When Mario Dix took out his cards on this deal from the third session of the Cara IMP Pairs he was looking forward to a delicate auction.

Board 9. Dealer North. EW Game ª A 8 7 3 © J 10 9 3 ¨ A Q J 4 § 3 ª 10 2 ª J 5 © 7 6 4 2 © A K Q 8 5 ¨ 9 8 6 2 ¨ - § 10 7 2 § A K Q J 6 5 ª K Q 9 6 4 © - ¨ K 10 7 5 3 § 9 8 4 West North East South Parnis-England Dix 1¨ 6§! 6¨ Pass Pass 6©! 6ª!! Pass Pass Dble All Pass

As you can see things turned out rather differently!

Once North opened the bidding Mario decided to dispense with science. South was not going to risk 6§ being cold when his side clearly had a cheap save in diamonds. However the man from Malta was not finished yet. He used the second string to his bow and tried for a different slam. North must have been itching to get his hands on 6© but South was not going to let East have any fun and he tried for a different save.

After East had doubled the spotlight went across the table to Margaret Parnis-England. She had a shrewd idea what was going on and she fished out the ¨2. Mario ruffed and realising that it takes something special to secure a spot in the Daily News he returned the §5! A surprised Margaret won and gave him another ruff.

Malta will be hosting next year's European Team & Women's Pairs Championships.