Schedule p. 2 Championship Diary Mark Horton. p. 3 A Defensive Gem Maurizio Di Sacco p. 4 Misplay this Hand with Me 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 WEDNESDAY, JUNE ISSUE No 8 CONTENTS Schedule p. 2 Championship Diary Mark Horton p. 3 A Defensive Gem Maurizio Di Sacco p. 4 Misplay this Hand with Me Mark Horton p. 5 Little Fishes Brian Senior p. 6 Love the Draw Ron Tacchi p. 7 IBPA Outing Herman De Wael p. 7 Greece vs Monaco (O) Jos Jacobs p. 8 Netherlands vs Hungary (O) Daniel Gulyás p. 11 England vs Netherlands Ron Tacchi p. 13 Iceland vs France Brian Senior p. 18 The Belgian Page Herman De Wael p. 22 Results p. 23 TODAY'S SCHEDULE 10.00: Open (R22) Women (R11) Seniors (R10) 13.20: Open (R23) Women (R12) Seniors (R11) 16.10: Open (R24) Women (R13) Seniors (R12) The EBL's tremendous team of Directors: Rui Marques, Jacob Duschek, Ton Kooijman, Bertrand Gignoux, Kuba Kasprzak, Marieke Quant, Gordon Rainsford, Antonio Riccardi (Chief), Dirk Logghe, Rahmi Iyilikci, Bernardo Biondo, Amélie Gobbe, Mihaela Balint, Caroline Van Den Hove, Slawek Latala. There were no major changes in the Open series, but the order has changed and Sweden has moved into the top eight. This is the leading octet: Russia, Norway, Netherlands, Monaco, Hungary, Iceland, Sweden & Italy Norway, Sweden and Poland are still the top three in the Women's event, but they have swapped positions. France, Estonia, England, Denmark & Netherlands complete the top eight, the first time two of the perennial favourites have appeared. The Seniors' followed the pattern of the Women with the first three interchanging. The order now is France, Ireland, Norway, Israel, Italy, Sweden, Poland & 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 President of the IBPA Barry Rigal, EBL Treasurer Josef Harsanyi and EBL Championships Committee Chairman Jan Kamras. 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 ROUND 22 ROUND 23 ROUND 24 OPEN TEAMS LIT vs ITA BBO 3 TUR vs POL BBO 2 FRA vs DEN BBO 1 ICE vs MON SCO vs NED CZE vs GER ENG vs UKR BUL vs WAL POR vs NOR LAT vs ISR EST vs BEL CRO vs RUS ROM vs FIN GRE vs AUT IRE vs SPA SWI vs SWE HUN Bye BBO 1 BBO 2 BBO 3 BBO 4 UKR vs ICE DEN vs WAL POR vs TUR LAT vs LIT BEL vs HUN CRO vs ITA POL vs FIN FRA vs AUT SPA vs MON IRE vs SWE NED vs GRE ROM vs GER ENG vs RUS BUL vs EST NOR vs ISR CZE vs SWI SCO Bye AUT vs CRO SPA vs BEL LAT vs IRE GRE vs POR ROM vs WAL RUS vs UKR EST vs CZE SCO vs ISR BUL vs ICE ENG vs DEN TUR vs GER NED vs LIT BBO 3 HUN vs SWE BBO 1 ITA vs MON BBO 2 POL vs FRA SWI vs NOR FIN vs Bye WOMEN TEAMS BBO 4 ROUND 11 ROUND 12 ROUND 13 SER vs EST FIN vs POR GRE vs ICE IRE vs ENG POL vs SPA BEL vs NED FRA vs GER SCO vs RUS NOR vs SWE ITA vs ISR TUR vs DEN HUN Bye GER vs SPA SCO vs IRE NOR vs GRE ISR vs FIN SER vs DEN TUR vs HUN EST vs ITA SWE vs POR RUS vs ICE ENG vs FRA POL vs NED BEL Bye NOR GER ISR BEL DEN SPA TUR IRE GRE ITA SWE FIN SER RUS FRA HUN NED EST POR POL ICE ENG SCO Bye SENIOR TEAMS ROUND 10 ROUND 11 ROUND 12 ROM vs NED SCO vs FIN ICE vs TUR SPA vs AUT HUN vs POR ENG vs FRA ITA vs SWE BUL vs POL ISR vs NOR IRE vs DEN GER vs BEL ROM vs BUL NOR vs ITA ENG vs IRE HUN vs BEL GER vs AUT DEN vs TUR ISR vs SCO POL vs NED FIN vs SWE FRA vs ICE SPA vs POR BBO 4 ROM vs GER DEN vs BEL IRE vs ISR NOR vs POL SWE vs BUL FRA vs ITA POR vs ENG SPA vs HUN AUT vs ICE FIN vs TUR SCO vs NED BBO commentators: OPEN, ROUND 22 Peter Lund, David Bird (BBO1, voice) Mark Horton, Marc Smith OPEN, ROUND 23 Roland Wald, Peter Lund (BBO1, voice) OPEN, ROUND 24 David Bird, Mark Horton (BBO1, voice) Roland Wald, Marc Smith 2 GO TO PAGE:

3 54 th European Team Championships CHAMPIONSHIP DIARY Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Mark Horton This issue of the Bulletin features a fantastic opportunity for someone, a fully funded 3 yr Phd studentship - Exploring the Social World of the Mind Sport of Bridge worth over 60,000. (It took three years to secure the funding!) The PhD will contribute to establishing bridge as a new academic field and will shift stereotypical perceptions of the mind sport. Maureen Hiron suggests that the dark horses in the Women's Championship must be Turkey, as the pair that won the Women's Pairs is not even in the team. England's Senior team, none of whom has ever competed at this level is currently in a qualifying spot. In their opening match they defeated a Hungarian team containing no less than three former World Champions. A modest bridge player was polishing a lamp and poof! Out popped a genie who said, I will grant you just one wish. The bridge player unfolded a map of the world and said, Let all of these countries live in peace and harmony. You ve got to be kidding! I m only a genie. The bridge player thought for a while and then suggested, OK, then make me a winning bridge player. Hmm the genie pondered. Let me see that map again. The day before he left for Ostend Brian Senior's computer displayed what is known as the Blue Screen of Death. When his local repair shop informed him that it could not be fixed in time he was forced to bring his old computer. It is so old that I suggested it had been used by Noah to calculate how much food he would need on the Ark, but Brian suggested that it is so slow to do anything that if he had been using it every species of animal on the earth would have been in trouble. It takes so long to boot up that Brian comes into the office in the morning to turn it on, then comes back in the afternoon to follow a match. VIDEO CORNER POSTCARD - NORWAY! POSTCARD - BELGIO GO TO PAGE: 3

