DailyDaily NewsNews 44th GENERALI European Bridge Championships

Sunday, 20 June 1999 Issue: 8

Jean Paul Meyer, Executive Editor • Mark Horton, Editor • Stefan Back, Co-Editor Stelios Hatzidakis, Layout Editor - only just!

The holders finally made it to the top of the table at the end of the seventh day of the Generali European Open Teams Championship. They lead only by virtue of having a better IMP ratio than second placed Bridge has.When these two countries face each other later today on VuGraph it should be quite a match. Rama

The surprise team of the tournament, Bulgaria, shows no sign of cracking and Radisson Hotel - 5th floor is only 10VP behind the leaders in third place.They are hotly pursued by Nor- way, Poland and who occupy the next three places and behind those three (10.0 0LADIES ROUND 9 (10.00h) countries the chasing pack is closing in. Great Britain - France Malta celebrated its first ever double by winning two of its three matches and SENIORS ROUND 10 (12.20h) have already reached the target set by their coach in terms of the number of vic- tories - bravo! Italy 1 - P.E./France

(10.0 OPEN ROUND 21 (20.30h) Norway are the leading Ladies France - Italy

It was a big day for the Norwegian ladies as they racked up 47 Victory Points to jump to the top of the table in the Generali European Ladies Team Champi- onship. France and the Netherlands hotly pursue them, while has recov- Starting ered from a few early setbacks to move into fourth place. Great Britain is fifth Playing Times and the overnight leaders Denmark are sixth following losses to both France and the Netherlands. Open Teams , one of the pre tournament favourites, lost two important matches Round 20 16.00 and has a lot to do in order to earn a trip to Bermuda. Round 21 20.30 Ladies Teams 1st 2nd Round 9 10.00 12.20 France 1 head the Seniors Seniors Teams Round 10 10.00 With nine rounds completed France 1 have taken the lead in the Generali Round 11 12.20 European Seniors Team Championship. Their total of 185 VP leaves them 12 VP ahead of Germany.The formidable equipe President Emeritus/France are climb- ing higher and higher in the ranking and have made it to third place just another VP behind. 2 Sunday, 20 June 1999 44th GENERALI European Bridge Championships

OPEN TEAMS - RESULTS Round - 17 Round - 18 Round - 19 Country Imps Vps Country Imps Vps Country Imps Vps 1 Bye Iceland 0 0 0 18 1 Austria Bye 0 0 18 0 1 Bye Russia 0 0 0 18 2 Cyprus Netherlands 43 40 16 14 2 Great Britain 40 23 19 11 2 Greece Luxembourg 62 24 23 7 3 Czech Rep Croatia 38 51 12 18 3 Ireland Israel 13 78 3 25 3 Liechtenstein Bulgaria 15 87 2 25 4 Russia Denmark 26 45 11 19 4 France Yugoslavia 55 46 17 13 4 Malta Estonia 48 72 10 20 5 Poland Slovenia 41 37 16 14 5 Lebanon Monaco 21 44 10 20 5 Croatia 36 32 16 14 6 Luxembourg Portugal 43 100 4 25 6 Slovenia 39 47 14 16 6 Monaco Cyprus 63 46 19 11 7 Greece Bulgaria 30 39 13 17 7 Spain Romania 33 49 12 18 7 Czech Rep Belgium 73 38 22 8 8 Yugoslavia Ireland 39 80 7 23 8 Estonia Liechtenstein 64 19 24 6 8 Turkey Poland 15 61 6 24 9 Israel Switzerland 57 25 22 8 9 Bulgaria Cyprus 101 5 25 0 9 Romania Great Britain 23 29 14 16 10 San Marino Lebanon 46 38 16 14 10 Netherlands Sweden 33 43 13 17 10 Finland Norway 53 41 17 13 11 Estonia Spain 29 44 12 18 11 Turkey Czech Rep 31 69 7 23 11 Lithuania Ireland 24 49 10 20 12 Monaco Malta 30 42 13 17 12 Croatia Italy 37 55 11 19 12 Israel Germany 49 43 16 14 13 Hungary Romania 11 63 5 25 13 Portugal Belgium 45 49 14 16 13 Switzerland Denmark 51 43 16 14 14 Lithuania Great Britain 46 36 17 13 14 Hungary Greece 30 44 12 18 14 Portugal Spain 44 31 18 12 15 Finland France 31 41 13 17 15 Luxembourg Malta 12 51 7 23 15 Slovenia Italy 42 41 15 15 16 Liechtenstein Sweden 44 67 10 20 16 Poland Norway 48 54 14 16 16 Lebanon Iceland 53 25 21 9 17 Belgium Turkey 35 38 14 16 17 Denmark Lithuania 40 35 16 14 17 Yugoslavia Hungary 65 32 22 8 18 Norway Austria 39 42 14 16 18 Iceland Russia 34 51 11 19 18 Austria France 48 31 19 11 19 Italy Germany 40 35 16 14 19 Germany San Marino 59 24 22 8 19 San Marino Netherlands 42 52 13 17

OPEN TEAMS - PROGRAMME OPEN TEAMS - RANKING ROUND - 20 ROUND - 21 AFTER 19 ROUNDS 1 France Bye 1 Bye Malta 2 Spain Slovenia 2 Czech Rep Monaco 1 Italy 364 3 Poland Romania 3 Lebanon Belgium 2 France 364 4 Italy Turkey 4 Germany Lithuania 3 Bulgaria 354 5 Norway Israel 5 Iceland Bulgaria 4 Norway 352 6 Croatia Great Britain 6 Israel Greece 5 Poland 344 7 Ireland Denmark 7 Liechtenstein Yugoslavia 6 Spain 335 8 Lithuania Lebanon 8 Hungary Sweden 7 Sweden 331 9 Belgium Greece 9 Denmark Spain 8 Ireland 328 10 Luxembourg Iceland 10 Slovenia Austria 9 Netherlands 322 11 Hungary Liechtenstein 11 Portugal Poland 10 Greece 320 12 Bulgaria San Marino 12 Romania Netherlands 13 Cyprus Yugoslavia 13 Great Britain Estonia 11 Israel 314 14 Switzerland Czech Rep 14 Cyprus Ireland 12 Portugal 309 15 Monaco Germany 15 Croatia San Marino 13 Belgium 308 16 Sweden Austria 16 Norway Russia 14 Croatia 305 17 Estonia Portugal 17 Turkey Switzerland 15 Lebanon 303 18 Russia Malta 18 France Italy 16 Austria 299 19 Netherlands Finland 19 Finland Luxembourg 17 Hungary 297 18 Germany 294 19 Russia 293 SENIORS TEAMS - PROGRAMME 20 Great Britain 292 21 Turkey 287 ROUND 10 ROUND 11 22 Denmark 285 23 Iceland 283 1 France 2 Lithuania/Poland 1 Lithuania/Poland Israel 24 Romania 272 2 Lebanon Turkey 2 Yugoslavia France 2 25 Switzerland 271 3 Great Britain 2 France 1 3 Netherlands 1 Great Britain 1 26 Finland 267 4 Sweden 1 Portugal 4 Poland 1 Netherlands 2 27 Slovenia 261 5 Netherlands 1 Germany 5 Italy 1 President Emeritus 28 Lithuania 253 6 Sweden 3 Ireland 6 Belgium Poland 3 29 Czech Rep 253 7 Great Britain 3 Spain 7 Bye Lebanon 30 Monaco 249 8 Czech Republic Poland 3 8 Turkey Great Britain 3 9 President Emeritus Belgium 9 Italy 2 Great Britain 2 31 Estonia 248 10 Poland 2 Italy 1 10 Sweden 3 Spain 32 San Marino 229 11 Netherlands 2 Bye 11 Ireland France 1 33 Yugoslavia 221 12 Israel Italy 2 12 Germany Sweden 1 34 Luxembourg 189 13 Great Britain 1 Austria 2 13 Sweden 2 Czech Republic 35 Liechtenstein 177 14 Sweden 2 Poland 1 14 Austria 2 Poland 2 36 Cyprus 170 15 Yugoslavia Austria 1 15 Austria 1 Portugal 37 Malta 132 Malta, 1999 Sunday, 20 June 1999 3

