We return to Salsomaggiore in northern Italy this week for the remaining matches in the final of the National Men’s Teams Championship. After three days of qualifying, eight teams advanced to the all-play-all final. With four of the seven rounds in the final completed, these were the standings:

Just one problem hand this week. With neither side vulnerable, you are East holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

BBO VuGraph coverage followed the leaders, VINCI, over the final three rounds, so we start the second half of our coverage of this final with their Round 5 match against BURGAY. On our first deal, both East players had to deal with a variation on the problem above…

Alfredo Versace opened with a 15-17 1NT and Lorenzo Lauria transferred to spades. When Giacomo Percario’s jump to 4♣ was passed back to him, Lauria re-opened with a double. Versace’s 4♠ bid then left Lauria with in the situation presented earlier. Should he pass or make a forward move? Could Versace have shown interest by bidding a red-suit over the double, or would doing so have been natural, suggesting poor spades?

South’s pre-empt had done its work and robbed the opponents of crucial bidding space. Left with a guess, Lauria chose to pass, but slam was a reasonable proposition on this layout. Playing in game, Lauria simply won the opening club lead and took the winning trump finesse. E/W +510.

Federico Porta opened 1♦ and the auction then followed similar lines – East showing spades and then doubling South’s jump to 4♣, West’s 4♠ bid then leaving East in a similar position. Here, East knew about the diamond fit, but his partner could also have been weaker.  Again, the question was whether to bid on or not.

Leandro Burgay (left) chose to advance with 4NT, presumably not Blackwood, judging from how the action continued thereafter. It looks as if 4NT simply initiated a control-showing auction. Porta showing controls in both rounded suits was then sufficient encouragement for Burgay to bid the slam.

North led the ♥J here so, taking no chances, Porta simply played a trump to the ace and a second spade. E/W+1430 and 12 IMPs to BURGAY.

VINCI won the match, but only by a score of 20-19. They remained top of the table, but the chasing pack moved back to within striking distance. Second-placed LANZAROTTI was now fewer than 7 VPs behind. As luck would have it, the draw had worked in such a way that the two remaining opponents for the leaders to face were the two teams right on their tail. Next up, in Round 6, was third-placed DE MICHELIS.

The quirks of different systems being used, played some part in producing the only major swing in this round.

Playing a strong no-trump system, Massimiliano di Franco opened 1♣ in third seat and Lorenzo Lauria (right) began with a takeout double. Versace showed his maximum pass with a cue-bid and then jumped in hearts at his next turn, and thus the thin game was reached.

With nothing particularly attractive, Di Franco opened a trump. Versace won in his hand and played a spade to the king. Two more rounds of trumps returned the lead to the West hand and a second spade was led. North played low again, but Versace rose with the queen, bringing down South’s jack. A spade to the nine then forced North’s ace, establishing the ♠10. North exited safely with his last spade, but away went one of declarer’s clubs. The ♦A and a second diamond them gave declarer enough tricks: E/W +620.

DUBOIN/HUGONY WERE PLAYING A STRONG CLUB SYSTEM, SO FABRIZIO HUGNOY OPENED A WEAK 1NT ON THE NORTH CARDS. MOST PAIRS WOULD HAVE NO BID ON THAT EAST HAND, BUT MARIO D’AVOSSA WAS AT LEAST ABLE TO GET HIS SIDE INTO THE AUCTION WITH AN UNUSUALLY LIGHT DOUBLE, DESPITE HIS PARTNER HAVING ALREADY PASSED. DUBOIN EXTRICATED HIS SIDE TO THE SAFETY OF 2♣ AND GIUSEPPE SHOWED HIS INTEREST WITH A VALUE-SHOWING, TAKEOUT-ORIENTED DOUBLE. THUS IT WAS THAT THEY ALSO REACHED THE THIN 4♥.

HOWEVER, BY PLAYING FROM THE EAST SEAT, THEY HAD GIVEN THE DEFENCE A CHANCE, AND GIORGIO DUBOIN IS NOT ONE TO ALLOW A DOOR TO CLOSE ONCE IT HAS BEEN LEFT AJAR. HE DULY FOUND THE REQUIRED CLUB LEAD THAT LEFT DECLARER WITH NO CHANCE. WITH TWO CLUB TRICKS IN THE BAG, THE DEFENDERS COULD NOT ALSO BE DENIED ONE IN EACH OF THE POINTED SUITS. E/W -100 AND A SOMEWHAT FORTUNATE 12 IMPS TO VINCI.