4 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 A DEFENSIVE GEM Maurizio Di Sacco Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul. [ J 2 ] 3 2 { } Q [ A K [ Q ] K 6 ] Q J { A 9 8 { 10 2 } 9 5 } A K J 2 [ ] A 10 4 { K Q J 6 4 } 7 Levin Forrester Roll Robson 1[ Pass 2] 3{ 3[ 4} 4[ All Pass Robson set the boat of his partnership on a course for troubled waters - three diamonds floats into the 800 territory - and Forrester sportingly pushed the boat out still further. But his opponents ignored them - I wonder why Josi Roll did not apply the axe to four clubs: if he had done so, Amir Levin could have, in turn, doubled four diamonds as well - and settled for 4[. Forrester started the defence off on the right foot by leading a diamond, and Levin ducked, giving Robson a choice of defences. Reasoning that declarer would not have ducked if a shift was dangerous to him, he played a second diamond honour. Levin could now reason that playing a spade to dummy's queen, then a heart towards the king is no good: the third, then the fourth round of diamonds would promote a trump trick for the defence, and four in all, so Levin carefully avoided this, finding instead a splendid play: he led his low heart from hand, and put up dummy s queen. Had Robson won that, and continued with a further top diamond, declarer could have ruffed in dummy, then used the heart king as his re-entry to hand to draw trumps, conceding just one trump trick. Had Robson returned a heart instead, declarer could have led out trumps from the top, again losing just one trump: he takes three top trumps, crosses to the club ace and plays the heart jack to pitch his diamond. But when the first round of hearts went to Forrester s three (true count) and dummy s jack, Robson ducked! Now declarer played a second heart. Robson won his ace, and carefully shifted to a club to dummy s jack. All declarer could do was to lead dummy s top heart, pitching a diamond, but Forrester ruffed and led a club for his partner to ruff, for down one. 4 GO TO PAGE:

5 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 MISPLAY THIS HAND WITH ME Mark Horton Playing in the European Championships with a new partner against opponents I have not encountered before I pick up a promising collection: [ J ] { A K Q } A 7 4 Neither side is vulnerable and when the player on my left passes my partner opens 1[. When I respond 2{ he rebids 3[. Thinking, rightly or wrongly, that my [J may be useful, I cue bid with 4} and he replies with 4]. Given that if partner holds as little [AKQxxx and the ]A there should be a play for13 tricks. I decide to ask for key cards with 4NT. Partner responds 5{, which must show three key cards, the [AK and the ]A. When I continue with 5] asking about the [Q partner's 5[ denies it. Rather than bid 6[. I offer partner a choice of contracts with 6{ and after some reflection I am left to play there. This has been our lengthy sequence: Pass 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 3[ Pass 4}* Pass 4]* Pass 4NT* Pass 5{* Pass 5]* Pass 5[* Pass 6{ All Pass West leads the ]7 and I get this dummy: [ A K ] A K { 6 5 } J 2 [ J ] { A K Q } A 7 4 After winning with dummy's ]K I have a choice of plans - to establish dummy's spades, or play to ruff a loser in dummy. I cash the top spades and East follows with the [2 and [Q, West the [4 and [6. I am about to play a third spade when I spot a snag. Suppose East started with the [Q102 and has false carded? If West can overruff in diamonds a heart return will be fatal. I change tack and cash the ]A, return to hand with a diamond and play a heart. Ominously West discards the }3 and I ruff, come to hand with the }A and cash the {K. When East pitches the ]9, I have to lose a trump and a club for an ignominious one down. This was the layout: Dealer West. None Vul. [ A K ] A K { 6 5 } J 2 [ [ Q 2 ] 7 2 ] Q J { J { 8 } K } Q [ J ] { A K Q } A 7 4 Post mortem Declarer's play was inexplicable. Having cashed the [A it is pointless to play the [K. A spade ruff can be followed by four rounds of trumps and a claim. In the other room declarer won the heart lead, played three rounds of diamonds, crossed to dummy with a spade, ruffed a spade and gave up a trump before claiming. A club lead does not help the defenders declarer wins, cashes three trumps and then establishes the spades, discarding a club along the way. The {J will be the only trick for the defence. At many tables North played in 6[. After a club lead declarer won with dummy's ace, cashed the top spades and then played three rounds of diamonds to dispose of the losing club. As we leave the table I recall the advice of my old German teacher 'Don't think boy, it's dangerous.' GO TO PAGE: 5

6 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 LITTLE FISHES Brian Senior SENIOR TEAMS, ROUND 5 They do say that little fish are the sweetest, yet we spend most of our time writing about the bigger hands because they produce the biggest swings. The English Senior team members are all playing for the first time at this level and have made a strong start to the tournament. Rob Cliffe and Alan Mayo defended nicely to defeat a partscore on this deal from their Round 5 match against Germany, which was won by England by IMPs, VPs. In the other room the English E/W pair had bid and made 1NT. Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul. [ J 6 4 ] K 9 3 { 7 2 } A K [ K [ Q 9 3 ] J ] A 6 5 { K J 3 { A Q 10 5 } Q 9 } J 10 4 [ A 7 2 ] Q 10 7 { } Cliffe Mayo Pass Pass 1}(i) Dble 1NT Dble 2} Pass Pass Dble Pass 2{ All Pass (i) Four-plus cards Mayo led a club and, for want of anything better to do, Cliffe won and cashed the other top club then switched to a trump. Declarer won that with dummy's jack and played a spade, getting the suit wrong by playing the queen. Mayo won the ace and found the necessary switch to a heart, choosing the ten to make life easy for partner by surrounding the jack. That was ducked all round and there must have been a temptation to continue with a second heart. However, whichever heart South leads to the second round, declarer can play to establish the thirteenth heart as his eighth trick and will no longer need to lose a second spade. When the ten of hearts held the trick, Mayo could work out the layout of the suit and could see the danger, so he switched back to spades. Declarer finessed, losing to the jack, and Cliffe performed the coup de grace by returning a spade. Declarer could no longer draw trumps then enjoy the thirteenth spade and, in the fullness of time, had to concede a second heart trick. The contract was one down and England had a small but nonetheless valuable contribution of 4 IMPs to their win. FALL NABC 2019: THE SOLOWAY KNOCKOUT TEAMS Make plans now to attend the inaugural Soloway Knockout Teams at the Fall 2019 North American Bridge Championships in San Francisco. The seven-day contest begins with a two-day Swiss qualifying on Friday, Nov. 29, and Saturday, Nov. 30, followed by a 32-team knockout beginning on Sunday, Dec. 1. The final will be Thursday, Dec. 5. This is the only North American championship featuring a Swiss-qualifying format, guaranteeing participants at least two days of top-level play. ACBL American Contract Bridge League 6 GO TO PAGE:

