Welcome back to Morocco, where this is the second day of the quarter-final stage. (If you missed the action from Day 9, follow the link here: Day 9 in Marrakech).

From here, the format for all four events is three 96-board matches, quarter-final, semi-final and final, each divided into six 16-board segments played over two days.

Everything went topsy-turvy yesterday. In both the Venice Cup and the Bermuda Bowl, only one of the teams that finished in the top four of the round robins led their quarter-final overnight. The biggest potential upsets are in the Venice Cup, with Sweden trailing Norway by 43 IMPs and Poland behind by 14 against Israel at the midway point.

Whilst Sweden halved the deficit in the first set of the second day, things went from bad to worse for the Poles, and they trailed by 35 IMPs (162-127) with two sets to play. After dominating the round robin, can the Poles mount a comeback? Let’s take a look at the action in the fifth stanza.

As usual, we start with a couple of problems. Firstly, with both sides 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:

East’s double is support, showing three spades. What action, if any, do you take?

If you pass, what do you then do when West’s 2♥ is passed back to you?

While you mull those over, we start with Board 2, which was a tricky bidding challenge for the E/W pairs. On this deal, it seemed to pay to be playing a natural system.

Sophia Baldysz began with a multi-meaning Polish Club and the 1♦ response was either any 0-6 or various positive hands. The system card tells us that opener’s 2♦ rebid shows any game-forcing hand, but it does not reveal the meaning of 2♥. (Perhaps a waiting bid, like a 2♦ response to a standard 2♣ opening or perhaps a second negative?) Both 3♥ and 3♠ were natural, and Sophia then had to choose between 3NT and 4♥.

She opted to play in her long suit, and Cathy played from the short side. The contract looked okay when dummy came down. There was one loser in each side suit, so declarer needed trumps to split 4-3. When they didn’t, she was one down. E/W -50.

This deal was perfect if you were playing a strong/artificial 2♣ opening but not Kokish. Hila Levi (left) rebid a natural 2♥ and Adi Asulin was able to bid first her clubs and then her spades. Having bid her hearts twice, Levi was content to suggest the nine-trick game, and her partner had no reason to do anything except pass.

Declarer seems to have quite a bit of work to do, with two minor-suit aces and the fifth heart to knock out. However, the defenders do not have any suit to attack. Justyna Zmuda led a diamond, Katarzyna Dufrat winning and returning the suit. Now declarer played three top hearts, discovering the 5-2 break, and conceded a heart. The defenders could play a third diamond to set up one winner in that suit, but that and the ♣A was all they could get before declarer had nine winners. E/W +400 and 10 IMPs to Israel, increasing their lead to 45 IMPs.

Clues from the auction perhaps hold the key on our next deal.

Justyna Zmuda (right) opened a vulnerable 3♦ on the South hand and, three bids later, the Israelis were in slam. Katarzyna Dufrat led the ♠A and switched to the ♦K at trick two. Declarer won, ruffed dummy’s diamond, rumbled a few trumps, and then cashed the ♠K.

With diamonds likely to be 7-3, hearts known to be 1-1, and ten spades missing, which defender is most likely to hold a singleton club honour? Asulin correctly started clubs by laying down the ♣K, the queen appearing on her right. When she led a second club, North followed with the remaining small card. Was the South hand most likely to have been 4-1-7-1 or 3-1-7-2?

I would have thought that Zmuda’s vulnerable opening on a queen-high suit would point in the direction of the more distributional hand. And, of course, the Principle of Restricted Choice also favours the finesse by 2-to-1 odds. When Asulin rose with the ♣A, she was one down. E/W -100.

The Poles also had to overcome some serious pre-emption to reach the same slam. Noga Tal did not open the South hand, so Cathy Baldysz (left) started with a Polish Club. Dana Tal overcalled in spades, and Noga raised to 4♠ over Sophia’s negative double. East’s raise to 6♥ left North with the first of the problems posed earlier: would you take the save in 6♠ on the North hand?

Dana didn’t sacrifice. She laid down the ♠A at trick one and then stopped to ponder for quite some time. Watching live, I thought that on this auction the odds were that declarer would probably start clubs by cashing the ace from dummy. With the diamond length a complete mystery, North seemed likely to hold seven major suit cards to South’s five so, if anyone had a singleton club, was it not more likely to be North?

However, I had not considered North’s problem. Her partner had followed with a nondescript ♠6 at trick one. It seemed that she couldn’t tell whether her partner had four spades or five, so a spade continuation may be a ruff-and-discard. Which of the other suits looked safest? Eventually, Dana produced the ♣3. Now declarer was favourite to play clubs for no loser, and Cathy wasted little time, drawing trumps, picking up the clubs and claiming 12 tricks. E/W +1430 and a massive 17 IMPs to Poland.

Dana Tal did not open the North hand, and Sophia Baldysz (right) was a junior recently enough that I’m sure it never even occurred to her to pass her flat 9-count in third seat. North came in with a 2♦ overcall at her second turn, and Sophia doubled to show three spades, leaving Noga Tal with the last of today’s problems. It seems to me that South should show some sign of life now, perhaps with a redouble? Noga passed, Cathy retreated to 2♥, and that was passed back around. Is it still possible to get back into the auction now? Perhaps, but again Tal passed.