LADIES TEAMS - RESULTS LADIES TEAMS - RANKING SENIORS TEAMS - RANKING ROUND 7 AFTER 8 ROUNDS AFTER 9 ROUNDS 1 Finland Bye 0 0 15 15 1 Norway 160 1 France 1 185 2 Poland Czech Rep 27 59 9 21 2 France 152 2 Germany 173 3 Italy Great Britain 56 49 16 14 3 P.E./France 172 3 Netherlands 146 4 Spain Iceland 61 71 13 17 4 Poland 1 170 4 Austria 143 5 Sweden 1 168 5 Denmark France 18 79 4 25 6 Czech Rep 166 6 Sweden Turkey 35 61 10 20 5 Great Britain 139 7 Italy 2 160 8 France 2 152 7 Germany Netherlands 51 69 12 18 6 Denmark 138 7 Turkey 132 9 Italy 1 151 8 Israel Russia 63 45 18 12 10 Great Britain 2 147 9 Croatia Norway 42 108 3 25 8 Czech Rep 127 11 Netherlands 1 141 12 Poland 2 140 10 Hungary Greece 47 62 12 18 9 Sweden 126 13 Poland 3 140 11 Belgium Austria 10 125 0 25 10 Finland 121 14 Turkey 138 11 Israel 120 15 Belgium 135 12 Poland 119 16 Portugal 132 ROUND 8 17 Spain 131 13 Hungary 113 1 Bye Russia 0 0 15 15 18 Great Britain 3 130 14 Russia 112 19 Great Britain 1 128 2 Turkey Spain 65 41 19 11 20 Austria 1 126 15 Germany 109 3 Hungary Sweden 50 48 15 15 21 Israel 126 16 Spain 103 22 Netherlands 2 117 4 Finland Israel 56 47 16 14 17 Iceland 98 23 Sweden 2 117 5 Croatia Great Britain 36 66 9 21 24 Pres/Swe 108 6 Czech Rep Belgium 46 73 10 20 18 Croatia 98 25 Lith/Pol 106 26 Ireland 98 7 France Germany 72 29 23 7 19 Belgium 96 27 Yugoslavia 89 8 Greece Austria 24 88 4 25 20 Italy 91 28 Lebanon 77 9 Netherlands Denmark 70 58 17 13 21 Greece 75 29 Austria 2 74 10 Iceland Poland 22 62 7 23 11 Norway Italy 72 36 22 8 SENIORS TEAMS - RESULTS

LADIES TEAMS - PROGRAMME ROUND 6 ROUND 7 1 Lith/Pol Sweden 2 19 20 15 15 1 Austria 2 Lith/Pol 39 14 22 8 ROUND 9 2 Great Britain 2 Great Britain 1 13 51 5 25 2 Netherlands 1 Sweden 2 14 37 9 21 3 Poland 1 Ireland 53 13 25 5 3 Poland 2 Poland 3 29 17 18 12 1 Bye Austria 4 Israel Spain 26 65 5 25 4 Germany Lebanon 23 11 18 12 2 Belgium Finland 5 Poland 2 Czech Rep 23 48 8 22 5 Pres/Swe Turkey 27 37 12 18 3 Iceland Czech Rep 6 Italy 2 Yugoslavia 48 17 23 7 6 Sweden 1 Austria 1 27 19 17 13 4 Russia Greece 7 Portugal Belgium 36 26 18 12 7 Netherlands 2 Great Britain 2 6 33 8 22 8 France 1 Austria 1 36 2 24 6 8 Great Britain 1 Portugal 19 23 14 16 5 Netherlands Sweden 9 Turkey Sweden 1 18 42 9 21 9 France 2 Poland 1 33 15 20 10 6 Spain Norway 10 P.E./France Pres/Swe 48 12 24 6 10 Italy 2 Belgium 41 19 21 9 7 Great Britain France 11 Lebanon Netherlands 2 12 24 12 18 11 Yugoslavia Ireland 14 36 9 21 8 Poland Italy 12 Austria 2 France 2 5 80 0 25 12 Czech Rep Israel 40 17 21 9 9 Germany Croatia 13 Poland 3 Bye 0 0 18 0 13 Great Britain 3 France 1 9 30 9 21 10 Israel Turkey 14 Great Britain 3 Germany 17 28 12 18 14 Bye P.E./France 0 0 0 18 11 Denmark Hungary 15 Netherlands 1 Italy 1 28 22 16 14 15 Italy 1 Spain 33 19 19 11 ROUND 8 ROUND 9

1 Lith/Pol Czech Rep 9 22 11 19 1 Lith/Pol Turkey 20 40 10 20 2 Italy 1 Austria 2 58 6 25 2 2 Spain Czech Rep 18 58 5 25 3 Pres/Swe Great Britain 3 19 3 19 11 3 Belgium Bye 0 0 18 0 4 P.E./France Yugoslavia 70 0 25 0 4 Italy 2 Austria 1 67 1 25 0 5 Belgium France 2 26 30 14 16 5 Great Britain 2 Israel 39 44 14 16 6 Poland 1 Portugal 29 18 18 12 6 Poland 2 Netherlands 2 38 42 14 16 7 Ireland Netherlands 1 13 67 2 25 7 Poland 3 Italy 1 43 24 20 10 8 Sweden 2 Netherlands 2 12 23 12 18 8 Austria 2 Ireland 55 46 17 13 IPBA 9 Israel Poland 2 28 16 18 12 9 Germany Pres/Swe 53 25 22 8 The IBPA Meeting will be on Sun- 10 Sweden 1 Great Britain 2 27 24 16 14 10 Poland 1 Netherlands 1 20 17 16 14 11 Austria 1 Poland 3 14 19 14 16 11 Portugal Great Britain 3 30 12 20 10 day at 13.00 (and not Monday as in 12 Turkey Germany 6 34 8 22 12 France 2 P.E./France 23 36 11 19 the programme) in Meeting Room 2 13 Bye Great Britain 1 0 0 0 18 13 France 1 Sweden 2 51 20 23 7 at the Marina Hotel. 14 France 1 Italy 2 54 16 25 5 14 Great Britain 1 Sweden 1 20 36 11 19 15 Spain Lebanon 31 9 21 9 15 Lebanon Yugoslavia 40 51 12 18 4 Sunday, 20 June 1999 44th GENERALI European Bridge Championships

