Board 9. Dealer North. EW Game K 7 6 2 8 7 6 9 7 Q 8 5 4 4 A J 8 5 3 Q J 10 3 2 9 5 4 4 3 A K J 2 A 9 6 3 2 10 Q 10 9 A K Q 10 8 6 5 K J 7 West North East South Buchlev Terraneo Nikitine Weigkright Pass 1 1NT 2 2NT 3 All Pass

The German/Swiss partnership of Buchlev/Nikitine competed to 3. Best is a trump lead and perhaps there is a good case for finding it given that North expects his side to hold the balance of the high cards. Terraneo actually led a diamond and Buchlev won the ace, played ace and ruffed a club, then ace of spades and a spade ruff. Next came another club ruff, cash the K and ruff a diamond high. Another club was ruffed and over-ruffed and Weigkricht played a top diamond. Buchlev ruffed high and played his last club. Terraneo ruffed but Buchlev had to make another trump trick in the ending for a useful +170.

Board 10. Dealer East. Game All J 6 3 K Q J 9 J 2 Q 10 6 3 A 4 K Q 7 A 10 8 6 5 4 7 K 10 7 5 9 4 3 5 K J 9 8 7 2 10 9 8 5 2 3 2 A Q 8 6 A 4 West North East South Buchlev Terraneo Nikitine Weigkright Pass Pass 1 Pass 1NT Pass 2 Pass Pass 2 All Pass

Weigkricht waited until her opponents had unwound then balanced with 2, ending the auction. Buchlev led ace then ten of hearts, a clear suit preference signal. Nikitine ruffed and switched to the 9 to declarer's ace. Weigkricht rose with the ace then led the 8 and Buchlev went wrong, going in with the ace. That felled the Q and Buchlev now cashed the K then switched to his club. Weigkricht won the club and ruffed her low diamond with dummy's jack. She played the K to pitch her club loser while Nikitne ruffed with the king of spades. When the K now came through Weigkricht carelessly ruffed low and was over-ruffed for one down; -100.

Board 11. Dealer South. Love All K 2 A K J 9 3 2 4 2 A 10 2 A 9 6 Q 10 8 7 5 3 8 5 4 10 7 A J 3 10 9 8 7 5 Q 9 6 5 — J 4 Q 6 K Q 6 K J 8 7 4 3 West North East South Bohnsack Terraneo Bohnsack Weigkright 1 Pass 2 Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 4 Pass 4 All Pass

The canapé auction proved to be very revealing to the defence. Terraneo bid his club fragment and was duly raised, before showing his main suit. After checking on no trump, Weigkricht admitted to heart tolerance.

Mrs Bohnsack led the 7 and her husband won the ace and switched to a club. He was put back in with the ace of diamonds and gave a second ruff, completing a fine defence; one down for -50.

Board 12. Dealer West. NS Game J 9 3 2 7 6 A K K 10 8 6 5 Q 8 6 5 A 10 4 A 10 5 K Q 4 3 2 J 7 5 4 9 3 2 4 2 J 9 K 7 J 9 8 Q 10 8 6 A Q 7 3

After a pass by West, Terraneo opened another thin canapé 1. Weigkricht responded 2 and bid 3NT over the raise to 3. She survived the opening lead, a low diamond, and had to decide whether to gamble on early spade to the king or settle for cashing out and hoping for something good to happen in the ending. Her choice was to cash the clubs and diamonds, which gave the possibility of the J falling. It didn't, of course. On the clubs, East threw heart, spade, heart, and West spade, heart, spade. That meant that the defenders had kept five winners and the necessary communications to cash them. A spade towards the king might have put the defence under some pressure - East must rise with the ace and switch to a low heart and West must win the nine with his ace. In practice, Weigkricht exited with a heart to the nine and ten. Bohnsack cashed the J and A and led a spade to his partner for the last two tricks; one down for -100.

Having not brought the Austrians much luck, we thought it was time to take our leave and give them a chance to recover.

Boards 13 through 26 were watched by Great Britain's Marc Smith.

Board 13 looked exciting from behind the North player who was looking at Ace-King to nine spades and another Ace-King, but our N/S pair quickly reached Six Spades as did most other pairs. The spotlight turned on Switzerland's Mrs. Farina, and when she found the heart lead to her partner's Ace that was +1430 only for N/S.

Board 14. Dealer East. Love All Q 6 5 9 7 A Q 7 3 9 8 6 3 K 9 8 7 3 10 4 2 A K Q 6 4 3 6 K J 9 4 5 4 Q J 10 7 2 A J J 10 8 5 2 10 8 5 2 A K West North East South Gaede Baldursson Farina Jakobsdottir Pass 1 1 Dble 2 3 3 Pass 3 Pass Pass 4 Dble All Pass

The Swiss West led his top hearts and continued with a third round, ruffed by East as dummy pitched a club. The defence still had two more trumps and the King of Spades to come. N/S -500 meant that the Swiss were off to a flying start. By a curious quirk of the movement, we came across the same E/W pair playing the next pair of boards later in the session.

