king. West led the jack of diamonds, taken by declarer s ace. He played a trump to the queen. A small heart from dummy brought a small card from East and when the king of hearts held, declarer embarked on cashing his trumps. On the third round West discarded what looked like an unimportant eight of spades, but that now made the contract possible basically North s seven is bigger than East s six. Another round of trumps was cashed, East discarding a diamond, South and West a heart. Declarer now cashed his two diamond honours parting with dummy s heart. On the final diamond East could either throw a heart and then be thrown in with a heart, or throw a spade (as he did at the table). Then South played ace and another spade to leave dummy with a winning spade and a trump. East can make the endgame harder for declarer by discarding his ace of hearts; then the queen of spades must be led from dummy to pin the singleton ten in the West hand. Declarer took the chance he was offered by the defence; after the HK holds, maybe cash the top diamonds to pitch dummy's heart, then ruff a spade in the short hand? A very, a very difficult hand to defend and a much needed ten IMPs to England. 2} natural GF 3} 6/7 } no shortness 3] [ Control ask 3NT 2 (K=1) 18 GO TO PAGE:

19 54 th European Team Championships Board 10. Dealer East. Both Vul. [ K Q J 5 4 ] A 9 6 { J 8 } A Q 8 [ A 10 [ 3 ] K Q ] J 7 2 { K Q 3 { A } J 4 2 } K [ ] 4 3 { } Robson De Wijs Forrester Muller Pass Pass 1NT Dble Redble Pass 2] 2[ 4] 4[ Dble South decided to sacrifice against the East/West game. When the defence took their heart and trump tricks, West switched to the two of clubs, ducked to East s ten. Rather than take their two diamonds and await a second club, East continued with the king of clubs. Perhaps he read the two of clubs as showing an honour in the suit. It meant that instead of 800 England only registered 500. Nab Malinowski Drijver Bakhshi Pass Pass 1NT Dble* 2[* Pass 2NT* Pass 3}* Dble Penalties After West s strong no-trump opener and North s penalty double, East s bid of Two Spades was presumably for the minors. But whatever the precise meanings, the upshot of the auction was that West s five-card major never saw the light of day and so the hand was played in a minor-suit part-score. Declarer made an overtrick but lost nine IMPs. Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul. [ Q 2 ] Q J { 8 } Q [ A K [ J ] A K ] { 6 5 { A K Q } J 2 } A 7 4 [ ] 7 2 { J } K Robson De Wijs Forrester Muller Pass 1[ 3] Dble Pass 3NT North s pre-emptive heart bid certainly put a spanner in the East/West auction and they finished in an ungainly 3NT. After the queen of hearts lead declarer had time to test the diamond suit and when that failed to behave he turned his attention to the more friendly spade suit and recorded twelve tricks. Nab Malinowski Drijver Bakhshi Pass 1[ Pass 3{ Pass 4{ Pass 5} Pass 5] Pass 5[ Pass 5NT Pass 6{ In the closed room North did not warrant his hand worthy of an interjection. So East/West had a scientific auction to reach the diamond slam. Declarer won the opening heart lead in dummy and immediately ducked a club. He was now able to ruff a club in dummy but fell victim to the 4-1 trump split. As the cards lie he can make his contract but he would be relying on a 3-2 split of the spade suit. Percentage wise he was on slightly firmer ground with the diamond suit because a singleton jack would also suffice. However the result was eleven IMPs out to England who had closed the gap to Over the next five boards Netherlands had a two IMP gain on Board 14 and England riposted with a single IMP on 15. The Netherlands had won 36-32; England had played their get out of jail card with the two slam boards which fell their way. GO TO PAGE: 19

