We are now closing in on the finals of the four events at the World Championships in Morocco. (If you missed the action from Day 11, follow the link here: Day 11 in Marrakech).

It was anticipated that the Bermuda Bowl semi-final between ITALY and NORWAY would be a classic battle, and so it has proved, with the lead changing hands numerous times. The Scandinavians led by 10 IMPs after the first of the six stanzas, but Italy turned that around and led by 29 IMPs after two sets. At the midway point of the match, Norway were again in front, with an overnight advantage of 4 IMPs. In the first session of the second day, the Italians moved back into the lead, opening up a 10-IMP advantage, 125-115, with two segments remaining. Let’s see the best of the action from the penultimate set of the match.

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

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with both sides vulnerable, you are sitting in the North seat with:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, a lead problem. You hear the following auction from the North seat:

What do you lead?

While you mull those over, we begin our coverage on the opening deal of the set, with both West players facing the first of the problems above.

Partner raises your 1♠ overcall to 2♠. Do you bid again with this West hand?

For the Norwegians, Terje Aa decided that the answer was “No”. Massimiliano di Franco’s club lead held declarer to nine tricks: E/W +140.

Alfredo Versace (left) thought his hand was worth a second effort, so he advanced with a natural 2NT. Antonio Sementa decided that he had something to spare for his initial raise and, with no ruffing value and soft high-card values, a nine-trick contract looked far more appealing than the major-suit game.

GIB reveals that an opening lead of specifically the ♥J would defeat the contract but, of course, Christian Bakke had no reason to fish out that particular card. He led the ♣6, declarer inserting the ten from dummy and Boye Brogeland winning with the ♣A. Versace won the club return with the queen and put the ♦K on the table. Brogeland won and cleared the clubs, giving declarer access to dummy, and the ♠J was covered by the king and ace. A second diamond then went to North’s queen and Bakke cashed his club winner before exiting with a diamond. Declarer now had two clubs, two diamonds and the ♥A, and the appearance of the ♠10 on the second round gave him four spade tricks. E/W +400 and 6 IMPs to ITALY to open the set.

The match score had advanced to 140-126 in favour of the Italians by the time Board 7 arrived. The question for the East players on this deal was whether to adopt a scientific approach in an attempt to reach the best contract, or to throw all the cards into the air and make everyone guess.

Di Franco chose a fairly conservative weak raise to 2♣ after Aa’s 1♠ overcall, and Allan Livgard went for the scientific approach, describing his hand as an invitational or better raise with at least four-card spade support.

That allowed Andrea Manno (right) to introduce his second suit at the three-level. With values to spare for his initial raise and his hand significantly improved by his partner’s diamond bid, Di Franco raised to 4♦ and Manno advanced to game.

There was little to the play, the defence getting just their two aces: N/S +600.

Bakke chose a negative double at his first turn, and Sementa went for the pre-emptive jump to 4♠ on the East cards. Brogeland’s double then left Bakke with the second of the problems posed earlier. Getting to the diamond game was never a realistic possibility after this start, so the best that Bakke could do was to defend and collect +500 for a 3-IMP loss on the deal. When he instead opted to bid game, the Norwegians were reliant on the heart finesse to flatten the board. Its failure meant N/S -100 and 12 IMPs to ITALY, now ahead by 26 IMPs.

Another 5 IMPs on the next deal made the match score 157-126, then came a bidding challenge for the E/W pairs.

After three natural bids, Versace’s 2♦ was an artificial game force. Sementa’s 2♠ appears to be a waiting bid, denying the ability to support hearts, bid no-trumps, or rebid diamonds, so suggesting a 4-1-5-3 hand without a club stopper. Versace advanced by rebidding his hearts and Sementa raised to game.

Versace’s pass may look conservative, but he needs four specific cards from his partner to make slam good. There is also no safety at the five-level: do you really want to play 5♥ opposite something like AKJx/x/KQxxx/xxx and need a 2-2 trump break to avoid going one down? Even if you find partner with the two major-suit aces, you still need him to hold both top diamonds for slam to be good. So, Versace’s pass seems to accord with Hamman’s second rule – “If you need me to hold a specific hand, assume I don’t have it”.

On this occasion, of course, Sementa held exactly what was needed. E/W +680.

Terje Aa (left) was able to start with an old-fashioned, strong jump shift response – let’s hear it for us old fogies! Livgard raised immediately and Aa waited with 3NT. More good news came when Livgard could not cue-bid clubs, so no wasted values there. Now 4♠ was RKCB and 5♦ confirmed the major-suit aces, so Aa took a shot at the slam. E/W +1430 and 13 IMPs back to NORWAY.

Bidding in such a way as to give your side the maximum chance of reaching the optimum contract may seem like the obvious thing to do. However, there can also be advantages to reaching your final destination without giving the opponents too much information.

For the Norwegians, Terje Aa and Allan Livgard (right) each raised the other’s suits, but nothing was said about the pointed suits.

Having heard the auction with which you were presented at the top of this article, my guess is that many of you chose to attack with a spade, as did Massimiliano di Franco at the table.

Aa won in dummy and started clubs by leading low to the ace. With the 4-0 club break revealed, it was not difficult for declarer to untangle his ten tricks. E/W +630.

By contrast, the Italian auction seemed to scream for a diamond lead, and Bakke duly obliged by tabling the ♦10. Versace won the second round of diamonds and, as I imagine just about everyone would, went down by failing to start clubs by leading low to dummy’s ten. E/W -300 and 14 IMPs to NORWAY.

A storming end to the set by the Vikings meant that although the Italians won the stanza, they did so by only 38-34. Going into the final 16 boards, ITALY led by 14 IMPs, 163-149.

In the final stanza, the Norwegians slowly closed the gap. With just five deals remaining, the Italians still clung onto the lead, but by only 4 IMPs. Over those last five boards, Norway outscored their opponents 24-0 to win the match 175-155.

In the other semi-final, SWITZERLAND had taken the lead from USA2 in the second stanza of the match, and they slowly built on their advantage. The eventual margin was 250-171.

The final of the 2023 Bermuda Bowl will be contested by the two teams that topped the leader-board at the end of the round robin qualifying stages. It will be SWITZERLAND v NORWAY.

In the Venice Cup, ISRAEL, who had knocked out hot favourites POLAND in the quarter-final, led CHINA 196-149 going into the final set of their semi-final. A spirited rally by the Chinese got them close, but ISRAEL hung on to win by 13 IMPs. In the other semi-final, NORWAY led TURKIYE by 2 IMPs overnight, but the second day was all TURKIYE, and they triumphed to win 190-161 and reach their second consecutive Venice Cup final. It is TURKIYE v ISRAEL and a new name is now certain to be inscribed on this trophy in two day’s time.

In the d’Orsi Trophy for the Senior Teams title, DENMARK defeated POLAND 191-166. The other semi-final was an all-American affair, with USA1 emerging with a 5-IMP victory.

In the Wuhan Cup for the Mixed Teams title, there were clear winners in both semi-finals, with USA2 beating BELGIUM and FRANCE defeating ROMANIA.