Perhaps the Israeli pair are never likely to do more than compete to 3♦ after this start, in which case they are better off defending. If only someone could have found a double.

Sophia’s 2♥ had plenty of losers, but they were at 50 each. There were three diamonds, a club, a spade and three trumps to be lost. Three down: N/S +150. Of course, any plus score would be good enough if teammates could go plus too…

Dufrat opened the North hand, and whilst the Israelis did compete in the auction, the result of that competition was to get them off to the wrong lead against Justyna Zmuda’s 3NT.

Had Asulin fished out a low club at trick one, the defenders would have been in control. However, the ♥Q lead was exactly what the Polish doctor ordered. Zmuda won with the ♥A and immediately returned a heart. East took the ♥K and switched to the ♣J, so declarer now had a comfortable ten tricks: N/S +630 and another 10 IMPs to Poland.

The match score now stood at 178-167. The margin was down to only 11 IMPs. There was only one more swing in the set, and the good news for the Israelis was the Poles combined to hand over 14 IMPs, 7 at each table.

I suspect that Asulin was not alone in choosing to overcall 3♦ on this West hand, but the cards lay about as badly as they could. Zmuda had an obvious re-opening double and Dufrat an equally obvious pass.

Dufrat led a heart to the king, and Zmuda cashed the ♥A before playing the ♠A and then a spade for her partner to ruff. Dufrat now played a low club to queen and king. Assuming there was a reason why she should be on lead at this point, Zmuda understandably played another spade. However, that was not the winning defence, as it shortened North’s trumps so that declarer could force out the ♦K and then draw trumps. Asulin eventually scored a spade trick as her sixth trick. E/W -500.

They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and, whilst Sophia Baldysz tried to rescue her partner, she only managed to get the partnership even deeper into the mire. You know you have done the wrong thing when you redouble for rescue and partner retreats to the same suit a level higher. Cathy avoided the 3♦ overcall but had to bid it anyway when Sophia attempted to find an alternative strain.

Here, the defence was accurate. The Israelis also started with two high hearts, the ♠A and a spade ruff. However, Dana Tal (left) now played the ♣A and a second club, forcing declarer to ruff. North had the same trump length as declarer so. when she got in with the ♦K, Dana was able to force declarer again, and thus take control. Declarer made her five trump winners, but that was all. E/W +800 and 7 IMPs to Israel to close out the fifth stanza, when it could easily have been the same number in the other direction.

Poland won the stanza 40-23, meaning that Israel led by 18 IMPs (185-167) going into the final set.

There was to be no last-minute reprieve for the favourites. Israel won the final stanza 30-18 and the match by 30 IMPs, 215-185. The European champions and runaway leaders from the round robin stage were out. Elsewhere, Sweden went into the final stanza trailing by 15, but Norway won the final set 47-20 and the match by 42 IMPs, 231-189. So the winners of the last two Venice Cups are also out. A star-studded USA2 team trailed Turkiye by 29 IMPs going into the final set and, although the Americans won the final stanza 43-29, it was not enough and the Turks advanced with a 15-IMP victory. That also means that all three teams containing members of the BBO expert bidding panel have fallen at the quarter-final stage, so there will be no Venice Cup medals for the panel. The fourth VC quarter-final had been over for some time, with China eventually defeating France by 58 IMPs. The semi-final match-ups in the Venice Cup are ISRAEL v CHINA and NORWAY v TURKIYE.

The leading teams overnight fared less well in the Bermuda Bowl. The match between Norway and China was an epic battle, with neither team ever getting far ahead. China led by 10 IMPs overnight and Norway by 3 IMPs going into the final stanza. The final result, a 208-202 win for the round robin winners, Norway. Italy led Poland by 24 IMPs overnight, but the Poles were ahead by 6 IMPs after four stanzas. Thereafter, it was all Italy and they emerged with victory by 43 IMPs. Israel led the reigning Bermuda Bowl champions, Switzerland, by 43 IMPs overnight and the match was tied at 181-181 with 16 boards to play. The Swiss won the final stanza 39-1 to record what looks like a much more comfortable win than it was. Finally, the all-American match-up between USA1 and USA2. USA2 led 77-76 overnight but had extended that lead to 59 IMPs entering the final set. So, it was all over, yes? Oh no – USA1 had reduced the deficit to just 7 IMPs with a few boards remaining, but USA2 held on to win by 12 IMPs. In the Bermuda Bowl, the semi-final match-ups are ITALY v NORWAY and SWITZERLAND vs USA2. The BBO bidding panel is therefore assured of at least one member in the final, with Sjoert Brink and Michal Klukowski in the Swiss team and Zia Mahmood playing for USA2.

Good luck to everyone. We will be back soon with the best of the action from the semi-finals. (To see the action from Day 11, follow this link.)