7 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Usurping Herman De Wael s role of the producer of useless but possibly slightly interesting statistics (Herman suggests the removal of ' but possibly slightly interesting' Editor) I nearly always calculate the leader table based on the football system of three points for a win and one for a draw. The fact that I do this does not in any way cast aspersions on the Victory Point method, I just find it mildly interesting. After Round 15 of the Open event I did one of my calculations. The results are below for the top 15: LOVE OF THE DRAW Ron Tacchi OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 8 42 ICELAND (2) 37 ISRAEL (3) 36 NETHERLANDS (1) 36 RUSSIA (6) 34 POLAND (9) 33 NORWAY (7) 33 ENGLAND (10) 31 ITALY (5) 30 HUNGARY (4) 30 GREECE (8) 30 SWEDEN (11) 30 BULGARIA (16) 28 LITHUANIA (19) 27 DENMARK (13) 27 TURKEY (17) The figures in brackets show the current placing via the VP scale. Perusal of the table shows that there are likely to be changes because none of the current top six teams have played each other. Why does the "points for winning" scheme give a different result? Initial inspection suggests that the ability to beat up the weaker teams is a considerable indicator as to where you will be in the final standings. IBPA OUTING Herman De Wael The annual outing of the IBPA was held yesterday. The mention of a two-hour walk must have scared off more participants, so a group of 14 journalists was shown around the "Atlantikwall", a series of Bunkers that the German Army and Navy constructed between 1941 and 1943 to defend their Western coast against British and American attacks. Since the Belgian coast was eventually not selected as a theatre of war, the German regiment that was stationed at Raversijde suffered only three casualties during the entire war, two during an air raid and one while cleaning his weapon. Belgian casualties on the other hand numbered 74, after the liberation, while clearing up mines. The site was turned into a Royal Domain after the war, for Prince Charles, who was to be regent in place of his brother, King Leopold III, while the young prince Baudouin was too young to become King himself. Prince Philip was then allowed to retain the Domain until his death. After 1985, the domain reverted to public use and the Bunkers are now being restored. Next year, another part of the park will be opened, which will feature German defences from World War One. After the lengthy walk, the journalists were treated to a wonderful lunch of Sea Bass, Monkfish and Gambas. During this lunch, the IBPA chairman thanked the EBL and the Belgian organisers for their support, while the outgoing EBL president stressed that good relations with the press are needed but that the press needs to be free. GO TO PAGE: 7

8 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Jos Jacobs GREECE vs MONACO OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 17 On Sunday late afternoon, Monaco had beaten Norway. In my report about this match, I suggested this might have been the start of a Monaco rally (or even a Monte Carlo rally). On Monday morning Monaco certainly continued along these lines by scoring VP against Switzerland. For the early afternoon match, however, their scheduled opponents were much better placed in the standings, as Greece started the match as eighth, four places ahead of their opponents. This was the first board: Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul. [ ] K Q 10 6 { 10 9 } J [ J 2 [ A K ] A J ] 9 5 { K { A Q J } A K } [ Q 9 4 ] 4 3 { } Q Helgemo Doxiadis Helness Roussos Pass 1[ Pass 2] Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass In the, this was very much a routine hand for Monaco. Eleven tricks, +460 to Monaco, on a club lead and a favourable spade break. Kontomitros Multon Koukouselis Zimmermann Pass 1[ Pass 2] Pass 2NT Pass 3{ Pass 3[ Pass 3NT Pass 4{ Pass 4NT Pass 6{ All Pass Had West been 5-5 or had the trumps been 3-3, the slam would have had good chances of making. In real life, however, declarer had to go down. In an effort to set up the hearts, declarer eventually went down three, for a score of +150 and 12 IMPs to Monaco. With the score at 16-3 for Monaco, this was board 6: Board 6. Dealer East. EW Vul. [ K ] K { } J 5 [ J 3 2 [ A Q ] -- ] A { K { J 9 } K Q 3 2 } A [ ] Q J { A Q } 8 7 Helgemo Doxiadis Helness Roussos 1NT Pass 3] Pass 4} Pass 4] Pass 6} All Pass Three Hearts showed short hearts and exactly three spades. When West made a further effort, showing a void in the process, East was sure to find a good hand for a slam. Right he was when the {A behaved. Monaco Kontomitros Multon Koukouselis Zimmermann 1NT 2} 3{ 3[ 3NT Pass Pass 4] Dble All Pass When Zimmermann showed his majors and Multon raised spades and later hearts, the Greeks could no longer conveniently show or assess their combined values. The double netted 800 for down four, which on paper was a good result because the slam is slightly odds-against. But this time it was not enough to prevent a further swing of 11 IMPs to Monaco. 8 GO TO PAGE:

9 54 th European Team Championships Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul. [ ] K { A K } A [ K 7 [ J 9 4 ] A ] Q 7 { Q J 3 { } J } K [ A Q ] J 4 3 { 6 4 } Q 10 9 Helgemo Doxiadis Helness Roussos Pass Pass 1{ Pass 1[ Pass 2[ Pass 2NT Pass 3] Pass 4[ All Pass Double-dummy, you can even make 4[ if you guess to drop the doubleton [K and exploit the lucky diamond break. At the table, however, declarer did not follow this pretty unlikely line. Dummy won the club lead and declarer continued with trump to his queen and West s king. West returned a trump to the nine and declarer s ace. Three rounds of diamonds followed. When they broke 3-3, declarer ruffed a club and cashed a winning diamond. He then ruffed himself back in his hand with the last diamond to lead hearts. Not surprisingly, he lost two tricks in that suit and thus was two down in the end when the defence had a club to cash. Monaco Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul. [ 9 5 ] K J { A J 7 } A 10 [ Q J 10 4 [ A K ] 8 ] A Q 7 5 { { 8 } K J } [ 6 3 ] 9 2 { K Q } Q 8 5 Helgemo Doxiadis Helness Roussos 1[ 3{ 4[ 5{ All Pass When North took the sacrifice, the situation was so unclear that N/S escaped the double. Down three, Monaco Kontomitros Multon Koukouselis Zimmermann 1[ Pass 3} Pass 4[ All Pass When South did not overcall, West could launch a Bergen raise, and game was reached after all, for a quiet +620 and 8 IMPs to Greece. Near the end of the match, there were two consecutive partscore swings. Kontomitros Multon Koukouselis Zimmermann Pass Pass 1{ Pass 1[ Pass 2[ All Pass No ambitions in the and a quiet overtrick. Monaco +140 and 8 IMPs. After winning the }A, declarer first established the diamonds and then went after the hearts, incurring a ruff in the suit when East returned a heart after winning the queen. On board 10, both teams reached a thin game on distributional values. FRANCK MULTON MONACO GO TO PAGE: 9