Board 12. Dealer South. NS Game A 5 4 10 7 6 A 6 5 3 2 6 5 10 9 7 3 2 K J 8 A 3 K J 8 4 K 10 7 4 J 9 8 J 4 A 9 3 Q 6 Q 9 5 2 Q K Q 10 8 7 2 West North East South Gaede Chemla Farina Saul Pass 1 2 2 3 Pass Pass 3 Pass 4 All Pass

The Two Club overcall was natural and Paul Chemla judged well to raise with two small. The Swiss West was faced with a tough matchpoint decision. When he elected to bid on despite the poor quality of his suit, East was unsure of the partnership's combined assets and raised to the poor game.

North led a club and declarer ducked to the Queen. Declarer covered the Queen of diamonds return and South ruffed the next round of the suit and exited the King of clubs. Declarer entered his hand with the Ace of hearts and when he then misguessed the spade, losing to the now-singleton Queen, he was two down for N/S +100 and an above-average board for the French.

Board 16. Dealer West. EW Game K 8 6 4 3 J 7 Q 6 5 J 8 2 A 10 Q 5 K 10 9 4 3 2 A Q 8 6 5 10 9 7 3 A 9 7 4 K Q 10 J 9 7 2 — A K J 8 4 2 6 5 3 West North East South Gaede Chemla Farina Saul 1 Pass 2 2 3 3 3 Pass 3 Dble! Pass 5 5 Pass 6 All Pass

North led a diamond and South switched to a spade at trick two. Warned by the double of Three Spades though, declarer was not tempted to play South for the King. So, he rose with the Ace and ran six trump tricks, playing either for clubs to come in for four tricks (as here) or for North to be squeezed in the black suits if he held J-x-x-x clubs along with the Spade King.

E/W +1430 more than compensated for the previous hand, and Mr. Gaede also earned a "Well Done" from l'enfant terrible to take back to Switzerland with him. French great Jean-Paul Meyer also came into the Bulletin office to report the bidding and play on this hand, and it has he that questioned the wisdom of the Great Man's double of Three Spades.

For Boards 17-22 we concentrate on action at the table with Germany's Pony Nehmert and Andreas Holowski sitting N/S.

Board 17. Dealer North. Love All Q 3 K 10 9 8 6 Q 7 6 3 2 5 K 10 7 4 2 A J 9 6 A 5 3 2 Q J 7 A 10 4 5 Q J 10 9 8 4 8 5 4 K J 9 8 A K 7 6 3 2 West North East South Thosteins Holowski Ivarsdottir Nehmert Pass Pass 1 1 2 3 Pass 4 All Pass

After a club lead to the King, South had to decide between returning the singleton in her partner's suit and forcing declarer to ruff one of dummy's club winners. Nehmert returned a heart, and now the Icelandic declarer could win the Ace, draw trumps in two rounds ending in dummy, ruff out South's second high club, return to dummy with a diamond ruff and pitch all three losing hearts on dummy's club winners. N/S -480 was a terrible score, although -450 would not have scored well on the traveller we saw.

Some of the matchpoints came back the Germans' way on the companion board (18) when the Icelandic pair overstretched to Four Diamonds (going one down) after Nehmert/Holowski had bid to Three Hearts, which would also have failed.

Board 19. Dealer South. EW Game 9 6 4 2 Q 9 A K 8 2 K 6 3 8 A K Q J 5 3 4 2 K 8 6 3 10 7 6 5 J 3 A Q 10 7 5 4 J 10 7 A J 10 7 5 Q 9 4 9 8 2 West North East South Balzarino Holowski Di Maio Nehmert 2 Pass Pass 2 Pass 3 3 3 Pass Pass Dble All Pass

South led the nine of Diamonds and Holowski cashed Ace and King before switching to the Queen of Hearts. Declarer ducked and Holowski switched to a trump. Declarer cashed four rounds as South discarded two clubs (giving count). When declarer tried the effect of the Jack of clubs, overtaken by dummy's Queen, the roof fell in. North won his King and played the Nine of Hearts, but when that held North still had a diamond exit and thus declarer was limited to just her six trump tricks.

N/S +800 was a top by some distance on the traveller we saw at the table. We all know that bridge is a symmetrical game - slam hands always come along in pairs, don't they? Curiously, this companion board bears a remarkable similarity to the previous hand. Once again, E/W were dealt a strong six-card and K-x-x-x in a side suit opposite little more than an Ace. Would they have learned the lesson suggested by the poor result on Board 19?