OPEN - Round 16 Poland v Germany No cooperation expected The Federations of Poland and Germany West North East South On board 5 Poland scored a huge 12IMPs signed a cooperation contract in Menton two Elinescu Tuszynski Wladow Jassem when the played in 4]-2 and 4[x= respectively. years ago. Since then there have been a lot of 1] 1[ No swing in the next board, with both friendly bridge encounters taken place between Dbl Pass 2} 2[ North/South pairs making a small slam. these two countries. Nevertheless there was no 3} Pass Pass 3[ Another number of IMPs was at stake, when cooperation to be expected when the two teams Dbl All Pass East/West took interesting views on their cards met on VuGraph in round 16 as they were both on the following board. The defense started with }AK and switched trying hard to climb higher in the overall ranking, Board 7. Game All. Dealer South. Poland lying 7th and Germany 17th. to a heart. East won with the king (South pitching Poland was off to a good start, when Ger- the queen) and played back a spade. Declarer [ 9 6 5 many missed the best spot on the first board: cashed [AKQ and exited with another spade. ] K 10 Back came a club, ruffed by South who now played { K Q 9 7 5 Board 1. Love All. Dealer North. a heart to the 9, which held the trick. East won the } K J 9 next heart and forced declarer with another club. [ 5 4 3 2 [ 10 2 N [ A Q 8 7 4 3 After that, the defense scored the {K as well to ] Q 9 6 3 2 ] A J 8 ] A J 4 W E put the contract two down. Germany: +500. { 10 6 3 { A 8 4 { 9 8 6 In the other room East/West played a quiet } A 5 2 S } Q } K 10 6 1NT making seven tricks, so Germany scored [K J [ A K Q J 8 N [ 10 6 9 IMPs. ] 10 9 3 ] 8 7 6 ] 7 5 4 W E Wild results from the other matches, such as { K { A Q J 4 3 2 North/South playing in 6]x-4 or East/West 4[x-3, {J 2 } A J 3 2 S } 5 4 made the audience look forward to what was } 10 8 7 6 4 3 [9 7 going on in the VuGraph match. In the Closed Room, Germany had no inten- ] K Q 5 2 Board 3. E/W Vul. Dealer South. tion to go to game playing in 1[ making four. { 10 7 5 Romanski and especially Kowalski were more } Q 9 8 7 [A 4 adventurous in the other room: ] A K Q 7 4 West North East South In the Open Room East opened 3{, West { A J 4 responded 3[ and was raised to 4[. He received } K J 9 RomanskiSplettstößer Kowalski Häusler a club lead to the queen and ace, drew trumps in [ 3 N [ K Q J 7 2 Pass four rounds, overtook {K with the ace and dis- ] J 8 5 3 2 ] – Pass 1{ 1[ Pass W E carded five of his losers on the long diamonds, { Q 8 5 2 { K 10 9 6 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass making twelve tricks. } 8 3 2 S } A 7 6 5 4[ could have gone down on heart lead, cash- [ 10 9 8 6 5 North led {Q and switched to }K, on which South for some reason played a discouraging }8. ing three rounds and returning a diamond, but ] 10 9 6 why should North ever lead a heart from ]AJ4? Romanski took his ace and played a heart to the {7 3 king and ace, continuing with four more rounds And even if he had done so - as e.g. Malta and } Q 10 4 Spain - one still has to find the diamond switch as of hearts, on which South threw a cunning [J to well. In the actual case none of the teams there- Much to everyone's surprise the auction in keep all his clubs and a diamond. When East's fore managed to beat 4[. the Closed Room was incredibly short: spade finesse failed everything seemed to go the way South had things planned. He returned a The only team to go down was Germany, West North East South who played in a different contract: club, but North - remembering South's signal - Elinescu Tuszynski Wladow Jassem won with the 9 and blocked the suit. West North East South Pass For a second it looked like no great harm Elinescu Tuszynski Wladow Jassem Pass 1} 1[ Pass would have been done to the defense, as every- Pass Pass Pass Pass Dbl All Pass body thought North still had [9x, but the playing 1} Pass 1{ Pass records told us later on, that North had released 1[ Pass 3{ Pass This went one down. Poland: +200.The Open his second spade earlier, so dummys [A87 was 5{ All Pass Room came to a rest in 3NT: good already. There was nothing Splettstößer could do anymore. He cashed }J and played a West North East South diamond, but now West took two more spades 5{ would make without a heart lead, but RomanskiSplettstößer Kowalski Häusler to score nine tricks. +600 was worth another 10 South with no difficulty put the ]K on the table, Pass IMPs and all of a sudden Poland had built up a so that was one down and 11 IMPs to Poland. Pass 2NT Pass 3] comfortable lead. The German pair in the Closed Room took Pass 3[ Pass 3NT Two dull boards saw Poland winning one an early revenge, when on the next board South overtrick IMP.Then there were some frightening thought he could bids his spades forever: All Pass moments for Poland: Board 2. N/S Vul. Dealer East. West led a small club and from declarer's point of view 3NT looked fine, if hearts broke, he Board 10. Game All. Dealer East. [6 would be able to take five heart tricks, two aces [ Q 7 6 4 ] J 10 9 8 3 and two clubs. North won }K, played ]K and ] A K J 6 { Q 10 8 7 6 discovered the bad news. He continued with the {9 5 }J 4 }J, overtook it with the queen, led ]9 to jack } A Q 2 [ J 10 8 2 [ 7 4 and ace and another heart to the 10. Now he [ J 10 9 8 [ K N tried a diamond to the jack, but East won and N ] 5 ] A K 7 2 ] 9 7 ] 8 5 4 3 W E returned [K. Declarer took his ace, exited in W E { J 9 4 3 { K 5 { Q 10 8 6 { A J 3 2 S clubs and was one down, conceding two clubs, S } A K 10 7 } Q 9 6 3 2 two spades and a diamond in the end, another 6 } 8 7 5 } K 6 4 3 [ A K Q 9 5 3 IMPs to Poland. [ A 5 3 2 ] Q 6 4 Germany picked up 5 IMPs playing in the right ] Q 10 2 {A 2 partial (3{), when Poland got too high and went { K 7 4 }8 5 down in 3[. } J 10 9 Malta, 1999 Sunday, 20 June 1999 5

break and ]K lead? Häusler took the ace and West North East South played four rounds of trumps to see West dis- RomanskiSplettstößer Kowalski Häusler carding two clubs and a heart.The heart discard 2[ (1) made life easier for South, as, first of all, there was Pass 5} Dbl 5{ no more forcing game possible and secondly it might have suggested how diamonds were dis- Pass Pass Dbl All Pass tributed. South played {9 and let it run! Applause 5{ went down four, giving Poland +800. Less from the audience and eleven tricks in the bag. here was obviously more, as one can see from Board 13 was no swing, and Board 14 could the bidding in the Closed Room, when Elinescu - have been as well, as both declarers ended up in Wladow - given the bidding space to communi- the same contract: cate - went overboard voluntarily: Board 14. Love All. Dealer East. West North East South [J 9 Elinescu Tuszynski Wladow Jassem ] 10 8 6 5 4 Pass {9 3 Pass Pass 1} 3{ } K 10 9 5 Pass 4} 4] Pass 5{ Pass 6] All Pass Michael Elinescu,Germany [ Q 10 8 N [ A K 6 3 ] A K Q J 9 ] 2 W E The playing records say that this went four In the Closed Room North ended up playing { 4 { A K Q 10 8 down, an additional 400 and 15 IMPs to Poland. 3NT.After a club lead to the 9 and [A dropping } J 8 4 2 S } Q 7 6 Germany finally had the better of the last the king, there would have been an easy route to [ 7 5 4 2 board to fetch up a little: success. He could see eight tricks, so a diamond ]7 3 to king would have made his day. { J 7 6 5 2 Board 20. Game All. Dealer West. However, at the table South cashed some }A 3 [ A J 6 4 hearts and finessed in clubs. When in with }A again, he cashed [Q and tried to throw West in. Both East players, Kowalski for Poland and ]Q 8 This looks strange as West kept all his spades, to Wladow for Germany had to play in 5NT.Kowal- {J 8 score three more tricks and finally give his part- ski after a heart lead rattled off ]AKQ discarding } A K 10 8 2 ner a diamond trick. Down one, and a possible two clubs, revealed the spade situation in three [ 8 5 N [ K Q rounds, and then collected ]J, three top dia- ] A K 9 7 5 3 ] J 10 4 2 pick up, if Häusler - Splettstößer could reach the W E same contract. monds and another spade for an easy 460. { 9 4 3 2 { A K Q 7 5 Wladow received the lead of [5 to the 8, 9 S West North East South } 3 } Q 9 and A. Had East read the lead carefully he would [ 10 9 7 3 2 RomanskiSplettstößer Kowalski Häusler have found out, that the [5 cannot be the fourth ]6 Pass Pass from Jxxx, seeing the 9 a moment later on your { 10 6 (1) Pass 1} Pass 1NT right, so it had to be the second from four (or } J 7 6 5 4 Pass 2{ Pass 2] three) small according to the Polish style of leads. Pass 4[ All Pass Declarer now cashed three top hearts discarding In the Open Room 'shorter major' secured a club and a diamond and continued with the }Q the cheaper defense with a double fit: (!). West gratefully took the ace and returned It wasn't to be. Like many other pairs West North East South North/South went down in 4[ that had no play another club, so North to his own surprise col- RomanskiSplettstößer Kowalski Häusler losing two spades, a diamond and a club. lected three more tricks, to set the contract by On the next board it was Germany’s turn to two. II IMPs to Poland, who were on the way to a 2{ (1) 2] (2) Dbl 2[ gain 5 IMPs, when Poland went down in a non- decent number of VPs. 3] Pass 4] 4[ vulnerable game and Germany played in a partial. We have well noticed that Ireland made Dbl All Pass Sometimes even a 2 IMP-gain can be big thing: 6NT(!).And in an all too brief discussion the Irish captain, who was not prepared to reveal the bid- After East/West had 'told their story', Board 12. N/S Vul. Dealer West. ding, explained that South allowed himself to be Häusler took the initiative and went for 4[. endplayed with the }A to concede another dia- This was one down, and looked like a good [ A Q 10 mond. result for North/South. In the Closed Room East ] 6 5 3 In the following hand Germany got 6 IMPs didn't like to sell out on the four-level: { A K Q 10 4 back in a part score battle, where as no IMPs West North East South } J 10 were exchanged on board 16 to 18. Then the Elinescu Tuszynski Wladow Jassem [ 6 N [ 9 8 7 4 German North/South pair did a bit too much to ] K Q 9 8 ] J 7 4 lead their opponents astray: 2NT Dbl 4] 4[ W E { J 5 3 2 { 7 6 Pass Pass 5] Pass Board 19. E/W Vul. Dealer South. } A 8 5 3 S } K 7 4 2 Pass Dbl All Pass [ K J 5 3 2 [ K 4 3 ]7 2 Wladow went on to 5], found this contract ] A 10 2 to be cold and collected an excellent +850. {Q 8 4 {9 8 As Germany scored12 IMPs on that board, } Q 9 6 } A 9 6 4 2 this reduced their deficit to 36 IMPs, the final [ Q 10 9 8 2 N [ A 6 5 score being 71:35 for Poland, 22:8 VPs. In the Closed Room Tuszynski and Jassem had ] 6 4 3 ] A K J 10 9 W E bid and made 3 NT on the North/South cards. In { – { A 10 7 2 the Open Room the declarer had some tough } K J 10 8 7 S } Q Mobile Phones moments to overcome: [J 7 Mobile phones may not be West North East South ]Q 8 5 brought into the playing area and toilets. RomanskiSplettstößer Kowalski Häusler { K J 9 6 5 3 }5 3 Any player bringing a 1} (1) Pass 1[ mobile phone into the play- ing area and toilets will Pass 1NT Pass 2{ As this was the first board played in the Open result in his team being fined 2VP. Pass 3[ Pass 4[ Room Splettstößer was "testing the waters" but This penalty is automatic. All Pass found it too hot on this occasion, when his oppo- Don't get caught smoking whilst using your nents solved the bidding problem he tried to pre- mobile phone!! Could declarer cope with the 4-1 trump sent to them: 6 Sunday, 20 June 1999 44th GENERALI European Bridge Championships