10 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 This was the first: Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul. [ Q ] K 7 5 { } Q [ J [ ] 10 3 ] Q J { A Q { J } K } A 9 [ A K 9 3 ] A 8 { K } J 7 Helgemo Doxiadis Helness Roussos Pass Pass 1NT Pass Pass 2{ Pass 2] All Pass Two Diamonds from East showed one major. North led the [Q and had he continued a heart, the contract would have been beaten. When he continued a club instead, declarer could win the ace and lead a diamond to the queen, thus getting rid of a spade loser and the ruffing danger. Monaco Kontomitros Multon Koukouselis Zimmermann Pass Pass 1NT Pass Pass 2{ Dble 2] 3{ All Pass When Zimmermann doubled East s 2{ (1 major) to show the suit, the N/S pair had suddenly found a fit in which they had nine solid tricks, for another +110 and 6 IMPs. More defensive problems on the next board: Board: 14. Dealer East. None Vul. [ J ] A 2 { K 5 } A [ A K 10 3 [ 8 2 ] ] Q J { A J 9 { 6 3 } } K J 8 [ Q 6 4 ] K 8 { Q } Q 5 Helgemo Doxiadis Helness Roussos 2] Pass 3] All Pass When South made the unlucky lead of the }Q, a defensive trick had vanished, so declarer easily came to nine tricks for +140 to Monaco. Note the advantage on this deal of a natural weak two. Kontomitros Multon Koukouselis Zimmermann Pass Pass 1NT Pass 2{ Dble 2] Dble Pass 3{ Pass Pass 3] All Pass Over the weak no-trump plus the transfer, Zimmermann could venture a double and Multon thus could find the lead of the {K. When declarer ducked this, Multon continued a low club. When dummy s }J was put in, the defenders got two club tricks and a ruff in the suit, as well as the two top trumps. Two down, Monaco another +100 and another 6 IMPs. The final result: or to Monaco. Their rally had continued, bringing them to 6th place now, whereas Greece had dropped to 12th.This round also marked the halfway stage of the Open Championship. 10 GO TO PAGE:

11 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Daniel Gulyás NETHERLANDS ERLANDS vs HUNGARY OPEN TEAMS, ROUND 18 Netherlands, one of the pre-tournament favourites had started out somewhat slowly, some small wins were followed by four losses to good teams, and were down as far as 13th. Then they started winning, and were first before this match. Hungary had always been among the top 10, but was expected (by non- Hungarians) to drop after facing tougher opposition. But they have beaten Norway and Italy already, and this was their next tough match-up, starting the match in third: so this was a true podium fight. The match started with a few small swings of 5 or 6 IMPs, mostly by the Dutch bidding too much, and being punished for it by the Hungarians by more careful bidding, and even more careful defense. These hands were 3 to 1 in favor of Hungary, so they led 17-5 when this board flashed on the screen: Board 22. Dealer East. E-W Vul. [ Q ] Q 9 8 { 10 2 } Q 8 5 [ A K [ 5 ] A J ] K { K Q 5 3 { A 7 6 } 2 } K J 10 3 [ J ] { J } A Dumbovich Verbeek Winkler Molenaar 1] Pass 1[ Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 2NT Pass 3[ Pass 3NT All Pass De Wijs Hegedüs Muller Szegedi 1] Pass 1[ Pass 2} Pass 2{ Pass 2NT Pass 4[ All Pass In the open room, Hungary played in the normal 3NT, and made it with an overtrick. De Wijs was probably scared of the club suit in that game, and tried 4[. Sadly for him, with the bad trump break it needed a non-club lead to have a chance (but probably would have gone down anyway), and soon Hungary was chalking up 12 more IMPs, to extend the lead, On the very next board, the Netherlands gained back a big swing: Board 23. Dealer South. All Vul. [ J ] { Q } 10 2 [ Q [ A ] A 3 ] 8 { { A K 3 } } A K Q 8 3 [ K ] K Q J { J 9 4 } J 5 Dumbovich Verbeek Winkler Molenaar 3] Pass Pass Dble Pass 3[ Pass 4] Pass 4[ Pass 4NT Pass 5} Pass 5[ All Pass Winkler pushed hard (maybe too hard), but he did not deserve this result: Dumbovich won the heart lead, and played the spade queen, assuming North to hold the king. When South won, and returned a heart, he was down since Verbeek could force his last trump after the spade jack. In 4[ in the other room, De Wijs, maybe more sensibly, played a spade to the 9 and king, and made an overtrick, +13 to them, closing in at Better defense gained 5 for the Dutch (playing trumps against a sacrifice is a good idea), then came another wild hand. GO TO PAGE: 11

12 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 26. Dealer East. All Vul. [ ] Q 10 8 { 9 6 } A [ A Q [ ] K 3 ] A { { A K Q 10 2 } J 9 } K 6 3 [ K J ] J 9 5 { J 4 } Q 10 4 Dumbovich Verbeek Winkler Molenaar 1] 1[ 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass Winkler, despite his suit-oriented hand, decided to take a shot at the most likely game, 3NT. Dumbovich had time to play for an overtrick after the spade lead, and scored De Wijs Hegedüs Muller Szegedi 1} 1[ Pass 2[ 4{ Pass 4[ Dble 4NT Pass 5{ Pass 6] All Pass Muller opened a strong club, and 4{ showed 5-5 in the reds. De Wijs cued with his great cards and big fit, but Muller expected this to be a heart fit, and bid the wrong slam. 6{ needs a lot, but it makes as everything lies favorably, so this was a huge swing,12 out instead of 12 in. A very lucky 12 to Hungary, leading Is this hand enough to drive to slam opposite a good 5-5 in the reds: AQTxxx, AQ, Qx, xxx? Oh, and lefty opened a weak two in spades, to boot. Molenaar thought it was, while Szegedi signed off in 4]. Dummy came down with, K9xxx, AKxxx, Axx, so it needed a lot of love, but one 3-3 was enough, as the spade king fell singleton; a rather more lucky Dutch 12 IMPs, still Hungary, In one of the later hands, the Dutch once again had to try to find the best slam after Hungary opened a weak two, and got to an OK 6{; the Dutch at the other table never bid with their 10 spades, and Szegedi ended up in 6] which happened to make 7. A couple of small swings later Hungary was up Board 31. Dealer South. N-S Vul. [ J 4 ] Q { K Q 10 7 } 6 5 [ K 10 5 [ A Q ] K 3 ] { { A 4 } } 7 [ 6 3 ] A J 3 { J 3 } A K Q J 8 4 De Wijs Hegedüs Muller Szegedi 1} Pass 1] 3[ Dble 4[ Dble All Pass Szegedi s double showed a good hand. The young Hungarians did well to double the save, and this time Szegedi remembered to lead a trump to beat it two; Dumbovich Verbeek Winkler Molenaar 1} Pass 1{ 1[ Dble 2[ 3] 4[ 5} Pass 5] Dble All Pass The bidding started similarly, 1{ showing hearts, and Molenaar could show 3 card support;. This changed the dynamic of the bidding. Molenaar bid on, and Winkler thought the cards were badly distributed. He did have two aces and a partner who had made a noise, so he thought it best to double. That scored a bit surprisingly +500, and 13 more points to Hungary, who looked to be running away with it, Board 32 had a declarer play problem in 3NT, but as all suits lie favorably, all plays lead to 9 tricks. Somehow, Winkler got lost in the play, and went down (he is one of a small number of players who have played all the boards so far, and will do so probably the rest of the way, too, so a few errors are acceptable). This meant 12 surprise IMPs back to the Dutch, climbing back to a bit more presentable One of the wildest sets of this tournament, I think, several matches having a total of over 100 IMPs. A truly fascinating encounter, with several exciting hands, which was a thrill to watch, especially for us Hungarians to see our team fly so high well done both sides! Hungary won , and are now second behind the Dutch. Hajrá magyarok! 12 GO TO PAGE:

13 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 ENGLAND vs NETHERLANDS Ron Tacchi WOMEN TEAMS, ROUND 7 Two teams that frequently have been championship winners or contenders met here. This year the Netherlands has not had its usual start, only winning half of its first six matches and just off the pace in ninth place. England, having had well-publicised selection problems, were perhaps not yet a fully cohesive unit and after winning their first match they had string of four defeats. A win in the sixth round against old adversaries Germany may have improved morale it certainly improved their standing, they were only fifteen points off the important eighth place. For both teams this was an important must-win match. In the Dutch camp, Bruijsteen and Dekkers sport five-card majors with a variable no-trump, while Arnold and Kolen also use five-card majors but with a strong no-trump. Brock and Brown play two over one with many transfers, Dhondy and Senior play fivecard majors and a strong no-trump. Board 4. Dealer West. Both Vul. [ J ] J { } 10 4 [ A Q 9 3 [ K ] K 3 ] 9 7 { K Q J 7 2 { A 10 9 } 8 7 } Q J 9 6 [ 6 ] A Q { 8 3 } A K Kolen Senior Arnolds Dhondy 1NT Pass 2}* Dble Pass* Pass Rdbl Pass 2]* Pass 4[ All Pass Pass 0-7 points 2] spades The exact meanings of West s Pass and Two Hearts are not 100% clear to me but I am told showed a spade suit and no club stopper. South started with the king of clubs and continued with the ace. Now she cashed the ace of hearts and followed up a third round of clubs ruffed with the nine in dummy and overruffed with the ten. Declarer was now in charge and easily had the rest of the tricks, but the contract was one off. Brock Bruijsteen Brown Dekkers 1NT Pass 2}* Dble Pass* Pass 3NT All Pass Again South doubled the Stayman bid. Yet again the convention card does not explain the significance of West s pass but now East just bid the no-trump game which made with an overtrick when North discarded a spade on the run of the diamonds. 12 IMPs to England. Sandra KOLEN NETHERLANDS Nevena SENIOR ENGLAND Carla ARNOLDS NETHERLANDS Heather DHONDY ENGLAND GO TO PAGE: 13

14 14 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul. [ J ] 10 5 { K Q 9 } Q 9 7 [ A Q 10 6 [ 8 ] Q 9 ] A K J { { 8 } 8 5 } K J 6 4 [ K 9 3 ] 6 3 { A J 4 2 } A Kolen Senior Arnolds Dhondy Pass 1] Dble 1[ 2[* 3] All Pass I assume North s bid of Two Spades was natural and it caused sufficient confusion that East/West languished in Three Hearts. On a spade lead declarer rose with the ace, not expecting the finesse to succeed, and played a club to the jack losing to the ace. South led a trump which was won in hand, the king of clubs was cashed and another ruffed. Declarer now had ten tricks. Brock Bruijsteen Brown Dekkers Pass 1] Dble Pass 1[ 3] Pass 3NT Dble 4] All Pass When West passed over the double East upped the ante with a bid of Three Hearts. And West with her magnificent spade stop tried for the no-trump game. East was firmly of the opinion that her hearts suit should not grace the dummy and converted to the heart game. South again led a small spade but this time declarer took the finesse, which succeeded. She then cashed ace of spades discarding her losing diamond and followed this with a club to the jack and ace. South got off lead with a trump but declarer was still able to ruff one club, and so she made her contract with an overtrick and gained six IMPs for England. One of the highlights of the match was Board 7, a very rare occurrence I will leave you to plan the play and to make it more difficult I will not give you the cards. GO TO PAGE: Board 7. Dealer South. Both Vul. [ A J 3 ] { K 3 2 } Q [ 7 4 [ K 9 8 ] A K Q 9 2 ] { J 9 6 { Q } } A J 7 [ Q ] J 4 { A 10 5 } K 4 3 Kolen Senior Arnolds Dhondy All Pass Brock Bruijsteen Brown Dekkers All Pass Did you find the winning line? Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul. [ Q ] A 8 4 { K 10 3 } [ K 9 2 [ A J ] Q ] K 2 { A 6 4 { 8 7 } K 8 4 } A J 9 3 [ 3 ] J { Q J } Q 7 2 Kolen Senior Arnolds Dhondy Pass 1[ Pass 2NT* Pass 4[ All Pass 2NT [ The queen of diamonds was led and ducked whereupon South continued with a small one to dummy s ace. Declarer called for a small heart from dummy and North leapt in with her ace and continued with the king of diamonds ruffed with eight by declarer. A small spade to the ace and a trump back to the jack allowed declarer to cash the king of hearts, cross to dummy with the ace of clubs then take the queen of hearts and repeat the spade finesse, surrendering a club at trick thirteen.

15 54 th European Team Championships Brock Bruijsteen Brown Dekkers Pass 1[ Pass 2} Pass 2[ Pass 4[ All Pass The play started similarly in this room but this time North did not play the ace of hearts so declarer won with the king and ducked a heart to North. At this point my BBO froze and all I saw ten minutes later was that the contract was one down, and so 12 IMPs back to the Netherlands. Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul. [ Q ] Q 2 { K Q J } 9 [ J 6 [ ] A 7 6 ] { A 7 6 { } J } Q 8 4 [ A K ] K J 4 { } A K 7 2 Kolen Senior Arnolds Dhondy 1} Pass 1{ Pass 2NT Pass 3}* Pass 3{ Pass 3[ Pass 4{ Pass 5} Pass 5{ All Pass South s no-trump rebid showed points and North s Three Clubs asked for more description. South showed her diamond support and North a spade suit. After Four Diamonds, when North could not show a heart control, South was not interested in slam and settled for the minor-suit game. There was nothing to the play and eleven tricks were comfortably taken. Brock Bruijsteen Brown Dekkers 1} Pass 1{ Pass 1NT Pass 2}* Pass 2{ Pass 3{ Pass 4} Pass 4{ Pass 4] Pass 5{ Pass 6{ All Pass Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 South s no-trump rebid showed points. As usual the convention cards are light on information on continuations but it seems to me that South got overexcited with her nice hand. Still, at the international level one should not bid a slam missing two cashing aces. Another ten IMPs to England. More woe was to follow. Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul. [ K Q 10 ] A 5 { } A J [ A 7 3 [ ] Q ] J 9 { 3 2 { J 8 6 } Q } K [ J 9 6 ] K { A K Q 7 5 } Kolen Senior Arnolds Dhondy Pass 1NT Pass 2{* Pass 2] Pass 3{ Pass 3NT All Pass After South bid out her shape North, with excellent no-trump holdings in the black suits, settled in 3NT. After a club lead to queen and ace, declarer knocked out the ace of spades and garnered ten tricks. Brock Bruijsteen Brown Dekkers Pass 1NT Pass 2{* Pass 2] Pass 3{ Pass 3NT Pass 4{ Pass 4] Pass 5} Pass 6{ All Pass As I was typing the auction, when North bid 3NT I was already entering All Pass but was surprised when South continued, as she knows North almost certainly does not have three hearts or four diamonds and will have wasted values in clubs. Was it the trauma of the previous hand that compelled her onward? The slam was reached, but it was not a good one, needing the diamond suit to behave and the hearts to be 3-3 or at least the hand with long hearts to hold the jack of diamonds. This was not to be when the third round of hearts was overruffed. And in the end declarer had to lose a heart, so was two down for 13 IMPs out. GO TO PAGE: 15