20 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 DENMARK vs NORWAY Brian Senior WOMEN TEAMS, ROUND 3 For our first look at the Women's Series we feature the all-nordic match-up between Denmark and Norway. It was very early days in this championship, but after two rounds Norway lay third and Denmark seventh. 20 Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul. [ J ] A K Q 7 { } 8 [ A 5 [ K Q 9 2 ] ] J 10 3 { A K Q 10 8 { J } J 3 2 } A [ ] { } K Q 6 5 Harding Rasmussen Fuglestad Bilde Pass 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 3NT Houlberg Vist Lund-Madsen Heskje Pass 1{ 1] Dble Pass 2} Pass 2] Pass 3{ Pass 5} Pass 5{ Pass 5NT Pass 6} For Norway, Marianne Harding opened a strong no trump and was raised to game via Stayman. Helle Rasmussen led out four rounds of hearts and Harding had the rest for +600 all very straightforward. Things did not go quite as smoothly for the Danish E/W pair at the other table. I assume that Christina Lund-Madsen's double of the overcall showed spades, but why Anne-Sofie Houlberg rebid 2} rather than either 2{, or even 1NT, with the West cards, I cannot say. Lund-Madsen now liked her hand and cuebid before jumping to 5}. You can decide for yourself how to apportion the blame, but the final contract was ridiculous. Gunn Tove Vist cashed three heart tricks and there were two trumps to come so the slam was down four for 400 and 14 IMPs to Norway. GO TO PAGE: Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul. [ K ] 8 4 { A Q J 5 } Q 3 2 [ A 10 3 [ J ] A Q 9 ] { K { 6 3 } A K J } 9 6 [ Q 9 ] K J 10 { } 8 7 Harding Rasmussen Fuglestad Bilde 1} Pass 1{ Pass 1] Pass Pass 2{ 3} 3{ 3] Pass 4] Houlberg Vist Lund-Madsen Heskje 1} Pass 1] Pass 2[ Pass 3[ Pass 4] What is the world coming to when both Easts see a response in their one-jack hand? At least Ann Karin Fuglestad had the safety net of using a transfer to show her heart suit and, when Harding completed the transfer, to show threecard support, could pass to show a weak hand, though perhaps not as weak as this. When Lone Bilde balanced with 2{, Harding showed her extra strength and long clubs by bidding 3} and Rasmussen competed to 3{. That saw Fuglestad compete in hearts for some reason, and now it was impossible for Harding to appreciate just how weak her partner was, so she went on to game. Rasmussen led ace followed by jack of diamonds, and Harding refused to ruff, preferring to pitch a spade. That went to the queen and ace and Harding returned the ten of spades to the king. Rasmussen played back a third spade, ruffed with the ten and over-ruffed. Harding played ace then nine of hearts and that was down one for 100. Lund-Madsen responded with a natural 1] and Houlberg jumped to 2[. Personally, I would have passed that with the East hand, forcing or not, but Lund-Madsen is made of sterner stuff and raised to 3[

21 54 th European Team Championships surely forcing but leaving partner room to correct if 2[ had been, as here, bid with fewer than four cards (perhaps 2[ was not even natural in their methods but could have been an artificial game-force?). Anyway, Houlberg converted to 4] and that was that. Torild Heskje led the ten of diamonds to the king and ace and Vist continued with the queen of diamonds. Lund- Madsen ruffed with the nine and played three rounds of clubs, ruffed and over-ruffed. Heskje returned the queen of spades. Lund-Madsen won the ace and cashed the ace of hearts then played a winning club, but Vist could ruff with the eight and cash the [K. There was still the ]K to come so the contract was down two for 200 and 3 IMPs to Norway. Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul. [ Q ] { 8 } K Q [ K [ A ] 7 2 ] A Q 8 4 { K Q J 3 2 { A 7 5 } 7 } 6 4 [ J 9 2 ] K J 6 { } A J 8 Harding Rasmussen Fuglestad Bilde Pass Pass 3} Dble Pass 4[ Houlberg Vist Lund-Madsen Heskje Pass 1[ 3} 4} 5} Dble Houlberg opened the West hand and Vist made a weak jump overcall. When Lund-Madsen showed a good spade raise by cuebidding 4}, Heskje took the advance save in 5} and Houlberg, with a minimum opening, doubled to discourage her partner from further bidding. With the heart honours onside, there was just one loser in each side-suit so down one for 200. Harding did not open the West hand so Rasmussen opened 3} as North and Fuglestad doubled. When Harding now jumped to 4[ she was allowed to play there and, winning the diamond lead, picked up trumps without loss. Then ran the diamonds to get Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 rid of dummy's clubs so lost just one heart trick; +680 and 10 IMPs to Norway. Perhaps South should have bid 4} over the take-out double. With her extra distribution and lack of defence, North might well have then taken the save in 5}? Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul. [ A Q ] 8 5 { Q 7 2 } Q 8 6 [ [ K J 10 ] Q ] K { { K J 4 3 } J 9 5 } A K [ 6 4 ] A J 7 { A 8 5 } Harding Rasmussen Fuglestad Bilde Pass 1} Pass Pass 1[ Houlberg Vist Lund-Madsen Heskje Pass 1{ Pass Pass 1[ 1NT Both Easts opened their systemic minor and both Norths balanced with 1[. Rasmussen was allowed to play there, while Lund-Madsen competed with 1NT at the other table and bought the contract there. Fuglestad cashed the king then ace of clubs against 1[, then switched to the king of diamonds. Rasmussen won the ace and played ace and another spade, so Fuglestad won that and cashed the king of spades, trying to avoid being endplayed again later in the play. Then she exited with a diamond to Rasmussen's queen. Declarer could cash the queen of clubs then take two red-suit discards on dummy's clubs and had nine tricks for Heskje led a spade against 1NT, Vist ducking to declarer's ten. Lund-Madsen played the king of hearts and Heskje ducked, not that it mattered what she did. She also ducked the next heart so dummy's queen won that trick and a third heart went to the nine and ace. Heskje led another spade, Vist winning the ace and clearing the suit. However, she had to throw a spade when declarer cashed the fourth heart and Lund-Madsen next ran the ten of diamonds to South's ace. She had two clubs and a diamond from here so eight tricks in all for +120 and 6 IMPs to Denmark. GO TO PAGE: 21

22 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul. [ K Q J 5 4 ] A 9 6 { J 8 } A Q 8 [ A 10 [ 3 ] K Q ] J 7 2 { K Q 3 { A } J 4 2 } K [ ] 4 3 { } Harding Rasmussen Fuglestad Bilde Pass Pass 1NT Dble Pass 2[ Pass Pass 3{ Pass Pass 3[ Houlberg Vist Lund-Madsen Heskje Pass Pass 1] 1[ Dble Pass 1NT Pass 3] Pass 4] Houlberg opened 1] and rebid 1NT, 15-17, after which the Danes had no trouble in getting to the good heart game. Vist led the king of spades so Houlberg simply won the ace, ruffed her remaining spades, then played on hearts. With only one club to be lost, she had 11 tricks for Harding opened a strong no trump and the heart suit was lost. Rasmussen doubled, showing a strong hand, and after a pass from Fuglestad Bilde ran to 2[. Fuglestad might, I suppose, have doubled that for take-out, but she didn't want to see her partner bid a four-card heart suit when she herself held only jack-to-three. Instead, she competed in her five-card diamond suit and when that went round to Rasmussen she competed with 3[, which completed the auction. Harding led the king of diamonds then switched to the king of hearts. Bilde won the ace and led the king of spades to Harding's ace. Harding led her low diamond to Fuglestad's ace and Fuglestad played the jack of hearts. Harding overtook with the queen and continued with the ten, ruffed. Now declarer led a club to the eight, losing to the ten. Fuglestad could get out with a diamond and wait to collect a second club trick for two down and 200 but 10 IMPs to Denmark. At the point where declarer ruffed the ten of hearts, she should have ruffed her last diamond then played queen of spades and a low spade to hand. Now a club to the eight endplays East and the contract is down only one. It looked as though Denmark was making a comeback, but that was stopped dead in its tracks by this next deal. Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul. [ Q 2 ] Q J { 8 } Q [ A K [ J ] A K ] { 6 5 { A K Q } J 2 } A 7 4 [ ] 7 2 { J } K Harding Rasmussen Fuglestad Bilde Pass 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 3[ Pass 4} Pass 4] Pass 4NT Pass 5] Pass 6{ Houlberg Vist Lund-Madsen Heskje Pass 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 3[ Pass 4} Pass 4] Pass 4NT Pass 5{ Pass 5] Pass 5[ Pass 6{ Two similar auctions saw both Easts declare the diamond slam. A club lead would leave only a double dummy line to make the slam. Win the club ace, cash the hearts, ace of spades and ruff one, heart ruff, king and another spade on which the club losers are discarded. South ruffs but that is with the trump trick and declarer has the rest. That is not an obvious single-dummy line so both declarers were fortunate to receive a heart lead in real life. Fuglestad won the heart, cashed three top diamonds, then played a spade to the ace and ruffed a spade. When that established all the long spades, she gave up a diamond and could get to dummy's spade winners via the remaining top heart and claim 12 tricks for GO TO PAGE:

23 54 th European Team Championships That line essentially relied on spades being threetwo. A very reasonable alternative would be to play for either a club or heart ruff in dummy and, assuming that passed off peacefully, to come to 12 tricks if diamonds were three-two, or maybe if therw was a bare jack. Playing to ruff a heart doesn't work, as South ruffs in front of dummy and returns a spade, and there is a club to concede at the end. Neither is ruffing a club quite so simple as it first appears. Declarer wins the heart and ducks a club, which North arranges to win to push a trump through. If declarer persists with her plan of ruffing a club, his only way back to hand is then to ruff a spade, and he still needs South to hold at least two cards in the suit. With the extra point that South might have led a trump from two or three low cards, my vote goes to the simple line as followed by Fuglestad, but I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise. Lund-Madsen tried something different. She won the heart and cashed both top spades, discarding a club. She cashed the second heart, crossed to the ace of diamonds and took a heart ruff. When she now came to hand and cashed the top diamonds she had a loser in each minor so was down one for 50 and 14 IMPs to Norway. That line seems to be worse than those discussed above as it appears to require both spades and diamonds to break favourably if the second spade stands up, Fuglestad's line will be successful while Lund-Madsen's line requires both that and that the diamonds behave. If that was bad news for Denmark, it was about to get even worse. CHRISTINA LUND MADSEN DENMARK Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul. [ A K J 7 6 ] K 7 3 { A Q 7 5 } 7 [ Q 8 [ 10 ] A 8 6 ] J { K 6 3 { J } } A 2 [ ] Q 9 4 { } K Q J 8 5 Harding Rasmussen Fuglestad Bilde 1NT Dble 2{ 2[ Pass 4} Pass 4[ Houlberg Vist Lund-Madsen Heskje Pass 1[ Pass 4{ Pass 4] Pass 5} Pass 5[ Pass 6[ Harding opened 1NT, 8-12 in this position, and Rasmussen doubled. When Fuglestad ran to the safety of her long diamond suit, Bilde competed with 2[ and Rasmussen splintered in support. Club shortage did not exactly fit Bilde's hand like a glove and she quickly signed off in game. Harding led a diamond. Bilde called for the queen, pitching a heart from hand, then led dummy's club. Fuglestad won the ace and returned a diamond, so Bilde could win, draw trumps and get rid of the hearts on the club winners. She had 12 tricks for The West hand did not open in the other room so Vist opened 1[ and Heskje responded 4{, a voidshowing splinter. Vist was willing to cuebid below game despite the wasted diamond values as she still had a good hand even after discounting the {AQ. However, she signed off in 5[ when Heskje went on with a club cuebid. Perhaps, having already shown the void and been the one to go past game to cuebid the second-round club control, Heskje had done enough but you can see why she might have been tempted. Her raise to 6[ put her partner into a two-ace slam and it appeared that the IMPs gained on the previous deal were about to go back the way they had come. But Lund-Madsen didn't know that it was a two-ace slam and, from her perspective, it might be now or never to find two quick tricks. She led the two of clubs! That was won by dummy's king and Vist played GO TO PAGE: 23

