For many of us, the Italian semifinal very much looks like a final. As a consequence, one would tend to concentrate on that match, but that’s not my idea for today. We have two semifinal matches in progress so why not try to cover them both? In fact, covering the Parioli v. Allegra match would have been very much like broadcasting AS Roma v. Juventus in soccer: after one hour’s play, that ìs to say well into the second half, Juventus opened the score to lead 1-0. When they went into the last three boards the score still stood at 1-0; I will turn my attention to that match after reporting about the happenings in the other match on the first nine boards. On the first board, Schaltz took the lead in convincing fashion:

Board 1. Dlr: North/None
	♠ A 10 9 8 4 ♥ 9 8 6 2 ♦ 10 6 ♣ 10 2
♠ Q J 7 6 5 3 2 ♥ A Q 5 ♦ J ♣ 6 5		♠ K ♥ K J 3 ♦ A 7 5 4 3 2 ♣ A K 3
	♠ ♥ 10 7 4 ♦ K Q 9 8 ♣ Q J 9 8 7 4

Open Room

West	North	East	South
Christiansen	Kandemir	Schaltz M	Zorlu
	Pass	1♣	3♣
3♠	Pass	3NT	Pass
4♠	All pass

Well, had EW reached the spade slam here, we could only have regretted the disastrous trump break. To reach a slam would have been a tremendous performance anyway, so +420 was a just reward for sound bidding, even more so after the twosuited warning given by South in the auction. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Kubac	Bruun	Tarhan	Fredin
	Pass	1♦	Pass
1♠	Pass	2NT	Pass
3♣	Pass	3NT	All pass

Of course, West expected more of his spades but when they did not break at all 3NT could not be made any more. Down four, Schaltz another +200 to win 12 imps. They lost those imps right on the next board:

Board 2. Dlr: East/NS
	♠ A K 10 4 ♥ K 7 6 ♦ K 8 4 3 ♣ A 10
♠ Q 2 ♥ A 10 9 5 3 ♦ 7 ♣ K J 9 4 3		♠ J 9 8 6 ♥ 8 2 ♦ Q J 9 2 ♣ 7 6 5
	♠ 7 5 3 ♥ Q J 4 ♦ A 10 6 5 ♣ Q 8 2

Open Room

West	North	East	South
Christiansen	Kandemir	Schaltz M	Zorlu
		2♦	Pass
Pass	2NT	Pass	3NT
All pass

The nice fancy opening bid did not do EW any good when East made the lead of the ♦Q. It gave declarer all four diamond tricks when the beer card appeared in West. What was worse: it also lost a tempo so Kandemir ended up with an overtrick. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Kubac	Bruun	Tarhan	Fredin
		Pass	Pass
1♥	Dbl	Pass	1NT
2♣	2NT	Pass	3NT

At the other table, no fancy opening bids and a low club lead by West. As declarer has to give up a heart and a diamond trick the clubs would always get established in time to set the contract. Besiktas another +100 and 12 imps back. Not much action until we saw another Fredin double: Board 8. Dlr: West/None

	♠ 10 8 ♥ A 8 4 2 ♦ J 7 5 4 ♣ Q 5 2
♠ A K ♥ 10 9 7 3 ♦ K 10 8 6 2 ♣ K 6		♠ 9 6 5 4 ♥ K J 5 ♦ Q 3 ♣ A J 9 7
	♠ Q J 7 3 2 ♥ Q 6 ♦ A 9 ♣ 10 8 4 3

@bit2: Open Room

West	North	East	South
Christiansen	Kandemir	Schaltz M	Zorlu
1♥	Pass	2♦	Pass
3♦	Pass	3NT	All pass

1♥ was Canapé and 2♦ showed 3+ hearts, at least invitational. 3♦ and 3NT were natural and South led the ♠Q. As declarer had to lose tricks to the ♥Q, ♥A, ♦A and ♦J he could not come to nine tricks any more and went one down. On any other lead it would have been plain sailing. Well done by Besiktas, +50 to them. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Kubac	Bruun	Tarhan	Fredin
1♦	Pass	1♠	Pass
1NT	Pass	2NT	Pass
3NT	Pass	Pass	Dbl
Pass	Pass	4♣	Dbl
All pass

