Board 4. Dealer West. Game All A 10 5 3 10 7 4 3 2 3 J 10 6 K 9 7 J 6 4 2 9 5 A 8 6 A 9 7 5 Q 10 K 9 5 3 Q 8 7 4 Q 8 K Q J K J 8 6 4 2 A 2 West North East South Levy Kowalski Martens Mittelman 1NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 2 All Pass

Not everybody was fully au fait with the Generali system by the end of round 2. Kowalski followed a Stayman sequence that was supposed to be invitational - but Mittelman passed anyway. Martens led the Q and Levy continued the suit - not the best start for the defence as Kowalski won in dummy, throwing a club.

However, when Kowalski led the K Martens ducked, and now Apollinari made a serious error by playing a second trump (it is much better to lead a third diamond and throw a second club away on this; as the cards lie, it generates +170). Martens took his A and led a club and Kowalski won the A and led a diamond to pitch his club. But Levy won and returned a club and now all Kowalski could do was play a spade to the queen. When it lost, and a spade came back, Martens had to score his 8 in the ending for one down.

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

4 was the normal contract on this board, and Zia and Bocchi reached it at a normal rate:

West North East South Zia Westra Bocchi Chemla 1 Pass 1 Pass 1 Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 4 All Pass

Westra led the K, which went six, three, seven (a nice if routine false card from Zia). Westra unimaginatively continued with a second diamond, and Zia won and crossed to hand twice in clubs to finesse hearts, making the routine ten tricks for a just above average score.

Unremarkable, you may say. Yes, but Zia had given the defence a chance. If Westra shifts to a spade at trick two the defence can arrange a trump promotion in spades, whatever Zia does.

Board 8. Dealer West. Love All Q 9 5 10 8 4 2 A Q 10 9 6 5 9 8 6 5 2 A J 10 7 2 K Q 8 6 7 5 A K Q 9 4 3 2 K J 7 A K J 10 7 4 3 4 3 J 6 3 8 West North East South Kowalski Sharif Mouiel Jourdain Pass Pass 1 3 Pass Pass Dble Pass 4 All Pass

Sharif had full marks on Round 1 but thereafter ran into some bad luck. An excellent defence he found on this deal was not rewarded on the scoresheet.

Against 4 Sharif led Q. Jourdain overtook and returned his singleton club. After receiving the club ruff, Jourdain continued with the 10. Sharif ruffed his partner's winner to give another club ruff. Two down was below average for Sharif. Why? At seven tables, North opened 3. East overcalled Three No Trumps ending the auction, and South cashed seven spade winners and then a club.

Board 12. Dealer West. NS Game Q 8 A J 8 5 A J 5 4 2 K Q 10 9 7 5 2 K J 3 Q 10 3 7 2 K Q 6 10 8 10 4 J 9 7 6 5 3 A 6 4 K 9 6 4 9 7 3 A 8 2 West North East South Gawrys Sharif Kokish Abecassis Pass 1NT Pass 3NT All Pass

Finding a 4-4 major suit fit can sometimes be more difficult than it appears. When Omar opened an off centre 1NT rather than go through a reverse with uninspiring suits, Abecassis simply raised to 3NT without looking for a heart fit.

Kokish led a club, and Sharif was very short of entries to dummy to set up the diamonds. He also wanted to keep West off lead for fear of a spade switch - so he was rather awkwardly placed.

He solved his problem by leading a low diamond from hand at trick two, and when the 8 appeared from Kokish, he ducked in dummy ! Gawrys resisted the temptation to overtake 8 to play a spade (that leads to -490), and left Kokish on play. But now the spade honours were protected and Sharif could clear the diamonds and finesse in hearts to generate +460 and a decent score, since 4 by South is held to 11 tricks on a spade lead.

After the same auction at another table, declarer won the club lead in hand and crossed to a heart to play a diamond to the jack. He then cleared the diamonds, Justin Hackett discarding the 3. Jourdain found the spade switch and now declarer's contract was at risk if he took the heart finesse. In the end he played a heart to the ace, but, as the clubs were blocked, nine tricks was a bottom.

Board 19. Dealer South. EW Game A J 7 3 10 5 2 A J 8 7 6 3 K 8 Q 10 6 5 A 4 2 J 7 3 A K 10 6 5 3 J 9 8 Q 9 5 4 2 9 4 2 K Q 9 8 6 Q 7 4 K 10 West North East South Mari Bocchi Zia Perron Pass 1NT Pass Pass 2 3 3 All Pass

Zia and Christian Mari combined to produce a double knock-out on consecutive boards, collecting two complete tops. The second came when they defended on a partscore where the field had played game or a higher scoring partial - this was the first.

Mari's 3 would not have been much fun (the defence can collect at least 100) but Bocchi pressed on to 3 hoping Perron had a six-card major, not a good advertisement for disciplined pre-empters, since an undisciplined pre-empter would have been known to hold only a 5-card suit.

Mari led a top diamond and Zia signalled enthusiastically with the J, calling for a spade switch. Mari got the message, playing the K, but Perron had missed the point. If he ducks the K and wins the next, to play the 10 and run it, he comes home with 9 tricks. Instead he won the A and played a club to the ten, hoping the black queens were with East. Disaster! Mari won the Q and played a second spade, allowing Zia to cash the 10 and Q for Mari to discard his second club.

Now best defence (another club from Zia to let Mari ruff and cash A and play a second heart and get two diamond tricks in the end) leads to four down. In fact Zia played back a diamond, and Perron escaped for three down - but still an unshared bottom.

Board 21. Dealer North. NS Game A J 10 3 2 Q 7 5 Q 8 6 7 6 K 9 7 6 5 Q 4 K 10 6 8 4 3 2 K J 2 A 5 A K 8 5 4 3 2 8 A J 9 10 9 7 4 3 Q J 10 9 West North East South Wolff Zhong Quantin Helness Pass Pass Pass 1NT All Pass

Bobby Wolff must have felt that the whole world was against him on this deal - but it all worked out well in the end.

His hand is probably too good for a 15-17 1NT, but he bid it anyway, and scored a double goal. First of all he kept the auction at the one level, (several pairs got too high) and secondly he concealed his spade suit.

To no avail: Fu Zhong led a heart! Helness won his A and knew something odd was going on (who had the spades??).He shifted to a diamond and Wolff made a good play to duck, winning the A and playing the Q which held the trick. Wolff nearly fell off his chair when Helness showed out on the second round of the suit, but he ducked the trick to Zhong as Helness pitched the Q. Unfortunately for Helness, the low diamond switch at trick two had left North with the impression that he had a top diamond. He tried the Q and now Wolff could drive out the top spades and collect eight tricks by establishing the 8. That was an excellent result for him.