After the second semifinal session, Kalin Karaivanov and Roumen Trendafilov were leading the field. In this report, we show you a selection from their successes, as well as a few mediocrities, during that session. In between, we are having glances at other tables as well.

On the first board of the session, Trendafilov as East made 11 tricks in spades when South refused to ruff any of the three winning hearts led through him.

North had elected to open 1© for systemic reasons and East had overcalled 1NT. After a transfer he became declarer and South led a heart. Dummy's jack won, and two rounds of trumps were followed by a string of winning hearts, declarer throwing dummy's clubs.

At another table, the auction had been more revealing. North opened 1¨, Mari overcalled 1©, South doubled (implying a four-card in spades) and Faigenbaum bid and rebid spades to become declarer in 2ª. Against a heart lead, he was in a position to take the immediate spade finesse and thus ended up with 12 tricks!

Then, there was a board where NS seemed not to believe how well they had been doing:

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

West	North	East	South
Karaivanov		Trendafilov
Pass	Pass	1¨	2©
2ª	2NT	3ª	4¨
4ª	Pass	Pass	Double (!)
Pass	5©	Pass	Pass
Double	All Pass

North first made a classic psychic of 2NT but then looked like getting nervous about his own bidding when partner doubled 4ª. As a result, a near top changed into a near bottom, as both 4ª and 5© have to go one down. As it was, only few pairs had doubled 4ª...

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

West	North	East	South
Karaivanov	Burgay	Trendafilov	Mariani
		Pass	1¨
Pass	1©	Pass	1NT
All Pass

Well, at the table the Italians did not seem to be too happy with the final contract, but with many pairs going down in 4© the mp score was quite satisfactory for them. If the defenders do not lead clubs against 4©, which is likely to be the case if East is on lead, the question arises what would be the best way to try and make the hand. You can take the diamond finesse hoping to get a club discard, or you can try to bring down the ¨Q in three rounds. The latter option works but is clearly the inferior line, so even without a club lead you are likely to go down in 4©.

Jacek Romanski made an imaginative bid on this board:

Board 11, Dealer South, None Vul.   ª J 9 8 6 © 3 2 ¨ 10 7 § K J 6 5 3 ª 7 4 3 © A J 4 ¨ 9 8 4 2 § A 9 2 ª K 5 2 © K Q 10 9 8 5 ¨ Q J 5 § 4   ª A Q 10 © 7 6 ¨ A K 6 3 § Q T 8 7

West	North	East	South
			1NT
Pass	Pass	2©	Pass
Pass	Double	Pass	2ª (!)
All Pass

With North's double clearly showing four spades, the 3-4 fit looks attractive enough as hearts can be ruffed with the short trumps. On a spade lead to the king and ace, Romanski settled for a safe nine tricks by drawing just two rounds of trumps and then playing on clubs, conceding a ruff. Still, +140 was an excellent score for NS, of course.

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

Here, the courageous pairs might score 200 in defending 3§ doubled, but would you dare? When two of the leading pairs met, this is what happened:

West	North	East	South
Karaivanov	Birman	Trendafilov	Zeligman
	1NT	Pass	2¨
3§	Pass	Pass	Double
Pass	3¨	All Pass

David Birman

By bidding 3¨ David Birman offered a choice of final contracts, and Shalom Zeligman was happy to pass it. The §Q was led and how should South play? Zeligman wanted to save the §K as an entry to his hand, so he put up dummy's ace. His next move was the ¨A. After a long huddle, he continued with the ¨Q, thus scooping the jack and drawing level again with those who would win the §K and take the straightforward diamond finesse. +130 was good for NS, certainly with the hearts 5-1, but it might have been 200. On the next board we saw four completely different auctions, each time with a different player opening the bidding.

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

West	North	East	South
	Drijver		De Wijs
		1NT	Pass
2¨	Pass	2©	Pass
Pass	Double	Pass	2NT
Double	3§	Pass	Pass
Double	All Pass

2 NT was scrambling, of course. The contract went one down, NS -100.

At our second table East passed, so it was South who, according to his pet system, could open 1NT. This was passed all round and West led the obvious ©K. Declarer, fearing a spade switch of course, immediately took the ace and led a club to the jack. When this held, he led a diamond from dummy. Now East has to rise with the ace to defeat the contract by one trick. If East ducks, declarer reverts to clubs and makes his contract, losing four hearts and two aces. That's what happened at the table; NS +90 was an excellent score for them.

