Welcome back to Marrakech, Morocco, where we have now passed the midway point of the qualifying competition, and the stronger teams have begun to confirm their status. (If you missed the action from Day 4, follow the link here: Day 4 in Marrakech).

We return to Bermuda Bowl action today, and the two teams in our featured match are both in the group jostling for one of the last places in the top eight. Coming into the fifth day, Italy was lying in 11^th place, 8 VPs behind the qualifying places, with Ireland two places and 2 VPs further back.

Of course, with four days still to play, there is plenty of time to make up that relatively small gap, but it is now time to get things moving in the right direction. Both teams got off to a good start today, Ireland with a big win against Panama and Italy with an impressive victory against high-flying USA2. Let’s see who can keep the momentum going.

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

What do you open?

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

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with neither side vulnerable, you hold in the West seat:

What action if any, do you take?

While you mull those over, we start our coverage early in the match. Playing natural systems, both North players had to decide what to open on the first of the hands above.

John Carroll opted for a 1♦ opening and played there. With the diamonds coming in somewhat fortuitously for one loser, declarer was soon claiming eleven tricks. N/S +150.

It is questionable whether this North hand is worth a game-force, particularly with a minor as the long suit. Antonio Sementa (left) decided that it was. Sementa's 3♦ rebid denied a four-card major (although he could be 5-6). Alfredo Versace's 3♥ bid was now a transfer to 3NT and, with no extra shape, Sementa did as requested.

Tom Hanlon opened the ♥5. Winning with the ♥J, Hugh McGann then switched to the ♣Q. Many of those kibitzing on BBO VuGraph inundated the commentators with questions asking why McGann had not continued hearts (which would have left declarer with no chance), and I suspect that Hanlon is still wondering the same thing.

Winning with the ♣A, declarer could have hastened the game along considerably by cashing the ♦A before using his lone dummy entry, but Sementa’s next more was to cash four rounds of spades. When he then led a diamond from dummy, he agonized for some considerable time over whether to put in the ten or the queen. Of course, with the cards lying as they do, it matters not a jot what he does.

He eventually played the ♦10. East won with the ♦J and the defenders cashed two high hearts. When Sementa regained the lead with the ♣K he cashed the ♦A and claimed when the king came tumbling down. N/S +400 and 6 IMPs to Italy.

E/W could make game in either major on Board 22, but getting there proved to be not so easy, even with help from your friends.

Hugh McGann opened a two-way 1♣ (11-13 balanced or any 17+) in third seat. Antonio Sementa joined in with a 1♦ overcall on the North hand and Versace advanced with 1NT. McGann showed his strong hand with a 2♥ bid, but Tom Hanlon saw no reason to venture any higher on the East cards. McGann had the option of a non-forcing jump to 3♥. Was his hand worth that? Would Hanlon even have raised that to game?

It may look as if Sementa’s diamond lead does declarer no harm, but that is the only lead that could beat 4♥ (actually, specifically the ♦Q, to prevent declarer winning in dummy at trick one and taking the trump finesse). McGann won cheaply in his hand with the ♦10 and played hearts from the top. Had his opponents bid to game, Versace would have needed to underlead his high clubs to get North in for a diamond ruff. Defending 2♥, he simply played clubs from the top, so McGann made ten tricks. E/W +170.

Andrea Manno opened a natural 1♥ in third seat, and two passes then left Mark Moran (right) with the second of today’s problems. If you balanced with 1NT as Moran did, you get a first inkling that it may have been the wrong thing to do when West doubles. John Carroll redoubled as the beginning of a rescue manoeuvre, and perhaps Massimiliano di Franco missed a cheap chance to get his spades into the auction at a low level.

Moran retreated to 2♣, Manno rebid his hearts, and Carroll’s 3♦ bid ensured that the spade suit would remain forever buried. Perhaps the Italians missed a chance to get some recompense for their vulnerable game back by doubling. Would the Irish have managed to find their way to 4♣ if 3♦ had been doubled? Perhaps, but unlikely.

Carroll’s 3♦ was not the best of spots, and drifted two down. E/W +100 but 2 IMPs to Ireland on a deal where either side might have scored a more substantial swing.

The auction at the first table on our next deal was very strange indeed. I will leave you to decide whose judgement was slightly off…

Perhaps I am just old-fashioned but, in my world, doubles when partner has pre-empted are for penalties. However, the Italians seem to have been on the same wavelength: East has no reason to think that 3♦ is going down, and West would have no reason to pull a penalty double, so it would appear that Di Franco’s double here was a game-try. Manno very sensibly declined the invitation.

