The first big swing went to Poland:

Board 4 ª A © J 7 ¨ Q 9 8 5 4 § K 8 7 5 3 ª 2 ª K J 8 7 5 3 © A Q 10 5 2 © K 8 6 ¨ K J 6 2 ¨ A 3 § J 10 4 § Q 2 ª Q 10 9 6 4 © 9 4 3 ¨ 10 7 § A 9 6 West North East South Ferraro Pszczola de Falco Kwicien 1© Pass 1ª Pass 2¨ Pass 3§ Pass 3© Pass 4© All Pass West North East South T'ski Pulga Jassem Rinaldi 1© 2NT 3¨ Pass 3© Pass 4© All Pass

At my table the bidding looks a little more normal than it actually was. Ferraro & de Falco play a Prepared Diamond denying a four card major so when West bid both red suits initially either could have been the longer suit.

At the other table Pulga intervened with Two Notrumps, showing both minors. Jassem bid the higher of the opponents' suits to show the unbid major. West, with no spade support and no club stop, simply repeated his hearts, and both declarers found themlselves in a thin heart game with three top losers and plenty of work to do.

When the World Pairs champions were defending, North led his singleton ace of spades and South used his lowest spade to ask for a club. North duly switched to a low club (the king is perhaps a bit better, for a reason that became apparent at the other table). South won and led a second spade.

Ferraro gave this due thought, for he was confident North had a singleton spade. However, there was no escaping the second club loser, so it was necessary for him to avoid a trump loser. Playing with the odds he ruffed with the ten. This was over-ruffed by the jack and North cashed the king of clubs to set the game.

When North led a third club, with the contract already gone, West took his eye off the ball by discarding a spade from the table. He drew two rounds of trumps and used the king of spades to discard one of his diamonds, but when South followed to the second diamond with a small card, declarer knew he had to lose another trick for he had a count on South's shape. The point here is that West should discard a diamond from dummy on the third club. Then the game is only one light as West can cash the daimond ace, draw two rounds of trumps ending in hand, ruff the second round of diamonds with a small trump in dummy, cash the top spade (North being unable to ruff) and then return to hand with a spade ruff to draw the last trump.

Double-dummy, of course, West can make the game by ruffing the second spade high and then following the recommended line. This is odds against because you need North to have only two trumps (in order that you can enjoy the king of spades) and so South is likely to have the trump jack.

At the other table the first two tricks were the same, but South now faced a more difficult problem. If North, who had bid the Unusual Two Notrumps, held six clubs then West would have only two, and if South returned a spade West would take the chance to throw a losing club. South chose for this reason to return a club. North could have saved him from this error by playing the king of clubs at trick two, then South has no option but to play a spade when he is in.

T'ski gave the defence no further chance. When North played a third club, he found the careful play of discarding a diamond from dummy. He then cashed diamond ace, two top trumps, ruffed a small diamond, took the top spade, and claimed ten tricks.

As so often is the case the revealing two-suited overcall by North made the winning line a little clearer, but Poland had still recorded a 13 IMP swing.

The very next deal was the big one of the match and it gave Italy a clear chance to recover the loss recorded on our first deal:

Board 5 ª 4 3 © Q 8 6 5 2 ¨ Q 10 7 4 § J 8 ª 10 9 6 2 ª A K Q 8 © - © A J 10 9 7 4 ¨ A 6 3 2 ¨ K § K 10 7 6 2 § A 3 ª J 7 5 © K 3 ¨ J 9 8 5 § Q 9 5 4 West North East South Ferraro Pszczola de Falco Kwicien 1§ Pass 1ª Pass 2© Pass 2NT Pass 3§ Pass 3¨ Pass 3NT Pass 4¨ Pass 4© Pass 4ª Pass 5§ Pass 5¨ Pass 6ª All Pass

Ferraro had told me their system was fairly simple Strong Club, but it did not look it from this auction. West's initial response showed three controls. East's Two Hearts was natural, but then things got more complicated. Two Notrumps was a relay from West, and East's Three Clubs said that, in addition to the hearts, he had a second suit somewhere. West's Three Diamonds said he had no heart support (highly accurate with his actual holding!) East's Three Notrumps said his second suit was Spades. West's Four Diamonds promised four card support for spades. Some cue-bidding followed, then the sensible final spot.

The Poles were more ambitious, and also artificial, so a translation follows the auction:

East, perhaps a little ambitiously as he knew West held only four trumps, bid the grand.

On a trump lead against Seven Spades you would plan on both majors breaking favourably: win the trump, ruff a heart, ace of clubs, ruff a heart, king of diamonds, ruff a heart, ruff a diamond, draw trumps and enjoy the hearts. This line fails when the hearts don't break. However, it makes twelve tricks as you lose only one heart.

North actually chose a heart lead, and this persuaded declarer to play South for both heart honours. He put in the nine of hearts at trick one, covered and ruffed, then crossed to with a top trump to take a ruffing finesse threw South's supposed heart queen. This lost and South ruffed the third heart with the jack of spades.

Seven Spades was two light. Suprisingly, the play went almost identically at the other table where the contract was only Six Spades: a heart lead covered by nine, king and a ruff. Then cross to dummy (with a diamond this time), for a ruffing finesse in hearts. This lost to North who exited with a trump. Ferraro drew one more trump, and then tried to ruff a heart. South made his trump jack for one light but a small swing to Italy.

There are two better-looking lines in Six Spades. One relies on trumps 3-2 and setting up the hearts: at trick one put in the nine of hearts to get a cover from South, then cross to a trump and ruff a SMALL heart, draw trumps and give up a heart. The other line, which also works once North has not led a trump, is a cross-ruff. You put up the ace of hearts and plan to make your four minor suit winners and seven trump tricks. Even if South ruffs in with spade jack to lead a trump you still succeed.

These boards helped Poland to a lead at half-time of 24-21. However, Italy reversed the margin in the second half to win by 3.