OPEN - Round 17 Italy v Germany After suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of the contract. when Wladow rose with the {A, taking away the Poland yesterday evening, Germany were put On vugraph, Michael Elinescu took a long guess. However, it transpired that Attanasio had straight back onto vugraph to face high-flying time to play 5{ after a spade lead. On the auc- revoked, ruffing the club return when he still held Italy.The Germans would be looking for a much tion, he no doubt expected the {K to be offside the }A.That was a two-trick revoke, and so the improved performance. more often than not. He won the spade lead with contract was down two; -200 and 3 somewhat the ace and gave up a heart. North won that and fortunate IMPs to Germany. Board 4.All Vul. Dealer West. played a club and Elinescu won the ace and cross- Board 9. East/West Vul. Dealer North. [ Q 10 6 2 ruffed spades and hearts to eliminate both suits, ] K J 10 8 3 then played a diamond.When the king appeared, [ 10 9 6 he had his eleven tricks; +600 to flatten the {K ] J 10 9 4 3 board.The extra chance he was looking at was to {K } 8 4 2 play the {A and throw South in with a doubleton } K J 9 6 [ 7N [ A K J 9 king. If that was the trump position and South ] Q 6 4 ] 7 [ A 8 [ K J 7 5 4 2 W E held the }Q, he would now be endplayed. N { 7 6 4 3 2 { A Q J 10 5 ] K Q 8 7 6 2 ] A W E } J 9 7 5S } A K 3 Board 7.All Vul. Dealer South. { 8 4 { A J 7 2 } Q 8 2S } 5 4 [ 8 5 4 3 [– [Q 3 ] A 9 5 2 ] K 10 8 7 6 5 ]5 {9 8 { J 10 9 { Q 10 9 6 5 3 } Q 10 6 } A 8 7 3 } A 10 7 3 West North East South [ J 10 9 5 2N [ A 4 De Splettstößer Ferraro Häusler ]J 4 ]Q 9 W E Wladow opened 1[ and Elinescu responded Pass Pass 1} Pass { Q 8 5 { A 4 3 S with a natural and invitational 3] over Failla's 2{ 1{ 1] Dble 2] } 9 6 4 } K Q J 10 5 2 overcall.That ended the auction and Attanasio led Pass Pass Dble Pass [ K Q 8 7 6 3 the {K to dummy's ace. Elinescu cashed the ]A, 2NT Pass 3{ Pass ] A 3 2 crossed to the [A and cashed a heart. On seeing 4{ Pass 5{ All Pass { K 7 6 2 the bad break, he tried the spade finesse and was }– three down; -300. Had declarer guessed to win the [K, the fall West North East South West North East South of the queen would have allowed him to play two Elinescu Attanasio Wladow Failla De Falco Splettstößer Ferraro Häusler more winning spades, pitching clubs, and he Pass 2{ (i) Dble 3[ 1[ would have just made his contract. Pass Pass Dble Pass Pass 1NT Dble 2{ In the other room, Guido Ferraro also 4{ Pass 4NT Pass Pass Pass 3} 3{ opened 1[ but Häusler overcalled 3{. Now Dano 5} Pass 5{ All Pass All Pass De Falco's 3] was forcing. Ferraro rebid 3[ and De Falco raised that to game. Häusler led his sin- (i) Weak, at least 4-4 majors It could be right to pass 2{, of course, but I gleton heart to the ace and Ferraro played [K would feel uncomfortable about not bidding my and a spade to the ace then cashed two top A number of pairs bid and made 6{, but six-card heart suit as there could still be game in hearts to make his contract; +620 and 14 IMPs to others went down in that contract. Given the that suit. Helmut Häusler decided to compete Italy. entries, you would like to cash the top clubs to with 3{ over 3}, hoping that his partner had Board 10.All Vul. Dealer East. see if the queen fell and fall back on the spade four-card support as he had passed what might finesse when that doesn't work. On a non-spade have been a three-card rebid over the forcing no lead, you could decide to do that, but there is the [ K 10 8 6 trump.The defense led a club against 3{. Häusler ] 10 8 2 small problem that you don't know that the {K is won, throwing a heart, ruffed a club, ruffed a singleton onside. Given the diamond worry, a { K 7 6 2 spade, ruffed a second spade, then cashed the top }8 6 more likely line is to ruff a spade to hand to take hearts before ruffing a club with his {K.The next [ J 3 [ A Q 9 5 4 2 the diamond finesse. Now you will succeed when spade was ruffed and over-ruffed and he ended N the [Q ruffs out in three rounds or the }Q falls, ] J 9 4 3 ] Q 6 5 up one down; -100. W E with the added possibility of a positional squeeze { 10 8 3 { A J against North if he holds both queens. As the West North East South } 9 7 5 3S } K 2 cards lie, it takes a spade finesse to bring home Elinescu Attanasio Wladow Failla [7 1[ ] A K 7 Pass 1NT Pass 2[ { Q 9 5 4 Marsovin Winery Pass 3] Pass 4] } A Q J 10 4 All Pass Tuesday, 22th June West North East South De Falco Splettstößer Ferraro Häusler Why not relax with a fifteen-minute In contrast to the other table, Dario Attana- tour of the vineyard followed by a much sio went to the three-level to show his hearts, 1[ Dble longer inspection of the winery including a and was rewarded when Guiseppi Failla raised Pass 1NT Dble Rdbl special wine and food tasting. him to game.Attanasio ruffed the club lead in the 2} Pass 2[ Pass dummy, ruffed a spade and ruffed a second club. Pass 2NT All Pass Depart 15.15 Cashing the ]A, ruffing a spade back to hand and Return (suitably refreshed!) 17.30 drawing trumps makes the hand now, but Attana- Ferraro found the good lead of the ]Q, hop- sio tried a different line. He ran the [K to East's ing to create an entry to his partner's hand. Peter Cost: LM5 ace, pitching his remaining small club. Back came Splettstößer won the ace and cashed the }A You can register with the hospitality a heart to the ace and Attanasio tried to get back before playing a diamond to the king and ace. Fer- desk at the Radisson SAS. to hand with a spade ruff. He was over-ruffed and raro continued with the hearts and declarer Entscho Wladow returned a club. If declarer wins ducked to the jack. De Falco played the [J to king Please note that a tour can only go ahead the }A, draws the last trump and leads a dia- and ace and Ferraro exited with a heart to with a minimum of twelve people and a maxi- mond, he is on the diamond guess for his con- dummy's king. Now Splettstößer knocked out the mum of thirty. tract. In VuGraph, we all thought that this was }K but Ferraro could cash the [Q and exit with exactly what had happened, and were surprised {J and dummy had to concede the last trick to Malta, 1999 Sunday, 20 June 1999 7 the {10 for down one; -100. 2} was Precision style and 2{ inquired. 3} in Even with the threatening heart lead, it is pos- principle denied a three-card major, but Wladow sible to make 3NT if you are inspired. Declarer wanted to stress the good club suit, understand- wins and plays the {Q to the ace. He ducks the ably. 3{ was a second relay and now he showed next heart and covers the spade. East exits with the heart feature and Elinescu continued by ask- a heart and now declarer must duck a diamond ing for key cards for hearts. 4[ showed one key to East. With the fortunate lie of the clubs, card and Elinescu quickly signed-off. Wladow declarer can now come to nine tricks. obviously had a different idea about what was going on in this auction because he now bid 6}. West North East South The [A lead ensured that there could be no Elinescu Attanasio Wladow Failla defensive accident; down one for -50 and a push. 1} Pass Board 19. East/West Vul. Dealer South. 1{ Pass 1[ 2} Pass Pass 2[ All Pass [ A K Q 9 5 4 ] A J 10 Wladow's strong club opening scared his {A 4 opponents off so that they contented themselves Soldano de Falco, Italy }9 8 with a 2} overcall then left him to play 2[. Failla [ 8 7 6N [ 10 3 2 cashed a top heart and switched to an odd-look- West North East South ] 7 4 ] K Q 9 8 3 2 ing {9. This ran to declarer's jack and he played W E De Falco Splettstößer Ferraro Häusler {Q 8 {2 ace and another spade to North's king.Attanasio } A K J 10 6 3S } 7 5 4 switched to a club so the defense took its two 1NT Pass 2] [J tricks in that suit and still had a heart and a spade 2[ 3} 3{ Pass to come; one down for -100 and 5 IMPs to Italy. 3] Pass 3[ All Pass ]6 5 Italy led 23-13 as we came to an action-packed { K J 10 9 7 6 5 3 Splettstößer cashed a top club and switched last quarter. }Q 2 to the ]Q. De Falco played three rounds of Board 16. East/West Vul. hearts, ruffing then the [Q off the dummy. Both Souths opened 4{. Attanasio raised to Häusler won the [A and led a fourth heart to 5{ while Splettstößer jumped to 6{.As there are [ Q J 4 promote the [10, saving the overtrick; +140. plenty of tricks available, Splettstößer's unreveal- ] 9 8 7 ing auction could easily have seen the slam come West North East South {9 6 home on another day. But this was today, and the } K J 8 7 3 Elinescu Attanasio Wladow Failla top clubs were on lead so that was +400 for Italy 1NT Pass 2{ and -50 for Germany; 10 IMPs to Italy. [ 10N [ 5 2 ] A J 10 4 2 ] Q 6 5 2[ 3] All Pass Board 20.All Vul. Dealer West. W E { K J 10 7 5 { A Q 8 Wladow was a little soft here, allowing his [ J 10 2 } 6 4S } Q 10 9 5 2 opponents to play 3] when he might have com- ] K Q 10 3 [ A K 9 8 7 6 3 peted with 3[. He led the {Q to the ace and Eli- { 10 4 2 ]K 3 nescu returned a diamond. Attanasio played on } Q 10 5 { 4 3 2 trumps now and the defense could only take four [ 8 7 4N [ 9 6 }A tricks; +140 and 7 IMPs to Italy, ahead 30-23. ] 7 ] A J 5 4 A club lead or switch would have allowed W E West North East South { A Q 9 8 5 3 { K J 7 East to win the first trump and give his partner a S De Falco Splettstößer Ferraro Häusler ruff. Now a spade switch leads to a one-trick set. } J 6 3 } A K 7 4 Pass Pass Pass 1[ [ A K Q 5 3 Dble Rdbl 2} 3[ Board 18. North/South Vul. Dealer East. ] 9 8 6 2 {6 Pass 4[ All Pass [ Q 7 5 3 } 9 8 2 ]10 Having got his partner to bid a suit, De Falco { J 9 8 6 5 3 Ferraro/De Falco bid this one: 1NT - 3{ - 3] decided to lead it. Häusler won the club lead, }A 3 - 3NT. 3{ was invitational and 3] showed the drew two rounds of trumps ending in dummy and heart stopper and interest in game. Looking at pitched a heart on the }K. He eventually ruffed a [K 6N [2 heart shortage, De Falco hoped that he had suffi- diamond in dummy for his tenth trick; +420. ] A K J 4 3 2 ] Q 9 8 W E cient black-suit length to allow 3NT to make but On vugraph, Elinescu opened the West hand { K 7 4 { A Q it was not to be. Häusler led out five rounds of with 3{, showing a limited two-suiter, diamonds } 6 4S } K Q J 10 9 8 7 spades; one down for -100. and a major. Wladow passed that and Failla just [ A J 10 9 8 4 blasted 4[. Elinescu led a diamond, knowing that ] 7 6 5 West North East South his partner at least had some length in the suit, { 10 2 Elinescu Attanasio Wladow Failla and Wladow put in the queen. He switched to a }5 2 Pass Pass 1} 1[ heart and the defense quickly took their four West North East South 3{ Pass 3[ Pass tricks; -50 and 10 IMPs to Germany, tying the 4{ Pass 5{ All Pass match at 23-23. De Falco Splettstößer Ferraro Häusler 2} Pass The Germans avoided the doomed 3NT after Board 17. None Vul. Dealer North. 2] 3} 3{ 4[ Failla's overcall and reached a thin 5{. It takes 4NT Pass 6} Pass pretty hot defense to defeat 5{. North must lead [ 10 8 3 6] All Pass ] Q J 7 a trump and South must allow North to win both {K 2 I am not certain what was going on here but rounds of spades for further trump leads. In prac- } A K J 4 2 what is for sure is that the defense took there tice, the lead was the [J which held. Attanasio [ K J 7 6 4 2 [ Q 9 two aces immediately for down one; -50. switched to the ]K and Elinescu won and gave up N a spade. South won and played a heart but he ] K 3 2 ] A 9 W E West North East South ruffed and ruffed a spade in dummy. He cashed { A 4 3 { Q J 10 9 6 5 Elinescu Attanasio Wladow Failla S dummy's two remaining diamonds, took one top } 10 } 9 6 3 2} Pass club, and ruffed a heart.When he ran the trumps, [A 5 2{ Pass 3} Pass North was squeezed in front of dummy; +600 ] 10 8 6 5 4 3{ Pass 3] Pass and 12 IMPs to Germany. {8 7 4{ Pass 4[ Dble The final result was a 40-35 win for Italy, } Q 8 7 5 5] Pass 6} All Pass 16-14 VPs. 8 Sunday, 20 June 1999 44th GENERALI European Bridge Championships

SENIORS TEAMS - Round 7 Sweden 1 - Austria 1

Points, schmoints! Shape's the key by Henry Francis Both Sweden 1 and Austria 1 were near the top Sture Ekberg had no place to go after his part- After a push on Board 17, Rapf opened his 20- of the standings in the Senior Teams when they faced ner, Lars Alfredsson, opened One Notrump and point hand with One Spade on Board 18. each other yesterday. Halfway through the match Rapf doubled. Alfredsson escaped for down three - Austria had a one-point edge, but Sweden came back minus 500 - but that was 8 IMPs to Austria. Sweden Board 18. N/S Vul. Dealer East. to out-IMP Austria, 27-19, for a 17-13 victory. actually played in One Notrump at both tables [ A J 8 3 2 Seven high card points isn't very many opposite because Wernle, at the other table, opened One ]A K a minimum opening - unless there's a good fit. Swe- Spade instead of One Notrump, and Hallen over- { A 8 7 den found that fit on the first board. In fact Lars called One Trump. He took 10 tricks, but that was Backstrom checked out the possibilities for slam! only plus 180. } A 8 7 Both North/Souths got to Four Hearts on [ Q 10 9 5 N [ K 4 Board 13. Game All. Dealer North. ] J 6 5 4 2 ] 9 8 Board 15, and of course East doubled. W E { Q { K J 5 3 [ A 7 4 Board 15. N/S Vul. Dealer South. } Q 6 4 S } K 10 5 3 2 ] 8 5 4 [ K Q 10 8 [7 6 { Q J 8 5 ] 9 7 6 3 ] Q 10 7 3 } A K 7 { K J 9 { 10 9 6 4 2 [ K 2 [ 10 9 3 N }A 9 }J 9 ] A Q J ] 10 9 7 3 2 W E [ 3 2 [ A 6 5 4 { A K 10 6 4 2 { 9 7 3 N ] – ] Q J 10 4 2 Schmidt passed, of course, and Rapf managed to } Q 6 S } 4 2 W E take eight tricks - plus 110. Hellen took a different { 7 6 5 3 { 10 4 [ Q J 8 6 5 view of the North hand, opening Two Clubs. He } K Q J 7 5 4 3 S } 10 2 ]K 6 rebid Two Notrump over the negative Two Dia- [ J 9 7 {– mond response, and played it there. Thomasberger ] A K 8 5 } J 10 9 8 5 3 led her long suit - clubs. Hallen won the third round. { A Q 8 2 When he led a spade,Thomasberger rose with the West North East South }8 6 king and cashed her good clubs. She switched to a Wernle Hallen Thomasberger Backstrom West North East South heart, and declarer won.West had pitched a spade (1) on one of partner's clubs, so declarer was able to 1NT Pass 2} Wernle Hallen Thomasberger Backstrom 3{ Pass Pass 3[ set up his spades by cashing the ace and giving up a 1NT Pass 3NT Pass 4} trick to the queen.That was down one and 5 IMPs 2[ (1) Dble 3} 3] Pass 4[ Pass 5} to Austria, now ahead, 18-17. Pass 4] Dble All Pass Pass 5[ All Pass Sweden regained the lead on the next board when they made two overtrick IMPs. After two (1) Shows clubs. (1) 13-15 HCP pushes, they picked up 7 IMPs on Board 22 when Backstrom took the club king with the ace and Wernle and Thomasberger hit a snag in their bidding. Hans-Olof Hallen, looking at two likely stoppers led the heart 9, covered by the 10 and won with the in diamonds, went for Three Notrump when Back- ace. He led to the diamond king and cashed the jack. Board 22. E/W Vul. Dealer East. strom mentioned his spades. Backstrom then pro- When he led a third diamond, East ruffed.Thomas- [ Q J 6 5 ceeded to show his 6-5 hand, but Hallen felt he was berger switched to the club 10, and Wernle over- not quite good enough and stopped at Five Spades. ] 9 6 2 took to lead another diamond, ruffed and over- { 10 8 7 5 When Ingeborg Wernle led the ace of hearts, ruffed.The defense still had to get the ace of spades, }A 8 Backstrom was in great shape. He ruffed the dia- so Backstrom was down one - minus 200. mond ace continuation, cashed the ace of trumps At the other table the defense managed to get [ A 9 8 2 N [ 10 7 4 and gave up a trick to the trump king. He won the ] 5 ] K 10 8 4 3 an extra trump trick - down two. 7 IMPs to Sweden. W E heart return and played the top clubs, dropping the Hellen and Backstrom went for the game on { A K Q 6 2 { J 4 queen and making 11 tricks. Board 16, but there was no way to avoid four losers. } 10 7 4 S } K J 9 At the other table, Carl Rapf and Gerhard [K 3 Schmidt found their spade fit but stopped at the Board 16. E/W Vul. Dealer West. ] A Q J 7 three level, making four for a 10-IMP loss, the [Q 6 {9 3 biggest swing of the match. } Q 6 5 3 2 Most of those IMPs flowed back to Austria on ] Q 7 4 2 the next deal. { Q 9 8 West North East South } A Q J 5 Wernle Hallen Thomasberger Backstrom Board 14. Love All. Dealer East. [ A K J 4 3 N [ 10 9 5 2 Pass 1} ] A 9 ] 8 6 5 [ Q 9 8 W E Dble Pass 2] Pass ] A Q J 8 { K J 3 { 5 4 3{ Pass 3NT All Pass S { A 9 8 4 } 10 7 4 } 9 8 6 3 }K 2 [8 7 Wernle's takeout double was offshape, and she had a problem when partner jumped in hearts. She [ K 5 4 2 [ J 7 6 3 ] K J 10 3 N showed her good diamond suit, and Thomasberger, ] K 4 2 ] 9 7 3 { A 10 7 6 2 W E perhaps expecting more from partner,carried on to { J 7 2 { Q 3 }K 2 S game in notrump.The opening club lead went to the } A Q J } 10 8 7 5 West North East South ace, and Wernle rose with the king on the club [ A 10 Wernle Hallen Thomasberger Backstrom return. She cashed her five diamond tricks, but ] 10 6 5 1[ Dble Pass 3] when she led a heart, Backstrom won and cashed { K 10 6 5 Pass 4] All Pass three clubs. She still had to lose a spade so was } 9 6 4 3 down two. The defense quickly cashed two spades, and At the other table Alfredsson overcalled instead West North East South they had to come to the king of diamonds as well as of doubling, playing the hand for plus 90 in diamonds. Alfredsson Rapf Ekberg Schmidt the ace of trumps. The last two hands were simple overtrick Pass Pass Rapf and Schmidt stopped in Three Hearts, swings, one each way, so Sweden became the 17-13 1NT Dble All Pass making, for 5 IMPs. victor. Malta, 1999 Sunday, 20 June 1999 9

An Irish Surprise, A Polish Compliment by Adam Mesbur, Irish

No doubt many were surprised by the result of the Ireland v Poland match in round 12. Ireland won 89 - 21, 25 - 2 in victory points. Even the Irish, incurable optimists, were surprised by the margin. The 1999 EBL Seniors Congress Board 5 was interesting: Board 5. N/S Vul. Dealer North. [Q 5 There will be a Seniors Congress ] A K 10 4 3 2 { 10 9 6 on Sunday 20 June 1999 at 17.30 hours }7 6 [ 8 2 N [ K 9 7 6 3 in the Clairmont Room ] Q 9 8 7 ] 5 W E { K J 5 { 8 4 3 2 on the 2nd Floor of the Radisson Hotel } A K 10 3 S } J 9 2 [ A J 10 4 ]J 6 The following persons are invited to attend this Meeting: { A Q 7 } Q 8 5 4 Ø Captains of the Seniors Teams in the 1999 Championship Ø NCBO Presidents and appointed Delegates to the 1999 EBL Seniors Congress Apolinary Kowalski, South and Jacek Roman- Ø Members of the EBL Executive ski, North opposed Hugh McGann,West and Tom Ø Members of the current EBL Seniors Committee Hanlon, East.The Polish pair bid to 3NT played by South and Hugh McGann led the ace of clubs. McGann realised that the contract was cold if South held the jack of hearts and he attempted AGENDA to confuse the situation by switching to the nine 1 Greetings from the EBL President,WBF President and Seniors Chairman of hearts. Dummy played the two, East followed and Kowalski won the jack. He played a heart 2. European Seniors Master point scheme back and after considerable thought, paid Tom Hanlon a real compliment when he tried the king 3. The 1999 Generali European Senior Teams Championship from dummy. The contract could no longer be 4. Format made. 4.1 Playing Conditions Usually declarer played hearts himself leading the jack from hand. When West covered it was 4.2 Any other points not difficult for South to play low from dummy.A 5. Future Events: much better defence is for West to play low. 5.1 The Seniors Bermuda Bowl, January 2000 South leads another heart and has the same 5.2 Senior programme for the World Teams Olympiad, Maastricht 2000 dilemma that Kowalski faced. 5.3 The 2001 European Senior Pairs Championship in Jerusalem 5.4 Future Seniors Activities Turkish Bridge 6. Election of Officers for the EBL Seniors Committee World Magazine 7.Varia 6th International Bridge Festival 2-8 November 1999 Sheraton Voyager Hotel,Antalya

With the participation of players known worldwide. Nissan Rand Anna Gudge President EBL Seniors Committee Secretary EBL Seniors Committee Grand Open pairs, 3 sessions US$50 per person. Open Teams 4 sessions US$250 per team. Cash prizes representing 50% of the total entry fees plus cups and special gifts will be awarded. 8th FORBO Cross IMP pairs, 2 sessions, US$30 per person - Prizes: Cross Pens and Cups International Bridge Tournament Reservations: TBW:Tel/Fax 90 216 338 9519 Intra Travel Agency: Fax: 90 212 247 3085 From 25-27 February 2000

You can get more information about the At the Steigenberger Kurhaus Scheveningen tournament by contacting Esra Togrul Gücüyener. She is staying at the Corinthia Palace Hotel and her mobile telephone num- Information: Elly Ducheyne, Pressroom. ber is 00 905 42 217 1744. 10 Sunday, 20 June 1999 44th GENERALI European Bridge Championships

