The Israelis were well placed at the start of Round 9. They were in fourth place and their opponents, Argentina, were further down in 11th place, but only 16 Victory Points separated them.

The Israelis drew first blood on Board 2 when they made 4[ on their 5-4 fit in the Open Room. The Argentines got to 4] on their 5-3 fit and went down two tricks in the Closed Room.

The next wound came on Board 6 -- Israel got to the slam and Argentina did not.

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

Either system or hand evaluation played a role here. Whichever it was it cost Argentina 13 IMPS.

On Board 7 both teams got their strong notrump in, but only one side got to game.

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

Both declarers took the same nine tricks. If you move that ¨A to the South hand, the luck would have gone the other way, but this time it cost Israel 10 IMPs.

On Board 13 each declarer had to guess the position of an ace and queen to bring in his 4© contract.

Board 13. Dealer North. Game All ª Q 6 © 7 4 ¨ A 8 5 2 § A Q J 7 4 ª J 7 5 2 ª A 3 © A J 10 3 © K Q 8 6 5 2 ¨ 6 3 ¨ K J 10 7 § 10 6 5 § 8 ª K 10 9 8 4 © 9 ¨ Q 9 4 § K 9 3 2

In the Closed Room the opening club lead went to the ace. The §J was led back and trumped. The play is not recorded after two rounds of trumps, but one can only surmise that East went wrong in the diamond suit and lost to the two outstanding honors. He might have taken an inference from the play to trick two and gone right.

In the Open Room the ª10 went to the ace and a spade came back to the queen. Ravena switched to the ¨2 and put Levinger to the guess right away. Levinger thought for quite a while and finally got it right by playing the king. That earned Israel 12 IMPs.

The Israelis' 23-7 victory moved them into a tie with USA 2 for second place after nine of the 15 round-robin matches.