Round 28: Poland v. Sweden (Open),
Netherlands v. France (Women)

by Jos Jacobs

Anneke Simons, Netherlands

On Thursday afternoon, in either series a top match had been scheduled. In the Open Series, Poland, having just been defeated heavily (9-21) by Croatia, would have to face Sweden, whose tails were up after their 23-7 win v. Greece in the morning. This meant that Sweden by now are pretty certain to qualify, whereas the Poles would have some work to do as their safety margin had sunk to only 10 V.P.

In the Women’s Series, this was to be the big day for the reigning champions from the Netherlands. Though their qualification looked a certainty before the match started, they would have to play for the medals today, facing first France and then Sweden, who were lying 2nd and 1st at the start of the day.

Below, we present a simultaneous report of both matches. This has been made possible courtesy of BBO who brought us live reports from all four tables in play.

Board 1 looked like a routine 3NT down one, but in the women’s match something went wrong.

Board 1. Dealer North. None Vul.
	ª J 7 4 © A 8 7 6 ¨ 7 § K J 8 5 3
ª K 10 9 3 © Q J 4 ¨ Q 5 3 § A 9 6		ª A 8 2 © 9 3 ¨ A K 10 8 § Q 7 4 2
	ª Q 6 5 © K 10 5 2 ¨ J 9 6 4 2 § 10

Closed Room:
West	North	East	South
Simons	Cronier	Pasman	Willard
	Pass	1§	Pass
1ª	Pass	1NT	Pass
3NT	All Pass

Sylvie Willard, France

It looks as if declarer has an easy ride after this lead. She can easily establish a third winner in spades giving her an 8th trick, and once the defence lead hearts the 9th trick is there. Alernatively, she can develop an extra club trick by playing low to the queen.

At the table, however, Jet Pasman could not believe her luck, apparently. She won the diamond lead cheaply in hand and, instead of playing spades first, went straight after the clubs. This way, she established a second trick in the suit for herself, but three club winners for North who simply covered the §9 from dummy with the jack. As the ©AK were still out, she had to go one down now.