Many European countries are now looking forward to the European Championships, which will be held in Denmark in June/July. Some are taking preparation more seriously than others. Some of the pairs who will represent France and Sweden in Denmark got together to play an exhibition match. The result was immaterial (unless you won, of course), but the match would provide excellent practise against top-class opposition for the pairs involved. It also gave spectators watching on BBO VuGraph the chance to see some of the best pairs in the world strut their stuff.

The stars in action are, for SWEDEN (Ola Rimstedt, Mikael Rimstedt, Peter Bertheau and Simon Hult), and for FRANCE (Thomas Bessis, Cedric Lorenzini, Leo Rombaut, Jerome Rombaut, Jeremie Tignel, Jean-Luc Aroix, Julien Bernard, Nicolas Lhuissier, Lionel Sebanne and Paul Seguineau).

The match was divided into 16-board stanzas, and there were plenty of interesting deals from which to choose. As usual, we begin with a couple of problems.

Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you are South holding:

What is your plan?

Next, with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting in the North seat with:

What action, if any, do you take?

While you consider those, we start with the very first deal of the match. Both South players opened with a strong/artificial 2♦ and heard a waiting 2♥ response. Then the paths diverged…

Very strong hands with a minor as the longest suit are not well-served by natural bidding methods. For the French, Thomas Bessis (left) not unreasonably chose to treat his hand as strong balanced. Cedric Lorenzini moved forward with Stayman and then showed 5+ clubs after his partner had shown four spades. This was not looking good from Bessis’s point of view, and it is hardly surprising that he chose to discourage with 4NT. Lorenzini decided that he did not have enough to drive to slam, so there matter rested.

Dummy turned out to be far more suitable than expected and, with the spade tenace protected, there were 12 easy tricks as long as clubs broke. Bessis won the ♥Q lead and tabled the ♣J, which won. He then crossed to dummy with the ♦10 and advanced the ♣K. Four clubs, five diamonds, two hearts and one spade added up to 12. N/S +490.

The Swedes had more system available, and Mikael Rimstedt (right) started with a 3♣ rebid that showed 5+♦ and an unknown four-card major. Ola Rimstedt advanced with 3♦, and then bid 4♦ when his brother showed his spade suit. A couple of major-suit cue-bids followed and Mikael then checked for key cards, raising to the small slam when he found one missing.

The hands fitted well and, thanks to the quirks of system, they had also played from the right side, with the spade tenace protected. (Most pairs would start 2♣-2♦ and the strong hand would end up in dummy.)  Mikael won the opening trump lead in hand and led his club. East took the ♣A and switched to hearts. Declarer drew trumps ending in dummy and claimed when the clubs behaved. N/S +920 and 10 IMPs to SWEDEN to get the scoreboard ticking.

A major advantage of relay systems is that they give away little information about one of partnership’s hands. If you want to test your prowess as an opening leader, cover all but the North hand in the diagram below.

On lead against 5♦, Lorenzini has a good picture of declarer’s hand. However, he knows little about dummy except that it is strong enough to force to game facing a minimum opening, and that it has chosen diamonds facing a 4-1-6-2 shape. What would you lead?

My guess is that the winning club lead would be fairly low on most people’s list. Lorenzini opted for the safe-looking ♥J. Peter Bertheau (left) won with the ♥A and played three top diamonds. He then crossed to the ♠A and cashed the ♥K-Q, throwing his two club losers. It did not matter when South chose to take his trump winner. When the spades behaved, declarer claimed twelve tricks. E/W +420.

Not that South was not given an opportunity to help his partner at this table. Things were perhaps clearer in the natural French auction…

Nicolas Lhuissier created a game-force with a fourth-suit 2♣. When he then advanced with a fifth-suit 3♣, Mikael Rimstedt took the opportunity to make a lead-directing double. Lhuissier agreed diamonds at the four-level and major-suit cue-bids were exchanged. When Lionel Bernard then signed off in 5♦, quite why Lhuissier thought he should raise to slam when his partner had specifically not shown a club control, is a mystery, but the damage had already been done. With trumps 4-1, the odds are high that a club lead would have beaten 5♦ too.

With the help from across the table, Ola Rimstedt (right) was not hard-pressed to find the club opening, and the defenders played three rounds of the suit, declarer ruffing. When declarer then crossed to the ♦K and played a second round back to his queen, North’s discard revealed that there was a trump loser too. E/W -100 and 11 IMPs to SWEDEN

Cedric Lorenzini (left) opened a 15-17 1NT and the French pair conducted a routine transfer auction to game in their eight-card spade fit. With sub-minimal values, it is hardly surprising to discover that slam is appreciably worse than the diamond finesse, with a third-round heart loser to deal with as well as five trumps to the jack missing.

On the non-threatening club lead, the play was easy. Lorenzini drew trumps and then played the ♦A and a second diamond. West won with the ♦K and declarer claimed the rest. N/S +680.

Perhaps the Swedes would have followed the same auction, except that they had one additional piece of information that was not available at this table…

After the same start, Julien Bernard (right) made a lead-directing double of South’s 2♥ transfer bid. Ola redoubled (presumably showing 3+ spades although there is an alert but no explanation in the VuGraph records).

This left Mikael with the first of this week’s problems, and he chose to set off on a voyage of discovery when he might perhaps just have jumped to 4♠. He began with an ostensibly-natural 3♣, which got 3♦ from across the table. He then advanced with a 3♥ cue-bid, presumably asking for a stopper. 4♣ probably denied heart values, which encouraged Mikael. He cue-bid in diamonds and then Blackwooded when Ola had nothing more to say. When his partner admitted to holding both of the missing key-cards, Mikael decided he had enough, and jumped to the slam. I suppose North’s diamonds could have been Kxxxx rather than QJxxx.

Lhuissier led the ♥K. Ola won with the ♥A, crossed to the ♠K, and ran the ♦J. West won with the ♦K and cashed the ♥Q for one down. Bernard then continued with a third round of hearts, but Ola ruffed with the ♠A and played a second round of trumps. The appearance of East’s ♠J enabled declarer to claim the rest. N/S -100 and 13 IMPs to FRANCE.

SWEDEN led 43-27 after the first 16-board set. The second set then began with another potential slam deal. The contract depended on playing a diamond side suit of K-x opposite J-10-x-x for one loser. With the A-Q sitting over the king, there was no winning option, so that was 11 IMPs to SWEDEN for stopping in 5♥. On the very next deal, both North players had to answer the last of this week’s problems.

Mikael Rimstedt’s one-level takeout double was not enough to tempt his twin brother into the auction at the five-level, so Nicolas Lhuissier (left) was left to play in 4♠.

There is no legitimate defence to the contract, but the play is not straightforward. Lhuissier won the second round of diamonds and correctly started hearts immediately, the ♥Q covered by the king and ace.  Playing the ♥J next, even though it gets ruffed, would have been the winning line as the defenders’ trump would then be 2-2. When, instead, Lhuissier led a low heart from dummy, the defenders were a step ahead. Mikael won with the ♥9, cashed the ♦J, and forced dummy with a club. Now declarer led the ♥J but, recognizing the importance of retaining his trump length, Ola discarded a club. Declarer also threw a club loser, but what could he do now?

The defensive spade pips are just good enough that declarer cannot avoid losing one more trick. In fact, Lhuissier cashed the ♠K and then tried to ruff a heart with the ♠6. Mikael overruffed with the ♠9 and played the thirteenth diamond. Whatever declarer does, he now has to lose a fifth trick. E/W -100.

After an identical start, Lorenzini could not resist the allure of a vulnerable game bonus and he waded in with 5♣. Simon Hult (right) had exactly what he showed with his 1♠ opening, but Bertheau had enough defence to express an opinion on the way out.

Dummy was not what the young French star was hoping for. There were four top losers: E/W +500 meant another 12 IMPs to SWEDEN.

SWEDEN had opened a 39-IMP lead (66-27) just a couple of boards into the second stanza.We will be back soon with more highlights from this star-studded exhibition