Round 1: Belgium vs Norway Norway – neither fish, flesh nor fowl? In this first round we all want to see some guidelines how strong each country is this year. I was quite curious of how strong the Norwegian team present here is. Somehow Norway always seems to come up with new unknown faces but they nonetheless every now and then aspire to a medal. Sven Olai Hoyland, npc of the Norwegian team, tells us that they have come here with a fair chance finish in a top-three position. So, I sat down to watch Norway meet a Belgium team, which is expected to finish somewhere in the middle. Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul.   ♠ A Q ♥ 10 5 2 ♦ K J 5 2 ♣ A Q J 8 ♠ K 8 6 ♥ A K J ♦ 9 7 4 ♣ K 6 3 2 ♠ 9 4 3 2 ♥ Q ♦ Q 10 6 3 ♣ 10 7 5 4   ♠ J 10 7 5 ♥ 9 8 7 6 4 3 ♦ A 8 ♣ 9 Open Room West North East South Livgard De Donder P. Eide De Roos       Pass 1♣ 1NT Pass 2♦ Pass 2♥ Pass 3♥ Pass 4♥ All Pass   Closed Room West North East South Hubert Ringseth Guiot Berg     Pass Pass 1♣ 1NT Pass 2♦ Pass 2♥ All Pass   Norway gained 4 IMPs on the first board. Here, on the second, Belgium fought back. Erik Berg cannot be blamed too much not to have any higher views from South’s position. He simply transferred to 2♥. A club lead was won on hand followed by a trump to the queen which West overtook with the ace. More trumps from the defence would have been best but after a spade-switch to the queen Joern Arild Ringseth collected ten tricks. At the other table Steve de Roos hoped to find some spade honours in his partners hand and made an invite to game. Declarer was not put on the test, so the game was made and that was worth 10 IMPs for Belgium. In the vugraph Barry Rigal and Patrick Jourdain tried to get things right on this deal. Where would the two commentators be without the helping software DeepFinesse? The commentators blithely remark ‘4♥ looks cold, especially after West’s 1♣ or 1NT opening’. The audience riposte: ‘Are you sure?’. On further review the commentators spot the challenging defence – three times hearts, then the ‘killing’ club-shift to break up the squeeze on West. One more check: what does DeepFinesse say? ‘4♥ is cold!’. Fortified by this they checked again. Aha! Or should we say eureka? Finesse the queen of clubs, play the ace of diamonds, king of diamonds, ruff a diamond and run all but one of the trumps. We reach this ending:   ♠ A Q ♥ - ♦ J ♣ A J 8 ♠ K 8 6 ♥ - ♦ - ♣ K 6 3 ♠ 9 4 ♥ - ♦ Q ♣ 10 7 5   ♠ J 10 7 5 ♥ 9 8 ♦ - ♣ - On the penultimate trump North pitches a diamond – but what about West? A spade lets declarer finesse the queen of spades, cash the ace of spades and his hand is high. A club-pitch lets declarer finesse spades, ruff a club and dummy is high. A criss-cross-ruffing-squeeze? Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul.   ♠ K Q 6 ♥ 9 2 ♦ A 10 8 6 5 4 ♣ Q 7 ♠ 10 8 3 2 ♥ A K 7 5 ♦ 9 7 ♣ J 10 9 ♠ A J 7 ♥ 10 4 3 ♦ Q J 3 2 ♣ 6 5 4   ♠ 9 5 4 ♥ Q J 8 6 ♦ K ♣ A K 8 3 2 Open Room West North East South Livgard De Donder P. Eide De Roos       1♣ Pass 1♦ Pass 1♥ Pass 3NT All Pass   Closed Room West North East South Hubert Ringseth Guiot Berg       1♣ Pass 1♠* Pass 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass   The auction told Petter Eide to lead a spade but his combination wasn’t the most delightful. However, he placed the jack of spades on the table. That proved to be a good lead for the Norwegians. Understandable, Steven de Donder found it likely for West to hold the ace of spades as it seemed if the lead was from J-10. De Donder now, with two ‘safe’ spade-tricks, could see nine tricks around the corner. He won with the queen, crossed in diamonds then played a club to the queen. Since diamonds was split badly in Tenerife, declarer hoped for the diamonds to split better here rather than the club suit. De Donder therefore cashed the ace of diamonds and played another diamond. East won the trick and played a heart to West’s king. The defence can now cash five tricks, but as West was ‘sure’ over the fact that North was marked with the ace of spades he exited with a club. As the club suit evidently still wasn’t interesting to try, and