Welcome back to the small town of Veldhoven in The Netherlands, the venue for the 2023 World Youth Bridge Championships. The marquee event here is the Junior Teams (or the Under-26 Teams), but we will also be checking in periodically with the action from the other four categories, the Under-26 Girls Teams, the Youngsters Teams (Under-21), the Schools Teams (Under-16) and the Universities Teams (Under-31).

This is the second day of a five-day round robin, after which the top eight teams will advance to the knockout stage. At the end of the first day, the Junior Teams had played five rounds and the other events four. The leading teams in each event were:

Junior Teams: CROATIA, SWEDEN, FRANCE, USA1;

Under-26 Girls Teams: DENMARK, NETHERLANDS, ITALY;

Youngsters Teams: JAPAN, ENGLAND, POLAND, USA1;

Schools Teams: CHINA, USA1, ISRAEL;

Universities Teams: ISRAEL, INDIA, CHINA.

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, an opening lead. With only your side vulnerable, you are South holding:

What do you lead?

Next, with only your opponents vulnerable, you are sitting in the North seat with:

What action, if any, do you take?

If you pass, it goes 3♠-Pass-4♠ back to you. Do you take any action now?

While you mull those over, we start in the Youngsters Teams, with a match between the overnight leaders, JAPAN, and the team lying in fourth place, USA1. Early in the match, both South players were charged with solving the lead problem posed above.

Bo Han Zhu (left) began his international career as a member of the Canadian Schools team at the 2016 World Youth Games. At the same tournament three years later, he collected two bronze medals in the Under-21 category, finishing third in both the pairs and the teams. Following a route taken by so many of Canada’s brightest young players, Zhu switched allegiances during the pandemic and, last year, he was a member of the USA Under-26 team that won gold in Salsomaggiore. Here in Veldhoven, he is clearly one of the most experienced players in the Youngsters event.

The Japanese pair conducted an invitational sequence to 3NT, with dummy and declarer each showing four cards in one of the majors. The imperative on this type of deal, where the auction has told you that declarer has no values to spare, is to avoid giving away tricks. With that objective in mind, Zhu found the best opening for his side when he tabled the ♦7.

When Terushi Inami won in dummy and led a spade to his king, he was in trouble. Zhu won with the ♠A and continued diamonds. Declarer ducked, North winning with the ♦8 and continuing with a third round of the suit to dummy’s king. A losing club finesse sealed declarer’s fate. Zhu won with the ♣Q, cashed the ♠Q-J, and exited safely with a club. Declarer still had to lose a trick to the ♥K, so that was two down. E/W -100.

The implications from the auction were the same here, but Ken Takizawa chose to attack with the ♠Q at trick one. Olivia Schireson (right) won with the ♠K and, although better placed than her Japanese counterpart at the other table had been, she was still well short of her nine-trick target. Her first move was a diamond to dummy’s ten. Yoshitake Inoue won with the ♦J and returned the ♦Q. That did not look promising for declarer.

Schireson won in dummy, crossed to her hand with a high club and led a heart towards the jack. South could not afford to go in with the ♥K, so dummy’s ♥J won. Up to seven tricks now, declarer exited with the ♠10 to South’s jack. South cannot legitimately escape from this position, but it is usually best to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, so Takizawa would have done best to get out with the ♠A and a fourth round of spades. Declarer would be able to cash the ♦A, reducing South to ♣Q-x and ♥K-x, and she would then have to guess to play for an endplay rather than taking a finesse in one of the rounded suits.

When, instead, the Japanese South exited with a club, declarer’s task was simplified. She won and led a spade towards dummy’s ten to establish her ninth trick. Schireson emerged with three club tricks and two tricks in each of the other suits. That adds up to nine: E/W +400 and 11 to USA1.

USA1 won the match 43-10 and move up to within 4 VPs of new leaders, POLAND. The top five teams in this event have already opened a gap of more than 15 VPs between them and the rest. We’ll check back later to see whether those five continue to pull away from the field.

We return to the Junior Teams now, with a meeting of two potential contenders. After six rounds FRANCE and NETHERLANDS lie fourth and fifth respectively. This deal caused carnage all around the room, but the Dutch at both tables in our match judged the deal better than most of their counterparts.

E/W can make 4♥ easily enough (win any opening lead and play the ♥A and a second trump – the defence can make the ♥K and two diamonds, but that is all). Getting to that contract, particularly in the face of diamond pre-emption, was not easy, and N/S have a profitable save in available in 5♦ anyway.  

For the Dutch, Sibrand van Oosten (left) started with a 1♠ opening and Arthur Boulin intervened with a pre-emptive 3♦ on the South cards. Playing transfer advances, Theo Guillemin’s 3♥ showed an invitational or better diamond raise. Van Oosten doubled to show his extra values and Stefan Thorpe’s pass presumably showed some hearts. Guillemin decided that he had heard enough at this point, and jumped to 5♦. Van Oosten passed, presumably forcing for them, but Thorpe had no interest in bidding on, so he closed proceedings with a double. As we shall see, choosing to defend seems to be very well judged by the Dutch pair.

Declarer had to lose two clubs and a trick in each major. E/W +300.

For the French, Nao Tabata opened with a strong, artificial 2♣. Here, too, South came in with a pre-emptive 3♦, which left Tim van de Paverd (right) with the second of this week’s problems.

With his balanced hand, Van de Paverd was not inclined to increase his partner’s pre-empt. Tabata re-opened the auction with 3♠ and Maxence Fragola raised to game. Presumably liking his defensive prospects, Van de Paverd again kept quiet, which turned out to be superbly well- judged.