24 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 a heart. Thinking that her partner was about to ruff a club, Houlberg rose with the ace and returned a club, which Vist ruffed, bringing down the ace. It required only that declarer draw trumps and take her tricks to claim the slam for and 13 IMPs more to Norway instead of 13 to Denmark. Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul. [ K Q ] A 5 4 { 4 } [ J [ 9 3 ] ] K Q { Q J { A 9 8 } J } A K [ A ] J 9 3 { K 10 6 } Q 5 2 Harding Rasmussen Fuglestad Bilde Pass Pass 2{ 2NT Pass 3} Pass 3NT Pass 4] Pass 4NT Pass 5{ Pass 6} Pass 6{ Houlberg Vist Lund-Madsen Heskje Pass Pass 2[ 3} A curiosity to complete our coverage of the match. Vist opened with a weak 2[ and Lund-Madsen overcalled 3} and was left to play there, while in the other room Rasmussen opened a multi and her opponents bid all the way to slam! Three Clubs was defeated when Heskje led the ace of spades then switched to a heart and Vist won the ace and led a trump through. Lund-Madsen ducked that to the queen and had to lose a second spade and a diamond for down one and 50. Fuglestad bid 2NT over the multi, and Harding inquired then tried 4], but Fugelstad did not appreciate that her partner might be quite so weak and distributional. So she went on and by the time the music stopped they were in 6{ missing two aces and king-ten to four trumps. A spade lead and heart switch meant that none of the three losers disappeared so the contract was down two and Denmark picked up 2 IMPs. That was too little too late for the Danes, and Norway had a comfortable win by IMPs, converting to VP. Ann Karin FUGLESTAD NORWAY Lone BILDE DENMARK Marianne HARDING NORWAY Helle RASMUSSEN DENMARK 24 GO TO PAGE:

25 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 David Bird FRANCE vs ICELAND OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 16 Iceland had started excellently and were viewing proceedings from near the top of the table. France, with their team short of two or three big stars for one reason and another, were in mid-table. Bill Jacobs and I were the appointed BBO commentators and were wondering if the situation would have shifted much in a couple of hours time. Five double-digit swings occurred, as on a previous match that I reported, and we will now look at them all. Segaineau Baldursson Sebbane Haraldsson 2] Pass 4] all Pass This time 2] showed hearts and a minor and Segaineau was not inclined to investigate a slam. Twelve tricks were made after the }K lead and it was 11 IMPs to Iceland. Board 18. Dealer East. N/S Vul. [ 6 ] Q 3 { K J } J 8 7 [ A K [ Q ] A J 7 6 ] K { 3 { Q 9 } A 5 } [ J ] 8 5 { A 6 5 } K Q 2 } J 8 7 } J 8 Board 23. Dealer South. All Vul. [ K J ] { } J 8 [ 6 3 [ 8 7 ] Q ] A J { 9 6 { K Q J } A K Q 5 3 } [ A Q 5 2 ] K { A } Jorgensen Rombaut Thorvaldsson Lorenzini 2{ Pass 2NT Pass 3{ Pass 3] Pass 3[ Pass 4NT Pass 5{ Pass 6] all Pass Thorvaldsson opened with a 3-8 point multi, his rebid showing hearts. Jorgensen set hearts as trumps and continued with a RKCB 4NT. Had he been playing responses, there would have been room to ask for the ]Q. He was happy to bid 6] anyway, since partner (you never know) might hold a 6-card suit. An unlikely diamond lead would have sunk the slam. With spades breaking 5-1, declarer could not have set up the four club discards that he would then need. Rombaud led the }7, Jorgensen winning with the ace. A trump to the king was followed by the [Q and a trump to the ace, North s queen falling. Away went dummy s two diamonds on the [A-K and the slam was made. Jorgensen Rombaut Thorvaldsson Lorenzini 1{ 2} Pass 2] Pass 4] all Pass Lorenzini led the {A and switched to the ace and queen of spades, North overtaking with the king to return a diamond. Thorvaldsson won and would now have to divine the trump position. The [AQJ and {A would give South an opening bid, but would North have bid something if he held at least five spades to the king, the ]K and a possible black jack or two? After a couple of suspenseful minutes Thorvaldsson played the ]A, dropping the king offside. Bravo! It was a brilliant +620 on the Icelanders card. Segaineau Baldursson Sebbane Haraldsson 1{ Pass 1[ Pass 3[ all Pass GO TO PAGE: 25

