The session produced a number of interesting boards. We will show you the proceedings at some tables and draw attention to a few of the might have beens that did or did not occur at others.
Board 1 was a matter of preempting style. What would you open as dealer, none vulnerable, on a weakish 5-7 in the minors?

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	2¨	Pass
2NT	4NT	5ª	All Pass

Bas Drijver

On the first board of the session, this is what happened at the table of the overnight leaders. Bas Drijver, in first position, elected to pass. Next came a Polish 2¨, showing both majors and a weakish hand. West was strong enough to take some forcing action, but now Drijver came to life with a highly unusual NT. The other players and the kibitzers were all taken by surprise, but this did not prevent East from showing his extra values. Luckily for him, there it rested. As the ªK does not come down in time, there is no way to avoid a trump and a diamond loser. At another table, North, a young Bulgarian, opened no less than 4§. When this came round to West, he doubled and East bid 4ª. West left this in peace, but North made a second attempt to show his hand by announcing 4NT. East was quick to double, and West then doubled as well when South took shelter in 5§. As the defence led trumps after winning the ¨A, there were just four tricks for them: a heart, a club and two diamonds as declarer was not clairvoyant as to take an immediate diamond finesse of the ten. Still, losing only 300 was a very good score to N/S.

At yet another table, we saw a very surprising auction. Here, East overcalled North's 3§ with 3ª and West was happy to just raise to 4ª without giving it a moment's thought. E/W look like having quite some experience in how to overcall against preempts...

On the next board, the matchpoints would go to the best guessers. Compare these two auctions:

Board 2. Dealer East. North-South Vul.
	ª K 7 6 © A ¨ 10 9 7 6 2 § A J 8 4
ª A 8 4 2 © K J 9 ¨ Q J 3 § Q 7 5		ª 10 9 5 3 © 10 8 7 6 5 4 3 ¨ - § K 9
	ª Q J © Q 2 ¨ A K 8 5 4 § 10 6 3 2

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1¨
Double	Redouble	1©	Pass
Pass	2©	3§	3¨
Pass	3©	4©	5¨
Pass	Pass	5©	Double
All Pass

On a correct guess in trumps, East lost the obvious four tricks for 300 to N/S.

Against the overnight leaders, the bidding was from another planet or so:

West	North	East	South
		2¨*	Pass
2ª	Double	Pass	3¨
Pass	Pass	3ª	Double
All Pass

Once again, we saw the Polish 2¨ in operation, East showing both majors and a weakish hand. Drijver did well to pass partner's 3¨, but then passed again when De Wijs doubled 3ª to show extra values. Please note the 3ª bid itself: what if West would hold only three spades? If you look at this last auction and compare it with the auction before, would it occur to you that they really were produced on the same board? As the cards lie, 3ª can be made when declarer guesses to play a low heart to drop the stiff ace, instead of (as he did at the table) leading the ©K playing for the queen to be singleton. The loss of a trick and a tempo thus meant that two down was the result at the leaders' table as well, giving them another good score after Monday's two very good sessions.

Simon de Wijs

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

With the help of a good guess in trumps you might make 11 tricks in spades, but ten tricks in no-trumps look pretty solid as well for the matchpoint tigers - mind you, the ones who will seldom misguess the location of an important card such as the ªQ on this board. This way, the tigers will once again beat the ones who are in the straightforward contract for the routine number of tricks...

An interesting hand was board 5. It's game on for North-South, but careful defence can beat it:

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

West	North	East	South
	Drijver		De Wijs
	1§	1©	3¨
Pass	3NT	All Pass

This is how the overnight leaders reached game on a combined 20 count. East made the very good lead of the ©A to have a look at the dummy. Now the only thing left to do is to return the right black suit: a low club. West will win and continue the suit to establish six tricks for the defenders before declarer has got the chance to get to his required number of nine. No matter what declarer does, finessing the clubs or not, he will not make more than eight tricks.

At the table, East made the second best choice of a low spade, after which the contract was made easily, and with an overtrick in the end when East, in with the ©K, did cash his ªA but again did not switch to a club.

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

West	North	East	South
			Pass
Pass	1¨* (!)	1NT (!)	Pass
Pass	2¨* (!!)	Pass	2ª
3¨	Pass	3ª	Pass
3NT	Pass	5¨	Double
All Pass

Here we have the introduction of a theoretical innovation: the rebiddable void. Well, if you are playing Precision, you may elect to open 1¨ and not 2§ with a five-card suit and both majors. No doubt, you are hoping partner will show a major after 1¨.

After North's 1¨, East also had a problem. He could not double with a singleton spade, so he had to improvise something. 1NT was maybe an underbid, but it worked well against the youthful opponents. Instead of realising he had only 12 hcp. And a passing partner, North reopened with 2¨ (!) which by agreement - yes, it was alerted! - showed 4-4 in the majors. South showed his spades alright, but the message was not lost on West either, who finally felt free to introduce his diamonds. This struck gold with East who forced with 3ª and corrected the expected 3NT into 5¨. South understandably doubled this, but the hand almost plays itself as sort of a crossruff, the defenders coming to their two red aces only.

The next board to be shown actually was the first board in play at the overnight leaders' table. They immediately showed how well their quiet approach can work out.

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	1¨	Pass
1ª	Pass	2ª	Pass
Pass	Double	Pass	3§
All Pass

Two diamonds, a heart and a spade was all declarer lost. NS +110 and an 80% start to the day.

If South doubles 1¨ immediately the timing gets wrong. West will make some noise, and after that NS will never be able again to properly assess their combined values.

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

This hand is a play problem in hearts. On a club lead, if you take both losing red-suit finesses, you will end up with nine tricks. If you believe the ©10 East plays in the first round of the suit and thus go for the drop, you not only gain a trick, but also a vital tempo to draw trumps and establish some spade tricks.

Board 12. Dealer West. North-South Vul.
	ª Q J 8 3 2 © Q ¨ K 10 6 § 9 5 4 2
ª K 4 © K 8 6 3 ¨ A 8 3 2 § A J 10		ª A 7 5 © J 10 4 2 ¨ Q 9 4 § K 7 6
	ª 10 9 6 © A 9 7 5 ¨ J 7 5 § Q 8 3

On this hand, one declarer made 10 tricks at no-trumps. He should remain anonymous, has his side probably did not reach the best contract, which is 4©. The line of play in 3NT: well, you be the judge.

A spade was led by North, declarer winning the second round. A diamond to the queen came next, North rising with his ¨K and clearing the spades. Next, declarer finessed the §Q through South (!), winning the §J in hand, and cashed the diamonds. When the suit broke 3-3, the only thing left to do was to establish one heart trick without North getting the lead. Thus, a low heart went to the king. When the queen appeared, declarer suddenly had time to establish his overtrick as well for a very good score! Congratulations.

An interesting defensive problem, solved by few players, is the last board to be described in this report.

Board 23. Dealer South. All Vul.
	ª 10 9 5 3 © A K Q 8 ¨ K 8 § 10 8 7
ª K 7 4 © 9 7 5 4 ¨ A Q 3 § K 6 3		ª Q J 6 © 10 6 2 ¨ 10 9 7 6 4 § A 4
	ª A 8 2 © J 3 ¨ J 5 2 § Q J 9 5 2

The normal contract is 1NT by South. West leads a heart to declarer's jack and next comes a club. Best defence is to duck this all round; East will win the second round of clubs and continue the ¨10. Now, if West ducks this or wins it to continue the suit, the hand is over due to the diamond blockage. Nine tricks.

But what if spades are attacked after the defence take their first club? Eight tricks are the maximum, and if declarer does not play double dummy he might make no more than seven!

You could easily find out from the frequency sheet of this board how good or bad your defensive play was. Scoring -90, -120 or -150 made quite a difference this time.