16 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 13. Dealer North. Both Vul. [ ] 9 5 { A 10 7 } K [ Q J [ 6 2 ] A K 8 7 ] Q J { 8 4 { K Q 6 } A 10 } Q 6 4 [ A K 3 ] 6 3 { J } J 9 7 Kolen Senior Arnolds Dhondy Pass Pass Pass 1[ Pass 1NT* Pass 2] Pass 4] All Pass 1NT 6-11 North did not have an obvious lead: the only one to ensure the defeat of the contract is a spade to partner s king and a club return. But after a moment s reflection North tried the two of clubs. Declarer thought long and hard before playing low and the jack forced the ace. Now the contract was off in top tricks. Brock Bruijsteen Brown Dekkers Pass Pass Pass 1[ Pass 2] Pass 4] All Pass East, having originally passed, could bid Two Hearts to perfectly describe her hand. This time South was on lead and had the chance to find the killing lead but settled on a small trump taken by declarer in hand, who immediately played a small spade from hand, which equally immediately attracted the king from South. This time she found the club switch, ducked in dummy and thus North s king took the trick. Declarer must have felt glum at this point as she had lost two tricks and still had two aces out against her. North, however, came to the rescue. How? you might ask: "By leading a small diamond." is the response. When the king surprisingly held, declarer cashed the ace of clubs, came back to hand with a trump and cashed the queen of clubs discarding her losing diamond. Now she had restricted her losers to three when she gave up a spade. Did North ask herself as to the position of the ace of spades? Would declarer have immediately played spades in that fashion had she had the card? I suspect not. This resulted in another 12 IMPs to England and une mauvaise quart d heure of selfinflicted injury plus a whopping 35 IMPs being written in the out column. Laura DEKKERS NETHERLANDS Fiona BROWN ENGLAND Sally BROCK ENGLAND Merel BRUIJNSTEEN NETHERLANDS 16 GO TO PAGE:

17 54 th European Team Championships Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul. [ Q J 2 ] { K } K 4 3 [ [ A K ] A 7 6 ] Q { Q 6 2 { 7 5 } J } A [ 7 3 ] K J { A J 10 4 } Q Kolen Senior Arnolds Dhondy 1] Pass 2] 2[ 3] Pass Pass 4} Pass 4[ Dble All Pass East did not have a way of showing a black twosuiter and so bid her major. South competed to the three-level and East went to the well once too often. But note had West passed the bid of Four Clubs that was a makeable contract. North made a rather tight double, but Four Spades was doomed, even though at first glance it looks as though declarer can pick up Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 North s trumps. Unfortunately to do that she requires two entries to dummy and sadly lacks the second one, so the contract failed by one trick. Brock Bruijsteen Brown Dekkers 2]* Pass Pass 2[ Pass Pass 3] Pass Pass 3[ All Pass 2] ] South commenced with a constructive Two Hearts overcalled by East. Each partnership took one more bid each but that left East playing in spades at a level lower. So the contract came home without any fuss or bother and with it another six IMPs. On the final board some interesting dummy play gave five IMPs back to the Netherlands but England had won the match or VP. This lifted England into tenth place just three VP behind the critical eighth place. Netherlands dropped down to sixteenth place. Netherlands need to bring their A game to the next few matches if they wish to move up the leaderboard. England in general will be pleased and mightily relieved to record such a big win. FULLY-FUNDED FUNDED 3 YR PHD STUDENTSHIP EXPLORING THE SOCIAL WORLD OF THE MIND SPORT OF BRIDGE The partnership of EBED, UK and Irish Bridge Unions and the University of Stirling have provided funding for a 3 year PhD Studentship (fees plus living expenses) for the first ever PhD in the Sociology of Bridge: Bridging the Gap: An Exploration of Transitions in Play through the Lifecourse. We are looking for a PhD candidate ideally with a masters, or an excellent undergraduate degree, preferably within the social sciences or a related discipline. No knowledge of bridge is required. Bridge is one of the world s most widely played, stimulating and challenging card games that requires skill, concentration and practice. Understanding what drives individuals to take up bridge and what keeps people playing across the lifecourse is at the heart of this PhD studentship. Bridge provides a contemporary example to understand the role of a mind sport in developing social capital and well-being through community participation at different ages. For further information and application details please see: or at: Further queries can be addressed to Prof. Samantha Punch, s.v.punch@stir.ac.uk GO TO PAGE: 17

18 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 ICELAND vs FRANCE Brian Senior WOMEN TEAMS, ROUND 7 The Women's Series has not quite settled down yet, with some well-fancied teams still in the bottom half of the rankings, some less-fancied teams near the top. France is always amongst the pre-tournament favourites, while we have not seen an Icelandic Women's team very often in recent years so that they are something of an unknown quantity. Going into their Round 7 match the two teams were next to each other in the rankings, with Iceland in seventh place and France in eighth. 18 Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul. [ K ] A 4 { Q } J 10 4 [ A Q 10 [ 2 ] K J ] Q { K 5 2 { J 8 4 } 8 3 } A K [ J ] 8 7 { A 9 7 } Q 5 2 Huberschwiller Ivarsdottir Mourgues Oskarsdottir Pass Pass Pass 1] Dble 3} 3[ All Pass Haraldsdottir Reess Sigurbjornsdottir Zochowska Pass Pass Pass 1] Pass 4] All Pass Both Wests opened 1] in fourth seat. For Iceland, Anna Ivarsdottir doubled with the North cards and Jennifer Mourgues made a fit jump, showing a raise to 3] with a club side-suit. When Gudrun Oskarsdottir now competed with 3[, the French E/W pair went quietly, so that became the final contract. Anne- Laure Huberschwiller led the eight of clubs and three rounds of those gave her a ruff. She led the jack of hearts next to dummy's ace and Oskarsdottir returned a heart. Huberschwiller won the ten and played ace then queen of spades. Oskarsdottir won the king and led a diamond to the ace then a low diamond, putting up the queen when Huberschwiller played low. There was one diamond to be lost so the GO TO PAGE: contract was down two for 100. I find it a little bit scary to not commit to game with the East cards facing a 1] opening, even more so to allow an opponent to play a spade partscore rather then go on to 4]. In the other room Vanessa Reess did not double with the North hand and Stefania Sigurbjornsdottir raised to 4] even that seems an underbid to me, as I would splinter in case partner is strong. Anyway, no harm done as West actually held a minimum opening. Reess led the jack of clubs. Maria Haraldsdottir won that and led a heart to the ten and ace and back came a diamond to the ace and a second diamond. Haraldsdottir won the king and drew the missing trumps then ruffed out clubs. The even split meant that she had 11 tricks for +450 and 8 IMPs to Iceland. Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul. [ K Q ] 9 4 { K 9 3 } 3 [ A J 7 [ 8 6 ] K J 3 ] { Q 7 6 { } A J 5 2 } K Q [ 2 ] A Q { A J 8 4 } Huberschwiller Ivarsdottir Mourgues Oskarsdottir 1] 1NT 4[ All Pass Haraldsdottir Reess Sigurbjornsdottir Zochowska 1] 1NT 2] Pass 2[ Pass 4[ All Pass Both Souths opened 1] and both Wests overcalled 1NT. Ivarsdottir now jumped to 4[ and played there, while Reess transferred to spades then raised Joanna Zochowska's completion to game. Mourgues led the king of clubs against Ivarsdottir, switching to the five of hearts when that held the trick. Ivarsdottir played low, losing to the jack, and

