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. 

After two days of excellent competition, four teams advanced to the knockout stage. One semi-final matched Poland against Belgium, whilst the other was a replay of the Bermuda Bowl final earlier this year. Poland and The Netherlands each enjoyed a carry-forward advantage of 0.1 IMPs from the round robin. Not that a tie in either match was looking likely by the midway point of the 32-board matches. Two teams already had one large foot in the final, the Belgians leading Poland by 27 IMPs (36-9.1) and the Swiss with an even larger advantage, 36 IMPs (52-16.1) ahead of the Dutch.

Two bidding problems for you this week. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are South holding:

What do you bid?

Next, with both sides vulnerable you are sitting South with these cards:

What action, if any, do you take?

While you mull those over, we start with an early deal that offered chances to both trailing teams.

Switzerland-v-Netherlands: Closed Room

Simon de Wijs opened his 10-count in second seat and Piotr Gawrys chose not to overcall on his shapely hand. With nothing to suggest anything was awry, the Dutch pair duly overreached, bidding to a game that had no chance with the bad trump break, and Michal Klukowski expressed his doubt in the customary way.

Klukowski led his singleton diamond. Bauke Muller won with the ♦A, crossed to the ♣A, and led a second diamond towards dummy. Klukowski could not gain by ruffing, so he pitched a spade and the ♦K won. Muller now ruffed dummy’s second club, eliminating that suit, before eventually starting on trumps, leading the queen from his hand and getting the bad news. From here, there was no way to avoid the loss of a diamond and a spade in addition to three trump tricks: N/S +500.

Switzerland-v-Netherlands: Open Room

In the replay, Sjoert Brink passed the West hand, which left Tim Verbeek free to get the ball rolling with a pre-emptive 3♣ in third seat. Bas Drijver (left) overcalled 3♥ and Danny Molenaar joined in with 4♣. Brink’s 4♥ bid was inevitable and perhaps the only surprise is that it was Verbeek who produced a red card. 

Declarer won the club lead, crossed to dummy with a high diamond, and played a trump to the queen and king. At first glance, it may not appear to matter what Molenaar does now but, as he was soon to discover to his cost, a spade switch is essential to break up the strip-squeeze on his partner. When Molenaar exited with a second round of clubs, it gave Bas Drijver a chance to display his expert declarer play. 

Drijver ruffed and played a low trump, South winning with the ♥10 and switching to spades, but it was too late. Declarer won with the ♠K and played a third round of trumps to South’s ace. He won the spade continuation with the ace and drew South’s last trump. North could afford to discard a diamond on this trick but, when declarer then cashed his last trump, there was no winning option. If he discards his club, declarer exits with a spade and North is endplayed to lead away from the ♦Q at trick 12. Verbeek did as well as he could, discarding the ♠Q in the hope that his partner held the ten, but it was not to be. N/S +200 and 7 IMPs to SWITZERLAND, extending their lead.

Poland-v-Belgium – Open Room

At this table, North also got to open after two passes, and Michal Kwiecien chose a natural, limited 2♣. Undeterred, the Belgians also climbed to 4♥ and Wlodzimierz Starkowski duly wielded the axe. Could the Poles extract the maximum?

The first four tricks were the same as at the previous table, with South continuing clubs when he took his first trump trick. Here, though, Alon Amsel gave the defence a second chance by playing a diamond rather than a trump at trick five. South discarded a spade, so declarer won with the ♦K and exited with a third round of diamonds, North winning with the queen. 

It may appear that Kwiecien is now endplayed, but playing a fourth round of diamonds forces declarer to ruff, reducing his trump length to the same as South. This means that South will be able to force declarer’s last trump when he takes his third trump winner, and thus the defence will score a fourth trump trick to beat the contract by two. When, instead, Kwiecien exited with the ♠J, declarer took his only chance, winning with the ♠K and playing a spade back to his ten. The Belgian had escaped for the loss of just one diamond and three trumps: N/S +200. 

Not that the deal was a total loss for the Poles…

Poland-v-Belgium – Closed Room

I’m sure that this Belgian pair have gained plenty of IMPs over the years with this 2♥ opening, which showed 3-10 HCP with at least 4-4 in the majors. The effect here, though, was to keep East out of the auction and thus out of trouble.

Steven de Donder (right) managed to scramble eight tricks in the Moysian spade fit to restrict the loss on the deal: N/S +110 and 3 IMPs to POLAND.

A couple of deals later, the Belgians extended their advantage when their South took the conservative view on the first of this week’s bidding problems.

Poland-v-Belgium – Closed Room

For the Belgians, Daniel de Roos (right) simply raised to game once his partner had shown a six-card suit. Not that slam was without play but, on the expected club lead, it needs trumps 3-2 (or singleton jack) and the spade finesse into the overcaller, so not the sort of contract you would want to reach. Trumps did behave but, as one would expect, the overcaller held most of the few missing high cards, including the ♠K. N/S +650.

Poland-v-Belgium – Open Room

After the same start to the auction, Starkowski made two slam tries on his way to 4♥. That was enough for his partner to like his hand enough to roll out The Old Black. The answer did not really tell Kwiecien what he needed to know, so the poor slam was reached. N/S -200 and 13 IMPs to BELGIUM, who now led by 40 IMPs.

In the other match, this deal also put a serious dent in any hopes of a recovery by the trailing team.

Switzerland-v-Netherlands: Closed Room

The Dutch West got into the auction with a jump to 3♣. With his minimum opening bid, Piotr Gawrys (right) did not think he was worth a free rebid at the three-level. When Klukowski reopened with a double, Gawrys jumped to game in his good six-card suit, but no one was ever tempted to venture higher. 

Gawrys won the opening lead with the ♣A, drew trumps and then ran the ♠J. Defending game, Simon de Wijs smoothly ducked his king with dummy entryless outside the spade suit. Of course, Gawrys was never tempted to repeat the finesse and, when the king dropped, he found himself with all 13 tricks: N/S +710.

Switzerland-v-Netherlands: Open Room

Here, too, West entered with a three-level overcall, but Verbeek decided that his good suit merited a second airing, despite his minimum. Although he then signed off when his partner made a slam try, Molenaar had a good enough hand to make another move. Blackwood did not answer the vital question so, here too, the trailing team reached the poor slam. N/S -100 and 13 IMPs to SWITZERLAND, now ahead by 49 IMPs with 11 deals to play.

The next half dozen boards were flat in both matches and, indeed, when Board 26 appeared on the VuGraph screen it certainly looked innocuous enough. And, so it proved to be in the Switzerland-Netherlands match, the Dutch picking up their first IMP of the set by making a second overtrick in 3NT.

However, it proved to be the final nail in the Polish coffin when the second of this week’s bidding problems elicited two very different responses.

Poland-v-Belgium – Closed Room

For the Belgians, Daniel de Roos simply ignored East’s double and responded 2♦, presumably saying nothing other than he had no four-card major. Personally, I think 2♦ should show diamonds n this auction (with pass denying a major or decent diamonds), but that would seem to make little difference on this deal. De Donder duly jumped to 3NT on the North cards, and West led a spade. Three spades, four diamonds, two clubs and one heart add up to ten: N/S +630.

Poland-v-Belgium – Open Room

After the same start to the auction, Starkowski went for the jugular with an aggressive redouble. I would guess that Michal Kwiecien was quietly confident, looking at the ♣K, but it did not take long for things to turn pear-shaped for the Poles. 

The defence began with a spade to the ace and a spade ruff. A heart came through dummy, and declarer did not have much choice but to try the queen. West won with the ♥K and dealt his partner a second spade ruff and a second heart came back. Again, declarer finessed, this time losing to the ♥J. Kwiecien had already lost five tricks. A fourth round of spades was ruffed and overruffed in dummy, but East still had two more trump tricks to come. N/S -1000 and 17 IMPs to BELGIUM.

In the replay of the Bermuda Bowl final from Salomaggiore, the Swiss won the second half 33-12 to move into the final with victory by 57 IMPs (85-28). In the other semi-final, the Belgians dominated from start to finish against the team that had finished top of the round robin, winning the second stanza 40-10 and the match by, would you believe, 57 IMPs (76-19). 

The final will thus be Switzerland vs Belgium, two teams in top form and, if the semi-final results are any indication, very evenly matched. We will be back next week with the best of the action from that final.