THAT WAS THE DECISIVE RESULT IN A VERY LOW-SCORING MATCH THAT ENDED IN A 16-16 TIE. THAT DID NOT HELP DE MICHELIS MUCH, AND IT LEFT SECOND-PLACE LANZAROTTI LESS THAN 2 VPS BEHIND THE LEADERS GOING INTO THE FINAL MATCH. WITH THE TOP TWO TEAMS PLAYING EACH OTHER HEAD-TO-HEAD IN ROUND 7, IT WAS NOW EFFECTIVELY A 10-BOARD SHOOTOUT FOR THE TITLE.

WITH A 1-IMP WIN AND A TIE COMING INTO THIS LAST ROUND, WAS THE TEAM THAT HAD LED FROM THE VERY START NOW FALTERING? OR, WERE THEY SIMPLY TOYING WITH THE OPPOSITION? AT THE MIDWAY POINT OF THE MATCH, THAT QUESTION REMAINED UNANSWERED, AS VINCI LED 6-5. THEN EVERY WHEEL ON THE LANZAROTTI BANDWAGON SIMPLY FELL OFF AND THE FLOODGATES OPENED.

Massimo Lanzarotti started with Stayman in response to his partner’s 15-17 1NT opening. Exactly what his 3♣ continuation meant in their methods is unknown, but Attanasio’s 3NT response was clearly not what was required with game in either minor a better proposition than no-trumps.

Alfred Versace (left) duly opened with the ♠2. Lauria took dummy’s king with the ace and returned a low spade, and declarer overcame the first hurdle by putting in the nine. Versace won with the ♠Q and cleared the suit. With only one entry to dummy, declarer would only be able to score diamond tricks if the king came down singleton, so Attanasio pitched diamonds from dummy and put all of his eggs in the club basket. He guessed to play a club to the ace and to finesse on the way back. Versace duly won with the ♣Q and played his remaining spade for his partner to cash two winners in the suit. One down: N/S -100 and, I suppose, justice served for bidding to the inferior game.

There are no alerts or explanations in the VuGraph hand records, so I cannot explain exactly what the auction means. However, it looks as if South opened a Strong Club and North showed a hand with both minors, as South drove to game in clubs over his partner’s 3NT. Indeed, they even flirted with slam on their way to the best game.

Duboin won the opening heart lead and immediately played a spade to dummy’s bare king. He  won the heart continuation and then set about trumps, starting with the king from his hand. By winning the second round of clubs in dummy, declarer would then have been in a position to take the diamond finesse if it turned out that he had a trump loser. With clubs breaking 2-2 and the ♦K onside, declarer had no trouble amassing twelve tricks. N/S +620 and 12 IMPs to VINCI.

A couple of deals later, another Strong Club auction from Duboin/Hugony missed a good grand slam on this layout:

The auction was essentially natural after North’s initial strong/artificial 1♣ opening and South’s transfer response. Diamonds were agreed at the four-level and then North rolled out Blackwood. Hugony found out that his partner had the missing key-card plus the ♦Q and the ♠K. Should 6♣ not now ask partner to bid a grand with the ♣K?

There were 13 easy tricks. N/S +1390. Could the LANZAROTTI pair at the other table get to the grand to keep their chances alive? The answer turned out to be both yes and no.

Attanasio’s jump-shift 2♠ response is like a throwback to the 1950s, when it was common to jump just to show game values without any particular restrictions on shape. The modern method, for those few of us who still play strong jump shifts, is that a jump shows either a strong one-suited hand or a two-suiter with a primary fit for partner. Since the 1960s, it has generally been the rule that you do not jump on two-suited hands without support for opener’s suit. As far back as I remember, it was standard practise that suits into which responder jumped were good suits, and not king-empty fifth. All very strange!

There certainly seems to have been plenty of confusion to go around. It would seem that South expected his partner’s 3♠ bid to show support for spades. What other possible explanation is there for South’s insistence on playing in such a ropey suit? So, N/S here did manage to get to the right level, but in the wrong suit. Remarkably, perhaps, 7♠ was only two down: N/S -200 and another 17 IMPs to VINCI.

VINCI ended up winning the match 46-5 and, with it, the title. These were the final standings: