This is our penultimate day in Strasbourg at the European Transnational Championships. We have reached the semi-finals of the Open Teams. The matchups are VINCI (Italy) v FRANCE GREEN (France) and VINCIGUERRA (France/Monaco) v LANKVELD (Netherlands).

The margin was almost 50 IMPs after the opening set of one of the matches. We join LANKVELD against VINCIGUERRA at the start of the second stanza with the visitors holding a 25-IMP lead (37-12) over the hometown favourites.

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

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with neither side vulnerable you hold as West:

What action, if any, do you take?

The hundreds watching live on BBO VuGraph were still getting their coffee refills and settling down after the break when the action got underway. Both West players had to decide whether to come in on the first of the problem hands above.

It’s a vision from the past… Wubbo de Boer (left) (playing with Sir Bauke Muller) was a member of what was then the youngest ever winners of the Bermuda Bowl when the Dutch scored their first victory in the event in 1993, but he has rarely been seen on the international stage over the past decade. On this deal, he forced to game with a natural 2♣ response and caught a raise from Agnes Snellers, the only woman player remaining in the Open event. De Boer moved forward with a value-showing 3♦ and Snellers showed her shortage with a jump to 4♥. The 6♣ response to Blackwood confirmed that the shortage was a void. There was no spade ruff available to the defence, so that was N/S +920.

The Dutch made it much more difficult for their opponents in the replay.

Joris van Lankveld (right) overcalled 2♥ on the West hand, which does look fairly normal to me. Philippe Soulet showed both minors with a negative double and Berend van den Bos upped the ante to the four-level. Perhaps if Herve Vinciguerra had been certain his partner held four clubs, he might have bid game in that suit. Perhaps Soulet would have raised, but that all sounds like a lot of ifs.

As it was, Vinciguerra was looking at good spades, so he simply rebid his suit over East’s pre-empt. Soulet does have some extra values, but two low spades is hardly inspiring, and you would not want to get to slam with that spade suit as trumps either. N/S +680 and 12 IMPs to LANKVELD.

Rather than apologizing for missing this slam, the French pair should probably be asking their teammates why they didn’t make life difficult for their counterparts.

Some might jump to 3NT on the North hand over South’s 2♦ rebid. Soulet probed with a fourth-suit 3♣ and was rewarded when Herve Vinciguerra (left) could bid 3NT.

There was no particularly attractive lead from that West hand, and Van Lankveld’s ♣4 did not really frighten declarer. Vinciguerra captured the ♣J with his king and played a heart to dummy’s king. Van den Bos won with the ♥A and returned a club, West clearing the suit. Winning with the ♣Q, Vinciguerra played a heart to the queen (catering for the suit 3-3 or a doubleton jack or ten). A third round of hearts then split the defensive cards. The defenders could score their long club, but declarer had the rest. N/S +600.

De Boer did jump to 3NT at his second turn. His punishment was a more testing spade lead to dummy’s singleton ace. When declarer started hearts by playing low to the nine, he was toast. Bessis won with the ♥10, played a spade to his partner’s king, and Lorenzini continued with a third round of spades. It does not help declarer to duck the queen (that would be the fifth trick for the defence), so De Boer won with the ♠Q and advanced the ♥K. When East showed up with the ♥A, Bessis could cash his spade winners for two down. N/S -200 and 13 IMPs to VINCIGUERRA.

With everyone bidding so much in the modern game, it is important that you make your opponents pay when they step out of line.

Perhaps a pre-emptive 3♦ overcall would have worked better on that East hand. If nothing else, it might perhaps have persuaded East not to bid again. When Vinciguerra raised directly to 4♥, Van Lankveld presumably thought he was being stolen from, and my guess is that he intended his double as a suggestion to defend. Indeed, having doubled, 4♥x+1 for -690 was the best result available to the Dutch.

Van den Bos removed to 4♠ and South had something to say about the viability of that as a contract. When Van Lankveld corrected to diamonds, Philippe Soulet (right) duly doubled. This West hand provides another illustration of how useless balanced hands are in dummy when sacrificing. As usual, it is always more expensive than you expect. All declarer could make was five trump tricks and his two side-suit aces. Four down: N/S +800.

After the same start, Agnes Snellers (left) raised hearts via a cue-bid, leaving Cedric Lorenzini with the second of today’s problems. Presumably, a double would have been takeout, suggesting spades, rather than just showing a moderate diamond raise, else it would seem to be the obvious action. With double not available, West was left with a choice between a rather pusillanimous pass or a clear overbid with a 3♥ cue-bid. Lorenzini chose the latter.

De Boer seemed to let the French off the hook with his 4♣ bid, but Bessis was not done yet, and ploughed ahead with 4♠. It now looked as if the French were going to flatten their teammates’ good board, but South did not double 4♠ (why?)

With a singleton diamond and only J-x of spades, it is easy to see why De Boer thought both sides may have a double fit, hence his decision to bid a five-over-five 5♥ and let the French pair escape.

The lack of entries to the South hand made the play in 5♥ tricky, but De Boer found just enough routes into dummy. He won the diamond opening, played a heart to the king and ace, and ruffed the diamond continuation. He then led a low spade from his hand. Bessis thought for some time (although there is no winning choice) before taking his ace and playing a third diamond. De Boer ruffed, overtook the ♠J and advanced the ♥10. Lorenzini covered but declarer could get back to dummy twice more in trumps to discard a club on a winning spade and take two club finesses. N/S +450 but 8 IMPs to VINCIGUERRA.

There was just one more chance for a swing.

Bessis opened a natural weak 2♠, leaving Agnes Snellers with an awkward initial choice. A simple 3♦ overcall does not look like enough. However, neither double with a singleton in the unbid major nor 4NT with such suit disparity are particularly attractive either. I don’t know whether 4♦ was also an option, or whether that would be Leaping Michaels, showing both red suits.

Snellers opted for double, but then had another decision to make when De Boer responded with a Lebensohl 2NT. Is 3♦ enough now or should you risk a jump to 4♦? Snellers settled for 3♦ and De Boer probably did not think he was even close to a raise on his flat 5-count. N/S +150.

Van den Bos opened a Multi on the East hand, and Vinciguerra had a fairly easy double (usually showing either 12-15 balanced or various strong hands). Van Lankveld’s 2♠ bid showed game interest if his partner’s major was hearts, but not if it was spades. When 2♠ came back to him, Vinciguerra had a similar choice and also settled for 3♦. N/S +150 and a push.

VINCIGUERRA just edged the second set 34-28, so the Dutch went into the halftime break ahead by 19 IMPs. A couple of toes in the final, perhaps, but there was still a lot of bridge left in this one. And, so it proved, as the French won the third stanza 32-14, making the match score 79-78 to LANKVELD. The Dutch gained 22 unanswered IMPs over the opening six boards of the final set, extending their lead to 23 IMPs with eight deals remaining. But, back came the French, winning 42-0 over the remaining boards to win 120-101.

With FRANCE GREEN defeating VINCI 158-104 in the other semi-final, it will be an all-French final. Cedric Lorenzini also carries the flag for the BBO panel, looking to pick up a most impressive double, having already won the Mixed Teams earlier in this championship.

We will be back soon with the best of the action for the Open Teams final.