Don't count your SENIORS RANKING Surprise Package So far Bulgaria is turning out to be the sur- Chickens! In conjunction with the EBL Seniors Commit- prise team of the tournament in the Generali tee, the EBL MasterPoints Committee has devel- European Open Teams Championship. Not to oped a ranking list for Senior players. For this pur- your Editors of course who predicted they might pose we have agreed to only use the European Mas- be involved at the business end of the table. terPoints (EMP) awarded in Seniors events, also This board from their encounter with the adding points for the EUBL events in the past.The Netherlands suggests that their current position following events are included in the ranking list: will not prove to be merely temporary. EBL Pairs 91 93 95 97 99 Board 4. Game All. Dealer West. EBL Teams 95 97 ... WBF Pairs 90 94 98 [Q 7 WBF Teams 94 98 ] K 8 7 EUBL P&T 91 93 96 98 { K 10 9 8 6 } J 4 3 In the 1999 Seniors Teams event EMP will be [ A J 10 9 3 N [ 5 4 2 awarded to the numbers 1-6 of the final ranking: 30- ] J ] A Q 6 4 3 W E 25-20-15-10-5.The ranking list will be updated after { A J 4 2 { 7 3 each Seniors event and will be published at least } A Q 6 S } K 9 5 once a year, at the end of the season. [ K 8 6 So here we present the first official Ranking List for Senior Players. If you are surprised of the cur- ] 10 9 5 2 rent leader of this list, we offer a little bit of expla- {Q 5 Morten Andersen, Denmark nation.Although Mr. Humburg never won a Seniors } 10 8 7 2 event, he has a string of good results with silver Denmark's Morten Andersen was the victim on West North East South medals in the 1991 and 1997 European Senior Pairs this deal from Round 12 of the Generali European Westerhof Nanev Jansen Popov Championships. Open Championship. It was he who reported the 1[ Pass 2[ Pass details to the Daily News. 1 HUMBURG Hans (Ger) 100 3{ Pass 4[ All Pass 2 KAISER Kees (Nld) 92 Board 6. E/W Vul. Dealer East. 3 DELMOULY Claude (Fra) 87 4 POLEC Janusz (Pol) 73 Ivan Nanev led a small club that went to the [ A 9 4 2 5 BARATTA Franz (Aus) 72 five, eight and ace. Westerhof played a low dia- ] A 8 5 4 2 ROHAN Karl (Aus) 72 mond and North went in with the ten.A heart at { 9 7 3 7 KOKKES Jaap (Nld) 71 this point would be testing but the club position }K GWIS Krzysztof (Pol) 71 was unclear and North carried on the attack in [ Q 8 6 5 [ K 10 7 3 9 MATTSSON Göran (Ger) 70 that suit. N 10 WILKOSZ Andrzej (Pol) 67 ] J ] K 10 9 Declarer won in hand with the queen and W E 11 GROMÖLLER Wilhelm (Ger) 63 played the ace of diamonds and ruffed a diamond. { Q 8 6 5 2 { A K J 4 12 STOBIECKI Wlodzimierz (Pol) 62 S Borislav Popov overruffed with the eight of } A 5 4 } Q J 13 TINTNER Léon (Fra) 61 spades and played a third club putting declarer in [J 14 GAVINO Giacomo (Ita) 60 dummy with the king. 15 JEZIORO Aleksander (Pol) 59 ] Q 7 6 3 When declarer played the four of spades { 10 16 SZENBERG Stefano (Ita) 58 NOWAK Janusz (Pol) 58 Popov followed with the king! Winning with the } 10 9 8 7 6 3 2 18 KATZ Moshe (Isr) 55 ace declarer was sure he no longer needed the West North East South RAND Nissan (Isr) 55 heart finesse. He played the jack of diamonds and ruffed it.When the five of spades was headed by 1} Pass 20 KAISER Bob (Nld) 54 21 ROUDINESCO Jean-Marc (Fra) 47 the six declarer soon discovered that he had 1[ Pass 3[ Pass 22 SCHNEIDER Werner (Ger) 46 been outwitted. 4[ All Pass 23 ADAD Pierre (Fra) 45 A neat way to collect a game swing. AUJALEU Maurice (Fra) 45 One Club was either natural or 15-19 bal- DALLACASAPICCOLA Adalberto (Ita) 45 anced. 26 ROMANO Luigi (Ita) 44 North hit upon the fiendish lead of the two 27 VERHEES Loek (Nld) 43 of hearts! 28 BIGANZOLI Giacomo (Ita) 42 Non Smoking Morten naturally played low and South put up 29 GARTHWAITE Roy (GBr) 41 the queen. Showing no sign of surprise he HOBSON ms Heather (GBr) 41 switched to a low club and when declarer played 31 MAGGIORA ms Stefania (Ita) 40 Smoking in the playing area 32 KLUKOWSKI Julian (Pol) 34 low North won with the singleton king. He and toilets is prohibited. POCHRON Józef (Pol) 34 switched to a diamond and declarer won with 34 HÖGER Walter (Ger) 33 No player may leave the dummy's king and played a low spade. South pro- 35 MARUGGI Antonio (Ita) 31 duced the jack - by the way a good play from [J9 36 KOROSADOWICZ Krzysztof (Pol) 30 player's area in order to - and when declarer played the queen North NETER Jerzy (Pol) 30 smoke. ducked. He played the nine of spades on the next 38 SERF ms Marianne (Fra) 28 trick and won the third round of spades with the ROMANIN Giuseppe (Ita) 28 Any player smoking ace before trying to cash the ace of hearts. 40 MOSZYNSKI Jan (Pol) 26 during or after the A surprised Morten ruffed and peering under SZYDLOWSKI Slawomir (Pol) 26 the screen playfully admonished North for his 42 KYRIAZIS Agamemnon (Gre) 25 round in the playing cunning lead, indicating that although he had been BELLI Alberto (Ita) 25 area or toilets will fooled he had survived. BARONI Franco (Ita) 25 KLAPPER Wit (Pol) 25 It only remained to go to dummy to draw the result in his team being fined ½ VP. Con- ORLOW Andrzej (Pol) 25 outstanding trump. 47 KREIJNS Hans (Nld) 24 stant violation of this regulation will When Morten tried to get there with a club result in the player being prohibited from North ruffed and returned the compliment, pop- If you need any additional information on ping his head under the screen with a smile. EBL MasterPoints, don't hesitate to contact Paul playing. The laughter from all four players could be Maris of the Netherlands, EMP Responsible. heard for some time! Malta, 1999 Sunday, 20 June 1999 11

