We are in 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.

This is the fourth day of a five-day round robin, from which the top eight teams will advance to the knockout stage. With only a handful of matches remaining until the qualifying stage ends, the top teams will have virtually assured their place in the knockout, but a number of teams will be scrabbling for those last couple of places.

At the start of Day 4, these are the leaders in each of the categories:

Juniors: USA1, NETHERLANDS, ISRAEL, SWEDEN, CROATIA;

Under-26 Girls: ENGLAND, DENMARK, FRANCE, NORWAY, ITALY;

Youngsters: POLAND, USA1, DENMARK, ISRAEL, ENGLAND;

Schools: USA1, CHINA, HUNGARY, NORWSY, ESTONIA;

Universities: ISRAEL, INDIA, CHINA, POLAND, BELGIUM.

POLAND is the only country with their team in the Top 8 in all five events.

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with neither side vulnerable, you are North holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting in the South seat with:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with neither side vulnerable, you hold as East:

What action, if any, do you take?

While you consider those, we start today’s action in the Youngsters event, with a meeting of two teams looking to secure a place in the knockout. ISRAEL come into today in fourth place, whilst JAPAN, who were the early leaders, start right on the cusp, in eighth. Midway through the match, both North players were presented with the first of the problems above.

For the Japanese, Yoshitake Inoue opened 1NT. Ken Takizawa showed a hand with 5-5 in the majors and, when Inoue gave preference to spades, he advanced with a 4♣ cue-bid. Takizawa then retreated to 4♠ when his partner showed a diamond control, leaving Inoue with the problem posed earlier.

He presumably knew that the ♥K was missing, but Inoue decided that his hand was worth one more try. Blackwood revealed that all the key-cards were present but also that the ♠Q was missing, but Inoue still jumped to slam.

Ofek Sabbah led the ♦K and, although dummy was about what declarer should have expected, it was clear that slam was not a great contract. Inoue won the opening lead with the ♦A, crossed to the ♣Q, and successfully played a spade to the jack. He then continued with the ♥A and a second heart, run to West’s jack.

Most cards will beat the contract from here, but Yonatan Sliwowicz (left) correctly inferred from declarer’s play of the spade suit that his partner was likely to hold the ♠10. As he also knew that his partner was out of hearts, he accurately returned a low heart, thus ensuring a trump winner for the defenders. Declarer ruffed low in dummy and Sabbah overruffed. His trump return then ensured that West would score the ♥K at the end for two down: N/S -100.

An identical auction carried the Israelis to the same poor slam at the other table, and Daniel Msika (right) also received the lead of the ♦K. After winning with the ♦A, the Israeli declarer immediately played two rounds of hearts.

West won with the ♥J but had far fewer winning options than did his counterpart at the other table. Here, only a heart continuation would beat the contract, and Yugo Miura did not have any inferences about the trump suit.

When Miura returned the ♦10, declarer was in with a chance if trumps came in. He covered with the ♦J and ruffed away East’s queen, establishing the ♦9 as a winner. A successful spade finesse and a spade back to the ace split the trumps, and declarer was almost home. He unblocked the ♣A-Q and returned to hand, which was now high, with a third round of trumps. N/S +980 and 14 IMPs to ISRAEL.

ISRAEL dominated the match, winning 52-9 and moving the teams in opposite directions. ISRAEL climbed up to second place, in a virtual tie with POLAND at the top of the table. JAPAN slipped down to ninth place, just out of the qualifying places but with a 10-VP gap separating them form ENGLAND, in eighth place just above them.

Let’s take a look at another high-flying ISRAEL team, in second place in the Junior Teams after 15 rounds. Their opponents in this match are fifth-placed POLAND. The match started very quietly and, with just three boards remaining, ISRAEL led 5-0, but The Great Dealer had saved the best until last.

Kacper Kopka (left) is one of Poland’s brightest young stars, with a host of experience at junior level. He made his international debut in the Polish Under-16 team that won the 2014 World Schools Teams title. He has since won the European School Teams in 2015 and the World Youngsters Teams in 2019.

On this deal, Kopka heard his partner open 1♥ and overcame the Israeli’s pre-emption to guide his partnership into the excellent grand slam.

There was little to the play. Declarer had five trumps, the ♠A and three tricks in each minor on top. A spade ruff brought that total to 13. E/W +2210.

Blazej Krawczyk (right) just missed out on a medal from his first international appearance, finishing fourth in the Schools Teams at the 2013 European Championships. He has since finished fourth on two more occasions, in the 2016 European Under-21 Pairs, and as part of a Polish Junior team playing in the Open Teams at the European Winter Games earlier this year.

Whilst the Israeli N/S had tried pre-emption in an attempt to thwart their opponents’ slam investigation, the Polish South settled for something more subtle. Oren Toledano started with a Strong Club on the East cards and Krawczyk came in with a psychic 1♥ overcall on his singleton. The Israelis had the rest of the auction to themselves, but the damage had already been done. I cannot tell you exactly what the Israel auction meant, but there can be little doubt that bidding to the only making grand slam was made infinitely more difficult by an opponent bidding the suit first.

Not that the no-trump grand was such a bad spot. It simply needed clubs to break 3-2, but this was the Israelis' unlucky day. E/W -100 and a massive 20 IMPs to POLAND.

There was a bit more excitement on the last couple of deals of the match, but POLAND emerged with a 26-17 win. The Poles remained in fifth place, but they were now more than 20 VPs ahead of ninth-placed FRANCE.

