This is it – gold or silver. Those of us here at BBO have no rooting interest, as each of the teams in this Mixed Teams final contains one member of our esteemed BBO Bidding Panel. In one corner, is Cedric Lorenzini and his French/Swiss team, TURNIPS. In the other, is Simon Hult and his Swedish/Portuguese team, OTRA VEZ. The amazing thing about OTRA VEZ is that the team includes two 18-year olds – like Sweden, having won the last two Venice Cups, needs any more young, world-class women players. We already have two members of that team on the BBO Panel and all I can say to you ladies, Jessica and Sanna, is be careful, or they’ll be lining you up for Seniors events soon.

Both teams survived tough semi-finals, winning perhaps against the bookies’ odds. However, those watching the final live on BBO VuGraph are packing the rafters with great expectation, having already read so many good things about both of these teams throughout the week in these pages and in the Daily Bulletin. So, let’s get to the action…

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are South holding:

Do you pass or make a game try?

Suppose you ignore your spades and make a natural game try with 2NT. What action, if any, do you then take when partner accepts your game try with a raise to 3NT?

Next, with only your opponents vulnerable, you are sitting in the West seat with:

What action, if any, do you take?

The first stanza did not disappoint my fellow scribe, who can be very grumpy if his attendance at stupid o’clock in the morning is not rewarded by at least a couple of firecracker deals for his article in the Daily Bulletin. After 14 boards, OTRA VEZ led by 5 IMPs, 36-31. The nip-and-tuck continued into the second stanza, with the action beginning on the very first deal.

The French defensive bidding seemed to dampen their opponents’ enthusiasm. After Antonio Palma had raised hearts in competition, Andrea Nilsson made one slam try via a 3♠ cue-bid, but gave up when her partner decline to show a minor-suit control.

Slam in either major essentially depends on being able to play spades for no loser. That is about a 50% proposition, but declarer had no winning play on this layout. Nilsson lost a trick in each black suit in her heart game: E/W +450.

The French had the auction to themselves in the replay…

No matter what version of game-tries you play, it is important for opener to be able to show a hand with four spades after hearts have been raised, enabling you to find a 4-4 fit rather than a 5-3. Here, Cedric Lorenzini hit gold with his 2♠ try, and Anne-Laure Tartarin (right) showed her enthusiasm with a splinter bid. Blackwood confirmed that there was one key-card missing. Lorenzini could, presumably, have asked about the ♠Q, but he decided to take his chances without inquiring. Today proved to be not the day for that gamble. E/W -50 and 11 IMPs to ORTA VEZ to start the second set.

A couple of deals later, both South players had to answer the first of this week’s problems.

Semi-balanced 15-17 hands often prove difficult. Is this moderate/poor 16-count worth a game try after partner raises 1♥ to 2♥? Personally, I think probably not, although both South players in this match disagreed and moved forward with 2NT. Both North players decided that they liked their 10-loser hand (for some unknown reason) and raised to 3NT. For the Swedes, Mayalo Bjoerk Heed converted to the known eight-card major-suit fit.

Even with trumps 3-2, 4♥ has no real chance with the spade ace offside: declarer cannot avoid losing a club, a heart and two spades. In fact, Bjoerk Heed finished two down: N/S -200.

Hilda Setton (left) made her first appearance on the international bridge scene in the Transnational Teams at the 2012 World Championships in Lille. She won her first major medal, a silver, in the Open Teams at this tournament in 2017. Two years later, in Istanbul, she made it to the semi-final stage of the Open Teams, but eventually had to settle for fourth place.

Not content with collecting 7 IMPs for making +110/140 in 2♥, Setton initially followed the same route as South had at the first table, but she then passed Pierre Franceschetti’s 3NT.

Andrea Nilsson led the ♦3, giving nothing away. Setton won and immediately ducked a heart, East winning with the jack. Declarer now has eight tricks (three diamonds, four hearts and a club). Switching to a low club would give declarer no chance and a diamond continuation is also okay. When Antonio Palma switched to the ♠Q, declarer could have ensured the contract by ducking. Instead, she covered with the ♠K. Nilsson won with the ♠A and had one difficult chance left to defeat the contact – she must switch to the ♣Q, setting up two winners for her partner while he still has the ♠J as an entry. When, instead, Nilsson returned a spade, declarer’s ♠10 became her ninth trick. N/S +600 and 13 IMPs to TURNIPS. Match score now 47-46 to OTRA VEZ.

Nip and tuck, nip and tuck, in and out, up and down, ying and yang. On the next deal, both West players were faced with the second of today’s problems. The optimism of youth threatened to earn a swing for the Swedes, but then the inexperience of youth reversed that swing. First, the table at which events were relatively normal…

Simon Hult (right) opened 4♣ in first seat at red, and everyone passed. Tartarin led the ♥J, declarer winning with the ace. With two side-suit losers, declarer just needs to avoid two trump losers. When Hult led dummy’s trump, West followed with the ♣7. What now?

If trumps are 2-2, any play restricts the defenders to at most one trump trick. If the ♣7 is singleton, there is no winning line. What if East began with a singleton? It would appear to me that it is a complete guess: playing the ten wins unless East began with the singleton jack, playing the queen wins unless East started with a singleton king, and playing the ace works unless East started with the singleton nine. Hult played the ♣Q and East won with the singleton king. The defenders thus made a fourth trick with the ♣J to put the contract one down. Unlucky. N/S -50.