Appeal 4 My Maltesers GRAND SLAM The appeal committee dealing with appeal 4 At last we really have something to celebrate was not unanimous and had to vote to come to - two wins in one day.Yesterday we beat Monaco BOOKS a decision. The vote was 3 to 2 in favour of allow- 17-13 and then Luxembourg 23-7 - our biggest ing a call after a hesitation. Reading this I won- win to date. As I write we are losing to Estonia, A NEW British publishing company, dered what decision each individual member but it is early days and there is plenty of time for Grand Slam Books, is producing top-quality took when voting yes or no. As you certainly a recovery and a third victory.We have now won bridge books. The first three titles will know a hesitation could transfer information and four matches, which was our initial target, and the appear in the middle of October. All the if it does partner may not use this (unauthorized) event is only halfway through. books have a large page size (similar to the information. A player does use unauthorized One of the areas in which the Maltese have current world championship books) and information if he chooses from among logical been losing points is in competitive bidding. In contain plenty of photographs. The titles alternative actions one that could have been sug- general they are not as aggressive as many other are: gested by this information. As we all know this teams. Of course, sometimes this can work in question is not so easy to answer. Having expert their favour as the following two consecutive THE HISTORY panels deciding what call to make in an evolving boards from the match against Monaco show. OF THE BERMUDA BOWL auction, some players make strong objections Board 4. Game All. Dealer West. (£15.99) against calls firmly chosen by others. [ Q 10 6 2 by Henry Francis & Brian Senior What is a logical alternative action? ] K J 10 8 3 A year by year account of the most World bridge is not united when answering {K important tournament in International this question. The ACBL has defined it as: 'a call } 8 4 2 bridge. that some number of the player's peers would [ 7N [ A K J 9 seriously consider'. This definition has an unde- ] Q 6 4 ] 7 THE BEST OF GRAY W E fined 'some' in it, which makes it difficult to apply. { 7 6 4 3 2 { A Q J 10 5 (£13.99) And furthermore the word 'consider' which is } J 9 7 5S } A K 3 Edited by Raymond Brock rather ambiguous. I can imagine situations in [ 8 5 4 3 An updated and totally modernised which every player would consider a certain bid, ] A 9 5 2 but nobody would decide to make it. Is that a log- version of the classic 'Country Life Book of {9 8 ical alternative? Some important people in the Bridge' by Maurice Harrison Gray ACBL say 'yes', the EBL will say 'no' is my guess. } Q 10 6 I don't know of any other definition, but all of In the Open Room, East opened 1{ in third THE BIG GAME us remember the 70% rule, meaning that an seat. This was passed to North who re-opened (£9.99) action should be chosen by at least 70% of the with a double. The Maltese East jumped to 2[ by Robert Sheehan players to make it acceptable in case of extrane- and now the excellent diamond game was ous information. Nowadays we feel that 70% is reached. In the other room the Maltese North What it's like to play Rubber Bridge for not enough, which is in line with the 'logical alter- did not give East a second chance as she passed high stakes with (amongst others) Zia and native' approach: if 25% of the players make out 1{. 10 IMPs to Malta. Bob Hamman. another call that complies with the general con- sensus of what a logical alternative is. Board 5. N/S Game. Dealer North. Anybody who would like to purchase [7 2 any or all of these titles can put in an Back to the votes. ] J 10 7 6 advance order (20% discount) at the Daily News office (7th floor). All currencies What did 3 for 'yes' against 2 for 'no' mean? { Q 10 8 accepted! If 'yes' means: I would have made the call myself } J 9 6 5 and 'no': I would have made another call, this 3-2 [ A Q 3 [ J 10 6 5 outcome should have led to the conclusion that N ] 5 4 2 ] A K Q 8 3 the bid was not allowed.The logical alternative is W E then apparent. If 'yes' meant: I don't see a logical { K 6 2 { J 7 S alternative and 'no': I do see a logical alternative, } 10 8 7 3 } 4 2 the final decision is more complicated. One way [ K 9 8 4 to look at it is that the majority says there is no ]9 alternative, so there is no (democratic) alterna- { A 9 5 4 3 tive: call allowed. But I have the impression that } A K Q there are other ways to interpret this outcome, with which the final decision becomes less clear. In the Closed Room, the Monaco East/West My personal conclusion is that appeal com- bid to 3] and made 9 tricks. But this was the mittees need clear described procedures to set- action in the Open Room: tle internal differences in opinions. The WBF West North East South recently has decided to get this done. Another Pass 1] Dble Dragonara Casino! step forward. 2NT Pass 3] Dble Pass 4} All Pass Opening times: Ton Kooijman 12 noon: slot machines West's exuberant 2NT tempted South to 4 p.m. (to 4 a.m.): live gaming double again and North's final contract of 4} Calling went three down.Another 4 IMPs to Malta. Dress: smart casual all Journalists LOST CAMERA There are registration forms for The Journalist Pairs will be held on Irene Naudi of the Malta team has lost entering the casino available at the hos- Monday Evening starting at 20.00. a camera - and it was one she had bor- pitality desk in the Radisson lobby. Play will be in the San Gorg in the rowed from a friend. She left it on the ter- race of the San Gorg and no one there On your first visit do not forget to rooms used for the Seniors. has seen it. It is in a blue case. Could any- bring your passport or ID-card with Please enter your names with Elly in one who knows anything about it please you! the Press Room. tell the Bulletin staff (7th floor). 12 Sunday, 20 June 1999 44th GENERALI European Bridge Championships

Taking the Chance! Germany's seniors team, this year's reigning Meet a Captain open teams champions in their country by the way, are doing very well so far, lying a mere 8 VPs behind Marius Georgescu of Romania the leaders in third place after five rounds. In their third match against Sweden 2 Göran Mattsson and Hans Humburg had a chance to gain He was an engineer,and has been General Secretary of the Romanian Federation since 1994. IMPs, when the opponents did not bid to their best spot: What is the situation of bridge in Romania? Board 9. E/W Vul. Dealer North. We have many players of quite a good level but we have only 1200 registered play- [ J 9 4 ers although many more play in our 42 clubs. ] A K 7 Bridge depends on our Ministry of Sport and gets only a small subsidy of US$6000 { J 9 4 3 2 a year. } 10 2 Our Federation runs a monthly magazine but only two weekly magazines have a bridge column though the results of this Championship appear in our daily newspapers. [ K 8 6 2N [ 10 5 ] 10 9 8 5 4 2 ] J 6 3 W E { A { 10 8 6 Speaking of this championship your results are what I could call some how disappointing. S } 5 4 } Q J 9 8 6 I agree! We are 32nd at the moment but I am confident that the team will finish high- [ A Q 7 3 er in the standings. One thing you must know is that we had trials for the European ]Q championship and the team who won could not play because that would have been at { K Q 7 5 their own expense. } A K 7 3 So I do not field our best team and the players did not train enough. Moreover they West North East South have very little international experience because they do not participate in bridge Mattsson Humburg matches outside Romania. We played in Wiesbaden in 1983 for the first time and were present in Menton,Villamoura and Montecatini but in between we do not have enough Pass Pass 1} (1) contacts. Dbl (2) 2{ Pass 3] (3) Pass 4] Pass 5{ All Pass Do you like this championship in Malta, what is your opinion about the decision of the EBL not to have two division in 2001? (1) strong club (2) majors We all enjoy very much being here, people are friendly with us. It gives us the rare (3) splinter with diamonds opportunity to speak with top foreign players. In the past as we are of Latin origin we had some problems with our players being too nervous but that time is over. In the other room Germany had scored a normal 3NT making five. So it was up to East/West to check How can people learn about and improve bridge in your country? if the opponents had gone overboard by bidding to the five-level - and if they had, to take the chance We have French bridge books - lots of us speak French - Michel Lebel and Jean Marc given and find a way to beat it. Roudinesco have Romanian origins and we also have ACBL books and some bridge Humburg started with [10 and South won with teachers. the ace.This does not make life easier for West, as We run three bridge camps for children. East could have held [1095 instead of the double- ton. Declarer now cashed the queen of hearts and What are your projects? ace-king of clubs, intending to ruff another club in Our Mamia Festival is rather successful every year - one of your Editors has been a his hand and throw two spades on the top hearts, winner there - and we will try to run a Danube cup with Bulgaria, Hungary,Turkey and before drawing trumps. Yougoslavia perhaps next year in Budapest. This line of play gave West all the information he I think that internet will help bridge in my country. needed.When South led the third club he ruffed in I regret that the Education Minister does support any action of ours to teach bridge with {A - North discarding a spade - and played [K in schools. and another! North ruffed with the jack, but - to East's pleasure - did not find the winning play of finessing the {7 on the way back to dummy. As a What are the very popular games in Romania? consequence East's {10 had been promoted to Obviously chess, not many card games if you exclude casinos so there should a become the vital third trick for the defenders, who place for bridge to take in the future! scored a useful 11 IMPs to win the match 20:10. Appeal Committee Special Meeting No 1

Appeals Committee: ment Director, he started to do so, but only the he never scores himself, because the players do Bill Pencharz (Chairman, Great Britain), Her- boards 10-20 from the match were scored. not like that the captain is at the table. man De Wael (Scribe, Belgium), Jens Auken (Den- The Director: mark), Naki Bruni (Italy), Anton Maas (the The Committee: Netherlands), Krzysztof Martens (Poland). Referred the matter to the Appeals Com- Decided that the French team was at fault. mittee. Since the conditions of contest did not prescribe Open Teams Round 16 a particular penalty, a list of other penalties was The Players: France v Slovenia reviewed. In the end, the Committee decided The French captain explained that he had upon a penalty of One Victory Point. asked the reception at both hotels (this match The Facts: was played in the Rooms at the San Gorg hotel, The Committee's decision: Around half-time in the match, the Director normally used by the Ladies and Senior Teams),as noticed that there was no-one scoring in the well as the Chief Tournament Director,to provide 1VP penalty to France. Closed Room of this match. He told the French a scorer. He then came back to the Radisson player in North to score, but the player refused hotel to watch the VuGraph. Relevant Laws: at first. Being told to score by the Chief Tourna- He realised that it was his responsibility, but Regulation B.3.9, G.2.3.