The very experienced American quartet is comprised of Jacqui Mitchell and Amalya Kearse, Gail Greenberg and Sylvia Moss. They faced one of the world's top pairs, in Sabine Auken and Daniela von Arnim, teamed up with a pair new to competition at this level, Katrin Farwig and Barbara Stawowy. A lot might depend on whether the young German pair could hold their own when the going got tough. It wasn't tough at all for the Germans in the first quarter as they piled up a 53 IMP lead.

Board 6. Dealer East. Game All ª Q 10 8 2 © 8 6 2 ¨ J § 10 9 7 3 2 ª 9 6 ª A J © 10 7 © J 9 4 3 ¨ A K 10 7 3 ¨ 6 5 4 2 § A Q 8 6 § K J 4 ª K 7 5 4 3 © A K Q 5 ¨ Q 9 8 § 5 Open Room West North East South von Armin Greenberg Auken Moss Pass Pass 1ª 2¨ 3ª 3NT All Pass

The 3ª was pre-emptive, as is standard expert practice these days, and it forced Sabine Auken into a brave decision. Against 3NT, Sylvia Moss led a top heart, didn't like what she saw and switched to her fourth best spade. Auken won the queen with her ace and led a club to the queen then back to the king. When South showed out on the second club, her distribution was virtually marked. Auken led a low diamond and Moss followed with the eight. Now, this is a restricted choice situation in that South must play the eight from ¨QJ8 but has a choice from ¨Q98. That suggests finessing the ten. Against that, after South follows with the eight, there are three possible singletons for North to hold, two of which are honours and one the nine, which suggests playing the ace from dummy. So, as Sabine asked after the end of the set, which is the correct technical play? Well, Auken got it right by rising with the ace to drop the jack then coming back to hand with the §J to take the diamond finesse. That led to ten tricks for +630.

If the 3ª raise in the Open Room put pressure on the East player, Barbara Stawowy's 4ª raise made things even tougher. Jacqui Mitchell took the plunge in 5¨ and Katrin Farwig promptly doubled. Declarer did not get the trump suit right so was down two for -500 and 15 IMPs to the Germans.

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

Auken/von Arnim play an aggressive four-card major opening style and von Arnim opened 1ª as dealer. That attracted a pre-emptive raise to 3ª from Auken. It will not always be the winning bid, of course, but it seems to me that South should just shrug her shoulders and bid 4© now. In practice, Moss passed, and while Greenberg gave it a look on the way out, it was too much to ask her to do anything. Gail Greenberg led the ©K and switched to the §3. Moss won the ace and returned a club to the king and von Arnim ruffed a heart then passed the jack of spades. Greenberg won the queen and played two more rounds of spades. Von Arnim cashed the §Q and it was clear that the diamond length was more likely to be on her right, as North would probably have overcalled had she had the heart length. Finessing the ¨J led to one down; -100. In the other room the West hand was not opened, and indeed unless you can open 1ª in your methods there seems no good reason to open the hand. After three passes, Farwig opened 1©, Amalya Kearse doubled and Stawowy raised to 4©. Even holding five spades, Mitchell didn't fancy bidding 4ª at this vulnerability, and it is between 500 and 800 if the defence get their club ruff, so 4© was the final contract. There was nothing to the play; an easy +620 and 11 IMPs to AUKEN.

Board 6. Dealer East. Game All ª K J 9 8 © Q 10 9 7 3 ¨ 2 § A 9 6 ª 4 ª Q 10 7 5 2 © K © A J 6 2 ¨ K Q J 10 6 5 ¨ 9 3 § J 8 7 4 2 § Q 5 ª A 6 3 © 8 5 4 ¨ A 8 7 4 § K 10 3 Closed Room West North East South Kearse Stawowy Mitchell Farwig Pass Pass Pass 1© 1ª 2ª 3¨ 3© Pass 4© All Pass

I wonder how many of the players who held the West hand managed to resist opening in third seat? Kearse passed and Stawowy opened 1©, showing five, on the North hand. 2ª was a constructive heart raise, and when Kearse competed with 3¨, Stawowy fell from grace by bidding 3© when she might have passed to show her minimum. 3© tempted Farwig to go on to game, but 4© had no chance as the cards lay and drifted one off for -50.

Von Arnim opened the West hand with a two-way 2ª, majors or minors, and Auken responded 3§, pass or correct. When that came back to Greenberg she doubled for takeout and Moss, perhaps expecting a better hand, cuebid 4§. That gave von Arnim an opportunity to double to show her maximum hand and that was enough for Auken to take a pot at 4©. Auken led the queen of clubs and Greenberg won dummy's king and led a heart to the bare king. Von Arnim switched to the king of diamonds to dummy's ace and Greenberg played a second heart. Auken won and returned a diamond but Greenberg could ruff that. Declarer played the jack of spades to the queen and ace and was in dummy for the last time. She needed to take the club finesse now to get out for one down but actually played a second spade to her king. Greenberg next played a third spade and Auken won, cashed her heart winner, and exited with a spade. Declarer had to give up a club at the end for two down; -300 and 6 IMPs to AUKEN.

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

Board 11. Dealer South. Love All ª A K Q 2 © A ¨ A J 10 9 2 § Q 7 5 ª 6 5 3 ª J 10 9 © K J 9 8 7 5 © Q 10 2 ¨ 7 5 ¨ K 4 3 § 4 3 § J 10 6 2 ª 8 7 4 © 6 4 3 ¨ Q 8 6 § A K 9 8 Open Room West North East South von Armin Greenberg Auken Moss Pass 2¨ Dble 3© Pass Pass 4© Pass 5§ All Pass