Andrea Nilsson (left) and her regular partner Mayalo Bjoerk Heed (below right) made their international debuts together in the Swedish Under-16 team at the 2017 European Youth Team Championships. They just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth, in that same event at the 2018 World Championships. Last year, they moved up to the Under-21 team at European Championships in Veldhoven, where their Swedish team finished fifth.

Whilst the old farts (elderly gents) amongst us see the West hand as only a decent weak no-trump, the optimism of youth saw a strong spade suit with an outside ace. So, Nilsson brazenly backed in with 4♠. The first good news was that no one doubled!

Pierre Franceschetti led his heart, South winning with the ace. No one was fooled by declarer following with the queen, and Hilda Setton duly delivered her partner’s ruff at trick two. How would you now defend with the North hand?

Playing a diamond exposes a loser in that suit. Declarer can win, draw trumps, and cash dummy’s heart winners, but she will then be left with two losers at the end. She needs a club ruff in dummy to bring her trick tally to ten. Temptation is a devilish thing, and Franceschetti could not resist the urge to cash his ♣A before playing a diamond, thus opening the way for declarer to score a club ruff.

Nilsson won with the ♦A and, counting her tricks, ruffed a club in dummy. Unfortunately, in the excitement of the moment, she forgot to ruff with the ace of trumps. Ruffing with the ♠3 allowed South to overruff with the ♠4 and cash a diamond winner for one down. Oh, what could have been! N/S +100 and 4 IMPs to TURNIPS. Match score 53-50 to ORTA VEZ

There was more to and fro at the first table on our next deal – you know the sort of deal, declarer has enough tricks but gives one away, then the defense gives one back, then declarer … etc. Let’s see what happened.

These deals with plenty of high-card points but no fit generally end in 3NT, but both tables in this match opted for the 5-2 heart fit. There appeared, though, to be a loser in each suit.

Franceschetti led the ♣K, declarer winning and playing three top trumps. Next came the ♦J, covered by the queen and taken with the ace in dummy. Of course, declarer can make the contract by playing South for a spade combination including the J-9 and taking two finesses, but that would be entirely double dummy. Instead, Nilsson exited with a diamond.

South won, and could have ensured the contract went down by cashing her trump winner. When she instead exited with a club, declarer was again in with a chance. Winning with the ♣Q, North cannot afford to play a diamond or a spade, so has to continue with a third club, allowing declarer to score one of her trumps. Can you see the winning line of play from here?

Declarer did not spot it at the table, and played a low spade to dummy’s ten. South won with the ♠J and her trump winner was the fourth defensive trick. E/W -50.

The French reached the same contract and Simon Hult also led the ♣K. It looks like Cedric Lorenzini (left) immediately spotted that the contract could be made on an elopement play, and he gave the defenders no chance to break up the position. Lorenzini also started by winning with the ♣A, cashing the ♥K, and playing a heart to the ace. Without cashing a third high trump, he then advanced the ♦7, which was allowed to run to the eight. South has little choice but to play a club now and, similarly, on winning with the ♣Q, North has no choice but a third round of clubs (South discarding a diamond). Lorenzini ruffed, cashed the ♥Q, then played a diamond to the ace and a third round of diamonds. What could Bjoerk Heed do?

If South ruffs with her master trump, declarer discards his spade loser and claims the rest of the tricks. If South does not ruff, declarer scores his last trump en passant and then cashes three top spade winners. South just scores her trump at trick 13. Either way, declarer cannot be stopped from making ten tricks. E/W +420 and 10 IMPs to TURNIPS. Match score 66-65 to TURNIPS.

(Note that in the five-card end position reached at the other table, declarer could have crossed to the ♠A and led a third round of diamonds to achieve the same effect.)

TURNIPS won the second stanza 36-29, so they led by 2 IMPs, 67-65, at the midway point of this final. Will there ever be more than a single-digit margin between these two teams? More than 2,000 tuned in to watch live on BBO VuGraph to find out. TURNIPS won the third stanza 41-29 to take a 13-IMP advantage into the last 14 boards. The French controlled the final set, or, almost – they led by 22 IMPs with just two boards to play, but the Great Dealer still had one more trick up his sleeve. This was the penultimate deal.

Antonio Palma (right) made this hand look easy. He responded with a game-forcing 2♦, then simply Blackwooded when his partner raised. Finding the one missing ace opposite, he jumped to the grand slam. There was nothing to the play: N/S +1440.

After the same start, Quentin Robert moved forward with 3♠ at his second turn and, by the time he launched Blackwood, spades was the agreed suit. Donatella Halfon jumped to show her void and Robert correctly assessed the level by bidding the grand slam. However, playing in spades, declarer needed trumps to break 3-2. When they failed to split, she was one down: N/S -50 and a massive 16 IMPs to ORTA VEZ.

The margin was now just 6 IMPs with one deal remaining. Was there to be a huge sting in the tail of this final? No, the final deal was a dull 1NT deal with both sides going one down for a flat board. OTRA VEZ win the final stanza 29-22 but TURNIPS hold on to win the title 130-124.

Congratulations to all of the medallists in what has been an excellent event, with plenty of hard-fought, close matches, lots of excellent bridge, and the occasional example of not-so-excellent bridge to entertain the kibitzers (and journalist).

We will be back in Strasbourg soon to bring you the best of the action as the Open Teams qualifying rounds get underway.