It is knockout day at the 21^st European Champions Cup and the 1^st Women’s European Champions Cup in Dubrovnik, Croatia. In both the Open and the Women’s events, there was a runaway leader after the round robin. In the Open, it was BRIDGE CONTACT CLUB (Switzerland) and in the Women’s it was GERMAN CHAMPIONS. In the Open the three teams that had begun the second day in the qualifying places were all ousted, whilst in the Women’s the teams in the top four remained unchanged on Day 2.

With the winners of the round robin selecting their semi-final opponents, the line-up in the Open was:

BRIDGE CONTACT CLUB (Switzerland) v BRIDGESCANNER (Lithuania)

BRIDGE ADDAURA ASD (Italy) v STUDENTENES BK TRONDHEIM (Norway)

In the Women’s, semi-final, it was:

GERMAN CHAMPIONS v ODENSE BRIDGECLUB (Denmark)

TURKISH CHAMPIONS v FRENCH CHAMPIONS

Having run away with the qualifying stage over the past two days, the Swiss began as heavy favourites against a Lithuanian team that had squeaked into the top bracket of the knockout stage by dint of a dramatic win in their final round robin match. However, things did not go the Swiss way in the first half, and they found themselves trailing 26-36 at the midway point of the 32-board match. I joined the hundreds of kibitzers who eagerly took their seats to watch the second half live on BBO VuGraph. And what an entertaining session it proved to be.

As usual, we start with a couple of problems. Firstly, with only your opponents vulnerable, you are South holding:

Your partner’s 2♣ response in natural and forcing for one round (an inverted raise in North American parlance). What action, if any, do you take?

If you pass, North re-opens with a double. What do you then do?

Next, with neither side vulnerable, you are sitting in the East seat with:

Your partner’s 3♦ is a fit-jump, showing a limit raise in spades with length/values in diamonds. What action, if any, do you take?

The Lithuanian lead did not last long. Early in the set, both South players had to answer the first of the problems above…

Andrei Arlovich started with a natural and forcing 2♣ response and Bas Drijver joined in with a 2♦ overcall on the East cards. As I suspect many would have done, Erikas Vainikonis (left) showed his heart values and, when his partner then asked for a diamond stopper, he bid 3NT.

The diamond lead knocked out declarer’s lone stopper and Vainikonis had only eight tricks to cash before relinquishing the lead. N/S -50 is, I suspect, a result that would be duplicated widely in a large field.

Like Lionel Messi weaving his way between defenders and into the penalty box, this Swiss team seem to spot any slight opening and charge through like rampaging bulls.

After an identical start, Michal Klukowski passed East’s 2♦ overcall around to his partner, and then he passed again when Jacek Kalita (right) re-opened with a double.

The defence was as accurate as the bidding. Klukowski led a club to his partner’s queen and Kalita switched to a trump. Declarer won with the ♦A and continued with a second trump to Klukowski’s king. A second round of clubs was won by North, and Kalita switched to a low heart. Klukowski won with the ♥J and returned a heart to declarer’s ace, leaving Skrzypczak to open the spade suit. The defenders collected two club tricks, three spade tricks, and a trick in each red suit. Two down: N/S +500 and 11 IMPs out of nothing to Bridge Contact Club. Mesmerizing stuff!

Not strong enough for an inverted raise to 2♦, Arlovich did not like the look of 1NT so he responded with an ostensibly natural 1♥. His 2♣ bid on his second turn was then a puppet to 2♦, showing a weak hand, but Vainikonis was willing to force to game once his partner had responded. Arlovich finally got to show his diamond fit, but 3NT seemed like the inevitable destination. Sjoert Brink (left) kicked the defence off with the ♣A, got a discouraging signal from his partner, and switched to the ♥8, covered by nine, jack and ace. Declarer had eight tricks only. He cashed three rounds of diamonds and then led a club. Brink won with the ♣K and led the ♥10 to the queen and king. Brink had already thrown a heart so the defenders only had five tricks, but that was still one down. N/S -50.

Klukowski started with a Polish Club and Kalita’s 1♦ response was either negative or various intermediate hands with a minor suit. Klukowski’s 1♠ rebid was either 12-14 balanced with at least three spades, or various strong unbalanced hands. His 2♦ then revealed that he held the ‘any 18+’ variation for his initial 1♣ opening, and Kalita now bid his suit. With five-card support and his partner unable to bid hearts, Klukowski did not like his chances in 3NT, so he jumped to the minor-suit game.

The defenders led clubs, but there was no ruff to be had, so declarer was soon claiming 11 tricks. N/S +400 and another 10 IMPs to Bridge Contact Club.

