This was one of the most exciting boards of the penultimate day.

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

Lanzarotti made Four Spades doubled with an overtrick! North led the king of hearts and continued with a second heart. South won and played a third heart. Declarer won and knew how to play the trumps.

Here North led a low heart and South won with the ace and continued with the jack. A third heart forced dummy to ruff. Declarer cashed the ace of spades and could not recover. He played a spade to the jack, but North simply ducked and the contract finished three down.

It looks as if declarer can get home by playing the ten of spades rather than the ace, but North ducks. If declarer now plays a spade to the jack, North wins, and as pointed out by Onno Eskes, plays his diamond.

The winning line after ruffing the heart is to play the six of spades to the nine or jack. North has to duck to have any chance, but now declarer plays a spade to the ten!

Of course, if North-South keep quiet and North leads the singleton diamond declarer may well win in hand and lay down the top spades, with an unlucky outcome. Nicola Smith earned a bushell of points for her team when she led her diamond and declarer did just that.

Plus scores were hard to come by on the final board of the second session, but one of Europe's stars showed how.

Board 24. Dealer West. Love All ª Q 3 © 10 6 4 3 ¨ Q 10 § K Q J 10 8 ª A J 10 9 7 ª 6 4 © 8 7 © A K J 9 5 ¨ K 9 8 ¨ A 4 3 § 9 7 2 § A 4 3 ª K 8 5 2 © Q 2 ¨ J 7 6 5 2 § 6 5

South led a diamond and North played the queen. Sabine won with the ace and took a spade finesse. North won and played the ten of diamonds. (A better defence is to play clubs at once, preventing declarer from rectifying the count. However, it is more than likely that declarer would have taken a winning view in the heart suit.)

When that held she switched to the king of clubs, and followed it with the queen. Sabine took that one with the ace and repeated the spade finesse. Now she cashed the ace of spades and exited with a spade.

South won and played a diamond to dummy's king. North was already under pressure and the winning spade finished the job. North was known to have the missing club, so the outstanding hearts had to be 2-2. She had been the victim of a classic show up squeeze.