declarer was running out of entries to dummy, he now wanted to establish his spade-trick and played a spade to the king – and the curtain fell… When the smoke had cleared East-West had scored seven tricks and 300. In the Closed Room 1♠ showed 4+ in diamonds and the same contract was reached. West led ♥7 and even though declarer won the first trick with the eight he forgot to establish a spade trick before testing the diamond suit. Now he had created five tricks to the defence, thus he went one down; however 5 imps to Norway thanks to the vicious lead by Petter Eide in the Open Room.Belgium was in the lead by 29-15 after 12 boards. Norway struck back here: Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.   ♠ K Q 8 6 ♥ K J 10 4 ♦ K 7 4 ♣ 7 2 ♠ A J 3 ♥ A 9 7 6 ♦ - ♣ Q J 10 9 8 5 ♠ 5 ♥ 5 2 ♦ A Q 10 9 8 6 3 2 ♣ A 6   ♠ 10 9 7 4 2 ♥ Q 8 3 ♦ J 5 ♣ K 4 3 Open Room West North East South Livgard De Donder P. Eide De Roos   1♦ Pass 1♠ Dble 2♠ 3♠ Pass 3NT All Pass     Closed Room West North East South Hubert Ringseth Guiot Berg   1♦ Pass 1♠ 2♦* 2♠ Pass Pass 3♣ Pass 5♣ All Pass North opened 1♦, best minor, at both tables. When Alexandre Hubert could reopen 3♣ vulnerable Benoit Guiot took a chance on game. East’s hand looks powerful indeed but it didn’t work very well with West’s and 5♣ was doomed to go down. On a trump-lead declarer has to face two undertricks, but as the king of spades was chosen two spades could be ruffed in dummy; nonetheless one down and Norway +100. Somehow juniors improve their bridge by bidding (too) high and sometimes their mission succeeds. 1NT or a part-score in either minor are likely to be made on East-West’s cards. However, the Norwegians had higher expectations in the Open Room and reached game in no trump. Allan Livgard declared and he let the lead, the king of spades, hold the first trick. South signalled encouraging in spades, so next came another spade to Livgard’s jack. He continued by crossing to the ace of clubs, cashed the other minor ace and then simply played another club. South could win the trick, but with all the suits guarded Livgard was able to make his game for +600 and a powerful 12 Norwegian IMPs. The Norwegians were now back on the track and while they were at it another 5 IMPs came on the next deal, when the Belgians in the Closed Room went down in 2♠ while their team-mates were practising in 6♣ (!) down two at the other table. The match was now a close affair: 32-29 in favour for Norway. When Eide-Livgard missed game on board 15 while Hubert/Guiot did not Belgium again was in the lead, now by 4 IMPs. On the following deal 7♥ and 7NT is cold. Would any of the N/S-pairs reach the grand? The answer is: Yes, both did – but in remarkable different fashion Board 17. Dealer North. None Vul.   ♠ K J 5 2 ♥ 10 8 6 5 ♦ 8 2 ♣ K 4 3 ♠ 9 7 6 4 3 ♥ 2 ♦ K Q 10 3 ♣ J 7 5 ♠ 10 8 ♥ 4 3 ♦ 9 7 6 4 ♣ 10 9 8 6 2   ♠ A Q ♥ A K Q J 9 7 ♦ A J 5 ♣ A Q Open Room West North East South Livgard De Donder P. Eide De Roos   Pass Pass 2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass 3NT Pass 6NT Pass 7NT All Pass       Closed Room West North East South Hubert Ringseth Guiot Berg   Pass Pass 2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass 2♥ Pass 3♥ Pass 4♦* Pass 4♠* Pass 4NT Pass 5♦ Pass 5NT Pass 6♣ Pass 7♥ All Pass       De Donder and De Roos performed a tipical junior-auction, but they might point out for us not to argue with success, since the play was straight forward. The Norwegians in the Closed Room cleared things out more efficiently as North was able to show a cue in spades (presumable the king) and later on the king of clubs. Erik Berg was thrilled over his strong hand and didn’t want to miss a chance to have story to tell his forthcoming grandchildren, when he bid the grand holding a hand with 27 HCPs. ‘This is the most powerful hand I ever had’, Berg told us. Although, no swing. A partscore for Norway in the end gave us the final score 39-36 to the Norwegians, 16-14 converted into VPs. My question concerning the power of the Norwegian team remain unanswered. The future will tell.

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