At the other table, however, Peter Fredin did not trust the opponents’ bidding completely and doubled for a spade lead. This would have led to down two and a small gain, but East surprisingly ran to 4♣ which went even three down on a trump lead. Schaltz 10 imps back to take the lead for the second time in the match. On board 10, an extra undertrick gave Parioli 3 imps in their match, so they too went into the lead against Allegra, 3-1 at the time. On the last two boards of the set, all sorts of things happened:

Board 11. Dlr: South/None
	♠ K Q 10 5 2 ♥ A 9 6 ♦ 10 9 ♣ J 6 4
♠ 9 7 ♥ K 5 4 ♦ K 8 7 5 2 ♣ K 10 5		♠ 6 ♥ J 3 2 ♦ A Q J 4 3 ♣ A 7 3 2
	♠ A J 8 4 3 ♥ Q 10 8 7 ♦ 6 ♣ Q 9 8

Open Room

West	North	East	South
Versace	Bocchi	Lauria	Duboin
			Pass
Pass	1♠	Dbl	4♦
Dbl	4♠	All pass

This contract quietly went one off, Parioli +50. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
D’Avossa	Fantoni	Di Bello	Nunes
			Pass
Pass	Pass	1♦	1♠
2♣	2♦	3♣	3♥
4♦	4♠	5♦	All pass

This contract quietly went one off, Parioli +50. So nothing had happened and Parioli had scored 3 more imps to lead 6-1 now. In the other match, they had other ideas too: Open Room

West	North	East	South
Christiansen	Kandemir	Schaltz M	Zorlu
			Pass
1NT	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♦	Pass	Pass	Dbl
Pass	2♠	3♦	3♠
All pass

The weak NT (8-11) warned the Turkish not to go too high. Besiktas +140. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Kubac	Bruun	Tarhan	Fredin
			Pass
Pass	1♠	2♦	2NT
3♠	Pass	5♦	5♠
Dbl	All pass

Maybe, 5♦ would have been a make if EW had been dealt other cards than they were actually holding. The save cost -300 and the Danish loss thus was 10 imps. On the final board of the set, more was happening:

Board 12. Dlr: West/NS
	♠ J 9 7 ♥ 10 8 6 5 4 2 ♦ J ♣ A K 4
♠ K 8 6 4 ♥ 3 ♦ 10 9 6 2 ♣ Q 7 6 3		♠ 10 2 ♥ K Q J 9 7 ♦ Q 8 5 ♣ 9 5 2
	♠ A Q 5 3 ♥ A ♦ A K 7 4 3 ♣ J 10 8

Open Room

West	North	East	South
Versace	Bocchi	Lauria	Duboin
Pass	Pass	1♥	Dbl
Pass	1NT	Pass	3NT
All pass

Bocchi started well after the lead of the ♥K: he played a spade to the jack and a low spade back to the ace. The third spade went to West’s king and the ♦2 came back to the ace. Bocchi now proceeded to cash the last spade and the ♦K. East had discarded a diamond and a heart on the spades. If East had come down to his hearts and three clubs including the queen, which looked likely, he could be put in with the ♣Q to give dummy the game-going last heart trick, so declarer played accordingly. One down. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
D’Avossa	Fantoni	Di Bello	Nunes
Pass	Pass	1♥	Dbl
Pass	1NT	Pass	3NT
All pass

Fantoni followed a different line. ♥K lead, club to the ace and a spade to queen and king. A spade came back and Fantoni put up the jack. He then cashed the ♠9 and led the ♦J, covered with the queen and ace. East discarded two hearts on the last spade and the ♦K, but Fantoni next took the club finesse to land his contract. Parioli +600 and 12 imps to lead 18-1 after the first quarter. In the other match, a swing to Schaltz looked likely for about 20 minutes as this is what happened in the Closed Room, where they were well ahead of the tempo in the other room: Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Kubac	Bruun	Tarhan	Fredin
Pass	Pass	2♥	Dbl
All pass

The defence was excellent: ♦A, ♣J, ♦K, ♦ ruff, heart to king and ace, two top clubs and a spade to the ace. On the spade return to dummy’s king, North had to come to one more trump trick for down four. Schaltz +800. When the last board finally reached the Open Room, Martin Schaltz had more revolutionary ideas: Open Room

West	North	East	South
Christiansen	Kandemir	Schaltz M	Zorlu
Pass	Pass	3♥	Dbl
All pass

Well, this might have gone down five, but Schaltz saved a trick when he took a deep trump finesse. Down four, no swing. After the first set, Besiktas led 34-22, an interesting prospect for the afternoon.