We are back in Strasbourg at the European Transnational Championships for the first day of knockout matches in the Open Teams. In this Round of 32, there were a number of appealing matches. I picked out DAISY CHAIN (France/Italy/Denmark/Switzerland) against DE BOTTON (England/Norway). With these two teams having finished ninth and tenth in the Swiss qualifying stage, one would expect the head-to-head match between the two to be a close-run affair. We joined hundreds of kibitzers watching the action live on BBO VuGraph as the second stanza began with DAISY CHAIN leading 40-22 after the opening 14 boards.

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

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with neither side vulnerable you hold as South:

What do you bid?

Finally, a lead problem. With both sides vulnerable, you are sitting North and hear the following auction:

What do you lead?

While you consider those, we join the action on the opening deal of the set. High-level competitive situations often present the most difficult decisions, and they also often swing large numbers of IMPs.

Artur Malinowski did not have a support double available to show his three-card heart fit, so he chose to rebid his moderate diamond suit. Janet de Botton’s double of West’s 4♥ splinter bid, left Malinowski with a tough choice over East’s 4♠. With his trumps well-placed, he expects 4♠ to go down, but the penalty is unlikely to be enough to offset the vulnerable game bonus that may be available in hearts.

Agustin Madala (left) decided that he had described his hand in terms of offense, and doubled 5♥ to show some defensive values. Now the spotlight shifted onto Dennis Bilde in the East seat. Leading either a diamond or a spade would allow declarer to get home in 5♥-X, but Bilde accurately fished out the ♣4. De Botton could not afford to ruff this in dummy, so she pitched a spade and West won with the ♣A. Declarer subsequently ruffed two clubs in dummy, but there were still two diamonds to be lost, so she was one down. N/S -200.

Pierre Franceschetti’s first-round jump to the four-level seems rather wild to this humble scribe, but it certainly injected pace into the auction. It also meant that Franceschetti was faced with the first of today’s problems at his second turn.

Pass would, presumably, be forcing, inviting partner to bid 6♥, and that seems to be about what this North hand is worth. On this layout, of course, South would have no doubt about the right action, and she would have collected the +300 available from 5♠-X and the 11 IMPs that went with it.

Franceschetti took the unilateral decision to bid on. Although Thor Erik Hoftaniska’s ♠A opening lead was not the best start for the defence, allowing declarer to dispose of one of his diamond losers, Franceschetti had too many club losers to ruff. One down meant N/S -200 and an exciting push to open the set.

Shortly thereafter came a bidding test for the N/S pairs. Both South players had to answer the second of this week’s problems.

Hilda Setton answered the problem with a simple spade raise. When Franceschetti then competed to the three-level, Setton raised to game. Sniffing out the inconsistency in the auction, Thomas Charlsen (right) applied a well-judged double.

It was possible to let this contract through on the opening lead, but Hoftaniska got the defence off to the best start by opening a trump to ten, jack and king. Declarer led his club towards dummy, but Hoftaniska stepped in with the ♣A and played a second round of trumps. Franceschetti could discard one red-suit loser on the ♣K and take one diamond ruff in dummy, but he still had to lose two hearts and two diamonds. N/S -300 looked like an excellent board for the Norwegians.

Artur Malinowski (left) plays by his own set of rules and his bidding often does not conform to the ‘norm’, but it’s hard to argue with success. Many would consider this South hand too weak to bid 2♥. Malinowski not only bid 2♥ but then raised to game when De Botton competed to the three-level. And, quite right he was too, as there was no defence to 4♥.

West led the ♦K. Malinowski ruffed and ran the ♥J to East’s queen. Bilde returned a trump, declarer winning in his hand when Madala did not contribute his ♥K to the trick. Malinowski continued with the ♠10 to the ace and the club from dummy. East played low and Malinowski won with the ♣K. When both defenders followed to the ♠Q, declarer claimed ten tricks. N/S +420 and 12 IMPs to DE BOTTON, more than halving the deficit.

Both teams missed a chance to gain on the next deal…

Everyone bid what their hand was worth, and the end results was the par contract.

The defence started with two rounds of clubs. Declarer ruffed, played a diamond to the jack and ace, and ruffed the third round of clubs. Cashing the ♠A revealed the position in that suit, but declarer recovered well, crossing to the ♦K, taking a winning heart finesse, cashing the ♥A and exiting with a third round of hearts. Charlsen could now ruff his remaining heart in dummy. The defenders could make the ♠Q at some point, but that was all. E/W +140.

After the same start, Malinowski valued his maximum pass more highly than his counterpart at the other table. Whilst his 3♠ cue-bid carried his side into minus territory, it also persuaded Agustin Madala that his hand was worth game opposite a simple raise. Janet De Botton (right) was quite right to double 4♥, and it was perhaps surprising to see Malinowski choose not to defend when East retreated to 4♠. Perhaps he thought the double of 4♥ showed extra values rather than an interest in defending? The other big surprise was that neither Madala nor Bilde could find a double of 5♣. That left De Botton to play for 50s. There were three of them: E/W +150 and probably both pairs at this table were happy to find that the deal was a push.

Our final deal was a bidding test for E/W…

Dennis Bilde passed as Dealer and then jumped to 2NT facing his partner’s 1♦ opening, so his hand was very tightly defined. When Madala offered 3NT as a contract, Bilde judged well that the minor honours in the red suits made his hand worth one more try, but Madala was not interested opposite a flat 10-11 count. Perhaps had Bilde tried with 4♦ rather then 4NT, Madala might have looked more favourably upon his hand? E/W +660.

After the same start, Thor Erik Hoftaniska (left) made a clear slam try by going beyond 3NT. When he then confirmed his willingness to play in diamonds, Charlsen raised to slam.

Slam is a little better than the trump finesse. If the ♦K is onside then 6♦ has 12 easy tricks by simply conceding a trick to the ♥K. If the trump finesse fails, you have the (admittedly small) extra chance of finding the ♥K doubleton onside. (It’s about the same as going all-in with top pair, top kicker only to find your opponent with small trips, but winning the pot when you complete your backdoor flush.) On this layout, it was that small extra chance that came home for declarer. E/W +1370 and 12 IMPs to DE BOTTON.

Having begun the second stanza 18 IMPs behind, DE BOTTON won the set 43-2 to take a 23-IMP lead (65-42) at the halfway point of the match. But, this match was far from over: DAISY CHAIN won the third stanza 34-18, reducing the deficit to just 7 IMPs going into the last set. The lead changed hands a couple of times in the final set and, with three deals to go, DAISY CHAIN had opened up a 9-IMP advantage. The came the deal that decided the match.

The auction began with a Pass from De Botton, on a hand that most people would surely open these days. When this exact auction occurred in another match a couple of days ago, there was some debate about the meaning of fourth suit by a passed hand. On that occasion, opener passed and responder did indeed have 5-5 in the majors, so 2♥ was natural. De Botton clearly did not mean it that way – a question you should ask your regular partner, perhaps?

If Malinowski understood that his partner was making a stronger raise than simply jumping to 3♦ over 2♣, his leap to game seems precipitous. Indeed, 6♦ is a decent contract, even with the heart position exposed. It only fails the 25% of the time when the ♥A-Q are in the South hand, and, of course, even then, only when North leads a heart. North led a trump against Malinowski’s 5♦: E/W +640.

Dennis Bilde did open the East hand and he then had to decide what to do when Agustin Madala responder 2♦. Both 3♦ and 4♣ are options, but Bilde did not want to commit to diamonds yet, and he rebid his spades to keep open the possibility of playing a 6-2 fit in the major. When Madala continued with 2NT, Bilde showed his diamond support. Rather endplayed, Madala waited with 3♥, and now Bilde jumped to 5♣, perhaps intended as Exclusion or maybe just as showing a void. There was no alert from Madala, who jumped to 7♦, leaving Thor Erik Hoftaniska with the opening lead problem posed at the top of this article.

When Hoftaniska led the ♣A, declarer was in with a slim chance. He needed diamond to break 2-2, and spades 3-3, but that is how the cards lie, so he was able to ruff the club lead, cross to the ♠A, draw trumps in two rounds ending in dummy, and take five discards on dummy’s spade suit. E/W +2140 and 17 IMPs to DAISY CHAIN.

As usual at this stage of major competitions, there were a handful of nail-biting finishes. TEXAN ACES (USA/France/India) trailed SANDFIA (England) by 2 IMPs going into the final set, but they won the last stanza 40-36 to win by 2 IMPs. CHOCOLATA (Israel/Turkey) trailed LANKVELD (Netherlands) by 27 IMPs going into the final set. They produced a storming final set, but the Dutch held on to win by just 4 IMPs. The match between VIDEV (Bulgaria) and FRANCE PURPLE (France) was tied at 91-91 going into the final stanza, but the hometown favourites were defeated by 18 IMPs.

Today was also the end of the road for the two Junior teams we have enjoyed watching in the early stages of this event. TEAM FUNBRIDGE (USA/France/Denmark/Norway/Sweden) went down to MAURITIUS (Netherlands) whilst MELI MELO (France) lost to ROSENTHAL (USA/Norway)

We will be back in Strasbourg soon with the best of the action from the Round of 16.