The federations of Poland and Germany signed a cooperation contract in Menton two years ago. Since then there have been a lot of friendly bridge encounters taken place between these two countries. Nevertheless there was no cooperation to be expected when the two teams met on Vu Graph in round 16 as they were both trying hard to climb higher in the overall ranking, Poland lying 7th and Germany 17th. Poland was off to a good start, when Germany missed the best spot on the first board:

Board 1. Dealer North. Love All ª 5 4 3 2 © A J 4 ¨ 9 8 6 § K 10 6 ª A K Q J 8 ª 10 6 © 10 9 3 © 8 7 6 ¨ K ¨ A Q J 4 3 2 § A J 3 2 § 5 4 ª 9 7 © K Q 5 2 ¨ 10 7 5 § Q 9 8 7

In the Open Room West opened 3¨, East responded 3ª and was raised to 4. He received a club lead to the queen and ace, drew trumps in four rounds, overtook ¨K with the ace and discarded five of his losers on the long diamonds, making twelve tricks.

4ª could have gone down on heart lead, cashing three rounds and returning a diamond, but why should North ever lead a heart from ©AJx? And even if he had done so - as e.g. Malta and Spain - one still has to find the diamond switch as well. In the actual case none of the teams therefore managed to beat 4ª.

The only team to go down was Germany, who played in a different contract:

5¨ would make without a heart lead, but South with no difficulty put the ©K on the table, so that was one down and 11 IMPs to Poland. The German pair in the Closed Room took an early revenge, when on the next board South thought he could bids his spades forever:

Board 2. Dealer East. NS Game ª 6 © J 10 9 8 3 ¨ Q 10 8 7 6 § J 4 ª J 10 8 2 ª 7 4 © 5 © A K 7 2 ¨ J 9 4 3 ¨ K 5 § A K 10 7 § Q 9 6 3 2 ª A K Q 9 5 3 © Q 6 4 ¨ A 2 § 8 5

The defense started with §AK and switched to a heart. Declarer won in hand, cashed ªAKQ and exited with another spade. Back came a club, ruffed by South ruffed who played a heart to the 9, which held the trick. East won the next heart and forced declarer with another club. South played ©Q to East's ace, who had a club left to get off lead again. After that, the defense scored the ¨K to put the contract two down. Germany: +500.

In the other room East/West played a quiet 1NT making seven tricks, so Germany scored 9 IMPs. Wild results from the other matches, such as North/South playing in 6© x -4 or East/West 4ª x -3, made the audience look forward to what was going on in the Vu Graph match.

Board 3. Dealer South. EW Game ª A 4 © A K Q 7 4 ¨ A J 4 § K J 9 ª 3 ª K Q J 7 2 © J 8 5 3 2 © — ¨ Q 8 5 2 ¨ K 10 9 6 § 8 3 2 § A 7 6 5 ª 10 9 8 6 5 © 10 9 6 ¨ 7 3 § Q 10 4

Much to everyone's surprise the auction in the Closed Room was incredibly short:

This went one down. Poland: +200. The Open Room came to a rest in 3NT:

West led a small club and from declarer's point of view 3NT looked fine, if opponents heart broke friendly, he would be able to take five heart tricks, two aces and two clubs. North won §K, played ©K and discovered the bad news. He continued with the §J, overtook it with the queen, led ©9 to jack and ace and another heart to the 10. Now he tried a diamond to the jack, but East won an returned ªK. Declarer took his ace, exited an in clubs and was one down, conceding two clubs, two spades and a diamond in the end, another 6 IMPs to Poland.

Germany picked up 5 IMPs playing in the right partial (3¨), when Poland got too high and went down in 3ª. The next board saw a surprising turn of the bidding in the Closed Room:

Board 5. Dealer North. NS Game ª Q 9 8 7 © A 10 8 2 ¨ A 8 4 2 § 8 ª — ª K 10 4 3 2 © K Q J 6 4 3 © 9 5 ¨ 10 9 3 ¨ Q 6 5 § A J 4 3 § K 9 7 ª A J 6 5 © 7 ¨ K J 7 § Q 10 6 5 2

4© went two down when North led ª8 and South played the ace. West drew trumps, North winning the second round to lay down the ¨A and collect two more diamond tricks and the ©10. In the Closed Room, North was looking for action:

East five-card spade suit didn't cause much of a trouble to Jassem, who might have made an overtrick, but went for the safe way to score the vulnerable game. He took the heart lead with the ace and led his stiff club. West took §J, cashed ©Q and led another club, which North ruffed with ª7. Jassem played a diamond to the jack, ruffed another club, and continued with ªQ to king and ace. Now he cashed the top diamonds ending in his hand, ruffed a diamond, conceded ª10 and claimed for ten tricks. Poland scored 12 IMPs to extend.

No swing in the next board, with both North/South pairs making 6NT and 6©, respectively.

Another number of IMPs was at stake, when East/West took interesting views on their cards on the following board.

