When the final round of the qualification started, nearly everything was still completely undecided. Of course, a few teams were effectively out already, but 8 or even 9 of the 12 participants were in with more than a theoretical chance of making it to the last four. This was mainly due to the fact that close rivals in the standings had to play each other in both groups. As a consequence, we saw some interesting matches, certainly in the beginning of the session when the boards were very wild. Here are a few examples, taken from two matches: Besiktas v. Brussels and Parioli v. Chlodnia. Besiktas needed a good win to have any chance of catching up the Belgians and the Dutch, whereas in the other group Parioli looked a certain qualifier – but would they try to oust the Poles, thus offering the Danes and Russians the chance to fight it out between them? We were not at all disappointed: Parioli did its duty and much more than that, scoring over 50 unanswered imps against Chlodnia to start with. In the other featured match, Besiktas took a big lead against the Belgians and held on to it, thus staying ahead of all their rivals, among them the Modalfa team from the Netherlands who were beaten severely by Allegra, the other Italian qualifier. So it became clear at an early stage at Parioli and Allegra would meet today in one of the semis, but the other pairing remained undecided till the end of the session. A few swings from both matches are shown below. BCOB Brussels took an early lead when they managed to find a good save:

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

Open Room

West	North	East	South
Engel	Senguler	Dehaye	Dogan
		1♦	Dbl
1♥	1NT	3♥	3♠
Pass	4♠	Pass	Pass
5♥	Dbl	All pass

♠K lead and switch to the ♥J. The ♥Q won and the ♦J went to the ace. As declarer could not crossruff the whole hand he went down two after all, +300 to Besiktas. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Kubac	Labaere V	Zorlu	Labaere A
		1♦	2♦
Pass	3♠	Pass	4♠
All pass

2♦ showed a black two-suiter. On a trump lead, declarer had ample time to draw all the trumps and concede two clubs and a heart. East could not profitably attack the hearts to shorten declarer and West never got the lead to try the effect of the ♥Q! Brussels +620 and 8 imps to them. A good start. In the Parioli-Chlodnia match, mainly the same happened in the Open Room: Open Room

West	North	East	South
Skrzypczak	Fantoni	Sztyrak	Nunes
		1♦	3♣
Pass	4♠	All pass

East led a trump won by declarer who immediately led a low club from the closed hand. When East rose with the ace and continued ♥A and another, the play was quickly over. Parioli +620 too. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Versace	Gierulski	Lauria	Pikus
		1♣	1♠
Pass	2♣	Pass	3♣
Pass	3♥	Pass	4♣
Pass	4♠	All pass

At the other table, Pikus overcalled just 1♠ so he became declarer in 4♠ and got a diamond lead. According to the sound principle of establishing the side suit first he won the ace and immediately led a club to the queen and ace. East returned a trump and Pikus’ next move was a club to the king. When West ruffed this, the contract suddenly was one down as the ♣J and ♥A were two inescapable losers. Parioli +100 and 12 imps to them. On the next board, more fireworks in both matches.

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

Open Room

West	North	East	South
Engel	Senguler	Dehaye	Dogan
			3♠
Dbl	All pass

Rather well done by Besiktas: only one down with no game on for the opponents. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Kubac	Labaere V	Zorlu	Labaere A
			4♠
Dbl	All pass

A little less well done by Brussels: down two with no game on for the opponents. 5 imps to Besiktas. In the other match, they had other ideas:

Open Room

West	North	East	South
Skrzypczak	Fantoni	Sztyrak	Nunes
			4♠
4NT	Pass	5♣	Pass
5♦	Dbl	5♥	Pass
Pass	Dbl	All pass

Not so well done by EW with 300 for the taking: Parioli +500. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Versace	Gierulski	Lauria	Pikus
			4♠
Dbl	All Pass

In view of what happened at the other table: quite well done by Parioli, 300 to add to the 500 from the teammates for another 13-imp swing to Parioli. On the next board, we saw another big swing to Besiktas:

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

Open Room

West	North	East	South
Engel	Senguler	Dehaye	Dogan
2♥	Dbl	2♠	3♠
Pass	4♥	Pass	6♥
All pass

2♥ showed (among others) a weak two in spades. When Dehaye contented himself with 2♠ Besiktas got all the room they might need to get to their slam. At least, East showed some consistency when he did not take the save either, but his side had lost 1430. At the other table, Besiktas quickly found their save: Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Kubac	Labaere V	Zorlu	Labaere A
2♠	Dbl	4♠	4NT
Pass	5♣	Pass	6♦
6♠	Dbl	All pass

Down three for a loss of 800 and a gain of 12 imps to Besiktas. They were on their way to the semis now. One board later:

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

Open Room

West	North	East	South
Engel	Senguler	Dehaye	Dogan
	Pass	1♥	Pass
2NT	Pass	3♣	Pass
4♥	All pass

2NT showed hearts, but the wonderful fits remained undisclosed. Brussels +510. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Kubac	Labaere V	Zorlu	Labaere A
	Pass	1♥	Pass
2NT	Pass	3♠	Pass
4♣	Pass	4♦	Pass
4NT	Pass	5NT	Pass
6♣	Pass	6♦	Pass
6♥	Pass	7♥	All pass

Once Zorlu started off by the very forward-going move of 3♠ Besiktas could no longer stay out of slam. When 5NT confirmed the void the rest was easy: Zorlu had so much in reserve that he would always go to the grand once given the chance. Besiktas +1510 and 14 imps more to lead by 26 now –already enough to qualify, as it turned out later. In the other match Parioli dealt their opponents another blow: Open Room

West	North	East	South
Skrzypczak	Fantoni	Sztyrak	Nunes
	Pass	1♥	Pass
2♣	Pass	2♦	Pass
2NT	Pass	3♣	Pass
3♥	Pass	3♠	Pass
4♥	Pass	6♣	Pass
6♥	All pass

Not good enough: Chlodnia +1010. Closed Room

West	North	East	South
Versace	Gierulski	Lauria	Pikus
	Pass	1♥	Pass
2♣	Pass	3♣	Pass
3♥	Pass	4♠	Pass
5♠	Pass	6♣	Pass
6♦	Pass	7♥	All Pass

After the 4♠ splinter and 5♠ general try the Italians would never stay out of the grand any more. Well done by them, as usual, for +1510 and yet another 13 imps. So as you can see, the foundations of the outcome of both these decisive matches were laid very early on. In the Brussels-Besiktas match not very much at all did happen after this lightning start. Parioli, on the other hand, went on and on with the one-way traffic to finally demolish their opponents 25-3 V.P. So according to the rules and regulations it would once again be the traditional all-Italian semifinal. It might be an idea worth thinking about to change this rule, as this is not a national teams’ contest but a club contest. On the other hand, changing the rule might well mean we will be having an all-Italian final for many years to come…