And then there were four - if this was basketball, it would be called ‘June Madness’. The draw for the semi-finals of the Mixed Teams pits TURNIPS (France/Switzerland) against EDMONDS (USA/Poland/Switzerland) and ROBINSON (USA) versus OTRA VEZ (Sweden/Portugal) for a place in the final. In that second match, the average age of the two teams is perhaps lower than in any previous semi-final in European Championship history. The average age in the other match is not exactly high, either.

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

What action, if any, do you take?

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

What action, if any, do you take?

We’ll concentrate on hands from what turned out to be an action-packed second stanza of the match between two heavyweight giants, EDMONDS and TURNIPS. The French had been first out of the blocks, and they led 44-12 at the end of the first set. Someone famous once observed that even the longest of walks starts with a single step, and the comeback started with a pitter-patter.

Pierre Franceschetti’s 2♠ opening showed spades and a minor. Jodi Edmonds came in with a 3♦ overcall and Joel Wooldridge closed the auction with 3NT. All very straightforward.

Franceschetti led a low club and declarer understandably misguessed, playing low from dummy and losing to the singleton jack. Hilda Setton switched to the ♥K, which was allowed to win, and Wooldridge won the heart continuation with the jack. It was now just a matter of knocking out the ♦K and, with no entry to East’s high clubs, declarer had the rest. N/S +430.

After the same start, Michal Klukowski was not willing to give up so easily. He knew his side had an eight-card spade fit and a second fit in his partner’s minor (presumably clubs), so it was relatively safe for him to join in with 3♥ on the West cards.

Cedric Lorenzini (left) also bid 3NT on the North hand, but Justyna Zmuda had the perfect hand. Indeed, she advanced to 4♥ via a diamond cue-bid. That left Lorenzini with the first of the problems above. Despite holding four-card support for his partner’s suit, he judged well to take the money rather than try for a game bonus in the minor. 5♦ has four losers (two clubs, a club ruff and the ♦K), and would probably get doubled too.

Lorenzini led a club and Klukowski played low from dummy after considerable thought. Tartarin won with the ♣Q and cashed the ♠A. Continuing with the ♠Q made declarer’s life simpler, but made no real difference. The defence still had two trump tricks to come. Indeed, just about all lines of play and defence lead to two down: N/S +300 and 4 IMPs to EDMONDS.

If that was a pitter-patter, a violent thunderstorm was about to arrive. One of the pleasures of this job is getting to watch true Masters in action. Michal Klukowski is widely considered the best player in the world at the moment. On this deal, his wife demonstrates that she is equally capable of world-class play. First, let’s see how mere mortals handled the deal at the other table…

South led a heart and declarer duly lost a trick in each black suit. E/W +450, a result that would surely have been duplicated many times if the deal was played in a large field.

The auction began with three natural bids and then some kind of Polish fourth-suit forcing. Justyna Zmuda (right) bid out her shape and Michal Klukowski showed his spade fit. When Klukowski made a slam try, Zmuda was galvanized into Blackwood and moments later was installing herself in slam.

Here, too, South led a heart. Zmuda won with the ♥K, played a spade to the jack, and ruffed a heart. A diamond to the king returned the lead to dummy, and declarer took a second heart ruff. Now came the ♠A, revealing the 4-1 trump split. The ♦A was cashed, pitching a club from dummy, and a diamond ruffed with dummy’s penultimate trump, denuding South of diamonds in the process. The ♠K was cashed and now declarer began playing winning hearts. South could ruff with his trump winner whenever he like and, when he did so, he was endplayed to lead away from the ♣K. Bravo! E/W +980 and another 11 IMPs to EDMONDS.

A couple of boards later, the comeback came to a grinding halt…

Some high-level bidding situations are simply too difficult to get right. Had I presented the West hand as a bidding problem over South’s raise to 4♦, I suspect most players would bid 4♠. And, those who passed, would surely bid 4♠ when their partner doubled for a second time. The winning action is to pass twice (or double 4♦ yourself), as you have two hearts, a club and a spade to lose in 4♠, whilst declarer in 4♦-X will make only eight tricks.

