One of the pre-tournament favorites pairs was Catherine D'Ovidio and Paul Chemla but a score just under 49% in the first session put them under some pressure as it was obvious they would need a good 52 % to qualify among the first 130 pairs. Coming into the last eight boards we managed to watch what proved to be eventually the French pair's recovery. Their faces though were rather dull.

I WISH I DIDN´T HAVE TO LEAD

This was probably what Catherine thought when holding:

ª Q107 ©AQJ92 ¨ K96 § Q9

against her old friend and rival from Germany Pony Nehmert who is playing with Michael Yuen. As declarer he had opened 1NT (15/17), Two Hearts from the dummy (transfer), Two Spades, Three Diamonds, Four Spades from the opener.

Make your choice before having a look at board 20.

Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
	ª 8 3 © 6 5 4 ¨ A 8 7 3 § 10 8 4 3
ª A J 9 4 2 © 10 8 3 ¨ Q J 10 5 § 7		ª K 6 5 © K 7 ¨ 4 2 § A K J 6 5 2
	ª Q 10 7 © A Q J 9 2 ¨ K 9 6 § Q 9

Catherine led the ace of hearts, followed by the queen, and in no time East claimed her contract after successfully negotiating the trump position. Did you lead a diamond? Well done, but I just do not believe it! Anyhow, you get a score of 8% on the board.

DIFFICULT BID

This time, Paul was in a difficult position on board 21 against Mierzejewska (Mier to her friends) Aleksandra and Marek Witak from Poland .He was red against green and held:
ª 9874 © - ¨ AQ9742 § KJ3

He opened One Diamond, his partner responded One Spade, Two Hearts on his right, he raised to Two Spades, Three Hearts on his left, Four Hearts, a cue bid from his partner, Five Hearts on his right.

Your choice?

He passed with not too much of a problem, and his partner bid Five Spades. Do you raise or not? Partner has shown more than Four Spades but your trumps are not that good. Well, he passed. Would you or wouldn't you?
The full deal was

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

On a heart lead, South took an easy 13 tricks for a rather good score of 69%

TO BE DISCUSSED WITH YOUR PARTNER

Next board 22 caused trouble to the Polish pair. What meaning would you give to East's double in the sequence:

West North East South
1¨ Pass
1NT 2ª Dbl All Pass

for East it was a take out, but for West a penalty double. Paul made his contract for +470 with many scores of 620 for East/West as the four hands were:

Board 22. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª A Q 8 7 6 © J ¨ 10 6 4 3 § A 5 2
ª K 10 4 © 10 8 5 3 ¨ Q 9 § K 8 7 4		ª 5 © A Q 7 6 ¨ A K J 8 7 5 § Q 10
	ª J 9 3 2 © K 9 4 2 ¨ 2 § J 9 6 3

Anyhow it is a good point to discuss with your partner.

IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHO IS PLAYING

Board 24 , the French pair faced Gordana Bratusa and Zoran Vukelic from Croatia

Board 24. Dealer West. None Vul.
	ª A Q 10 9 8 © J 7 5 ¨ 10 8 6 3 § A
ª K 5 2 © A 8 6 ¨ A K 9 4 § K 9 6		ª J 6 3 © Q 10 9 ¨ - § Q 10 8 7 4 3 2
	ª 7 4 © K 4 3 2 ¨ Q J 7 5 2 § J 5

West opened One No trump, North overcalled Two Hearts, transfer, East surprisingly passed and reopened with Three Clubs after South's bid of Two Spades. That was the final contract. Played from the wrong side of the table the contract could be held to nine tricks. The defence went wrong and allowed the declarer to take 11 tricks but still got 57% on the board as 3NT is cold as the cards lie and Five Clubs is difficult to beat with West as the declarer. May we suggest Rubensohl in this situation. East bids Two No trumps over Two Hearts as a transfer for Clubs.

IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO IS PLAYING

Marcel Leflon and Catherine Poulain from France came for the last round. This was board 25

Board 25. Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	ª 8 7 3 © K 4 ¨ A J 8 7 § A K J 3
ª A 10 5 4 © 9 8 ¨ K Q 10 2 § Q 7 4		ª K Q J 6 © J 3 ¨ 5 4 § 10 9 6 5 2
	ª 9 2 © A Q 10 7 6 5 2 ¨ 9 6 3 § 8

Four Hearts was played by South because West doubled South's Two Diamonds transfer. West led the king of diamonds and South took the obvious eleven tricks, not risking the club finesse. It can be noticed that played by North on a spade lead the result is the same.

Even without any club finesse as West is squeezed in minors .So it happens that opening leads have no consequence after all.

The French pair scored 53 % and had still some work to do to climb from their 175th position in the ranking after two qualifying…..or eliminating sessions.