Having seen the best of the action from the English and French Premier Leagues in recent months, we now tune in for the knockout stage of the equivalent event in another of Europe’s top bridge-playing nations, Poland. The format for the Polish Grand Prix is a 12-team round robin with the top four teams qualifying for the knockout stage. Semi-finals of 24 boards then leave two teams standing to contest the 36-board final.

We concentrate on the action in the semi-final broadcast live on BBO VuGraph, a match featuring two teams with plenty of international experience between them. It was OLCZYK (Jerzy Olczyk, Pawel Niedzielski, Piotr Marcinowski, Mateusz Sobczak, Dominik Filipowicz and Jaroslaw Cieslak) against BRIDGESCANNER (Krzysztof Jassem, Patryk Patreuha, Stanislaw Golebiowsk, Jakub Patreuha, and Lithuanians Andrei Arlovich and Erikas Vainikonis). 

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are West holding:

What action do you take?

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

What action, if any, do you take?

You have time to mull those over, as the opening boards are quiet. Then came two firecrackers in a row, with the Lithuanians set a stern test on the first

Dominik Filipowicz (left) represented Poland at the 2000 World University Teams Championship and made his debut in the Polish Open Team in 2013.  Playing with Polish legend Krzysztof Martens, Filipowicz won the Open Teams at the European Winter Games in both 2016 and 2020. They also won the 2016 European Champions Cup representing Monaco.

When Andrei Arlovich finally finished counting his points, he looked up to find the first of this week’s bidding problems. Do you start with a double or just settle for an overweight 3NT on that West hand? 

Not unreasonably, the Lithuanian chose the second of those options. It is far from clear that Erikas Vainikonis should take any action on his meagre collection, so there matters ended.

Slam in hearts is just about with the odds, essentially needing trumps 3-2 and one of the major-suit finesses to work. However, getting there after the enterprising pre-emptive by Filipowicz is not at all easy. Declarer made 11 tricks in 3NT: E/W +660.

E/W were allowed the auction to themselves at this table. After starting with a multi-way Polish Club, 2♦ showed the ‘any 18+ HCP’ variation and Piotr Marcinowski eventually revealed his hand as strong and balanced. Mateusz Sobczak showed 4-4 or 4-5 in the majors with 7+ HCP, so Marcinowski agreed hearts and then jumped to slam when his partner cue-bid a control in diamonds.

The play was straightforward. Declarer won the spade lead in his hand and played a heart to the queen. He then crossed to the ♦K to play a second trump. The appearance of the ♥K allowed declarer to draw the remaining trumps, ruff a club to hand, and take the spade finesse for an overtrick. E/W +1430 and 13 IMPs to OLCZYK.

Filipowicz’s bold pre-emptive bidding certainly contributed to the swing on that deal, but the Lithuanians struck back in similar fashion on the very next deal. However, we start at the other table, where the auction was also not without interest.

By the time N/S got to game in spades, Marcinowski had overcalled in diamonds and Sobczak had bid his hearts. Marcinowski understandably did not want to defend, so he attempted to offer his partner a choice of red suits with a ‘two-places-to-play’ 4NT. 

Looking at the West hand, that seems very straightforward. However, from the other side of the table, Sobczak could not tell if his partner was offering a choice of red suits or minors. Thus, when he was eventually forced to a decision, Sobczak chose diamonds. This was unfortunate, as 5♥ is likely to make (six trumps in hand, three spade ruffs and two aces) unless South can find an unlikely trump lead from ♥Q-x. 

Declarer made a good effort in 5♦ -X, but North’s trumps were just too good and he eventually ended one down. E/W -200.

At the other table, the Lithuanians forced South to deal with this week’s second problem hand:

Andrei Arlovich (right) made his international debut representing Belarus at the 1995 European Teams Championships. He first played for Lithuania in 2007, and he has collected four medals (three silver, in 2007, 2017 and 2021, and a bronze, 2011) from the Open Teams at the European Small Federation Games. Arlovich and Erikas Vainikonis were also members of a Lithuania/Israel/Poland/Netherlands team that won the Open Board-a-Match Teams at the 2016 European Winter Games.

After the same start on this deal, Jaroslaw Cieslak raised only to 2♠ on the North cards, whilst Vainikonis went in the opposite direction compared to the first table, by jumping to 4♥. Filipowicz duly bid 4♠. I will leave you to decide how best to describe the jump to slam by Arlovich – you can view it as either ‘a wild overbid’ or ‘the ultimate pressure bid’. The end result was that South was left with the problem posed at the top of this article. 

With little and nothing in his opponents’ two suits, you can see how Filipowicz was persuaded that both sides had a double fit. On such hands, it is often the case that both sides can make a lot of tricks, so he duly took the save in 6♠. 

We have already established that the sacrifice is a phantom, and it also proved to be a very expensive one. The defence was deadly accurate: a heart to the king, a club to the ace and a club ruff, a diamond to the ace and a second club ruff, and the ♥A, meant that the defenders took the first six tricks. That was E/W +1400 and 17 IMPs to BRIDGESCANNER.

Back came OLCZYK immediately, with a mini 1NT opening from Cieslak buying the contract (for -50) with the opponents’ points evenly split, 11 and 13, whilst at the other table E/W bid and made their cold 3NT. Then came another high-level accident on the final board of the set that handed 14 IMPs back to BRIDGESCANNER. The stanza finished with BRIDGESCANNER leading by 5 IMPs, 40-35. Still all to play for!

This early deal set the tone for the second half.

Krzyztof Jassem started with a Multi 2♦ on the South hand and Patryk Patreuha advanced with a 2NT inquiry. There are no alerts or explanations in the VuGraph records, so I cannot tell you exactly what South’s bids showed. However, it does seem to me that Jassem suggested a fair amount of enthusiasm, so Patreuha’s final pass appears somewhat conservative.

Slam is an excellent proposition, and seems likely to make unless the defenders can take an immediate club ruff. They couldn’t, and the club position on this layout virtually ensured that declarer could not go wrong. N/S +680. 

Mateusz Sobczak (left) made his international debut as a member of the Polish Schools team at the 2013 European Youth Championship. He was a regular member of various national junior teams for the next six years, often in partnership with Piotr Macinowski. Sobczak earned a bronze medal from the Junior Teams at the 2017 European Championships and he won the World Under-26 Individual in 2019. He made his debut in the Polish Open team in 2021. 

After the same start to the auction, Marcinowski seems to have shown a non-minimum with a heart feature and then a shortage in diamonds. That was all Sobczak needed to roll out Blackwood and jump to slam once his partner confirmed possession of an ace. There was little to the play: N/S +1430 and 13 IMPs to OLCZYK.

Our final deal was a bidding test for the E/W pairs:

Stanislaw Golebiowski opened a 15-17 1NT and Jakub Patreuha started with Stayman. Having failed to find a major-suit fit, I would guess that 2NT now asked for more information and that Golebiowski’s 3NT indicated a lack of interest. I will leave you to decide whether the West hand is worth another try but, suffice it to say, that this auction simply did not get the job done.

Slam in diamonds is cold on just about any layout, and declarer can even cope with a 4-0 trump split on either side. 3NT made twelve tricks: E/W +490.

Jaroslaw Cieslak (right) played his first international event, the European Pairs, in 1993. In 2001, he collected a gold medal at the same event in Sorrento. More recently, he was a member of the MARTENS team that won the Open Teams at the 2020 European Winter Games.

Cieslak began with a multi-way Polish Club opening on this deal. Filipowicz bid his spades and North intervened with a club overcall. When Filipowicz showed a diamond suit and then took another bid over 3NT, Cieslak was happy to co-operate. He agreed diamonds and then cue-bid in clubs, which was sufficient to get his partner to jump to the excellent slam.

Filipowicz won the club lead with dummy’s ace discarding a heart from his hand, then drew two rounds of trump ending dummy. He ruffed a club in his hand and advanced the ♥J, covered by king and ace. After taking a second club ruff, he then drew the missing trump. When Filipowicz played off his last trump, North was already feeling the pressure. Three top spades then completed the job, squeezing North in hearts and clubs for the overtrick. E/W +940 and another 10 IMPs to OLCZYK.

OLCZYK dominated the second half, winning the stanza 40-1 and the match by 75-41. 

We will be back in Poland next week to bring you the best of the action from the 36-board final.