The results on our next deal were somewhat unusual. Even more of a rarity was the Swiss missing a chance to add more IMPs to their plus column. How did you solve the second of this week’s problems?

Having passed as Dealer, Boguslaw Gierulski made a fit-showing jump, showing both his diamond suit and a limit raise of his partner’s spades. Jerzy Skrzypczak (right) cue-bid in hearts on the way to 4♠, perhaps hoping to discourage Klukowski from competing any further. No such luck! With three losers in spades, the Lithuanians judged well to take the money from 5♣. That was absolute par on the deal: Well bid everyone. The defence began with three rounds of hearts, and West had still to make the ♦K later. E/W +300.

If you bid confidently enough, the opponents may be inclined to believe that you really do have it. After a similar start to the auction Andrei Arlovich (left) showed his invitational club raise with a 3♠ cue-bid. Vainikonis could not be sure exactly how many spades his opponents could make, so he jumped all the way to slam to make sure that they were left with the last guess.

Strangely, if South bids 5♣, everyone knows he is taking a sacrifice. By jumping to slam, the seed is planted that he has some wild distribution on which he is bidding to make. Neither of the Swiss players could be sure that slam was going down. At least no one was panicked into taking the ‘save’ at the six-level, but neither did anyone find a double, and thus Vainikonis got to play his sacrifice at the very modest cost of 50/trick.

The defenders made the obvious four tricks: E/W +150 and 4 IMPs to Bridgescanner. It seems it should be worth more, doesn’t it?

North’s 2♥ rebid was a transfer, showing at least six spades. South had nothing further to say, so he simply completed the transfer. Thus endeth today’s lesson.

The defence did not get off to the best start, Drijver leading the ♣7 and Brink allowing dummy’s king to win the first trick. No matter – the defenders still had three diamonds, a heart and two trumps to come, so the contract went down one. It was just an extra 50 that had gotten away. No big deal: E/W +50.

One of the frequent problems you encounter when playing against top-class players who are very active in the bidding, is that there is always the thought in the back of your mind that you are being robbed. Of course, sometimes you are, but most of the time they are just doing normal things. But how do you sort the wheat from the chaff?

The auction effectively went the same way at this table, except that here it was the West hand in the pass-out seat. Gierulski re-opened with a double and now Skrzypczak had to judge just how strong his partner was. I would guess that 2NT would be some sort of scramble, so the options were to pass the double, to remove to 3♣ and hope to find partner with four-card support, or to take a shot at 3NT. The winning choice, as we have already seen, is to pass and collect +300, but the allure of a vulnerable game bonus proved too strong, and Skrzypczak chose to go for all the marbles.

We have seen before how quickly this Swiss team are to jump all over the slightest mistake by their opponents, and here is another example. And, it’s that man Michal Klukowski (right) again. How many players would have just sat there with that South hand, happy to collect their plus score when it turned out that the opponents had overbid? I suspect that the answer is ‘most of them’. Not Klukowski, who greeted East’s game bid with a sharp double. Nothing slips past him!

Klukowski led a spade, ducked to declarer’s queen. Declarer crossed to dummy with the ♦Q and led a club to his nine, Klukowski winning with the ♣10 and switching to a low heart. Declarer took his ace immediately, cashed the ♦K, and played a second club, ducking so that South won with the ♣8. Klukowski exited with the ♣K, setting up his winners. Declarer could make dummy’s two aces and came to a spade trick at the end, but that was still two down. E/W -500 and another 11 IMPs out of nowhere to Bridge Contact Club.

The Swiss now had clear blue water behind them. Although the Lithuanians picked up a double-digit swing on the final board of the match, it only served to narrow the margin. The Swiss won the second half 51-27 and thus claimed their place in the final with victory by a score of 77-63.

In the other Open semi-final, BRIDGE ADDAURA ASD (Italy) jumped out to an early lead against STUDENTENES BK TRONDHEIM and hung on to win 79-51. It will be Switzerland v Italy in the Open final.

The Swiss had trailed by 10 IMPs at the midway point of their match. In the Women’s event, the runaway winners of the qualifying stage, GERMAN CHAMPIONS, were also down at halftime, by 12 IMPs against ODENSE BRIDGECLUB (Denmark). Here, though, there was to be no big comeback. The second stanza was tied 25-25, so the Danes ran out 85-73 winners. In the other semi-final, FRENCH CHAMPIONS won both halves comfortably against TURKISH CHAMPIONS to win 86-23. The final here will be Denmark v France.

We will be back soon with the best of the action from the final.