26 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 The French pair did not enter the auction. They scored their five tricks in the side suits but it was another 11 IMPs to Iceland. Board 26. Dealer East. All Vul. [ 9 7 ] A K J 7 5 { Q J 10 9 } 7 6 [ K J 6 3 [ Q ] ] 10 6 { A 6 4 { K 7 3 } K 4 2 } [ A 8 2 ] Q 9 8 { } A Q J 3 Jorgensen Rombaut Thorvaldsson Lorenzini Pass 1} Pass 1] Pass 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 2NT Pass 4] all Pass Rombaut s 2} was part of the method known in some quarters as double deux. It requests partner to rebid 2{. North can then either pass or advance with a game try. North ended in 4] and it would need a spade lead from East to set up a trick in that suit before a discard became available on the clubs. Thorvaldsson had played a blinder so far. Would he lapse slightly on this deal? No, indeed. He reached for a deadly [4. When the club finesse lost subsequently, declarer was one down. Segaineau Baldursson Sebbane Haraldsson Pass 1{ Pass 1] Pass 1NT Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass 4] all Pass It seemed to be a case of double double deux. Sebbane led the }10, which would be the choice of many players (including Bill Jacobs and myself) and the game was made. It was another 12 IMPs into the bulging Icelandic plus-column. Surely not all the double-digit swings would go to Iceland. Is it not time for France to be favoured? We will see. Board 29. Dealer North. All Vul. [ A J ] 4 2 { 9 6 } J [ 7 [ K Q ] K Q J ] A 10 { Q 4 2 { } A Q 10 } K 7 4 [ 3 2 ] { A K J 8 3 } Jorgensen Rombaut Thorvaldsson Lorenzini Pass 1[ Pass 2] Pass 2NT Pass 3] Pass 4] all Pass It was Rombaut to lead and Bill Jacobs very kindly asked me what my book Winning Suit Contract Leads, based on computer simulations, would have recommended. I replied that one of our main findings (Taf Anthias was the co-author) was that low doubleton leads are great. Trump leads are largely a waste of time unless you hate the look of all your side-suit leads. I mentioned also that an England player, a few days before, had been faced with a similar choice of leads with two red-suit doubletons. Having presumably saved himself by not buying our book, he led a trump and gave away a vulnerable game. Rombaut did not disappoint me. He led the {9, received his ruff and cashed the [A for one down. Segaineau Baldursson Sebbane Haraldsson Pass 1[ Pass 2] Pass 2[ Pass 3] Pass 4] all Pass Bridge books are expensive in Iceland and Baldursson led a trump. Segaineau won with dummy s ace and called for the [K. North took his ace and persevered with another trump. Declarer won with the ]10, ruffed a spade and drew trumps. Only one diamond discard was available on the spades but it was +620 and 12 IMPs to France. 26 GO TO PAGE:

27 54 th European Team Championships Board 32. Dealer West. E/W Vul. [ ] 10 4 { A K J 9 5 } K Q [ J [ Q ] K J 9 6 ] 7 2 { Q 8 2 { } A J } [ A K ] A Q { 7 3 } 10 Jorgensen Rombaut Thorvaldsson Lorenzini 1{ 2} Pass 2[ Pass 3} Pass 3] Pass 3NT all Pass Thorvaldsson led a diamond and Rombaut enjoyed five tricks in the suit, discarding a spade and two hearts from the dummy. When he then played the }K, West won and had no good return (he had discarded the }J). He chose a spade to the queen Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 and ace. Rombaut played the [K and threw West in with a spade. When he won the spade return and cashed a good spade, nine tricks were his. He then put icing on the cake by endplaying West once more, leading a low heart for a return into the ace-queen. It was a magnificent +430 for France. Segaineau Baldursson Sebbane Haraldsson 1{ 2} Pass 2[ Pass 3} Pass 3] Pass 3NT Pass 4] all Pass Haraldsson took one more bid over 3NT and game in a 5-2 fit was reached. Segaineau started with the ace and jack of clubs, won in the dummy. The contract can be made at double-dummy - ruffing the third round of diamonds and spades, then end-playing West. Such magic did not come to pass (the play record is truncated) and Haraldsson went one down for a loss of 10 IMPs. France had recovered somewhat from a 43-0 deficit. Iceland won by 48 IMPs to 31, which was in VP. A BRIDGE FESTIVAL THAT HAS A REAL ATMOSPHERE! YOU WILL NEVER FORGET BUDAPEST 3 round Open Pairs Competition from Friday to Sunday 3 different side events - one-round Tournaments Prizes in all Tournaments Venue is located at the foot of Budapest s Castle District 500 m 2 hall with 10 m interior height Natural air conditioning Surprise for every player Previous winners and Famous Hungarian players said Great atmosphere, space among the tables and pairs final! The best pairs in Hungary! 3 round Open Pairs Competition from Friday to Sunday 3 different side events - one-round Tournaments 8th KIBIC BUDAPEST BRIDGE OPEN AUGUST 23-26, 2018 GO TO PAGE: 27

28 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 John Carruthers POLAND vs HUNGARY SENIOR TEAMS, ROUND 4 For the first six boards of the Poland-Hungary Seniors match in Round four, extraordinarily, the contracts were the same at both tables, all routine games and partscores. The IMP score was 5-4 for Poland, all in overtricks. This was the seventh deal: Board 23. Dealer South. All Vul. [ K J ] { } J 8 [ 6 3 [ 8 7 ] Q ] A J { 9 6 { K Q J } A K Q 5 3 } [ A Q 5 2 ] K { A } Magyar Szymanowski Kovacs Bizon 1{* 2} 2[* 3] 4[ 5] 1{ HCP, 5+ diamonds unless (a) with 4{ or (b) 4{/5} 2[ Non-forcing The Poles were in position to reap the rewards of their non-forcing two-level responses. The two-spade bid allowed them to push the Hungarians to five hearts, a contact unwarranted on their cards. They escaped a double, as had the Poles in four spades, the latter contract being headed for two off and minus 500. As it was, Szymanowski/Bizon had an accident on defence which allowed Kovacs a chance to make his contract. Bizon led the ace of spades, three, jack, eight. He shifted to the ace of diamonds, six, two, jack. According to their convention card, they play attitude signals on partner s lead and high=odd/discouraging and low=even/encouraging. There is no indication of what following with the jack might mean. Bizon shifted to a club, giving declarer a chance, if only he could follow the Rabbi s Rule and drop the king of hearts. It seems that Szymanowski would have done better to follow to trick one with the four of spades, which would have been unequivocal. Looking at all this from Kovacs point of view, to him it seemed that Bizon had led the ace of spades from the ace-king, so he placed the king of hearts with North and took the trump finesse. That was the defence s third trick, and when Bizon tried to give Szymanowski a club ruff, the second spade trick went away. Still, that was plus 100 anyway. You may be sure that Szymanowski/Bizon discussed that jack-ofspades play after the match. Markowicz Gal Moszczynski Szappanos 1{ 2} Pass 2] Pass 3] Pass 4] Szappanos led the diamond ace, six, eight, queen. Having received a discouraging signal, he shifted to the ace of spades, three, four seven. This was a clearer message than that received at the other table. Szappanos continued with the two of spades to Gal s king and North returned a diamond to declarer s king. With all that information at hand, declarer crossed to a club and took the heart finesse for a push. Still 5-4 Poland. The card gods continued to be uninspired, but at least we had a few partscore swings in the next few boards. With the score at to Hungary 28 GO TO PAGE:

29 54 th European Team Championships Board 29. Dealer North. All Vul. [ A J ] 4 2 { 9 6 } J [ 7 [ K Q ] K Q J ] A 10 { Q 4 2 { } A Q 10 } K 7 4 [ 3 2 ] { A K J 8 3 } Magyar Szymanowski Kovacs Bizon Pass 1[ Pass 2] Pass 2[ Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Pass 4] Just as I was mentally congratulating the Hungarians on reaching the unbreakable (on the lie of the cards) three notrump, Magyar bid four hearts. Rats. Szymanowski still had to find the lead and he did. Diamond, diamond, diamond ruff, ace of spades and Magyar was off one within seconds. Minus 100. Could the Poles do better? Markowicz Gal Moszczynski Szappanos Pass 1[ Pass 2] Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Yes, they could. Szappanos led the king of diamonds, two six, seven. He shifted to a club. Gal won and led a spade, the defenders then collecting their three top tricks. Plus 630 to Poland, now leading Hungary won a couple of overtrick IMPs to make the score 23-18, when the last deal appeared Board 32. Dealer West. EW Vul. [ - ] 10 4 { A K J 9 5 } K Q [ J [ Q ] K J 9 6 ] 7 2 { Q 8 2 { } A J } [ A K ] A Q { 7 3 } 10 Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Magyar Szymanowski Kovacs Bizon 1{ 2} Pass 2{* Pass 3} Pass 3{* Pass 3NT Pass 4{* Pass 4] 2{ All-purpose force as 2M would not have been forcing 3{ Directional ask 4{ Pick a major I must admit that I ve never seen this particular sequence before, where a player got to cue-bid the opponent s suit three times and NEVER showed a control in the suit! Bizon (i) forced, then (ii) asked for a stopper for three notrump and, finally (iii) forced partner to choose between the majors. Bizon might not have expected Szymanowski to be able to run diamonds in three notrump. The play was as cute as the auction. Note, North was the declarer. Kovacs did not expect the opponents to be able to run diamonds either, so he led one to the queen and ace. Szymanowski took the three top diamonds, ridding dummy of its club. He ruffed a club, took dummy s top spades, ruffed a spade, ruffed a club, felling the ace, and ruffed a spade. That accounted for the first nine tricks. At trick ten he led the established king of clubs and threw the established nine of spades on it. Poor Magyar was left with the king-jack-nine-six of trumps. He had to ruff and lead into the ace-queen of hearts for minus 650. Markowicz Gal Moszczynski Szappanos 1}* 1{ Pass 1[ Pass 2}* Pass 2] Pass 3} Pass 3NT 1} (a) balanced (b) 15+ natural (c) Any 18+ 2} Natural The Polish club allowed Gal in at the one level and the Hungarians then had a natural, controlled auction to three notrump. Markowicz led the six of hearts, won in dummy by the ten. Szappanos led the club king to the ace and the jack-of-clubs continuation was ducked. West shifted to the two of diamonds for the jack in dummy. Declarer ran the diamonds then took his top cards for 10 tricks and plus 630; 1 IMP to Poland. The match score was for Poland. ( ). GO TO PAGE: 29

30 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Herman De Wael THE BELGIAN PAGE In the first match on Monday, all three Belgian teams had to face the then leader in their respective tournaments: Israel in the Open, Poland in the Women's and Norway in the Seniors. All three Belgian teams lost, but Israel's win wasn't large enough to keep them on top. Steve on play: The following hand is instructive for the mid-level player: Steve was playing 3NT from the West hand in this deal of Belgium's match against Scotland: STEVE DE ROOS BELGIUM Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul. [ 3 ] Q { Q } A 5 3 [ K Q [ A J 8 7 ] J 8 7 ] A 6 2 { A K 10 { J 4 } K 9 } Q [ ] K 3 { } J North led a heart, which Steve allowed South to win. South returned a heart and Steve ducked once more. North played a third heart and now had another two winners in hand. If North gets in once again, the contract will have failed. Steve has one heart trick already, five spade tricks and two diamonds for certain, that's eight. The ninth can come from clubs, or from diamonds. If South has either the }A or the {Q, and you pick the correct one, you're home. But Steve knew it was very likely that North held both those honours. He played the Jack of diamonds, and when South did not cover (or think) he was certain the queen was in North. Before the last one, the situation had become: [ ] 10 5 { Q 8 } A [ K [ ] ] { A 10 { 4 } K 9 } Q [ ] { 9 7 } J 10 8 When Steve plays the last spade, what is North to do? If he lets go of a heart, you know he has both the other suits covered. So you just play a small club. North makes }A and one heart, but he must bring you two diamond tricks afterwards. If North lets go of the }A, you even have four tricks. If he parts with a diamond, his queen will drop and you cash three more diamonds. In fact, every single declarer who was in 3NT made that contract. And lost 1 IMP, like Steve did, because the other table was invariably in the easier contract of 4[ and scoring +620 for 10 tricks. 30 GO TO PAGE: