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A nice hand to play was board 7.

Board 7 - Dealer South, All vul.
	ª 6 5 © J 5 ¨ K J 9 8 2 § K J 4 2
ª A 8 4 3 © A 8 3 ¨ 6 5 3 § 8 7 6		ª K Q 10 9 7 2 © K 10 6 ¨ A 10 7 § 5
	ª J © Q 9 7 4 2 ¨ Q 4 § A Q 10 9 3

Only a diamond lead beats 4ª for EW. On a club lead, declarer can always eliminate the clubs and draw trumps. After that, just cash the ©AK and play ¨A and another. If south is allowed to hold the queen, he can cash one more heart but then has to give a ruff and discard. If it's north who elects to win the second diamond, he can cash one more trick in the suit but then it's his turn for the ruff/sluff as well.

On a diamond lead, declarer has to give up the lead once, enough for the defenders to cash their two diamond tricks and wait for the heart trick to come.

On board 9, game was on for NS with the club finesse working, but not all pairs involved bid it. So there were swing all round, but the most curious one occurred in the Sweden v. Netherlands match.

Board 9 - Dealer North, EW vul.
	ª 7 6 4 3 © 7 2 ¨ A K J 7 § 5 4 2
ª Q 10 5 2 © Q J 10 8 4 ¨ 10 8 § 10 9		ª K J 9 © K 9 6 5 ¨ Q 5 2 § K 8 6
	ª A 8 © A 3 ¨ 9 6 4 3 § A Q J 7 3

EW play five-card majors, but the 1¨ response is ambiguous: either natural or 0-7 any shape. As NS did not enter the bidding, EW were allowed to make 1© with an overtrick, while their team-mates duly reached game for an unexpected 11-imp swing to The Netherlands.

The Vugraph match between Poland 2 and England was a low-scoring one. Here we have two consecutive boards on which either side gained a swing.

Board 13 - Dealer North, All vul.
	ª 10 9 8 6 © 10 8 7 5 ¨ 9 8 5 § Q J
ª J 7 4 3 2 © 6 4 ¨ 10 6 § K 6 4 2		ª 5 © J 2 ¨ A K Q 3 § A 9 8 7 5 3
	ª A K Q © A K Q 9 3 ¨ J 7 4 2 § 10

This went one off, but with 4© not making it was not the optimum result for Poland.

Here the English did better, choosing to defend 4© which duly went one down. So they gained 7 imps by scoring 200 in the Closed Room and 100 more in the Open Room.

In the Austria v. Poland 1 match, something went wrong somewhere. At one table, NS were allowed to play 2©, making with two overtricks, whereas at the other table, NS took the push to no less than 5© and were lucky not to get doubled there. As a result, 8 imps to Poland 1.

Board 14 - Dealer East, None vul.
	ª A Q 10 9 8 6 2 © A ¨ 10 9 5 3 § 10
ª 5 3 © K 10 3 ¨ K 7 4 § Q 7 5 3 2		ª K J 7 © Q 7 6 4 ¨ A 8 6 2 § J 4
	ª 4 © J 9 8 5 2 ¨ Q J § A K 9 8 6

The English handed back the imps won on the previous deal immediately:

North made an overtrick for a pretty normal 140. But:

Here, West thought he could afford one more try. Wrong, 500 away and 8  imps to Poland 2.

To end this report, here is board 16

Board 16 - Dealer West, EW vul.
	ª A K Q 10 8 6 2 © 5 ¨ K Q § Q J 9
ª J © K 7 ¨ 8 7 6 4 3 § K 10 7 5 4		ª 7 4 © A 10 8 6 4 2 ¨ A 2 § A 6 3
	ª 9 6 3 © Q J 9 3 ¨ J 10 9 6 § 8 2

The contract was 4ª by NS at all tables. There are four top losers, but remarkably enough, only Goldberg-Wenneberg, EW for Sweden v. Netherlands, managed to beat it. To achieve this result, they used a device well-known in chess: a so-called tempo move. East led a trump!

Suddenly, EW are in complete control of the defensive position. Declarer can draw one more trump but then will probably play a top diamond from hand. Now, east can simply duck this and watch his partner's cards. First, west threw the ¨8 showing an odd number. Next, west threw the ¨4, suggesting values in clubs. So out came the ©A followed by the §A and a club. Well done. Sweden +10 imps.