19 54 th European Team Championships back came a club, which she ruffed. Communications are the problem here. Declarer cannot easily both play spades to best advantage, low to the ten, and set up the long hearts or pick up diamonds without loss. Ivarsdottir led a heart to the ace followed by a spade to the ten. That solved one problem. To succeed, at the point where declarer crossed to the ace of hearts she had to play for a squeeze without the count on West. Run all the trumps to force West to keep the bare HK and three diamonds, then throw her in with a heart to lead diamonds. Things were rather different at the other table, where South was declarer and Haraldsdottir led the seven of spades. Would a defender lead from AJ7 of trumps, or was it better to go up with the king or queen and play for a singleton or doubleton jack offside? Zochowska did indeed go up with the queen and continued with the king. Haraldsdottir won the ace and jack of spades then played ace and another club. Zochowska ruffed the second club and cashed a couple of extra trumps then crossed to the ace of hearts and played the jack of diamonds. With diamonds three-three and both honours were she needed them to be, Zochowska had 10 tricks despite having lost two trump tricks; +420 and 10 IMPs to France. Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul. [ J ] J { } 10 4 [ A Q 9 3 [ K ] K 3 ] 9 7 { K Q J 7 2 { A 10 9 } 8 7 } Q J 9 6 [ 6 ] A Q { 8 3 } A K Huberschwiller Ivarsdottir Mourgues Oskarsdottir 1NT Pass 2} Dble 2] Pass 4[ All Pass Haraldsdottir Reess Sigurbjornsdottir Zochowska 1NT Pass 2} 2] 2[ 3] 4[ Dble All Pass Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Both Wests opened 1NT and both Easts used Stayman. When Oskarsdottir doubled the Stayman bid, Huberschwiller bid 2] to show spades and Mourgues jumped to the spade game. In the other room, Zochowska preferred to overcall 2] rather than show her clubs, and Haraldsdottir showed spades by bidding them. Reess's heart raise was sufficient to convince Zochowska that she was worth a double when Sigurbjornsdottir bid the spade game. This was not a penalty double but suggested that partner do something intelligent, and her spade holding made it clear for Reess to pass. There was nothing to the play at either table, with the defence coming to two clubs, a heart and a trump for down one; +100 to Iceland but +200 and 3 IMPs to France. Board 5. Dealer North. N/S Vul. [ J ] 10 5 { K Q 9 } Q 9 7 [ A Q 10 6 [ 8 ] Q 9 ] A K J { { 8 } 8 5 } K J 6 4 [ K 9 3 ] 6 3 { A J 4 2 } A Huberschwiller Ivarsdottir Mourgues Oskarsdottir Haraldsdottir Reess Sigurbjornsdottir Zochowska Pass 4] All Pass Both Easts opened 4] and played there. On a trump lead, declarer would need both a winning spade finesse and a successful club guess, but both Souths actually led a low spade. Mourgues called for dummy's [A and led a club to her jack. When that forced the ace she could win the trump return with dummy's nine and play a club to the king then ruff a club and had 10 tricks for Sigurbjornsdottir called for the queen of spades and when that held could take a diamond pitch on the ace then lead a club. She too put in the jack, losing to the ace, won the trump return and took a club ruff. There was just one club to be lost at the end so she had an overtrick for +450 and 1 IMP to Iceland. GO TO PAGE: 19

20 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul. [ Q ] A 8 4 { K 10 3 } [ K 9 2 [ A J ] Q ] K 2 { A 6 4 { 8 7 } K 8 4 } A J 9 3 [ 3 ] J { Q J } Q 7 2 Board 12. Dealer West. N/S Vul. [ K Q 10 ] A 5 { } A J [ A 7 3 [ ] Q ] J 9 { 3 2 { J 8 6 } Q } K [ J 9 6 ] K { A K Q 7 5 } } } A J Huberschwiller Ivarsdottir Mourgues Oskarsdottir Pass 1[ Pass 2NT Pass 3} Pass 3[ All Pass Haraldsdottir Reess Sigurbjornsdottir Zochowska Pass 1[ Pass 4[ All Pass Huberschwiller responded 2NT, invitational or better with three or more spades, and 3} was a relay. Whatever 3[ meant it didn't inspire Mourgues, who passed, her second cautious constructive decision of the match. Oskarsdottir led the queen of diamonds, Mourgues winning the ace and leading a club to the ace, back to the king, and a third club to Oskarsdottir's queen. The defence played two rounds of diamonds so Mourgues ruffed and played the king of hearts, won by South who returned a heart to dummy's queen. Mourgues ruffed a heart then ruffed the thirteenth club with the nine of spades. That was over-ruffed but that was all for the defence; nine tricks for Haraldsdottir simply raised 1[ to 4[, a slight stretch with this distribution and lack of honour combinations, I would have thought. Zochowska too led the queen of diamonds but Sigurbjornsdottir ducked, won the diamond continuation and played the king of spades followed by a spade to her jack. That was a sort of good news/bad news situation, as the queen proved to be onside but the suit broke four-one. Declarer continued with the king of hearts and that was ducked to limit her dummy entries. Now, however, she could lead a club to the king, a spade to the ten and cash the ace of spades then play two more rounds of clubs. That set up the thirteenth club and it was the tenth trick for +620 and 10 IMPs to Iceland. Huberschwiller Ivarsdottir Mourgues Oskarsdottir Pass 1NT Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass 3{ Pass 3NT Pass 4{ Pass 4NT Pass 6{ All Pass Haraldsdottir Reess Sigurbjornsdottir Zochowska Pass 1NT Pass 2{ Pass 2] Pass 3{ Pass 3NT All Pass OK, the Icelandic 1NT showed and the French only 14-16, but that hardly justifies the difference in evaluation of the two South players. Zochowska transferred to hearts, bid a natural and game-forcing 3{, then gave up when Reess signed off in 3NT. The opening lead was the jack of hearts and the defence slopped a trick to allow two overtricks for Oskarsdottir also showed hearts then diamonds and Ivarsdottir also signed off in 3NT. Oskarsdottir repeated the diamonds and Ivarsdottir again signed off. Now surely South should call it a day but Oskarsdottir jumped to 6{, a contract which could have been quite a bit worse than actually proved to be the case. Huberschwiller led ace and another spade. Oskarsdottir won the queen and led a diamond to her ace followed by the ace and king of hearts, then a third heart. That was ruffed and over-ruffed and there was still a heart to be lost so the contract was down two for 200 and 13 IMPs to France. 20 GO TO PAGE:

21 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul. [ ] 9 5 { A 10 7 } K [ Q J [ 6 2 ] A K 8 7 ] Q J { 8 4 { K Q 6 } A 10 } Q 6 4 [ A K 3 ] 6 3 { J } J 9 7 Huberschwiller Ivarsdottir Mourgues Oskarsdottir Pass Pass Pass 1[ Pass 1NT Pass 2] Pass 4] All Pass Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul. [ A ] A J { Q } Q 10 3 [ 9 8 [ K ] K 7 5 ] Q 8 3 { A K { J 8 7 } } A J 8 [ Q J ] 9 6 { 5 } K } K } Q 10 3 Huberschwiller Ivarsdottir Mourgues Oskarsdottir Pass 1] Pass 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 2] All Pass Haraldsdottir Reess Sigurbjornsdottir Zochowska Pass Pass Pass 1[ Pass 2] Pass 4] All Pass Both E/Ws bid to 4] but from different sides of the table. Sigurbjornsdottir played it from the East hand and now a club lead would have left her with no chance as the cards lay. No, Zochowska guessed to lead a diamond. Reess won the ace and continued with the ten of diamonds. Sigurbjornsdottir won the king, drew trumps and pitched dummy's club loser on the queen of diamonds before playing on spades. She lost two of those but had 10 tricks for Huberschwiller played it from the slightly better side of the table, where it takes a spade lead and club switch to beat it. But Ivarsdottir led a club from the North hand and declarer had a chance. No, she played low from dummy and the jack forced her ace, after which there were four unavoidable losers and the contract was one down for 100 and 12 IMPs to Iceland. Haraldsdottir Reess Sigurbjornsdottir Zochowska Pass 1] Pass 1[ Pass 2{ Pass 2[ All Pass After identical starts to the two auctions I much prefer Zochowska's decision to repeat her six-card spade suit to Oskarsdottir's choice to give preference to hearts. Mourgues led the three of hearts against 2] and Huberschwiller did not put up her king so Ivarsdottir won cheaply with the ten. She led a club to the king and, when that held, played a second club for the ten and jack. Mourgues led the eight of hearts to the king and ace and declarer cashed the ace of spades then got out with the queen of clubs to East's ace. Mourgues led a low spade, won in dummy as Ivarsdottir pitched a diamond. Declarer played a second spade honour, ruffing when the king did not appear, and exited with a heart. Mourgues won the queen and played the king of spades. Declarer ruffed, but then had to lead diamonds from hand and lost three of those for down one and 50. Haraldsdottir cashed the ace of diamonds on lead to 2[ then switched to a trump to dummy's bare ace. Zochowska led a club to the king followed by the jack of spades round to Sigurbjornsdottir's king. She won the spade return, drew the last trump and tried a club to the ten. That lost to the jack but when she regained the lead she could play a third club. The even split meant that she had her eighth trick for +110 and 4 IMPs to France, which proved to be the final margin in the match. France won by IMPs, VP. Other results had gone such that both teams improved in the rankings, Iceland to fifth, France to seventh. GO TO PAGE: 21

22 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 Herman De Wael THE BELGIAN PAGE And what have we learned today? Belgium - Germany women. Board 9. Dealer North. E/W vul. [ Q ] A 8 4 { K 10 3 } [ K 9 2 [ A J ] Q ] K 2 { A 6 4 { 8 7 } K 8 4 } A J 9 3 [ 3 ] J { Q J } Q 7 2 Véronique Tine Pass 1[ Pass 2} Pass 2[ Pass 4[ All Pass Shall I take the club finesse then? Let's have a think first. Right hand opponent has shown the [Q, {K and ]A. With the }Q she would have had 11HCP and a non-vulnerable opening of 1 in a minor.. And, a simple finesse will not get me into the Bulletin. So let's execute the squeeze against 4 hearts and the }Q third behind. I play my spades, the ]K and a club to the King. and the ]Q. If the 13th heart hasn't dropped, then South cannot have held to three clubs. Club to the ace and indeed, the queen drops and the jack is high. Indeed well played, Tine. 10 well-deserved tricks and 12 IMPs when 4[ goes one down in the other room. As a famous Belgian chef wouold say "what did we learn today?" Glad that I listened to my coach and did not find the [Q. Otherwise this would have been a dull board. (as told by Gunther Dauwe) Lead: {Q Tine explains: I have 5 losers in the long hand: 1{, 1], 2} and 1[. My coach has taught me that the queen always follows the jack, so the spade loser has been taken care of. So let's play the }Q in North then? I immediately play a small heart from dummy and North goes wrong by jumping in with her ace. She cashes the {K and plays a diamond which I ruff. I now have a club discard and only one club loser left. Full of confidence I play ace and jack of spades. South shows out. I'm never listening to my coach again. I run the jack and the opponent returns a spade. TINE DOBBELS BELGIUM 22 GO TO PAGE:

23 54 th European Team Championships Ostend, Belgium 6-16 June 2018 RESULTS OPEN TEAMS ROUND 19 1 ROMANIA IRELAND RUSSIA SPAIN AUSTRIA ESTONIA ISRAEL FINLAND NORWAY CROATIA BULGARIA BELGIUM ENGLAND LATVIA PORTUGAL GERMANY WALES NETHERLANDS SWEDEN UKRAINE MONACO CZECH REPUBLIC SCOTLAND FRANCE ICELAND ITALY DENMARK HUNGARY TURKEY LITHUANIA POLAND SWITZERLAND GREECE Bye ROUND 20 1 DENMARK LITHUANIA ICELAND HUNGARY SCOTLAND POLAND CZECH REPUBLIC FRANCE UKRAINE MONACO WALES SWEDEN NETHERLANDS PORTUGAL GERMANY LATVIA BELGIUM ENGLAND CROATIA BULGARIA NORWAY FINLAND AUSTRIA ISRAEL ESTONIA SPAIN RUSSIA IRELAND ROMANIA GREECE SWITZERLAND ITALY TURKEY Bye ROUND 21 IMPs 1 SPAIN FINLAND IRELAND CROATIA BELGIUM GREECE ROMANIA LATVIA RUSSIA PORTUGAL ESTONIA WALES ISRAEL UKRAINE CZECH REPUBLIC NORWAY SCOTLAND BULGARIA GERMANY ICELAND DENMARK NETHERLANDS SWEDEN TURKEY LITHUANIA MONACO HUNGARY FRANCE ITALY POLAND ENGLAND SWITZERLAND AUSTRIA Bye VPs DUPLIMATE AND CARDS RANKING AFTER ROUND 21 1 RUSSIA NORWAY NETHERLANDS MONACO HUNGARY ICELAND SWEDEN ITALY GREECE ISRAEL ENGLAND POLAND FRANCE BELGIUM DENMARK GERMANY BULGARIA TURKEY LITHUANIA LATVIA SPAIN AUSTRIA FINLAND IRELAND PORTUGAL ESTONIA CROATIA SWITZERLAND SCOTLAND WALES UKRAINE CZECH REPUBLIC 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: 23