At the end of the first day's play, Maria Erhart's Austrian squad were leading Group Z of the McConnell Cup qualifying round while the Dutch Speelman team were lying bottom. When the two teams met in round six, the Austrians must therefore have been hoping for another big win. In fact, the match proved to be close throughout. The Dutch took the lead on Board 12.

Board 12. Dealer West. EW Game ª 10 8 3 © A 8 ¨ A Q 6 3 § J 8 4 3 ª A 7 5 4 ª 9 2 © K J 9 © 10 6 5 2 ¨ 10 9 8 7 ¨ K 4 2 § 10 2 § A K 7 6 ª K Q J 6 © Q 7 4 3 ¨ J 5 § Q 9 5 Open Room West North East South Weigkricht Speelman Fischer Debets Pass Pass Pass 1§ Pass 1¨ Pass 1© Pass 2NT All Pass

Why 2NT is the right call with the North cards is not clear to me as even when South has not guaranteed a club suit there must surely be some number of spades which is fourth-suit-forcing. However, 2NT put the right hand on lead from North/South's point of view. Doris Fischer chose her fourth highest club, to the ten and jack. Speelman played the ª10 then a spade to the jack, which also held. Now she tried the ¨5 to her queen and Fischer's king. Fischer cashed her two top clubs, Weigkricht throwing a spade, then switched to a low heart to the jack and ace. Speelman cashed the club on which Weigkricht pitched a diamond. She played a diamond to the jack and a spade. Weigkricht took the ªA and exited with a diamond, giving declarer three diamonds, two spades, two clubs and a heart; +120.

This time South was declarer and West, Pauline Doedens, had an attractive diamond lead. She led the ¨9 (either short or from 10-9), and this ran to declarer's jack. Sylvia Terraneo played a spade to the ten and continued spades, Doedens winning the third round as Anke Wijma pitched a low heart. Doedens played a second diamond and Terraneo rose with the ace and played a low club from the dummy. When Wijma ducked smoothly, Terraneo put in the nine. When that lost to the ten, she was down. Doedens actually put her in hand with the fourth spade and Terraneo threw dummy's low heart. She played a club now but the defence could win and play a heart and come to the rest; -100 and 6 IMPs to SPEELMAN.

Board 14. Dealer East. Love All ª K 7 5 © Q 5 ¨ K 10 9 8 2 § A 6 3 ª 10 9 8 ª A 6 3 © J 7 6 4 2 © K 9 ¨ A Q 7 4 ¨ J 6 5 3 § 2 § K 8 7 5 ª Q J 4 2 © A 10 8 3 ¨ — § Q J 10 9 4 Open Room West North East South Weigkricht Speelman Fischer Debets Pass 1§ Pass 3NT All Pass

The Dutch auction was simple and uninformative. Fischer led a low club and Speelman won and cleared the suit. Weigkricht discarded the ©2 then the ª8, so Fischer switched to a low diamond to the ace. A second diamond went to the ten and jack and Fischer played another diamond to the queen and king. Declarer had nine tricks now, just giving up a spade; +400.

It is common to respond 1ª on a three-card suit in the Austrian style and Maria Erhart assured her partner at length that she should therefore have passed the 3NT rebid. Well, that is all very well, but if North's sequence is so clearly denying four spades then perhaps we should have seen more alerts at the table than was actually the case.

Wijma led a low diamond and Erhart chose to discard a heart from dummy in the hope of preserving trump control. Doedens won the ¨A and switched to her singleton club and declarer had little option but to run it. Wijma won the §K, gave her partner a ruff, and got back in with the ªA to give a second ruff. Declarer lost another trick in the wash for three down; -150 and 11 IMPs to SPEELMAN.

Board 15. N/S Game. Dealer South. ª 7 2 © A J 3 ¨ J 6 3 § K Q 9 5 2 ª 4 ª K J 10 8 6 5 © K 10 7 6 5 4 © Q 9 8 ¨ K Q 8 ¨ A 10 2 § 8 7 3 § 6 ª A Q 9 3 © 2 ¨ 9 7 5 4 § A J 10 4 Open Room West North East South Weigkricht Speelman Fischer Debets 1¨ 2© 2NT 3© All Pass

When Terri Weigkricht made a weak jump overcall of 2©, Betty Speelman bid a natural 2NT. Fischer competed with 3© and that ended the auction. Speelman led the §Q to her partner's ace and back came a heart to the eight. Declarer used her two diamond entries to hand to ruff clubs and conceded two trumps and a spade; +140.

In the Austrian style, the South hand is a 1ª opening, and this put some momentum into the auction when Doedens made a weak jump overcall at the three-level. Erhart bid the obvious 3NT and now Wijma bid 4© as a two-way shot. As it happened, neither shot came off, as 3NT is easy to beat and 4© also failed. Erhart doubled and led the §K. When that held she switched to the ¨J. The choice of the jack might have been important on a different layout but not today as declarer had both the missing honours. Doedens took her two club ruffs and gave up a spade and two hearts for the same nine tricks as at the other table; one down for -100 and 6 IMPs to Austria. Terri Weigkricht took full advantage of a defensive error on this deal.

Board 17. Dealer North. Love All ª A 5 2 © K 10 8 ¨ 10 8 3 2 § K 9 4 ª K 10 7 6 3 ª J 9 8 4 © 6 © Q J 5 ¨ K Q J 5 4 ¨ 9 6 § A 3 § Q 10 8 5 ª Q © A 9 7 4 3 2 ¨ A 7 § J 7 6 2 Open Room West North East South Weigkricht Speelman Fischer Debets Pass Pass 2¨ 2ª Dble 3ª Pass 4ª All Pass

North led the ª2, and that solved one of declarer's problems. She won with the king and returned a spade. North put up the ace, South discarding the ©3, and played her remaining trump. Declarer won in dummy and played a diamond to her king. She had no reason to do anything other than play for a 3-3 diamond break, but the actual lie meant she had to lose a club and go one down.

North led the ©10 and South took the ace and cashed the ace of diamonds. For most partnerships North's ¨2 would have been discouraging, making it easy for South to switch to a club but here it simply showed an even number of cards in the suit. When North continued with the ¨7 Terri won and flipped the king of spades onto the table. The appearance of South's queen was a happy sight and she was soon able to claim ten tricks and record an 11 IMP gain. Both sides missed a chance on this deal.

Board 1. Dealer . Game All ª 9 8 7 © Q 5 4 ¨ 7 5 3 § J 7 5 4 ª K Q 3 ª J 5 4 © A 2 © 10 9 7 6 3 ¨ A K Q 9 6 2 ¨ 10 4 § A 3 § K Q 10 ª A 10 6 2 © K J 8 ¨ J 8 § 9 8 6 2 Closed Room West North East South Doedens Erhart Wijma Terraneo Pass 2¨ Pass 2© Pass 2NT Pass 3¨ Pass 3© Pass 3NT All Pass

North found the excellent lead of the ©5 to hold declarer to 10 tricks.

1§ was blue and after a standard 1¨ response 1© was also artificial, promising a powerful hand. 2§ promised 4-6 and the next two bids were natural. When Terri made a waiting bid of 2NT Doris Fischer might have shown where her values were with a bid of 3§ but it is still far from easy to reach the excellent 6¨.

North led the §4 and when the diamonds behaved declarer claimed 12 tricks to pick up a couple of IMPs.

As it happened the next board was also a bidding problem which wasn't solved at either table.

Board 20. Dealer West. Game All ª A K Q 3 © 7 4 ¨ 7 6 4 § J 8 6 2 ª J 8 7 5 ª 9 4 © J 6 5 2 © A Q 10 8 3 ¨ J 10 5 ¨ 3 2 § 10 9 § A K 4 3 ª 10 6 2 © K 9 ¨ A K Q 9 8 § Q 7 5 Closed Room West North East South Doedens Erhart Wijma Terraneo Pass Pass 1© Dble 2© 2ª 3§ Pass 3© 3ª

3ª was quickly defeated. East started with her top clubs and ignored North's cunning false cards of the eight and jack of clubs to give her partner a ruff. She then took the ace of hearts and played her last club allowing her partner to overruff the dummy.

When South elected to rebid her five-card suit rather than show her heart guard the excellent game that was available had been missed for the second time. Of course 3¨ could not be defeated so the Dutch team picked up 5 IMPs. Since both a take-out double and a simple overcall seem to be flawed perhaps South should try a pushy 1NT at her first turn. Reaching game would be no problem now!

The final score was 24-22 IMPs in favour of the team from The Netherlands, 16-14 VPs.