Welcome back to Strasbourg, where it is quarter-finals day in the Mixed teams at the European Transnational Championships. At the end of the previous article, I observed that the four surviving teams that would have been amongst the pre-tournament favourites had all avoided each other in the quarter-final draw. However, I suggested that at least one of them would not make it through today.

Let’s see if we can find a match with World champions on both teams… As the only all-French team still in the competition (TURNIPS are almost French but have a Swiss interloper), CRASH will, no doubt, enjoy the vocal support of the locals here in Strasbourg. Of course, there are no easy matches at this stage of the competition, and the home-town favourites can expect to have their work cut out against one of the obvious contenders for the title, EDMONDS (USA/Poland/Switzerland). The reigning World Mixed Teams champions have already exited this event, but the EDMONDS team includes the current World Mixed Pairs champions, the husband and wife pairing of Michal Klukowski and Justyna Zmuda.

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

What do you bid?

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

What, if anything, do you open?

EDMONDS got out to an early lead, ahead by 20 IMPs (46-26) after the first stanza. It was not long before they added to their advantage, albeit on what looked like a dull partscore deal.

When I saw this board played, I expected to report a swing caused by South’s takeout double on a 4333 shape with the length in the suit opened. However, with 1♣ openings becoming ever-more nebulous, takeout doubles of 1♣ have followed and also become less shape-oriented, just showing opening values.

I would not expect the French pair in the other room to duplicate the auction here – I think raising responder’s major without four-card support is still a guillotinable offense in La Republic. They would likely play in 1NT, which is the better spot, with three diamonds and four spades to make on any defence. Joel Wooldridge only made it home in his 2♠ contract because Joanna Zochowska happened upon the normal-looking opening lead of a diamond. Thus, one of declarer’s heart losers disappeared and he still had time to establish a club ruff in dummy: E/W +110.

After the same start to the auction, Justyna Zmuda (left) wasn’t prepared to give up quite so easily. Her 2♦ bid seems to have hamstrung the French by their failure to play support doubles. Had Philippe Cronier been able to double to show three-card spade support, it seems likely that the French would have duplicated the result (or, at least, the contract) in the other room. Without that tool, perhaps East should bid 2♠ anyway…?

When he did not, the pass/compete decision fell to Benedicte Cronier on the West cards. Once she backed in with 3♣, Michal Klukowski was not going to miss this chance to punish his opponents on a deal where his side can make next to nothing. E/W -300 and 9 IMPs to EDMONDS.

On the very next deal, both East players faced the first of the problems posed earlier…

Jodi Edmonds (right) made her international debut just last year, claiming a bronze medal in the Women’s teams at the World Championships in Wroclaw. In the Mixed Teams at the same event she reached the quarter-finals.

On this deal, the auction began with the three obvious natural bids. At her second turn, Edmonds raised spades to the two-level, perhaps deciding that her maximum in terms of high cards offset the lack of a fourth trump.

Joanna Zochowska opened a trump, dummy’s jack winning the trick. Joel Wooldridge played dummy’s diamond and, when South played low, put in the ♦10, forcing North’s ace. The defence got two clubs and the ♥K, but declarer had no trouble taking the rest from here: E/W +140.

Philippe Cronier (left) took the opposite view of the East hand. He preferred to rebid his six-card suit, and jumped to the three-level to show invitational values. Again, there was no further bidding.

Michal Klukowski led the ♣K. Justyna Zmuda overtook with the ♣A and switched to a trump. Declarer ducked, so Klukowski won with the ♥K and returned a second trump. With the third club loser now exposed, simply drawing trumps and knocking out the ♦A would give the defenders five tricks. That’s one too many if you are declarer. So, Cronier won the second round of trumps in dummy with the ♥Q and guessed the spades by playing low to the jack. When that lost, the defenders had six tricks: E/W -200 and 8 IMPs to EDMONDS.

Two very innocuous deals, and yet the Edmonds team had added 17 IMPs to their lead. Watching, Klukowski and Zmuda in the Open Room, they are relentless, giving absolutely nothing but jumping all over every small mis-step by their opponents. Most impressive indeed. The French desperately need to halt the steady flow of IMPs in the minus column, or this match will be done and dusted early.

The score on the stanza had advanced to 20-10 when the final deal of the first half arrived at the tables. Pressure, pressure, pressure -- the best teams constantly make thing difficult for their opponents. Both West players had to decide what, if anything, to open on the last of today’s problem hands…

In first seat, if you have a moderate or good hand, you want to open the bidding to get the constructive auction rolling. If you have a weak hand, the odds are 2-to-1 that it is one of the opponents who holds a good hand. At those odds, you surely want to pre-empt as often as possible and, at favourable vulnerability, at just about any excuse. I suppose it is a matter of style and philosophy but, to my mind, when I have a weak hand AND only three cards in the majors, what possible excuse can there be not to pre-empt? Joel Woolridge (right) couldn’t find one, and thus he invited his French opponents to begin their auction at the three-level.

Should Zochowska show more enthusiasm over 3♠? She has already overcalled vulnerable at the three-level, but A-x-x-x is huge support for partner’s suit in this auction. For sure, when you raise to 4♠, your hand could be far less suitable. But, would a 4♣ cue-bid raise be too much on what is still essentially only a 12-count? Not knowing about the tenth trump, Pierre Schmidt settled for a small slam as soon as he found out that the ♠Q was missing. There were 13 easy tricks: N/S +1460.

The French are probably still a couple of decades away from adopting the pre-empting style that has recently become avant garde in the expert community. Even so, passing first up at green on this West hand does appear ultra-conservative.

By the time the French pair did get into the auction, it was all too little, too late. Having raised spades, Zmuda got to cue-bid hearts twice. By the time he rolled out Blackwood, Klukowski (left) had a good idea where he was headed. Of the eight N/S pairs in the quarter-finals, they were the only ones to reach the grand (and one even stopped in game). Well bid! E/W +2210 and 13 IMPs to EDMONDS to close out the first half.

The EDMONDS bandwagon keeps on rolling, and shows no sign of even slowing down, never mind stalling altogether. At the midway point of the match, they led by 42 IMPs, 78-36. After a flat third set, they then won the final stanza 30-2 to seal an impressive victory by 142-72? Can anyone stop them?

So, did all of the favourites make it through to the semi-finals? No, of course, not. Another who did so emphatically was ROBINSON, who defeated GROUP ONE TEAM 141-81. TURKISH POWER, who survived the Round of 32 via an extra-board shootout following a tied match, were involved in another close one. This time, they came out on the short end, losing to TURNIPS by just 2 IMPs, 126-128. That leaves SPARKLING VINTAGES, who have, appropriately, been in sparkling form up to this point in these championships. They lost the first two sets against ORTA VEZ (Sweden/Portugal) and trailed by 34 IMPs at the midway point. Although the German/Danish combination won the final set, they were too far behind and went out 99-118.

A word about the wonderful performance by ORTA VEZ, a team of four that includes a couple of young Swedish stars in the making, who only decided to play this event at the last moment, when their Under-21 event was cancelled. This may all seem a bit unfair to supporters of some countries – the Swedes have won the last two Venice Cup competitions: do they really need even more young, world-class women players?

The semi-final draw pits ORTA VEZ against ROBINSON, and TURNIPS against EDMONDS. We will be back soon with the best of the action from the semi-finals.