Oscar Nijssen led the ♣10. Declarer won and immediately cashed two top spades to reveal the trump position. Tabata cashed a second high club and then tried to ruff a club with dummy’s remaining trump. Van de Paverd overruffed with the ♠8, cashed the ♠Q, and then continued with two rounds of diamonds. Declarer could ruff and cash his club winners, but he still had a heart to lose at the end, so that was one down. E/W -100 and 9 IMPs to NETHERLANDS.

Of the 24 tables that played this board, the English and Germans were the only other E/W pairs to defend 5♦-X for +300. Every other E/W pair went minus, a handful in 4♠, most in 5♥ or 5♠, and a few in major-suit slams. Well judged at both tables by the Dutch.

NETHERLANDS won the match 39-9 and climbed up into third place behind USA1 and SWEDEN. The French drop one place, to fifth, so they remain very much in contention for a place in the knockout stage.

We stay with the Juniors now for a match between second-placed SWEDEN, and POLAND, who find themselves just outside the Top 8 qualifying places, in tenth, after seven matches. This battle of the Major suits decided a low-scoring match.

In high-level competitive bidding situations, one always prefers to avoid taking the last guess. What you do not want to do is to give the opponents a fielder’s choice situation.

Maciej Kedzierski (left) made his international debut as a member of the Polish Schools team that won the Under-16 Teams title at the 2015 European Youth Championships. At last year’s European Winter Games, he was part of a Polish Junior team that finished fourth in the Open BAM Teams.

On this deal, Sweden’s Ivar Lichtenstein intervened with a pre-emptive 3♥ overcall of West’s 1♠ opening. Forced to make a unilateral decision, Kedzierski jumped to 4♠ facing a silent partner in what was obviously a guess situation. Having applied pressure, the Swedes understandably adopted the eminently sensible policy of hoping he had guessed wrong. Not this time. A third-round trump entry provided declarer with access to dummy. That allowed declarer to establish a club winner on which he could dispose of his diamond loser. Kedzierski lost just one spade, one heart and one club. E/W +620.  

Krzysztof Cichy (right) was a regular member of Poland’s Youngsters team since making his debut in 2017, and was part of the team that won the 2019 World Under-21 Teams title.  

Cichy chose to start with a two-level overcall which, although putting less pressure on the opponents, allowed Kacper Kopka to contribute to the decision-making process. East had nothing to say, but the extra space meant that Kopka was able to show an invitational or better heart raise before the Swedish opener jumped to 4♠.

Cichy bid on to 5♥ as a two-way shot – it would be the right thing to do it either 4♠ or 5♥ was making. That left Sanna Clementsson with no winning decision on the East cards. With no defensive values to speak of and worrying spade length that could only diminish her partner’s defensive values, Clementsson took the insurance at the five-level. As it happened, both sides could make only ten tricks, so she had swapped a small plus for a small minus, but the Swedes were destined to lose a double-digit swing once the Poles bid over 4♠. E/W -100 and 12 IMPs to POLAND.

That was the only substantial swing of the match, so POLAND won 15-7.

To finish this visit to Veldhoven, we take our first look at the action from the Under-26 Girls event. This match features the current leaders, DENMARK, against a NETHERLANDS team that includes the twin daughters of Bermuda Bowl winner and BBO expert bidding panel member Simon de Wijs.

Lotte (left) and Sarah de Wijs made their international debuts as members of the Dutch Under-16 team at the 2019 European Youth Championships. Last year, they collected bronze medals as the youngest members of the Dutch team in the European Under-26 Women’s Teams here in Veldhoven.

On this deal, the twins breezed into 4♥ via a Drury sequence and Ella Rosthoej led the ♦6. Lotte de Wijs won, cashed dummy’s second high diamond pitching a spade, then played a club to the nine and king.

South tried to exit with the ♦Q, but declarer discarded the ♠K on the trick, then ruffed the spade switch. Three rounds of trumps returned the lead to dummy. De Wijs led the ♣8 and ran it when North did not cover. The marked finesse against North’s ♣Q then gave declarer the rest. E/W +650.

The Danish sisters followed an identical auction to the heart game, but Malou Sprinkhuizen (right) found a more testing opening for the Dutch, the ♣K, North signalling an even number (udca) with the ♣2. Sophie Bune also followed with a low club, hoping to encourage a club continuation.

Mette Lejeune won the spade switch with the ace and returned an innocent ♣4. Not wanting to lose to the ♣Q and then suffer a third-round ruff, Bune quite reasonably rose with the ♣A. Disaster! Sprinkhuizen ruffed and declarer suddenly had four losers. E/W -100 and 13 IMPs to NETHERLANDS.

NETHERLANDS won a low scoring match 18-13. The Dutch move up into fifth place and, whilst the Danes remain atop the table, their lead over the chasing pack has been diminished.

The other big news from the final round of matches today is a thumping win for USA1 over hot favourites SWEDEN in the Junior Teams. The Americans extend their lead at the top, whilst the Swedes drop to ninth place and, for now, out of the qualifying places.

After two days, the leader-boards in the various events are starting to take shape. The Juniors have played 10 matches, the Under-26 Girls nine, and everyone else eight. Tomorrow, we pass the midway point of the qualifying stage.

These are the leaders in each category after two days:

Juniors: USA1, NETHERLANDS, SINGAPORE, ISRAEL, CHINA;

Under-26 Girls: DENMARK, FRANCE, HUNGARY, ENGLAND, NETHERLANDS;

Youngsters: POLAND, USA1, JAPAN, ENGLAND;

Schools: CHINA, HUNGARY, USA1, THAILAND;

Universities: ISRAEL, INDIA, CHINA, BELGIUM.

We will be back soon with the best of the action from Day 3 in Veldhoven.