We are in the Finnish capital of Helsinki for the 20^th European Champions Cup, the final major international event of 2022. This is a battle between the National Championship winners from countries around Europe. The format is a complete round robin of eleven 10-board matches, with the top four teams advancing to Saturday’s knockout rounds.

With seven of the eleven round robin matches played, the Polish champions lead the star-studded field. They are chased by the two Bermuda Bowl finalists from Salsomaggione, the Swiss and the Dutch. The Portuguese champions then round out the four teams occupying the qualifying places after seven matches. This week, we see two of the top four in action against teams vying to find their way from mid-table obscurity into the promised land of the knockout stage.

Only one bidding problem this week: with only your opponents vulnerable, you are West holding:

Your partner’s 2♥ opening shows a weak hand with at least 4-4 in the majors. What action, if any, do you take?

The match began with a board on which both sides appear to be able to make about the square root of nothing. On such deals, you usually want to defend and go plus. Let’s see how things panned out.

The Portuguese were playing a 12-14 1NT non-vulnerable, so Paulo Sarmento started with a nebulous 1♣. When Tom Hanlon’s 1♠ overcall was passed back to him, Sarmento then accurately described his hand as 17-19 balanced with 1NT. After two passes, Mark Moran opted to back in with 2♣ on his moderate suit. Everyone decided they had already said their piece, so the Irishman was left to play in the 6-1 fit. The defence began with the ♦A and a second diamond, so the defenders easily found their ruff, giving them four trump tricks to go with two red-suit aces: E/W +50.

The Irish play 1NT as 14-16, so Adam Mesbur started with their two-way 1♣, showing either 11-13 balanced or any 17+. The auction here then followed an identical course, but Mesbur then decided that he was worth a takeout double of South’s 2♣. It was asking a bit much to expect Tommy Garvey (left) to find the winning pass of the double, and he duly removed to his four-card major. Per-Ola Cullen found the necessary spade lead, the Portuguese quickly taking their two tricks in that suit and Cullin scoring a ruff with his ♥K. The defenders later scored a diamond and two trumps, so it was one down here too: E/W -50 and 3 IMPs to PORTUGAL.

Not usually a popular contract, everyone seemed to want to play this deal in 2♣. The West hand was in the no-trump range for the Belgians, so Daniel de Roos opened 1NT and Michal Kwiecien overcalled 2♣ showing both majors. That was passed back to De Roos, but he had been warned that re-opening with a double was unlikely to be productive and his pass duly preserved his side’s plus score: E/W +50.

Pre-emptive bidding is a two-edged sword, and Bert Geens was the only player to test its effectiveness on this South hand. The good news for the Belgians was that Piotr Zatorski (right) was understandably persuaded to bid to a far higher level than his partnership’s combined assets warranted.

No one found a double and Alon Amsel opened a low spade. Declarer won in dummy and played a heart to the king and ace. North ducked his queen on the second round of hearts, so now declarer cashed the high clubs in his hand (North discarding his low heart) and exited with a heart to North’s queen. Now came the bad news for Belgians as Amsel was, for some reason, reticent about opening the diamond suit. When he instead played the ♠A and another spade, Zatorski suddenly found that he had an unexpected nine tricks: E/W +400 and 8 IMPs to POLAND to open the match,

The next deal had plenty of potential to generate swings but, in the end, produced only an elegant symmetry:

Daniel de Roos decided his hand was a one-level opening bid. Steven de Donder’s pre-emptive jump to game was perhaps more than some would have done on that East hand, but it was still not enough to keep South out. Both Belgians decided they had nothing more to say, and East led the ♥J.

Michael Kwiecien made short work of the play: winning with the ♥A, he cashed two high trumps, then played the ♦A, ♦K and ♦J, establishing a club discard on the ♦10. N/S +650.

Zatorski started with a Multi on the West hand and Amsel overcalled in spades. Justyna Zmuda (left) could not be certain which major her partner held and, anyway, was bidding on that garbage really that attractive? When Geens raise to game came back to her, she knew she was facing a weak two in hearts, but she was not sufficient enamoured with her hand to brave the five-level.

Zmuda also led the ♥J, which was covered by queen, king and ace. Amsel cashed two high spades and then took the diamond finesse. When he then cashed dummy’s high diamonds West, perhaps mindful of declarer’s play at trick one, clung to his hearts and threw his two low clubs. Declarer thus lost only one club trick: N/S +680 and 1 IMP to BELGIUM.

For the Portuguese, Sarmento was able to open with a natural weak two. Hanlon overcalled in spades, but Barbosa jumped to game in hearts and then took the push to the five-level when Moran’s 4♠ bid came back to him.

The defence began with the ♠K, and Hanlon then cashed the ♥A before continuing with the ♠A, ruffed in dummy. Barbosa played a club to the king, but Hanlon won with the ♣A and switched to a diamond. The defenders eventually scored the ♣J to beat the contract by three: N/S +500.

Adam Mesbur (right) started with 1♥ and heard his partner make a pre-emptive raise to 3♥ after North’s 1♠ overcall. When South then jumped to game in spades, Mesbur took it upon himself to take the sacrifice.

Here, North cashed a high spade and then switched to a diamond, South winning with the ♦J. However, when South then played the ♣5 to the king and ace, Palma could not read the position, so he returned a low club, thus giving away the defence’s second club trick. Not to worry as teams seemed to be intent on flat boards in this match, so declarer promptly gave the trick back my playing a trump to the king. Once again, the defenders had five tricks: E/W +500 and a push.

Competitive bidding is often a delicate balance. You do not want to let the opponents buy the deal too cheaply, but there often comes a stage at which taking another bid turns a plus score into a minus. However, managing to avoid taking that last step is often not so easy. One player faced the problem presented at the top of this article:

Daniel de Roos (left) made his international debut in the Belgian Junior team at the 2000 European Youth Championships, and he won a silver medal at the 2004 World University Teams Championships. He was a member of the Belgian Open team at the European Championships in 2006 and 2012.

Steven de Donder’s 2♥ opening is described as 3-10 HCP with at least 4-4 in the majors. Wlodzimierz Starkowski’s jump to 3NT then left West with the problem posed earlier. Perhaps Michal Kwiecien was somehow going to steer his side into a four-level contract in a minor, but it seems highly unlikely. What seems much more believable is that the Poles would have gone down a number of 100s (probably three) in 3NT if only Daniel de Roos could have resisted the temptation to bid on that West hand. Not that many players would have done so, and I suspect there are few who, when they first looked at the problem, can honestly say that they would have passed at favourable vulnerability.

With the trump finesse failing, it looks as if declarer has five losers in a heart contract, but it is not so easy for the defenders to make their spade tricks, particularly when East has advertised a holding in the suit. Starkowski started with the ♣A and then continued with the ♦K and a second diamond. Declarer pitched a spade from dummy, allowing North to score the ♦A, but the defenders could now never score more than just the ♥K. E/W -50.

East passed and South opened a 2+ 1♣. A weak jump overcall and a pre-emptive raise to game from the Poles then left North with the key decision. When Amsel took a shot at 5♦, he had swapped the plus score that would have flattened the deal (or perhaps even gained 2 IMPs) into a minus. There were two aces and a trump to lose: E/W +100 and 4 IMPs to POLAND.

Not that the Belgian was alone:

At this table, Sarmento overcalled 3♥ for the Portuguese, and Tom Hanlon duly took the phantom save in 5♦ when East’s raise to 4♥ was passed back to him. E/W +100.

Adam Mesbur’s two-level overcall allowed Antonio Palma to advance with a 3♣ transfer, showing diamonds and Garvey raised to 4♥ for the Irish. With his partner having shown some sign of life, Per-Ola Cullin made the decision on the South hand to bid on to the five-level. Three losers here, too: E/W +100 for a push.

There were few IMPs exchanged on this set in either match. The teams in the first match were particularly stingy, Portugal defeating Ireland by a baseball score, 8-3. The other match at least felt more like the NFL, Poland beating the Belgians 18-10 to retain their place at the top of the leader-board with three matches remaining in the round robin.

We will be back next week with the best of the action from the knockout stage of the European Champions Cup.