As the final cut is coming closer and closer, let's have a closer look at the two leading pairs after two thirds of the boards and compare their results on the boards 5 to 10 of the last session of the qualifying stage. So it's the leaders, Atalay - Babag from Turkey, vs. second placed Erdeova - Hnatova from the Czech Republic we're going to watch performing now.

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

The opponents of the Czech pair reached the normal result of 4 ª just making. Hnatova listened carefully to the bidding and led the ace of diamonds. Then she switched to hearts and North cashed © Q and ¨ K for an unspectacular looking result.

At the other table North found a light opening bid, which was good enough to put the opponents off the trolley, though one is wondering why West took such a conservative view of her hand:

Babag, not surprisingly, led a club won with dummy's ace, and declarer drew trumps. Then she played © J to North's queen, who cashed ¨ KQ. Ten tricks made, but a huge result for the Turkish North/South-pair. In the next board a slam was on for East/West:

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

First let's have a look at the very ambitious bidding at the Czech table:

Asking for aces, asking for kings and a jump into the grand! So far, so easy - but now West has to find the winning line to score thirteen tricks. As South holds the long spades together with the four-card club suit, she is inevitably squeezed, if West cashed both heart honours and five diamonds.

However. at the table things went differently. North lead ª 9 to jack and ace, and declarer cashed only one of her top hearts before running all the diamonds. Now South had no problems and discarded three small spades to keep all her clubs and ª Qx in spades. After a club to the queen, declarer still didn't cash the important second heart, but played ªK and a club to § AK. When the jack of clubs failed to appear, West returned to her hand with a heart to the ace, but South was now able to keep her doubleton ª Q, so the contract went one down.

It's hard to do better than that if you're North/South, but the leaders nevertheless were very happy to live with the developments at their table, when a innocent jump bid backfired, as the meaning of the next move of 4 NT became dubious:

East thought she was good enough to show extra strength with her 4 §-bid. Now West intended to ask for aces, but East took it as natural and passed. When the play followed the same line as at the other table, East/West scored a disappointing 4 NT making six.

On the next deal the East player at the Turkish table overcame a tough bidding problem easily:

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

How do you get to 3 NT on the East/West hands with both players only possessing half-stoppers in spades? No problem for Nadine Cohen, she simply overcalled 1 NT on her 2-4-5-2:

South seemed to have a nasty surprise for declarer and led a small spade, but East had nine easy tricks, collecting a spade, a club, three diamonds and four hearts. When South failed to duck the second round of spades, East scored an additional trick by establishing another diamond, but even nine tricks would already have been a very good result for East/West.

100 meters away Erdeova - Hnatova had a tool within their system that made life too difficult for their opponents:

When East finally had the chance to ask for a stopper, West wasn't willing to say 'Yes, I have one' looking at ª 10xx, and rebid her longest suit just to hit South's minor. The defense started with ª A and a spade to the king, followed by a heart to West's ace. Declarer played the ten of spades discarding a heart, lead a club to the ace and a club to the 8 (!) and 10. North exited with another heart to the king, and West afterwards cashed dummy's © Q as well. Then she played ¨ A, which was ruffed by South who returned ª 9, ruffed by West with § J. Declarer tried a diamond to North's king, but South was full in control of the situation. To make things easy she ruffed, cashed the king of trumps and collected the ª 4 for a total of four down!

The next board saw both North/South pairs defending against 4 ª:

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

One tiny little error made a lot of difference. Hnatova started with ¨ A, then cashed © A and switched back to ¨K. When partner showed out, it was easy for her, to give partner a diamond ruff. North then collected the king of hearts to put the contract two down.

Babag missed the chance to clarify things and unfortunately partner innocently fell into this trap. South cashed ¨ AK and gave her partner a ruff. Not knowing what was going on in hearts, North continued with a safe-looking § K, but East ruffed with the ace of trumps, cashed three rounds of spades, played a diamond to the jack (she had unblocked ¨ Q earlier on) and discarded two hearts on the long diamond and the ace of clubs. 4 ª just made!

In the next round Atalay - Babag had a director's call at their table:

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

After 2 ª, West had bid 2 © converted to 'Pass' after having realized the situation. East went on to 3 © which became the final contract. North/South defended very accurately to put this contract one down, when the declarer missed to cut their communication. Instead of ducking, East took South's lead of ª K with the ace, cashed © AK and played the § 10. North ducked, won the second club, returned a spade and received the diamond switch to collect three more tricks. Would South have switched to diamonds at trick two, if East ducks the first spade? Too bad, we will never find out…

The TD ruled, that East/West will not have more than 40% on the board, but +100 stands for North/South, as East would have bid 3 © anyway. And here the author has his doubts! Will East climb to the three-level all on her own with such a garbage collection in the minors vulnerable against not?

At least we have a chance to find out about the result in 2 ª, as this was the final contract at the other table observed:

Here the opponents found an extremely good defense. West led a heart to East's © 9, who switched to the § Q afterwards. Now South is at the crossroads. Not knowing that this board is all about ducking, she took § A and turned to trumps. East took ª A immediately and completed the defense by playing § 10. West overtook and cashed another club. South conceded one more heart trick and scored +110, which on their score slip didn't look very impressive as many declarers had collected nine tricks - probably without a club switch at trick two. Both pairs finished their "Bulletin performance" with a good board:

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

It seems that Erdeova found a very good double to get her side "into business". At many other tables East/West were quicker to bid 1 NT, most of the time making or only going one down. Hnatova here managed to score eight tricks for the vital +120. ¨ 2 went to the partner's jack and instead of establishing this suit, East returned a heart. West took the ace and played another round of hearts. Declarer now cleared the club suit. West tried a spade, but South won and cashed his clubs and hearts.

Atalay - Babag found the 'balancing' way back into the auction and - with a little help from East/West - scored even better:

The defense started with the ace of hearts and a heart to dummy's queen. Then Babag let the ten of clubs run, and West took her king. She then found the diamond switch to her partner's jack, who continued with a third round of hearts. As nobody ruffed, South drew three more rounds of trumps and played the queen of spades. It didn't matter if West ducked or not, as eight tricks - for a score of +180 - were always there.

Despite some ups and downs both pairs should be well on their way to the final, and life at the top didn't seem to be as tough as expected - at least until now.