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

In the Closed Room, Germany had no intention to go to game playing in 1ª making four. Romanski and especially Kowalski were more adventurous in the other room:

North led ¨Q and switched to §K, on which South for some reason played a discouraging §8. Romanski took his ace and played a heart to the king and ace, continuing with four more rounds of hearts, on which South threw a cunning ªJ to keep all his clubs and a diamond. When East's spade finesse failed everything seemed to go the way South had things planned. He returned a club, but North - remembering South's signal - won with the 9 and blocked the suit.

For a second it looked like no great harm would have been done to the defense, as everybody thought North still had ª9x, but the playing records told us later on, that North had released his second spade earlier, so dummys ªA87 was good already. There was nothing Splettstößer could do anymore. He cashed §J and played a diamond, but now West took two more spades to score nine tricks. +600 was worth another 10 IMPs and all of a sudden Poland had built up a comfortable lead.

Two dull boards saw Poland winning one overtrick IMP. Then there were some frightening moments for Poland:

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

In the Closed Room North ended up playing 3NT. After a club lead to the 9 and ªA dropping the king, there would have been an easy route to success. He could see eight tricks, so a diamond to king would have made his day.

However, at the table South cashed some hearts and finessed in clubs. When in with §A again, he cashed ªQ and tried to throw West in. This looks strange as West kept all his spades, to score three more tricks and finally give his partner a diamond trick. Down one, and a possible pick up, if Häusler - Splettstößer could reach the same contract.

It wasn't to be. Like many other pairs North/South went down in 4ª that had no play losing two spades, a diamond and a club. On the next board it was Germany to gain 5 IMPs, when Poland went down in a non-vulnerable game and Germany played in a partial. Sometimes even a 2 IMP-gain can be big thing:

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

In the Closed Room Tuszynski and Jassem had bid and made 3 NT on the North/South cards. In the Open Room the declarer had some tough moments to overcome:

Could declarer cope with the 4-1 trump break and ©K lead? Häusler took the ace and played four rounds of trumps to see West discarding two clubs and a heart. The heart discard made life easier for South, as, first of all, there was no more forcing game possible and secondly it might have suggested how diamonds were distributed. South played ¨9 and let it run! Applause from the audience and eleven tricks in the bag.

Board 13 was no swing, and Board 14 could have been as well, as both declarers ended up in the same contract:

Board 14. Dealer East. Love All ª J 9 © 10 8 6 5 4 ¨ 9 3 § K 10 9 5 ª Q 10 8 ª A K 6 3 © A K Q J 9 © 2 ¨ 4 ¨ A K Q 10 8 § J 8 4 2 § Q 7 6 ª 7 5 4 2 © 7 3 ¨ J 7 6 5 2 § A 3

Both East players, Kowalski for Poland and Wladow for Germany had to play in 5NT. Kowalski after a heart lead rattled off ©AKQ discarding two clubs, revealed the spade situation in three rounds, and then collected ©J, three top diamonds and another spade for an easy 460.

Wladow received the lead of ª5 to the 8, 9 and A. Had East read the lead carefully he would have found out, that the ª5 cannot be the fourth from Jxxx, seeing the 9 a moment later on your right, so it had to be the second from four (or three) small according to the Polish style of leads. Declarer now cashed three top hearts discarding a club and a diamond and continued with the §Q (!). West gratefully took the ace and returned another club, so North to his own surprise collected three more tricks, to set the contract by two. II IMPs to Poland, who were on the way to a decent number of VPs.

We have well noticed that Ireland made 6NT(!). And in an all too brief discussion the Irish captain, who was not prepared to reveal the bidding, explained that South allowed himself to be endplayed with the §A to concede another diamond.

In the following hand Germany got 6 IMPs back in a part score battle, where as no IMPs were exchanged on board 16 to 18. Then the German North/South pair did a bit too much to lead their opponents astray:

Board 19. Dealer South. EW Game ª K 4 3 © 7 2 ¨ Q 8 4 § A 9 6 4 2 ª Q 10 9 8 2 ª A 6 5 © 6 4 3 © A K J 10 9 ¨ — ¨ A 10 7 2 § K J 10 8 7 § Q ª J 7 © Q 8 5 ¨ K J 9 6 5 3 § 5 3

As this was the first board played in the Open Room Splettstößer was "testing the waters" but found it too hot on this occasion, when his opponents solved the bidding problem he tried to present to them:

5¨ went down four, giving Poland +800. Less here was obviously more, as one can see from the bidding in the Closed Room, when Elinescu - Wladow - given the bidding space to communicate - went overboard voluntarily:

The playing records say that this went four down, an additional 400 and 15 IMPs to Poland. Germany finally had the better of the last board to fetch up a little:

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

In the Open Room 'shorter major' secured the cheaper defense with a double fit: After East/West had 'told their story', Häusler took the initiative and went for 4ª. This was one down, and looked like a good result for North/South.

In the Closed Room East didn't like to sell out on the four-level: Wladow went on to 5©, found this contract to be cold and collected an excellent +850.

As Germany scored12 IMPs on that board, this reduced their deficit to 36 IMPs, the final being 71:35 for Poland, 22:8 VPs.