Michal Klukowski confirmed that he is human by bidding 4♠ along with everyone else, and even he can only sometimes make bricks out of nothing but dry straw. E/W -100.

In second seat vulnerable, perhaps you would expect at least a better suit for a four-level opening bid. Joel Wooldridge (left) was prepared to stretch a level higher than his French counterpart at the other table. Would that prove to be the winning strategy on this deal?

Some high-level competitive bidding decisions are harder than others. I have lost track of the number of times in Bulletins, BBO commentary and these BBO columns, that I have warned readers of the perils of sacrificing on balanced hands. Inevitably, the penalty is always larger than you expect it to be. That alone should be enough to warn South off venturing to the five-level on this balanced, ace-less collection. The fact that your hand is also packed with defensive values suggests that, if you simply cannot bring yourself to pass, you should be doubling 4♠. As it happens, partner does not contribute a single defensive trick and yet 4♠ still goes down. Even worse, partner in 5♦-X has to lose four aces and a second club trick too. E/W a massive +800 and 14 huge IMPs to TURNIPS, squaring the score in the set at 15-15 and restoring the 32-IMP advantage with which they had finished the opening stanza.

There were plenty more chances in this exciting set of boards, and Klukowski-Zmuda were relentless. Lorenzini-Tartarin stretched to a club slam that was a bit worse than a finesse. Klukowski inevitably found the best lead, so that was one down when the finesse failed. In the other room, declarer mistimed the play to go one down in 5♣ for a flat board. Klukowski-Zmuda nailed Tartarin in 3♦ on a partscore deal for +300 for a moderate gain. Zmuda managed to make a 3NT that should go down and was duly defeated at the other table. Then, towards the end of the set, came this…

Now we see Joel Wooldridge with his conservative head on. On this deal, he judged well, first by not opening his balanced 11-count (a rarity itself in today’s game), and then by settling for a quiet raise to game facing a balanced 20-21. Declarer made ten tricks: N/S +430.

The French were more ambitious in the replay…

Once Lorenzini had opened the North hand, it was just about inevitable that Anne-Laure Tartarin (right) would drive to slam. Zmuda understandably did not want to lead away from any of her kings, so she opened a spade, which gave declarer nothing. Lorenzini won in dummy and immediately played the ♣A and a second club to the queen. Zmuda won with the ♣K and exited safely with a second spade. Declarer now had eight tricks and thus needed the diamond suit to produce four more. In the end, it all came down to possession of the ♦7 and, with Klukowski holding that card, declarer could come to only 11 tricks. N/S +50 and 10 IMPs to EDMONDS.

EDMONDS won the second stanza 53-25, reducing the deficit to only 2 IMPs (65-67) at the midway point of the match. The huge crowd watching live on BBO VuGraph buckled up for another 28 exciting boards in this one, and they were not disappointed. TURNIPS won a low-scoring third stanza 17-16 to lead 84-81 going into the final 14 boards. EDMONDS gained 12 IMPs over the first three boards of the set to lead by 9 IMPs, but could not pull away, and back came the French with a series of small gains. In the end, TURNIPS won the final stanza 21-17 and thus advanced into the final with victory by a score of 105-98.

The World Mixed Pairs champions will have to settle for bronze medals on this occasion. I am delighted to confirm that the BBO Expert Bidding Panel is now guaranteed medals of all three colours from this event. Whilst Michal Klukowski will collect bronze, both teams in the final include one of our experts, Cedric Lorenzini in TURNIPS and Simon Hult in OTRA VEZ. Which one will collect gold? We will find out tomorrow.

The Seniors Teams finished today, and I’m happy to report that another of the BBO Panel collected a medal from that event, with Zia Mahmood earning silver.

We will be back soon to bring you the best of the action from the final of the Mixed Teams.