We remain in the Junior Teams, for the Round 17 meeting of fourth-placed SWEDEN against JAPAN, who have slipped down to 13^th place, although they are one of six teams separated by just 10 VPs hunting for eighth-place. SWEDEN led 27-10 when the last board arrived at the tables. And, what a firecracker it proved to be!

Naoya Yamamoto (left) opened a full-blooded 4♥ on the North hand and Sanna Clementsson judged well to keep quiet on the East cards.

Yamamoto won the ♦K opening lead with the ace and ruffed a diamond with the ace of trumps. He then led the ♠K from dummy, discarding a club loser from his hand. Clementsson won with the ♠A and switched to a club, but declarer won with the ♣A, and cashed the ♠Q to discard one of his diamond losers. Declarer played the ♠J and pitched his last diamond as East ruffed. The ♥K was declarer’s third and last loser: N/S +620.

For the Swedes, Erik Hansson opened only 3♥, and this allowed Makoto Nakamuta (right) in with a natural 3NT on the East cards. Had Castor Mann bid 4♠ at his first turn, West would have been left with a blind lead and the Swedes might have escaped with a flat board.

However, Mann was looking for something bigger, and he was right in that 3NT-X was going five down. When the double came back to Nakamuta, he reconsidered his position and retreated to 4♣, which left Mann with the second of this week’s problems. Had Mann managed to find a double, the defence can score three aces and all four of their small trumps (♦A, diamond ruff, spade ruff, diamond ruff, spade ruff, ♥A, ♣A) for four down, N/S +800 and 5 IMPs to SWEDEN. However, doubling for a second time was far less clear, and Mann bid what he thought he could make.

With the club lead now marked, the defence was favourite and the Japanese pair made no mistake. Mann won the opening lead with the ♣A and tabled the ♠K. Nakamuta won with the ♠A and the defence cashed two club winners. When Nakamuta then continued with a third round of clubs, Fumiharu Nishita’s ♠10 was promoted into the fourth defensive trick. N/S -100 and 12 IMPs to JAPAN.

SWEDEN therefore won the match by only 27-22. They remain in fourth place but, more than 30 VPs ahead of ninth place, they look like a banker to make the knockout stage. JAPAN actually moved up one place, but they are now 15 VPs behind eighth place with only a half dozen matches left to play.

We finish this visit to Veldhoven with a look at the action from the Under-26 Women’s Teams, and a match between DENMARK and ITALY. In third and fifth place respectively with just a handful of matches remaining, both are looking well-placed to qualify for the knockout stage. This is particularly so, as there is a huge (30+VP) gap between ninth-placed CHINA and tenth-placed USA1, so it is looking like all but one of the current top nine will advance. The Danes held a 6-IMP lead when the penultimate deal of Day 4 arrived at the tables. With players getting tired, would they get the respite of a dull 1NT hand? Of course not

Federica (left) and Valentina Dalpozzo are the third set of sisters that we have come across playing in this event. They began their international careers together in Italy’s Schools team at the 2016 World Youth Teams. They were both part of the Italian team that won the Under-26 Women’s Teams here in Veldhoven at the 2022 European Youth Championships.

For the Danes, Ella Rosthoej opened 1♣ and rebid a weak 1NT. She then raised her partner’s forcing 3♠ rebid to game, thus leaving Julie Marina Sigsgaard with the last of this week’s problems. Opener has not shown much enthusiasm, but is this hand worth another go? Yes, you have a void in the suit partner opened, but does that mean her values will be wasted?

Sigsgaard chose to advance with a 5♣ cue-bid and, when her partner co-operated by showing a diamond control, she took the bull by the proverbial horns and jumped to the slam. As it happens, the hands do not fit well, and slam is worse than the 50% heart finesse, as most 4-1 trump breaks will also beat it. There is also the chance that the defenders will not find the best opening lead…

Federica Dalpozzo made no mistake on that score, opening the ♥J. Declarer had little choice but to try dummy’s king, and the defenders took the first three tricks in the suit. When there also turned out to be a trump loser, declarer was three down. E/W -150.

The third Dalpozzo sister, Eleanora, and her partner, Sophie Capobianco (right), were also members of the winning Italian squad at last year’s European Under-26 Women’s Teams.

After the same start to the auction, Capobianco forced to game with an artificial 2♦. She then bid out her shape with 3♦ and then 4♠. Whilst 3NT from the West side is perhaps the best game contract available, it is certainly hard to give up there with this East hand.

The upshot was that, despite teammates going three down in slam, Carla Brun Pedersen had a chance to limit her side’s loss on the deal to a couple of 50s, if she could also find a heart lead. When Pedersen opened a club, declarer’s chances improved dramatically. Away went two of Capobianco’s heart losers. There was still the ♥A and a trump to be lost, but that was all. E/W +450 and 12 IMPs to ITALY, who won the match 38-33.

On the fifth day of the qualifying stage, there will be four matches in the Junior Teams and the Under-26 Women’s Teams, and three matches in the other three events. These are the leading teams in each category going into the fifth day:

Juniors: USA1, NETHERLANDS, ISRAEL, SWEDEN, POLAND;

U-26 Women: NORWAY, ENGLAND, DENMARK, FRANCE, ITALY;

Youngsters: POLAND, USA1, ISRAEL, CHINA, DENMARK;

Schools: USA1, HUNGARY, CHINA, ESTONIA, POLAND;

Universities: CHINA, ISRAEL, INDIA, POLAND, BELGIUM.

POLAND remain the only country with a team in a qualifying place in all five events.

We will be back soon with the best of the action from Day 5, and news of who makes it into the knockout stage and who misses out.