Mark Moran’s double of 3♥ was alerted as takeout, although John Carroll (left) might perhaps have considered passing it at equal vulnerability. Indeed, the penalty from 3♥-X would be higher than N/S’s non-vulnerable game is worth until, that is, West doubles.

There was no legitimate winning defence for the Italians. However, I suspect that most declarers would have gone down on Di Franco’s low spade opening. Indeed, Carroll ran the lead around to his nine, and now the contract was off. To make nine tricks, declarer needed to win in dummy with the ♠J, play a diamond to the ten, return to dummy with a winning club finesse, cash the ♣A, and repeat the diamond finesse. Easy game, isn’t it!

Carroll led the ♦Q from his hand at trick two. If you don’t believe that defence is the most difficult part of the game, consider that, to beat the contract, Manno must win with the ♦K and return a club into dummy’s AQJ1098.

Did the Italian find that defence? That would indeed have been impressive. No, he switched to the ♥10, which was covered by jack and ace, and now declarer was back to nine tricks again. East cashed his top spades and exited with a heart. With the diamonds coming in, Carroll no longer needed the club finesse, but he knew the king was onside so he took it anyway, in case the ♣K was doubleton and the diamonds failed to behave. The ♣A and the ♠J provided discards for a heart loser and a diamond winner. A diamond to the ten then picked up the diamond suit for a breathless nine tricks. N/S +550

Losing IMPs on this board strongly suggests that the Irish had forgotten to pack their famed luck for this trip, but that’s how things turned out…

No pussy-footing game try here, just a full-blooded jump to 4♥ by Tom Hanlon. ”Let’s make that Eight Hearts,” said Alfredo Versace (right).

Sementa led a club, Versace winning cheaply. Back came a diamond and Sementa scored two tricks in that suit before playing a third diamond. McGann pitched a club from dummy, allowing Versace to score his low trump. The ♣A and the ♣Q, forcing dummy to ruff, came next, North discarding a low spade and then the ♠Q. When declarer cashed the ♥A, South showed out, so there were still two trump tricks to be lost. A brisk four down: N/S +800 and 6 IMPs to Italy.

Still awaiting our first double-digit swing, both sides perhaps missed a chance on this late deal.

What would you bid on this West hand after South’s 3♦ overcall?

How you react may depend on your partnership style of first-seat non-vulnerable weak two openings, but it is hard to envision a slam unless partner happens to hold no diamonds. With only J-x-x yourself, there is no reason to expect partner to be seriously short, so the jump to 4♥ made by Hugh McGann (left) seems eminently sensible. Do you really want to give North a cheap double of 4♦ and then hear South bid 5♦ next? Surely, your primary concern is that your side buys the declaration.

There were twelve easy tricks: E/W +480.

The auction was very different at the other table, where East did not open the bidding.

Massimiliano di Franco (right) passed as Dealer and then backed in with a 4♥ overcall when Mark Moran’s 4♦ opening was passed around to him. Tommy Carroll competed to 5♦, and thus the auction came back to Andrea Manno in the position outlined in the last of today’s problem hands from the top of this article. Manno would have strongly suspected that his partner was short in diamonds. However, it was surely too late to start thinking of bidding a slam now, wasn’t it?

Yes: E/W +480 here too, and an exciting push board.

Kibitzers looking at just the E/W hands, could see that 6♥ is an easy make and 7♣ is not such a bad contract either. It may seem unbelievable that the best players in the world cannot reach a slam with twelve top tricks, but some combinations really are just too difficult. Of the 24 tables in the Bermuda Bowl, E/W pairs from only three teams (Switzerland, Netherlands and China) bid and made 6♥. That’s the same number of tables at which E/W defended a diamond contract for -130. It really can be a very difficult game.

Those watching live on BBO VuGraph had to wait until the very last deal of the match to witness a double-digit swing, and then it came on what for all the world looked like a dull flat board in 4♠+1. However, the Irish pair inexplicably reached a slam off two aces after an uncontested auction in which it looks like they used Blackwood. Exactly what happened it is hard to tell, but the effect was an 11-IMP swing that allowed the Italians to escape with a narrow 29-25 win.

With three days to go, both of these teams are likely to be somewhere around the bubble when the top eight teams are separated from the rest. It only gets more exciting from here…

We will be back soon with the best of the action as the fight to make it into the knockout stages heats up.

To see the action from Day 6, follow this link.