The Bulgarian leaders had different ideas about this hand again. After two passes, Karaivanov as West opened 1© and East raised to 2NT, showing limited heart support. West was quick to sign off, but with hearts as trumps there are always nine tricks, even on a trump lead. You win the lead, play a spade up and duck a club. If the defenders do not lead the ©A and another, you can ruff a club now; if they do, you have gained a vital tempo to set up the spades and dispose of the diamond loser.

A fourth variation of how to deal with this hand was shown by Kowalski. At his table, he was in fourth seat when it went; Pass - Pass - Pass. Understandably, he also passed...for a very good score indeed!

Board 15, ealer South, North-South Vul.   ª J 9 6 5 © Q J ¨ 9 8 5 4 § A 4 2 ª 10 8 7 2 © - ¨ 10 6 3 § Q J 9 8 7 5 ª - © K 10 8 7 5 3 ¨ K Q 7 2 § K 10 6   ª A K Q 4 3 © A 9 6 4 2 ¨ A J § 3

On this one, a declarer who prefers to remain anonymous bid and made a slam against defenders who, most likely, will feel happy when their names are withheld too. South opened 1ª, North raised to 3ª, East bid 4© and South went to 6ª without any further ado.

Now this contracts seems to have no chance at all, but wait and see! West led the §Q won by the ace and declarer led a diamond from dummy. East played low and South inserted the jack, which held the trick. Of course, declarer knew that the hearts had to be 6-0, but he also knew one more thing: the defenders might well not think that South might have hearts as his second suit. Trumps had to be drawn anyway, so East had to find discards. When he had discarded a third heart on the third round of trumps, the contract was home, as one heart, one way or the other, was the only possible loser left. A candidate for the fluke prize?

Board 21 produced a wild variety of scores. In the A semifinal, scores went from +50 to -1400 but in the B semifinal the range was even wider. Scores ran from +300 to -2000...

A remarkable 700 occurred when this was the auction:

Board 21, Dealer North, North-South Vul.   ª Q 10 8 7 © 7 6 ¨ 7 6 4 § 9 8 6 3 ª K © K Q J 9 ¨ Q 8 § A K Q 10 7 5 ª A 9 5 4 3 2 © 3 ¨ K 10 3 2 § J 4   ª J 6 © A 10 8 5 4 2 ¨ A J 9 5 § 2

West	North	East	South
	Pass	2©	Double
Pass (?!)	3§	All Pass

Well, 2© showed a weak two in spades or a variety of strong hands, and the double showed hearts. When West had the courage to pass, North had a problem. When 3§ came round to West, he realised that this might well go down a lot more than the 400 or so available to EW in 3NT, so he passed again. Right he was; on good defence (not so difficult) declarer went seven light for a score rarely seen since 1987.

On the last board of this report, the Bulgarians missed a golden opportunity:

Board 23, Dealer South, All Vul.   ª A Q J 10 5 2 © J 9 ¨ K 9 2 § A 4 ª 6 © A ¨ 10 6 5 4 3 § Q 10 8 6 5 3 ª 8 4 3 © 8 5 4 3 ¨ A Q J 8 § K 2   ª K 9 7 © K Q 10 7 6 2 ¨ 7 § J 9 7

West	North	East	South
Karaivanov		Trendafilov
			2¨
Pass	2©	Pass	Pass
2NT	Double	Redouble	Pass
3§	3©	4¨	Pass
Pass	4©	All Pass

It looks as if Karaivanov did not get the messages Trendafilov was trying to convey by first redoubling and then showing good diamond support freely at the four-level. One would think East was showing serious support here as well as a willingness to compete further. As you see, 5¨ can be made on the hand. So for once, the leaders did not get a good result, but they still managed to end the session with a score of well over 60%.