Board 20. Dealer West. Game All A J 4 2 9 8 3 Q 8 4 10 8 6 K 8 7 3 5 10 K J 5 4 2 9 5 A 10 6 3 2 A K Q 9 5 2 4 3 Q 10 9 6 A Q 7 6 K J 7 J 7 West North East South Balzarino Holowski Di Maio Nehmert 1 Pass 1 Pass 1 Pass 1NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 3 All Pass

After North's trump lead, declarer found himself in a very similar position to that faced by his partner on the previous board. This time, he did remember to cash dummy's Ace to go with his six trump tricks. N/S +200 and perhaps E/W may now realise that 6+1 do not equal 9.

N/S presumably failed to double this time because they erroneously thought Christmas only came once a year. They now know better.

With the Germans on a roll, Spain's Leiva & Torres chose an unfortunate time to take these particular E/W seats.

Board 21. Dealer North. NS Game A K 8 A 5 K J 8 7 6 4 7 2 5 2 J 10 9 7 4 K 8 6 4 J 9 7 2 9 3 5 K Q 10 8 5 A J 3 Q 6 3 Q 10 3 A Q 10 2 9 6 4 West North East South Torres Holowski Leiva Nehmert 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass

At this point, Pony Nehmert commented, "See, we're a typical Mixed Pair. We don't even speak the same language." Same language or not, Andreas Holowski had chosen a very suitable time to open his off-centre No-Trump. It was up to Mrs. Leiva to rescue her side by finding the club lead from A-J-x, but for some obscure reason she chose a spade from J-10-9-7-4 so that was N/S +630 and another fine board for the home pair.

Board 22. Dealer East. EW Game A K J 10 Q 6 K 9 8 7 3 J 7 Q 9 2 6 4 7 5 4 A K J 9 3 2 6 4 — 10 8 5 4 2 A K Q 9 3 8 7 5 3 10 8 A Q J 10 5 2 6 West North East South Torres Holowski Leiva Nehmert 2 All Pass

Seeing how well they were going at the time, perhaps the Germans were unfortunate to meet one of the few pairs in the field playing Strong Twos. Although Two Hearts made eleven tricks for N/S -200, the scoresheet revealed a fairly large number of N/S pairs scoring -50 or -100 in Five Diamonds (doubled or not). Very few tables managed to produce the par result of 6-x -2 but the Germans still scored above average on the board.

For Boards 23-25 we moved to a table at which both members of the N/S partnership were World Champions - Great Britain's Nicola Smith (Venice Cup winner and Ladies' World Individual champion) and Justin Hackett (former world Junior champion). After the first session, Smith/Hackett were leading the field. These boards were not unhelpful.

On Board 23, Smith played 1NT from the South seat. Having Passed her 10-count as dealer, she then balanced after One Heart was passed back to her. The heart lead ran to declarer's Queen, and after playing a club to dummy's King, she could claim nine tricks.

Board 24. Dealer West. Love All J 5 K 9 Q 8 5 A K Q J 10 3 A K 10 9 Q 6 4 2 8 7 2 A J 6 4 6 4 3 K J 9 2 9 7 4 5 8 7 3 Q 10 5 3 A 10 7 8 6 2 West North East South Geliberter Hackett Geliberter Smith Pass 1 Dble 1 1 3 All Pass

The defence started with three rounds of spades, declarer ruffing the third. When declarer started drawing trumps, the Belgian East was immediately in trouble. She could afford one diamond, but what could she throw on the third club? She let go a heart. Declarer now played the King of Hearts to Mrs. Gelibter's Ace, ruffed the spade exit, and played the Nine of hearts. East did not cover, but declarer let the nine run. To make sure, Hackett cashed his last trump, discarding dummy's diamond when East had clearly retained K-J and the singleton Jack of Hearts. N/S +130 and a sound result for the Brits.

Board 25. Dealer North. EW Game 7 4 A Q J 8 5 4 A 8 4 2 Q 6 5 2 9 8 3 K 6 10 9 7 3 2 10 6 3 K J 7 A K J 10 3 6 2 A K Q J 10 — Q 9 5 9 8 7 5 4 West North East South Broccoli Hackett Giannini Smith 1 Pass 1 2 2 Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 4 Pass 4 All Pass

Next up were a tough Italian pair. It is far from clear what South should do at her second turn. Typical of her aggressive style, Smith elected to force to game. Hackett showed his diamond values and then cue-bid on the way to four Spades.

Franco Broccoli led a top club and switched to a diamond. Smith ducked to East's King, won the trump switch and ruffed a club with dummy's last trump. Next came the Ace of Hearts, and then the Queen, ruffed in hand. When West's King came clattering down, declarer drew trumps and claimed eleven tricks once diamonds proved to be 3-3. Board 26 was all about Trick One. The Italian E/W pair reached the standard Four Spades after a Weak Two opening. Smith chose to lead a heart and now declarer had to guess with Q-10-x in dummy and A-x-x in hand. When she guessed "Queen" only to find that Smith had led from J-x-x-x-x it meant that the leaders had avoided conceding a vital overtrick.